Yesterdays meeting about iPhone 3G cracks in case....

[crazylegsmurphy]

Yesterday I had an appointment with a "genius" at the Mapple store regarding a crack in my iPhone 3G case. This is my 3rd iPhone replacement due to the same issue so I wanted to get Mapple's take on it.

At first the "genius" said, "Well, the official Apple stance is that it's due to pressure...of cases, being in people's pockets...stuff like that.

I replied with, "Ya, but it's a phone, how else are you supposed to carry it, and I have had other mobile phones before which have been fine in my pocket. The cracks are also forming around the switches, which indicates to me that this isn't due to pressure, but because the case isn't designed well."

He kinda stumbled a bit and then said....."Ok, well I have the same problem too..."

He pulled out his phone and sure enough it had cracks starting by the silent switch. I said, "Do you think that's due to pressure?"

He quickly avoided my questions and looked at my phone and said, "See, you have the Zagg on there, that's not a Mapple approved case!"

I said, "Do you really think it's this case that's causing cracks...since the cracks aren't where the case is, and this has happened to two other previous phones all without cases?"

He said, "Well...right now Mapple is replacing all cracked phones until we are told otherwise. I can replace yours today if you want."

I told him that I wasn't going to do that until I heard some word on whether they were changing anything in the process or materials, but wanted him to make note of it so if things changed there was record I was here.

He said, "Well, what I am doing is coming in two days before my warranty runs out and exchanging mine...since there is a 90 day warranty on all replacements"

This actually surprised me a bit. I was under the impression that when your warranty is done, then you're S.O.L. It would seem that if this is indeed true, you could keep exchanging them (as long as they kept cracking) within the 90 days until the end of time (or your contract at least).

Take this story how you will (we all know every Mapple store has a different story), but at least for now you should be able to get them replaced if there is an issue.

I am personally waiting until they figure something out, but will be exchanging it on the last day of my warranty as the "genius" suggested.

 

[Small White Car]

So this guy was nice to you, helped you find a way to get a new phone, continue your warranty, and actually taught you something useful that you didn't know before.

And in exchange you come here to make a post just to insult and criticize him?

Nice

 

[Rayfire]

So this guy was nice to you, helped you find a way to get a new phone, continue your warranty, and actually taught you something useful that you didn't know before.

And in exchange you come here to make a post just to insult and criticize him?

Nice

I think he just wants to tell us about the continuous 90-day warranty on replacement phones.

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

So this guy was nice to you, helped you find a way to get a new phone, continue your warranty, and actually taught you something useful that you didn't know before.

And in exchange you come here to make a post just to insult and criticize him?

Nice

Wow...really?

Perhaps I didn't explain what happened well enough, or maybe you should go back and give it another read. This guy was helpful, but he wasn't exactly forthcoming with the information.

Perhaps you missed the part where he tried to blame me for the issues twice. Maybe you missed the part where he neglected to tell me his phone was cracked until I dug deeper.

If I had sat down and he said, "Mapple's stance is that it's due to pressure"...and I said, "oh...ok I'll have to be careful how I carry it then"

That would have been the end of the conversation. He would have cheerfully left out the exchange, his phone cracked, the 90 day replacement warranty, and making note that I had been in.

The reason I posted this is because I felt that it might be information useful to some. I also wanted to express my feelings regarding how it wasn't exactly a transparent conversation and that without me digging a little, I might have been no better off than I was when I went in.

 

[OllyW]

If I had sat down and he said, "Mapple's stance is that it's due to pressure"...and I said, "oh...ok I'll have to be careful how I carry it then"

Why would a Genius say "Mapple"?

Was he also immature?

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

So this guy was nice to you, helped you find a way to get a new phone, continue your warranty, and actually taught you something useful that you didn't know before.

And in exchange you come here to make a post just to insult and criticize him?

Nice

Grab a tissue man.

OP I found your post very informative, yet I fail to understand why you turned down a replacement. I've had three 3G iPhones already and not one of them had a problem with case cracking. Pretty sure there's a thread somewhere that defines the earlier released models as the offenders.

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

Why would a Genius say "Mapple"?

Was he also immature?

Don't worry sir, I'll lose another finger for even thinking of insulting the Apple Gods...it's all good.

 

[Small White Car]

The reason I posted this is because I felt that it might be information useful to some.

The information was very useful.

I also wanted to express my feelings regarding how it wasn't exactly a transparent conversation and that without me digging a little, I might have been no better off than I was when I went in.

This describes any interaction with any employee of any company in the world.

Given that, I found the need to insult the guy to be kind of odd. He's just doing his job the way he's been trained to do it. You totally did the right thing by pushing him, and I appreciate you coming here to tell us how to do the same. That's all fine. We SHOULD do things like this when dealing with large companies.

But to insult a guy for doing his job correctly makes you look really petty.

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

Grab a tissue man.

OP I found your post very informative, yet I fail to understand why you turned down a replacement. I've had three 3G iPhones already and not one of them had a problem with case cracking. Pretty sure there's a thread somewhere that defines the earlier released models as the offenders.

Great question.

The reason is that my current phone is only from October. I have been following this problem since then and I thought that my current phone might have been in the clear. The other day when I replaced the case on it I noticed the case was cracking in two places.

The reason why I didn't take the replacement was because I have the Zagg case on the phone that I JUST put on, and because right now the small cracks are less hassle than say dead pixels, light leak, and such that I've had (and others) have had before.

Of course I may have gotten a good one, but I am more so waiting to see if there are any actual changes (official or noticed) to the case. That, and I don't really want to be wasting my time making appointments every few months as it's a 4 hour round trip drive to the store.

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

But to insult a guy for doing his job correctly makes you look really petty.

I'm sure he's ok. I fail to see how I insulted the guy as you put it. It's not like I said, "And his stupid face was grinning and I could see the glint of blue from his stupid little shirt in his eye as the"

I gave an account of how it went down. If you're referring to me putting "genius" in quotations..it's because I guess I'm the only one who finds this completely childish, pompous, and ridiculous.

It's like calling a Subway worker a "Sandwich Artist"... I two art degree's and I can tell you, it doesn't take 6 years of schooling to make a sandwich.

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

Makes complete sense, as I know how tedious putting on the IS can be.

You are aware that you are entitled to unlimited replacement phones (as long as you find significant defects) and unlimited IS replacements so long as you send back the one to be replaced?

 

[davidwarren]

I'm sure he's ok. I fail to see how I insulted the guy as you put it. It's not like I said, "And his stupid face was grinning and I could see the glint of blue from his stupid little shirt in his eye as the"

I gave an account of how it went down. If you're referring to me putting "genius" in quotations..it's because I guess I'm the only one who finds this completely childish, pompous, and ridiculous.

It's like calling a Subway worker a "Sandwich Artist"... I two art degree's and I can tell you, it doesn't take 6 years of schooling to make a sandwich.

must have been a quality school.

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

I'm sure he's ok. I fail to see how I insulted the guy as you put it. It's not like I said, "And his stupid face was grinning and I could see the glint of blue from his stupid little shirt in his eye as the"

I gave an account of how it went down. If you're referring to me putting "genius" in quotations..it's because I guess I'm the only one who finds this completely childish, pompous, and ridiculous.

It's like calling a Subway worker a "Sandwich Artist"... I two art degree's and I can tell you, it doesn't take 6 years of schooling to make a sandwich.

I'm completely with you on this. I've been at the genius bar and seen a "genius" tell a customer he has no clue what the "TTY" symbol in the status bar was. I'm not bashing on all of them but a few of them are far from being geniuses, even if it is speaking solely of their knowledge of Apple products.

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

must have been a quality school.

I said ART...not English degrees...you can only expect so much from someone who doodles for a living.

Oh wait....did I get that wrong, I think I was supposed to say, "Ohhhhhhhh SNAP!" like the cool kids do!

 

[davidwarren]

I said ART...not English degrees...you can only expect so much from someone who doodles for a living.

Oh wait....did I get that wrong, I think I was supposed to say, "Ohhhhhhhh SNAP!" like the cool kids do!

haha

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

You are aware that you are entitled to unlimited replacement phones (as long as you find significant defects) and unlimited IS replacements so long as you send back the one to be replaced?

Yup, I actually just got a new IS as the other one peeled of on the bezel. It's more time at this point. It's not so major that I'm willing to spend hours (and the replacement IS do cost me shipping) replacing IS's potentially every few months.

 

[seand1111]

Great question.

The reason is that my current phone is only from October. I have been following this problem since then and I thought that my current phone might have been in the clear. The other day when I replaced the case on it I noticed the case was cracking in two places.

The reason why I didn't take the replacement was because I have the Zagg case on the phone that I JUST put on, and because right now the small cracks are less hassle than say dead pixels, light leak, and such that I've had (and others) have had before.

Of course I may have gotten a good one, but I am more so waiting to see if there are any actual changes (official or noticed) to the case. That, and I don't really want to be wasting my time making appointments every few months as it's a 4 hour round trip drive to the store.

I wonder why he said the Zagg case was not Apple approved? I bought my wifes Zagg case at the Apple store in Sugar Land.....odd of him to say that. just thinking here, ignore me....

nevermind, her's was not Zagg, it was another case called Z-something or other.....

 

[Small White Car]

I'm sure he's ok.

I don't care about him. My point is this:

Whenever I search for an iPhone or Mac related problem, I very often find Macrumors comes up as one of the top-4 hits on Google. This means that a LOT of people who aren't members are here reading posts like this.

That's a good thing. It means Macrumors is a well-known, useful destination for Mac and iPhone users. Cool!

But I imagine that a non-member finding your post isn't going to think "Ah, this is useful." Rather, they're more likely to think "Gee, this guy sure has an ax to grind. He can't even bring himself to type the name of the company! Given that he seems pretty biased, I'm not sure I should trust this advice."

So my point is not that I care what you wrote (as a regular, this stuff doesn't bother me) but rather that I'm concerned when I see things that make Macrumors less useful to the public at large. Because that's what supports this page: The large amount of visitors it has. If we constantly use terms like Mapple (or Microsuck or whatever) then average people won't be dropping by as much.

I've seen it happen to other very fine websites, and I'd hate for something similar to happen here. (In retrospect, I should have just typed this first instead of the other stuff I wrote. I admit that was a mistake.)

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

I wonder why he said the Zagg case was not Apple approved? I bought my wifes Zagg case at the Apple store in Sugar Land.....odd of him to say that. just thinking here, ignore me....

nevermind, her's was not Zagg, it was another case called Z-something or other.....

Actually this confused me as well. I have never seen (admittedly I haven't looked all that hard) an Mapple approved case. I don't see stickers like you do on other products "Made for Vista" or something like that.

I know if you read the return policy on the website it states something like third party stuff isn't considered the same, and won't be treated the same (I'll see if I can find it).

I don't really think there are approved cases are there?

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

But I imagine that a non-member finding your post isn't going to think "Ah, this is useful." Rather, they're more likely to think "Gee, this guy sure has an ax to grind. He can't even bring himself to type the name of the company! Given that he seems pretty biased, I'm not sure I should trust this advice."

So my point is not that I care what you wrote (as a regular, this stuff doesn't bother me) but rather that I'm concerned when I see things that make Macrumors less useful to the public at large. Because that's what supports this page: The large amount of visitors it has. If we constantly use terms like Mapple (or Microsuck or whatever) then average people won't be dropping by as much.

Fair enough, but I'm not sure I agree completely. People will take the advice they want to take. Most of the time it's simply confirmation bias anyway. If they have it in their head they want something, then it's not likely anything will dissuade them.

I'm guilty of it too. I have already had pretty poor experiences with the company, yet I just dropped $3200 on a notebook.

Not only that, but public forums should always be taken with a grain of salt. There is so much bias and such that they can only ever be used as "food for thought"

 

[Small White Car]

Not only that, but public forums should always be taken with a grain of salt. There is so much bias and such that they can only ever be used as "food for thought"

Very true. I think people are becoming wiser about that too. At least, I hope they are!

 

[seand1111]

I don't really think there are approved cases are there?

Would seem to me that if they (an Apple Store or Apple online) sell it, then it is "approved" by them......but again, thats just me thinking.....

 

[crazylegsmurphy]

Would seem to me that if they (an Apple Store or Apple online) sell it, then it is "approved" by them......but again, thats just me thinking.....

This is from the website

Non-Apple-branded/Third-party products are sold AS IS by the Apple Store, but may be accompanied by their manufacturers' standard warranties. AS IS products are sold by Apple as is, where is, and with all faults, and without express or implied warranties from Apple. If you have questions about any manufacturers' warranties that accompany such products, please contact the manufacturer directly.


Note: Products sold through this website which do not bear the Apple Brand name are serviced and supported exclusively by their manufacturers in accordance with any terms and conditions packaged with the products (unless the third-party product is pre-installed in an Apple-branded computer). Apple's Limited Warranty does not apply to products that are not Apple-branded, even if packaged or sold with Apple products. Please contact the manufacturer directly for technical support and customer service.

 

[cellocello]

Can't say I've ever been given a hard time at my local Apple Store.

I see something wrong with my phone, hop online to make an appointment, take it in and VOILA! the situation gets taken care of.

I'm sure he was just giving you the prepared speech (they always hit with the "we've never seen this before" bit too), before getting to the good stuff.

They probably just want to deter people who come in every other month for a 'new' phone 'just because' - and I can appreciate that. No biggie.

If you got what you wanted, that's all there is to it.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Question about replacement due to cracks!

Can I just walk in to an apple store and show them my iphone, and then they just give me a brand new one and I walk out? Or is there some sort of process I need to go through?

Is it simple enough to only take 10 minutes?