My first experience with Apple care and service trying to get my iPhone replaced

[marecej]

1. I bought an iPhone 5 in the Apple store in Philadelphia on 27.december, because the employee (don't know his name, but look like Will Farrel) there told me, I can be serviced anywhere in the world under the international warranty (I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't get this information)

2. I returned to Prague, czech republic, where I live and discovered the wifi reception is really bad so I took it to the authorised apple service centre (DirectCom, s.r.o. , iopravna.cz) where they accepted it and after a week offered me an exchange for 7500 czk (300 euro), when I asked them if they are kidding me, I was told they can't repair an US bought iPhone (this should be communicated first, not asking for money), they also told me it can be exchanged in an official apple store, which the closest one is in Dresden, Germany

3. I went to Dresden apple store to get my phone exchanged. The guys there were very helpful, but they couldn't do it because of some policy that US iPhones 5 can't be replaced in Europe and vice versa. But suggested I should call US apple care for advice

4. I called US apple care, explained the situation, the girl on the line (Janine or something like that) asked someone for and advice. After five minutes she suggested I call the german apple care, ask for a senior advisor and ask him to issue an exception so the Dresden apple store can exchange the phone

5. The German apple care senior advisor told me he can't issue an exception because it's an US phone, then he asked to talk to the store manager (I started to get a bit of hope then) but she told him, they can't replace it since the system won't allow it. Then the senior advisor suggested 1. I call on monday and ask for a refund. 2. Update my router firmware (yeah, on every router in Prague) 3. Wait till April, maybe the policy about replacing phones will change

What pisses me most about this case is, that I've been given false information at least 3 times in this process and that I bought a phone after being lied to about warranty

 

[eawmp1]

The warranty is only valid in the country of purchase (except if bought in the EU, where covered throughout the EU). This is typical of most electronic devices.

You will need to return the phone to the US.

I am sorry you were given incorrect information from a retail store employee who likely as no more information on warranty terms than you seem to. Just out of curiosity, why not purchase in Europe?

 

[E2EK1EL]

It sounds like you have the WPA2-AES encryption problem with your Wifi HUB.

Try this, it's kinda going backwards for security and it's the only way I have stable WiFi speeds now, due to my WiFi Hub manufacture.

G Mode Only
WEP encryption mode
(The screenshot posted is the max speed my home internet pushes)

Now on to the myth of Apple's international warranty coverage, I've been told by a Genius in Canada that this is confirmed and indeed it's not, each region has it's own policy. Try my suggestion and see if you have the WiFi problem still, hope it fixes it.

Good Luck

 

[Brian Y]

The warranty is indeed, international, but you can only get certain services in certain countries.

You can only use retail stores/service providers in the country or purchase, or a country where the same phones are used. For example, a British phone cannot be replaced in the USA, or vice versa, but certain USA models can be replaced in Canada. It all depends on what models stores in those countries carry.

There is no exception that will allow this to happen. If the country doesn't carry the phones, they cannot swap it. End of. They can do minor repairs, like speakers, vibrate motors and displays, but they can't swap them.

You can, however, call AppleCare in your country, and setup a repair. You will have to send the phone back to Apple in that country, and then they'll send you out a new one.

 

[saud0488]

Chances are they sold you an A1428 model which is the US ATT version. Most of the rest of the world uses the GSM A1429 version.


http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/