Today I was messing around and jumped on the hood of my friend's car while he was moving slowly in a parking lot. He slammed on his brakes and my phone flew out of my coat pocket, face down onto the asphalt. I knew right then and there that this was the end, this would be my first cracked iPhone. I picked it up and it was cracked horribly. So I made a genius bar appointment and went in to the Apple Store a few hours later, fully prepared to pay the $49 fee to have the screen replaced under my AppleCare Plus Protection Plan.
Once I started with a genius, I told him the situation. He said okay, we'll get that taken care of. Before he put my serial number in the system, I told him that my phone is jailbroken. He told me that since my phone is jailbroken, which is an illegal process, they can't service my phone because of that. I interrupted him and said "it is not illegal." He started saying something and I said "it is not illegal. Under the DMCA, it is 100% legal." I asked to speak with a manager and she told me it is their policy not to service an iPhone that is jailbroken, and that she was denying me service. I said "but I am paying for service to fix my accidental damage, I don't understand how jailbreaking affects it." She told me "the device has to have Apple iOS on it, and jailbreaking replaces iOS with non-Apple firmware." I told her that is incorrect, it still has iOS on it.
She told me "I'm not just singling you out, this is policy." I said "okay, show me where in your policy that it says you can deny me service if my phone is jailbroken." She pulled up the AppleCare agreement (which I've read a few times), and this was the first time she had ever read it. It says in the agreement that Apple will not provide technical support for non-Apple software. I said "okay I am not asking for technical support, I'm asking for hardware service (hardware service is referenced separately in the agreement)." She told me that everything they do under AppleCare is technical support, and I showed her where hardware service is mentioned as a separate service." This conversation went on for about 40 minutes.
At this point, it was clear she didn't know what she was talking about, so I asked to speak with another manager. She spoke with him and brought him over, and he agreed that they can perform service for me in the store with my jailbroken phone. So he put my serial number in the system, and it showed that my device had been replaced for a device that is not in my possession the day after I brought it in to be replaced because of issues with the volume buttons. So I had a "ghost" device, with no AppleCare. I spent another hour and a half waiting while the other manager was on the phone with AppleCare, getting my AppleCare Plus plan transferred to my device. Finally he got it transferred, and then performed the service on my phone. I maintained my calm attitude throughout, and because of that, and because of the 2.5 hours I wasted (while about an inch of dense snow collected on the roads), he offered to perform the repair for free.
So the moral of the story is: know your ****, stay calm, and don't surrender. It paid off for me.
Edit: here's a pic showing how bad the crack was:
Once I started with a genius, I told him the situation. He said okay, we'll get that taken care of. Before he put my serial number in the system, I told him that my phone is jailbroken. He told me that since my phone is jailbroken, which is an illegal process, they can't service my phone because of that. I interrupted him and said "it is not illegal." He started saying something and I said "it is not illegal. Under the DMCA, it is 100% legal." I asked to speak with a manager and she told me it is their policy not to service an iPhone that is jailbroken, and that she was denying me service. I said "but I am paying for service to fix my accidental damage, I don't understand how jailbreaking affects it." She told me "the device has to have Apple iOS on it, and jailbreaking replaces iOS with non-Apple firmware." I told her that is incorrect, it still has iOS on it.
She told me "I'm not just singling you out, this is policy." I said "okay, show me where in your policy that it says you can deny me service if my phone is jailbroken." She pulled up the AppleCare agreement (which I've read a few times), and this was the first time she had ever read it. It says in the agreement that Apple will not provide technical support for non-Apple software. I said "okay I am not asking for technical support, I'm asking for hardware service (hardware service is referenced separately in the agreement)." She told me that everything they do under AppleCare is technical support, and I showed her where hardware service is mentioned as a separate service." This conversation went on for about 40 minutes.
At this point, it was clear she didn't know what she was talking about, so I asked to speak with another manager. She spoke with him and brought him over, and he agreed that they can perform service for me in the store with my jailbroken phone. So he put my serial number in the system, and it showed that my device had been replaced for a device that is not in my possession the day after I brought it in to be replaced because of issues with the volume buttons. So I had a "ghost" device, with no AppleCare. I spent another hour and a half waiting while the other manager was on the phone with AppleCare, getting my AppleCare Plus plan transferred to my device. Finally he got it transferred, and then performed the service on my phone. I maintained my calm attitude throughout, and because of that, and because of the 2.5 hours I wasted (while about an inch of dense snow collected on the roads), he offered to perform the repair for free.
So the moral of the story is: know your ****, stay calm, and don't surrender. It paid off for me.
Edit: here's a pic showing how bad the crack was:
Last edited:
