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Ubreakifix.com Conversion- Do not Use

N

Ninjasrule

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 13, 2010
98
36
Hi anyone use this site to convert iphone 4 to white?

It seems legit as they have several stores in florida, North carolina and in LA.

It's 200 dollars for the partial conversion.
 
I went to one of the stores, they had me in and out the door in 30 minutes. I'm sure the mail might take a bit longer but great service and a really clean looking store. I'm sure the mail in would be just fine. Def dign my white iPhone 4!
 
I took the risk and tried ubreakifix conversion this week. After failing twice and trying to get it done by two other shops. I am extremely happy that they got it done for me in as lil as 3 days. I shipped (overnight) my phone out to FL (from CA) on Monday and I got my phone back before noon (PST) Wednesday.

No issues! None of the leakage problems described in another thread here. No wifi, 3g, no maps, compass, mic, sound, camera (front/back with and without flash), proximity sensor issues! Did I miss anything? All parts sit flush, no gaps, inspected all around.

Good customer service. I got email updates from when they received my phone, when it got worked until it shipped out the same day they got the phone. I initially sent them emails with my inquiries and they responded fairly quickly. I talked to them on the phone and they made sure they have the parts available so they can work on my phone right away.

Highly recommended! I'd say for anyone who is thinking of doing the conversion now, ubreakifix is the way to go. :) They offered me a coupon code - tc10off - for anyone interested. :D
 
I used them.

I went to the Miami store. It was a mixed bag. Positives- I had a cracked black iphone screen so I would've been happy to just replace the glass with anything that staring at the eyesore of my phone for several months.

There were two guys staffing the store. They were pleasant and helpful. I got to watch inception in their waiting area while they did the conversion.

The conversion was fast and painless. Over in 30 minutes.

Negatives:

They converted my phone and I started to notice problems right away. First they gave me a back plate without a flash diffuser. I told them to find one with a diffuser and after some haggling and reluctance they did. They tried to first play dumb they didn't know what a flash diffuser was. I had to actually point out the silver ring on my black back plate.

Also my proximity sensor didn't work. I was told by the staff there that was a side effect of my conversion and I could live with it. To me that wasn't that big of a deal cuz I did the auto lock while calling. But to be lied to directly was both messed up and deceitful.

Third, I had light leakage along the front. When I'm in dim light, there is light leakage w/ a clear visible horizontal line in the front plate. It's right above the black meets the white part of the front plate. I'll try to post pictures later. I didn't see this until I was back home.


Summary:

Anyways to sum up, 200 dollars was for the partial conversion in store at Miami. The one in Fort Lauderdaule quoted me at 250 dollars.

Their service was one of the cheapest I have heard that you could walk in and get it done so fast. But in terms of the quality of work, I think it's one of the worst. I'm not 100% happy with my conversion as you can tell from my above comments. Both with the being lied to and tried to be scammed into getting a backplate with a diffuser.

So buyer beware. I say most places doing conversion are a combo of little luck and service. I'm happy with having a white iphone 4 but wished I could've gotten a better one overall. So for now, my recommendation is if you do a conversion at ubreakifx.com, check all the things I mentioned above in the store. Refuse to leave until you are happy with your purchase.
 
But I only have experience with their headofc in FL and not any of their satellite locations. I had to ask about all the issues I have read on here over email before deciding on doing the conversion. So it might be a case to case basis on every location.

entraik said:
can you please put up a video and/or pics? thanks
Click to expand...

I'll try to get around getting a better pic of the phone soon. But here are some low-res photos.

http://i55.tinypic.com/2rf54lw.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/59wz8w.jpg
 
Last edited:
Ubreakifix Mixed Bag

I send an email with questions to Ubreakifix on Thursday morning and got a very complete and prompt response from some guy named Tim. I then called him and he was professional and nice. I set up to send my iPhone 4 to them.

So I sent my phone overnight on Thursday, they did not get it until 4PM so there was no way they could get the conversion done and send it overnight to get it back on Saturday like they promised. Not their fault, but Fedex. Probably due to the high Christmas volume. I am trying to get my shipping money refunded from Fedex because they missed their service guarantee of delivery by 3PM. They ( Ubreakifix ) are saying now I will not receive my phone back until Tuesday !

They called me 2 hours after they got it and said they had a big problem. They said no matter how many white fronts they tried they could not get the proximity sensor to work with the white front. It worked fine with the black front. They said the proximity sensor is on the logic board. They said they had seen this with other conversions and they do not know why it is happening. Possibly another thing Apple is doing to try to put a kink in conversions ( like the 5-pointed star screws that my iPhone 4 has ). Somehow the sensor can tell that it is not an original cover and so it disables itself. They gave me two choices.
( 1 ) Keep the phone white and just suck it up and live with it and they would give me 10% off the conversion. ( 2 ) Put the black back on, refund my money and ship it back. Due to this being my 2nd attempt to go white I decided to just suck it up and leave it in white. It is going to suck now having an expensive phone with an expensive conversion and a non-working proximity sensor. Now I just hope I get it back in one piece and that other things work. I am not very happy about this at all.

They also offered me $30 for my black parts which I reluctantly accepted. ResQ used to pay $100, although when they did conversions they were $50 more than these Ubreakifix dudes.

So, this place might work out for you and then again it might not !
 
hdtravel said:
I send an email with questions to Ubreakifix on Thursday morning and got a very complete and prompt response from some guy named Tim. I then called him and he was professional and nice. I set up to send my iPhone 4 to them.

So I sent my phone overnight on Thursday, they did not get it until 4PM so there was no way they could get the conversion done and send it overnight to get it back on Saturday like they promised. Not their fault, but Fedex. Probably due to the high Christmas volume. I am trying to get my shipping money refunded from Fedex because they missed their service guarantee of delivery by 3PM. They ( Ubreakifix ) are saying now I will not receive my phone back until Tuesday !

They called me 2 hours after they got it and said they had a big problem. They said no matter how many white fronts they tried they could not get the proximity sensor to work with the white front. It worked fine with the black front. They said the proximity sensor is on the logic board. They said they had seen this with other conversions and they do not know why it is happening. Possibly another thing Apple is doing to try to put a kink in conversions ( like the 5-pointed star screws that my iPhone 4 has ). Somehow the sensor can tell that it is not an original cover and so it disables itself. They gave me two choices.
( 1 ) Keep the phone white and just suck it up and live with it and they would give me 10% off the conversion. ( 2 ) Put the black back on, refund my money and ship it back. Due to this being my 2nd attempt to go white I decided to just suck it up and leave it in white. It is going to suck now having an expensive phone with an expensive conversion and a non-working proximity sensor. Now I just hope I get it back in one piece and that other things work. I am not very happy about this at all.

They also offered me $30 for my black parts which I reluctantly accepted. ResQ used to pay $100, although when they did conversions they were $50 more than these Ubreakifix dudes.

So, this place might work out for you and then again it might not !
Click to expand...
th


the prox. sensor is a cable actually.....just curious why you would send a phone to ubreak i thought you found a local person who did your swap
 
The local work did not work out. Seemed good at first and then there were a lot of issues with shoddy quality and I had her put it all back to black. Turns out she lied about her parts. Did get my money back from her. She did not have the iResQ parts she said, but cheap Chinese junk that the color started flaking off. Not glass, but painted hard plastic. Sucked....

Now I hopefully will have good looking parts, but no proximity sensor.....they really don't know why it won't work. They just have guesses.

How do you mean cable ? They said it was mounted on the logic board ?
 
hdtravel said:
The local work did not work out. Seemed good at first and then there were a lot of issues with shoddy quality and I had her put it all back to black. Turns out she lied about her parts. Did get my money back from her. She did not have the iResQ parts she said, but cheap Chinese junk that the color started flaking off. Not glass, but painted hard plastic. Sucked....

Now I hopefully will have good looking parts, but no proximity sensor.....they really don't know why it won't work. They just have guesses.

How do you mean cable ? They said it was mounted on the logic board ?
Click to expand...

I have some prox sensor cables for the iPhone 4 I will take picture of it in the morning. The cable plugs into the mother board. And the phone is programed to know which color display is on it. I would guess some how they may have damaged your sensor.
 
DEE9299 said:
I have some prox sensor cables for the iPhone 4 I will take picture of it in the morning. The cable plugs into the mother board. And the phone is programed to know which color display is on it. I would guess some how they may have damaged your sensor.
Click to expand...

could it detect a fake retina display?
 
guys- after seeing another customer also get screwed with the conversion w/ the proximity sensor not working. I'm going to change my recommendation from with reservations to DO NOT convert from them.

They have probably a bad batch of fronts. But they're trying to blame it on the conversion.
 
Ninjasrule said:
I say most places doing conversion are a combo of little luck and service.
Click to expand...

Just like you said... I should consider myself lucky! This whole white iphone obsession is evil. Apple should just release the white iphone already!
 
I bet a lot of people who are converting or getting other parts don't even know that they're getting non-original parts. Some of these white fronts and backs might not even be the same type of glass as on the black iphone. To a non-engineer, how would the difference be noticed?

But the allure of a white iphone 4 is bigger than anything I guess...
 
The OEM Myth

They like a lot of other shops are claiming the parts are genuine OEM, but we know there is no such thing. Here is a copy of the email that got me hooked into going for it.

Hello,

Our iPhone 4 White conversion includes the front glass & LCD, white
home button, and white back glass. All parts used are genuine OEM
Apple parts (the LCD is also retina) and are covered by a full 90 day
warranty. None of these parts cause light leakage. As of now we have
these parts in stock, although they are in high demand and we have
little left so I recommend placing your order over the phone. We
guarantee we can complete the repair and ship your phone back to you
the same day we receive it. So, if you pay for overnight shipping you
can have you will only be without your phone for a day. We offer a
discount on the service if we keep your black iPhone 4 parts, however
we will need to see these parts before we can give a price on the
amount we can credit you. If you would like to place your order please
call. My name is XXX and I will be happy to take your
order over the phone as well as answer any further questions you may
have.
 
OEM Parts

This FAQ from iResQ is the only honest one that tells the truth about OEM parts. ( i.e. - there never was any, there are not any now, and there is no such thing as white OEM parts at this time. Everyone else is lying ! )

Does Apple sell a White iPhone 4?
No. When apple announced the iPhone 4, they showed us both a black and a white iPhone 4. However, Apple is yet to release the white iPhone 4 for unknown reasons. There is only speculation as to why the white iPhone 4 has not been released yet.

Are the white iPhone 4 parts that you install OEM?
No. Simply put, since Apple has not yet released the white iPhone 4, we can not get our hands on white iPhone 4 OEM parts. What we can tell you is that our white iPhone 4 parts are of the highest quality and are covered under warranty for 90 days through us (iResQ). When Apple does release the white iPhone 4, we fully expect to have white OEM parts.

What is this I hear about the color of the home button not matching the white of the rest of the iPhone?
Perhaps this is one of the reasons that Apple has delayed the release of the white iPhone 4. We don't know. The best way to answer this question is to show you a hi-res picture of the white iPhone 4 and let you judge. Click here to view some hi-res pictures.

Are there any issues with the white iPhone 4's proximity sensor?
No. Our white iPhone parts are of the highest quality. There should be no problem with the proximity sensor. If you do encounter any issues with the proximity sensor, first try restoring and updating your iPhone 4 to the latest version of iOS. If you are still having proximity sensor issues, please visit our Returns page.

Are there any issues with "light-leakage" with the white iPhone 4's?
No. As mentioned before, we use quality parts with this service. We have personally verified that there is no light leakage with these iPhones.

Is there a flash diffuser on the backplate?
Yes. Our white iPhone 4 backplates have flash diffusers on them.

Should I be concerned about washed out images taken in the dark with the flash?
When you take a picture with this phone in really low light, you May see a slight "wash-out" effect. Please note, though, we see the same thing with the original black iPhone 4's.

Are the white replacement parts under warranty?
Yes. The replacement parts are under warranty for 90 days from iResQ. However, the original Apple warranty that came with your iPhone will be voided. This is a service that removes your Apple manufactured parts and replaces them with third party parts. Therefore your Apple warranty will be void.

Can I get a refund if I don't like the way the white iPhone 4 looks after I get it converted to white?
There is a 30-day refund policy with this service. Due to the labor involved in switching these parts back and forth, you will not get a full refund. Additionally you will have to provide shipping of your iPhone back to us. In the case that you did want a refund, iResQ will be able to refund you everything but $45 for labor plus shipping. We advise taking a good look at our hi-res pics HERE and deciding if these parts are to your liking before ordering this service.

Will you buy my black iPhone 4 parts?
Yes, if your black iPhone 4 parts are in excellent condition (pretty much perfect condition), we will make an offer for the black parts

Does this conversion work on all iPhone 4's?
No. We have found that this conversion does not work on every iPhone 4. This conversion works on most iPhone 4's, however, there are some revisions of the iPhone 4 that the white parts are not compatible with. There is no clear way to distinguish what revision of the iPhone 4 you have easily. Our technicians would be required to make the distinction. If you order the conversion service and your iPhone 4 is not compatible, we will contact you with further details regarding a refund. We will not be able to refund shipping.
 
Ubreakifix Botched Conversion Fixed

When I received my iPhone 4 back from UBreakifix for the white conversion the proximity sensor would not work at all and the WiFi and GPS were "deaf." In other words a crippled phone. Wifi would only work when I was within 10 feet of the WiFi access point.

I could definitely not live with this so I sent my phone into iResQ......

I have heard good news from iResq.

The problem with the WiFi & GPS was fixed by replacing 2 small screws that were totally missing and replacing the small metal connector cover that goes over the 5 connectors on the logic board. It was bent. Due to a sloppy, careless job by the uBreak dude.

The proximity sensor issue was also fixed. The tech said this is a common problem with conversions due to poor or inconsistent quality of front covers. This has to do with the pattern of dots on the little window that the sensor looks through. What they do is remove the pattern that is on the front cover and use a special tiny screen to spray a new pattern onto the front cover that meets the Apple specs that the sensor requires. Problem solved.

I asked the tech about why certain iPhone 4's just could not be converted. He said there is more than one version of the logic board and that on some versions the proximity sensor was moved slightly so that it would not match the standard opening on the front covers. He said there was no physical difference in the size or fit of the front or back, just that the sensor on the logic board and the opening do not match. If a different version of the front was made to fit the other version of the logic board then there would be no problem retrofitting phones with these different logic boards.

He said they got 9 batches ( he did not say how many a "batch" was ) of white front covers and backs that worked fine ( except on phones with the different logic board ). These fit perfect with no light leakage or other problems. Then they started getting sets with defects that did not meet the iResQ high standards of quality so they stopped doing the conversions.

The tech said that even though they no longer do white conversions at the present, they do have a good supply of white fronts and backs from their original supply that they will use to repair phones. So if you break your white front or the screen just quits working you can send it in and they will replace it with another white front, but if you have a black front they will only replace it with a black front. They also have plenty of white backs and will replace backs no matter if you have white or black. He said they will resume doing conversions again if they can get a consistent and large enough supply of high quality white parts.

The tech was extremely knowledgable and very nice and communication from the time you send your phone until you get it back is excellent. I highly recommend iResQ without a doubt.

Total charge for the repair $5.00 and $21.00 for 2-way UPS insured/tracked overnight shipping. So all the botches of the Ubreak clowns are fixed and now I will have a working white iPhone 4 back. They also fully guarantee all their work for 90 days and if anything does not work they pay for UPS overnight shipping and the repair free of charge.
 
This is awesome. What about if I want to replace the front with one that does not have light leakage? How would I be able to get quoted for a price? Did the 5 dollars for the service charge include any parts that needed to be changed?

Thanks a bunch for posting this.

-J


hdtravel said:
When I received my iPhone 4 back from UBreakifix for the white conversion the proximity sensor would not work at all and the WiFi and GPS were "deaf." In other words a crippled phone. Wifi would only work when I was within 10 feet of the WiFi access point.

I could definitely not live with this so I sent my phone into iResQ......

I have heard good news from iResq.

The problem with the WiFi & GPS was fixed by replacing 2 small screws that were totally missing and replacing the small metal connector cover that goes over the 5 connectors on the logic board. It was bent. Due to a sloppy, careless job by the uBreak dude.

The proximity sensor issue was also fixed. The tech said this is a common problem with conversions due to poor or inconsistent quality of front covers. This has to do with the pattern of dots on the little window that the sensor looks through. What they do is remove the pattern that is on the front cover and use a special tiny screen to spray a new pattern onto the front cover that meets the Apple specs that the sensor requires. Problem solved.

I asked the tech about why certain iPhone 4's just could not be converted. He said there is more than one version of the logic board and that on some versions the proximity sensor was moved slightly so that it would not match the standard opening on the front covers. He said there was no physical difference in the size or fit of the front or back, just that the sensor on the logic board and the opening do not match. If a different version of the front was made to fit the other version of the logic board then there would be no problem retrofitting phones with these different logic boards.

He said they got 9 batches ( he did not say how many a "batch" was ) of white front covers and backs that worked fine ( except on phones with the different logic board ). These fit perfect with no light leakage or other problems. Then they started getting sets with defects that did not meet the iResQ high standards of quality so they stopped doing the conversions.

The tech said that even though they no longer do white conversions at the present, they do have a good supply of white fronts and backs from their original supply that they will use to repair phones. So if you break your white front or the screen just quits working you can send it in and they will replace it with another white front, but if you have a black front they will only replace it with a black front. They also have plenty of white backs and will replace backs no matter if you have white or black. He said they will resume doing conversions again if they can get a consistent and large enough supply of high quality white parts.

The tech was extremely knowledgable and very nice and communication from the time you send your phone until you get it back is excellent. I highly recommend iResQ without a doubt.

Total charge for the repair $5.00 and $21.00 for 2-way UPS insured/tracked overnight shipping. So all the botches of the Ubreak clowns are fixed and now I will have a working white iPhone 4 back. They also fully guarantee all their work for 90 days and if anything does not work they pay for UPS overnight shipping and the repair free of charge.
Click to expand...
 
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