I have been through the process, and I will tell you they won't CARE if you are past the 30 days, in fact, you need to "INITIATE" the return the day before the 30th day of the contract. They will then e-mail you a return slip (if you bought it through Apple). Even if you go try to return it to a physical store, they will send u back home and tell you to mail it back via FEDEX.
For those who have made exchanges with service phones: KEEP TRACK OF YOUR NEW SERIAL NUMBER. Can't stress this enough, the Genius that "helped" me used the excuse of having different serial numbers as being "confusing" later on in the process. Well, he wasn't kidding. I had a 3 way call with a very helpful Apple rep and we called AT&T (whom turned out to be the incompetent ones), and had to argue with 2 different managers. In order for AT&T to reverse my contract, they kept saying they needed proof. Well, we had proof, the Apple rep was telling the AT&T manager that the returns department had signed for my package according to FEDEX tracking. They still wouldn't listen. Finally, she called one last time and an AT&T rep reversed my contract.
Apple received my phone on the 23rd of July according to FEDEX. I logged in 2 days ago, and I still hadn't received my refund. I called Apple and the rep said they still hadn't received the phone. I told her to look at her notes, and she had to end up getting the manager. She came back and said, you will be contacted within 48 hours. I still have yet to hear from them.
Very frustrating process, heard 5 different things from Apple & AT&T, very inconsistent. I would like to stress how important it is to be persistent with the process.
