Why doesnt Consumer Reports attack defective replacements?

thadoggfather · Mar 18, 2011

So I swapped my phone. (for the issue: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=995716&page=3) Got one with 4.2.1, phew. The guy was hipster looking, thought he was gonna give me crap. But he was really nice although couldnt confirm the issue himself. But he had his genius friend inspect the phone and he 'confirmed the issue' -- definitely skeptical however probably because people swap phones for non-issues. The swap out was a DOA (wouldnt boot) so he swapped it out again while saying "this is embarrassing" and "if this one has problems, maybe you should go Android." He also claimed it's one of three he's ever seen thats DOA.

When I had 2G, I had 'negative black' (where blacks were crushed and inverted to the point of having x-ray look). The swap was a DOA and the next one I believe was fine.

3GS I swapped once because towards the end of the 1-year, dust got caked between the screen and LCD -- a lot.

3G I had a crooked switch that was on the verge of falling off. And negative black made its way back to certain models. I think it was finally fully resolved by 3GS.

QC on Apple is crap. I'm very tempted to switch in the future. They don't have a good track record... I must be the most unlucky person in the world or there are lots of lemon iPhone replacements out there (for other reasons).

Before this swap (for iphone 4 that is), my other one crashed native apps all the time (unstable), and the one before that had the plagued home button issue (MRoogle 4.1 home button issue). You could call me OCD which I have tendencies to want something perfect but I know it's usually not possible in mass manufactured products. But confirmed issues every time that geniuses gladly swapped the phone out for? How do you explain that?

...Anyways Back to hopefully a phone free of problems. I wouldnt honestly be surprised if another issue came up, but knock on wood. I'm tired of dealing with the Apple store.

This is really ridiculous.

I also have a 13" that has a hinge that makes cracks and pops whenever i move it. Didnt do it originally. They replaced the panel, all was fine til this did it again. Now I simply don't care

I love Apple products (a competitor really needs to make something worth buying and that can trump Apple design and integration/software, etc -- til then I'll continue to love but be skeptical). but hate their QC or lack of, and don't see how everyone can see "they pay close attention to detail." They seem to look the other way when issues come up but are eager to wine and dine you into buying their stuff at the B&M stores.

Someone higher up should be listening to my tale from someone who's owned tons of iPods, iPhones, and MB/MBP variations in his day! amazingly enough, iPods are the ones I had the least issues with. Unless the hard drive itself was dead, it usually worked because it was a clickwheel, lock switch and lcd. Now there's a milliion components.

Mo components (and mo money as Apple evolved from iPod success), mo problems.

Heck, I'd buy Apple products from a B&M store that doesn't get in arguments with you when you aren't pleased a product and would return them or swap them without thinking twice. But down the road if you have issues, you better bring a coin and flip it to see if they will be resolved, even if they are claimed to be 'taken care' of and swapped for one with even more problems.

GFLPraxis · Mar 18, 2011

I've gone through three iPhones (original, 3G, 4), two iPads (1 and 2) and an iPod (4th gen) with not one defect. :/ Sometimes you just get unlucky. My original iPhone is still running in the hands of the friend it was passed on to, albiet with a small crack in the screen from a concrete spill and no other hardware problems.

(My MacBook had to get some parts replaced under warranty, but Apple took care of it and even gave me a free battery replacement in the process; considering how many problems I see daily with Lenovo hardware at work, it's not a bad record)

AndrewR23 · Mar 18, 2011

iPhone, 3G, and 3GS never had ONE replacement

until the 4...im on my 4th replacement...Def a downgrade in quality in this phone and the screen scratches easier than ever. Very impressed with all the additions but I sure hope the 5 is made better.

patp · Mar 18, 2011

This is why I love free market. You as the buyer have the choice to vote with your dollars. If Appl ehas failed you every time, then maybe you need to look elsewhere?

Plenty of great phones on the market.

I don't think only Apple has QC issues. I'm pretty certain Android phones crap out too.

My suggestion, try not to be so OCD and take it easy on your phones.

Merkie · Mar 18, 2011

Stop generalizing individual issues to the entire company. "I've had 4 replacements therefore Apple sucks" is logically invalid. Please don't be stupid.

PDE · Mar 19, 2011

I had a period where pretty much every laptop I bought from Apple had a bad LCD -- yellowing, excessive backlight bleeding, uneven illumination etc. I kept returning them and getting new ones, only to find that they too had problems. This went on for a year, until I was forced to accept that technology is not perfect and there will always be issues with both components and assembly. These are mass produced products using components from all over the place, so it's almost impossible to ensure that everything is always 100% perfect.

I now have a macbook pro 13, ipad and iphone 4 -- are they flawless? No, they have little 'flaws' that I see but just don't care about anymore...you'll get there too perhaps! I'm just enjoying using them, while before I was obsessed with finding faults. It's a better place to be.

Having said that, I believe iphones are generally of extremely high quality with very low problem rate and that belief has been backed up in several large surveys. Given that Apple doesn't have any real competition in terms of design and software/hardware integration, I'm sticking with them for now. If there were better alternatives, I'd go with them, but right now I don't feel there are.

Also, what I found out when replacing screens and laptops all the time was that Apple has amazing customer service and will bend over backwards to help a customer if you have a problem. That's another reason to get Apple products. i've had periods of trying other products, like a lenovo desktop monitor last year -- it was supposed to be the best they had but had terrible backlight bleeding in all four corners radiating toward the middle. Customer service was atrociously bad and disorganised. They sent out a one-year old replacement with scratches all over that had the same problem (it really was a design issue) and then the second replacement they sent out was a completely different model with a much smaller display. It also took at least three weeks to arrange, coordinate and received the replacements. Just an anecdotal story to show that all companies have problems and that it's really how they deal with the problems that matters.

AndrewR23 · Mar 19, 2011

PDE said: ↑

I had a period where pretty much every laptop I bought from Apple had a bad LCD -- yellowing, excessive backlight bleeding, uneven illumination etc. I kept returning them and getting new ones, only to find that they too had problems. This went on for a year, until I was forced to accept that technology is not perfect and there will always be issues with both components and assembly. These are mass produced products using components from all over the place, so it's almost impossible to ensure that everything is always 100% perfect.

I now have a macbook pro 13, ipad and iphone 4 -- are they flawless? No, they have little 'flaws' that I see but just don't care about anymore...you'll get there too perhaps! I'm just enjoying using them, while before I was obsessed with finding faults. It's a better place to be.

Having said that, I believe iphones are generally of extremely high quality with very low problem rate and that belief has been backed up in several large surveys. Given that Apple doesn't have any real competition in terms of design and software/hardware integration, I'm sticking with them for now. If there were better alternatives, I'd go with them, but right now I don't feel there are.

Also, what I found out when replacing screens and laptops all the time was that Apple has amazing customer service and will bend over backwards to help a customer if you have a problem. That's another reason to get Apple products. i've had periods of trying other companies, like a lenovo desktop monitor last year -- it was supposed to be the best they had but had terrible backlight bleeding in all four corners radiating toward the middle. Customer service was atrociously bad and disorganised. They sent out a one-year old replacement with scratches all over that had the same problem (it really was a design issue) and then the second replacement they sent out was a completely different model with a much smaller display. It also took at least three weeks to get the replacement. Just an anecdotal story.
Click to expand...

Very well said, this makes me feel better about my iphone 4 screen scratches

Why doesnt Consumer Reports attack defective replacements?

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