Other What's with Apple botching battery replacements and handing out new phones?

[FeliApple]

I might be wrong, but I read here far too many cases in which Apple broke something during the battery replacement and had to hand out a phone replacement.
Now, I don't know if it is due to the nature of forums in which people tend to share issues more predominantly, so I'm exponentially exaggerating or Apple really does screw up a lot of replacements.
I'm asking because if I ever replace the battery on my iPhone 6s, I can't have them giving me a new one - mine is on iOS 9, and I obviously cannot force them to downgrade one for me - and it obviously wouldn't be the same if they gave me a new one in whichever version the newest is at that point.

 

[leezz]

If you go to ifixit.com you can see those phones are really hard to get open. With the rush to get the $29 battery replacement through the end of the year it is understandable that the technicians are overloaded with work. When they are in a rush it is easier to make a mistake to break something. Hence the stories we heard.

 

[teeshot44]

I might be wrong, but I read here far too many cases in which Apple broke something during the battery replacement and had to hand out a phone replacement.
Now, I don't know if it is due to the nature of forums in which people tend to share issues more predominantly, so I'm exponentially exaggerating or Apple really does screw up a lot of replacements.
I'm asking because if I ever replace the battery on my iPhone 6s, I can't have them giving me a new one - mine is on iOS 9, and I obviously cannot force them to downgrade one for me - and it obviously wouldn't be the same if they gave me a new one in whichever version the newest is at that point.

It is common place on forums and real life to complain rather than give compliments or talk about how things went right. Shouldn't be that way, but...................

 

[jagolden]

If you go to ifixit.com you can see those phones are really hard to get open. With the rush to get the $29 battery replacement through the end of the year it is understandable that the technicians are overloaded with work. When they are in a rush it is easier to make a mistake to break something. Hence the stories we heard.

I agree with the end of year rush, but I had mine done in June and they still botched it.
Worked out to my advantage though as the replacement had a new battery and twice the storage of the one I dropped off.
No complaint here. It was a 6s Plus.

 

[canuckRus]

I might be wrong, but I read here far too many cases in which Apple broke something during the battery replacement and had to hand out a phone replacement.
Now, I don't know if it is due to the nature of forums in which people tend to share issues more predominantly, so I'm exponentially exaggerating or Apple really does screw up a lot of replacements.
I'm asking because if I ever replace the battery on my iPhone 6s, I can't have them giving me a new one - mine is on iOS 9, and I obviously cannot force them to downgrade one for me - and it obviously wouldn't be the same if they gave me a new one in whichever version the newest is at that point.

It's an involved process. Within the thousands of replacements there are bound to be a few screwups. TICK, TOCK! 22 days remaining.

 

[FeliApple]

It is common place on forums and real life to complain rather than give compliments or talk about how things went right. Shouldn't be that way, but...................

I know, hence why I clarified that.

It's an involved process. Within the thousands of replacements there are bound to be a few screwups. TICK, TOCK! 22 days remaining.

I'm not in a country with an Apple Store and my battery is fine (93% capacity), I was really asking for later, if and when I exchange it. The issue will be even more important, as the iOS version will be newer, hence I can expect an even worse battery life than iOS 12, and most likely worst performance as well, should Apple make iOS 12 the one-time optimising exception - which is possible, and I might venture, likely.

I agree with the end of year rush, but I had mine done in June and they still botched it.
Worked out to my advantage though as the replacement had a new battery and twice the storage of the one I dropped off.
No complaint here. It was a 6s Plus.

I know Apple makes it right, but in my case, it wouldn't be the same. If I was already updated, then yes, I wouldn't mind.
[doublepost=1544376711][/doublepost]Thanks everyone for your answers.

 

[C DM]

I might be wrong, but I read here far too many cases in which Apple broke something during the battery replacement and had to hand out a phone replacement.
Now, I don't know if it is due to the nature of forums in which people tend to share issues more predominantly, so I'm exponentially exaggerating or Apple really does screw up a lot of replacements.
I'm asking because if I ever replace the battery on my iPhone 6s, I can't have them giving me a new one - mine is on iOS 9, and I obviously cannot force them to downgrade one for me - and it obviously wouldn't be the same if they gave me a new one in whichever version the newest is at that point.

Far too many?

 

[Devyn89]

You’re going to have to update before doing the battery repair anyway.

 

[Broadus]

I had the battery in my wife’s 6s replaced last week, and the replacement was fine.

 

[ravinder08]

They screwed up the battery replacement on my wife's iPhone 6 and they swapped it for a brand new one, needless to say she was over the moon!

 

[cableguy84]

I would be pissed if they botched my phone

 

[NT1440]

I might be wrong, but I read here far too many cases in which Apple broke something during the battery replacement and had to hand out a phone replacement.
Now, I don't know if it is due to the nature of forums in which people tend to share issues more predominantly, so I'm exponentially exaggerating or Apple really does screw up a lot of replacements.
I'm asking because if I ever replace the battery on my iPhone 6s, I can't have them giving me a new one - mine is on iOS 9, and I obviously cannot force them to downgrade one for me - and it obviously wouldn't be the same if they gave me a new one in whichever version the newest is at that point.

If you look at the procedure (I’ve done a few dozen times for friend family and clients), if the battery adhesive tabs break off all you can do is use a credit card to hope to cut through the adhesive on the back of the battery.

My educated guess (I’m ACMT certified) is in store if the tab breaks that’s the end of it. While the battery can be removed as I described above, this is dangerous. You can easily puncture the battery pack doing it. If you do that and the lithium is exposed to oxygen, you’ve got a fire you can’t put out. All certified centers (including Apple stores) are required to have a fire proof safe to quickly throw that battery into until the risk is gone.

To put that in perspective, in a store that likely does dozens of batteries a day, one mishap will essentially freeze the entire repair process until the battery and safe can be dealt with safely.

That’s why I personally think if the tabs break Apple swaps the unit and sends the phone to be refurbished safely in a facility that’s not crawling with customers .

 

[Newtons Apple]

You can not use this forum to judge how often this is happening. This forum represents and very small percentage of iPhone owners. I would bet that less than .01% e=en has heard of MacRumors.

 

[FeliApple]

You can not use this forum to judge how often this is happening. This forum represents and very small percentage of iPhone owners. I would bet that less than .01% e=en has heard of MacRumors.

I know, I did say that. Still, it seemed too much, taking the account the - admittedly small and most certainly not representative - sample.

 

[NT1440]

I know, I did say that. Still, it seemed too much, taking the account the - admittedly small and most certainly not representative - sample.

Did you read my post?

 

[FeliApple]

If you look at the procedure (I’ve done a few dozen times for friend family and clients), if the battery adhesive tabs break off all you can do is use a credit card to hope to cut through the adhesive on the back of the battery.

My educated guess (I’m ACMT certified) is in store if the tab breaks that’s the end of it. While the battery can be removed as I described above, this is dangerous. You can easily puncture the battery pack doing it. If you do that and the lithium is exposed to oxygen, you’ve got a fire you can’t put out. All certified centers (including Apple stores) are required to have a fire proof safe to quickly throw that battery into until the risk is gone.

To put that in perspective, in a store that likely does dozens of batteries a day, one mishap will essentially freeze the entire repair process until the battery and safe can be dealt with safely.

That’s why I personally think if the tabs break Apple swaps the unit and sends the phone to be refurbished safely in a facility that’s not crawling with customers .

Thanks for the explanation! Makes a lot of sense. I don't think I'd risk it in my case, then.
As I'm assuming that even if Apple is transparent with me about that, and explains why they have to do it like that, I wouldn't be able to request that same phone to be returned to me from the repair facility in the same iOS version. Thinking that is just wishful thinking and utopian because it won't happen.
As I feared, sending a non-updated device for a battery exchange seems too much of a risk.

 

[AppleHaterLover]

You can not use this forum to judge how often this is happening. This forum represents and very small percentage of iPhone owners. I would bet that less than .01% e=en has heard of MacRumors.

I’d say it’s even less than that.

But WTH is up with these people wanting to keep running 2015 software for absolutely no reason at all? And blaming Apple for solving issues with battery replacements literally as best as possible (we screwed up, here’s a new phone no questions asked).

 

[FeliApple]

I’d say it’s even less than that.

But WTH is up with these people wanting to keep running 2015 software for absolutely no reason at all? And blaming Apple for solving issues with battery replacements literally as best as possible (we screwed up, here’s a new phone no questions asked).

I did not blame Apple. I just wondered why apparently a large number of procedures failed.
Me staying on iOS 9 has a whole bunch of legitimate reasons that are not in discussion here.

 

[ipodssss]

May I ask, why are you running ios9?

 

[NT1440]

May I ask, why are you running ios9?

My guess would be he’s done a jailbreak and is happy with the current state of it.

I used to be really into that scene but I don’t have a passion for it anymore...though I really do miss being able to fire up a modded Pokémon game the two or three times a year the mood strikes me.

 

[FeliApple]

May I ask, why are you running ios9?

Because iOS updates are almost always severely disruptive in both performance and battery life, and make changes that are for the sake of change rather than an operational advantage.
iOS 12 is apparently the performance exception, performing like original iOS versions, but it isn't a battery life exception.
Battery life on the 6s-7 is around half that of original versions. This was tested and checked by me, on multiple occasions and devices.
Besides, updates can introduce bugs and issues that weren't present there before, so why risk it?
If you want to go to the real root cause of my reluctance to update, it was the update to iOS 7 on my iPad 4. I hated the design; I couldn't go back; battery life was decreased significantly; performance was lacklustre; native apps crashed, and a full restore and setup as new didn't fix it.
After all those issues, I said I wouldn't update anything ever again. I kept my own promise, and I keep everything on original versions. Furthermore, I have instructed my family not to update.
Moreover, I have seen the result of updated devices far too many times to have expectations of a positive outcome, both in 32-bit - which were absolutely crippled in every sense - and 64-bit, which were less disruptive; nevertheless, they were still harmful. Let me emphasise: battery life on the 6s-7 was around 4 hours on-screen on iOS 12, in multiple devices I have personally seen. I am getting 8-9 hours of on-screen time on my 6s on iOS 9.
As such, every device in my household is running original versions of iOS.
I have never jailbroken any of my devices.

 

[badatusernames]

I'm in a similar position with the OP (not having an Apple Store in my country). I just replaced the battery on my own and got an OEM battery from eBay (iOS reports the the health is at 99% so I guess that proves it’s genuine). If @FeliApple is you’re interested let me know. I know it’s not for everyone this was my first time doing this and it went well.

 

[ipodssss]

Because iOS updates are almost always severely disruptive in both performance and battery life, and make changes that are for the sake of change rather than an operational advantage.
iOS 12 is apparently the performance exception, performing like original iOS versions, but it isn't a battery life exception.
Battery life on the 6s-7 is around half that of original versions. This was tested and checked by me, on multiple occasions and devices.
Besides, updates can introduce bugs and issues that weren't present there before, so why risk it?
If you want to go to the real root cause of my reluctance to update, it was the update to iOS 7 on my iPad 4. I hated the design; I couldn't go back; battery life was decreased significantly; performance was lacklustre; native apps crashed, and a full restore and setup as new didn't fix it.
After all those issues, I said I wouldn't update anything ever again. I kept my own promise, and I keep everything on original versions. Furthermore, I have instructed my family not to update.
Moreover, I have seen the result of updated devices far too many times to have expectations of a positive outcome, both in 32-bit - which were absolutely crippled in every sense - and 64-bit, which were less disruptive; nevertheless, they were still harmful. Let me emphasise: battery life on the 6s-7 was around 4 hours on-screen on iOS 12, in multiple devices I have personally seen. I am getting 8-9 hours of on-screen time on my 6s on iOS 9.
As such, every device in my household is running original versions of iOS.
I have never, nor do I plan to, jailbreak any of my devices.

Ok, that was a story.
Yeh conspiracy theories are popular these days. iOS 11 was clunky but 12 is cool.
You do you though

 

[FeliApple]

Ok, that was a story.
Yeh conspiracy theories are popular these days. iOS 11 was clunky but 12 is cool.
You do you though

No conspiracy at all, but I do understand why do people update. App support is important and I acknowledge that. I don't criticise people who update, I suggest the opposite, but I understand why does the majority of the user base update.

 

[dazz87]

No issue here with a battery replacement...Actually it was pretty fast turn around for a Sat afternoon. 1 hour.