Yesterday, I walked into an Apple Store, after visiting 4 Best Buy stores in an unsuccessful attempt to replace the battery in my 13 Pro Max, and I had the privilege of forking over $450 for my trouble. Any news outlet could run this and say Apple overcharges for everything. But allow me to explain.
I purchased a refurbished iPhone 13 Pro Max a little over a year ago from Amazon. The configuration I wanted (512GB, Sierra Blue) wasn't available in Apple's refurbished store, so I went this route instead. When I received it, I ran a diagnostic on it (can't remember what app or program it was) and it checked out. All the hardware worked as it should.
I've noticed recently the phone is acting up, rebooting on it's own with around 70% charge, and when it comes back up, it shows 10% charge. Manually restarting it brings it back to what it should be. Battery health was at 83%, which makes me uncomfortable, and it definitely wasn't lasting as long as it used to (battery health was 99% when I received it) so I scheduled a service at Best Buy for a few days out (as I'm a Total member). I figured they'd get their ducks in a row, get a battery ready to go, I've never had trouble with the 4 phones I've taken in for service previously.
This time was different. They told me they don't have the battery to do the repair, and if I wanted to proceed, they'd order the battery but they'd also have to hold onto the phone. I'm not exactly sure why that is, so I declined. I then tried to call Best Buy to see if they could point me to a store that has a battery in stock. Apparently they couldn't help me, so I went to three other stores. The first two didn't have batteries, and the last one had a solitary Apple tech with one foot out the door, and would be gone for a week. So I scheduled an appointment at Apple for the next day.
I went into Apple, everything seemed to be going smooth, the Genius ran diagnostics and it flagged the display as having a problem. He said sometimes it could be due to a non-genuine screen, and sometimes there's no real issue, like the software freaks out. I authorize the repair, and they get to it. I grab a bite a few doors down and come back about an hour later. Then Apple hits me with the bad news.
The display broke during removal. I figure okay, they'll replace it no problem. But there was a problem. Not only was the display broken, it was a third-party part. Many thoughts then ran through my head, like it all makes sense. The money I saved buying refurbished was probably thanks to the previous owner breaking the screen, which happens a lot in iPhoneland. They probably ditched the phone due to the most likely higher cost of the screen replacement at that time, so the repair shop probably threw in whatever screen they could get their hands on, duped the phone into believing it's a genuine part, and sold it to me.
$89 for the battery, $329 for the screen. That's an expensive lesson to learn, but I'll take it in stride. Just wanted the community to see what could happen if you try and cut corners, it could happen to anybody. But I've learned, either buy new or from Apple Refurbished if you can.
