I know the title may sound far-fetched, but please read this entire post before commenting. It's even more bizarre than you would think. It's also long, so I broke it into sections.
Background: I have owned iOS devices since the 3rd generation iPod Touch and never had any issues with charging cables or headphone adapters until now. Also, every non-Apple charging cable or headphone adapter used was MFi-certified using Apple chips from a reliable seller such as Anker.
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So sometime in late August or early September of this year (around the time iOS 12.4.1 was released), the Apple 3.5mm to Lightning headphone adapter I used with my iPhone XS Max started to become unreliable. It would cut out randomly and sporadically pause and play stuff. I also started hearing these static-y clicking sounds often. Eventually it got the point where it cut out or paused stuff so often that it was basically unusable. Also, when it cut in and out during gaming it caused me to briefly lag very badly.
I went ahead and ordered a new Apple headphone adapter, and about a week or two later, I started having the same problems. Figuring that Apple headphone adapters just had awful build quality, I then ordered this rather expensive high-durability nylon braided one from a third party, which had great reviews. About a week or two later, it broke/deteriorated the exact same way as the first two. At this point, I'm thinking the issue has to be my phone. Maybe something is wrong with the Lightning port and it's sending out the wrong... voltage? Who knows.
(Note: One of the Apple ones completely broke -- like my phone wouldn't recognize it at all. I tried it with other iPhones and they didn't recognize it either. These adapters weren't just having issues with my phone, they were breaking).
Around this time, I get the iPhone 11 Pro Max. I ordered a new headphone adapter thinking that this issue is behind me. Turns out, I was wrong. Even with the new phone, my headphone adapters continue to rapidly break.
I called Apple support to explain the issue. The supervisor (and only this supervisor) said this is a "known issue" and that the engineers were looking into it. We're both thinking that this bizarre problem must somehow be software-related since both my old phone and now my new phone are frying the adapters. She said that restoring my phone and setting it up as a new device would refresh the OS or whatever and should fix it, but she told me not to do that yet because the engineers might want log files.
(Note: When getting new devices, I have restored from backups for 9 years straight. I guess this means I have been using the same iOS "volume" for 9 years, so the chances do seem high that it could have been corrupted in some way).
She never got back to me. I called Apple support to explain the issue and got ghosted by 2 more supervisors, one of which told me that it's actually not a known issue. (?) Each one was very nice and said they would call or email me back, then didn't. They had me do some silly things like sending the engineers pictures of my broken headphone adapters (which weren't physically broken).
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I give up and just start using my big bluetooth headphones, which aren't practical for most of my use cases. Around this time, I notice that my charging cable is randomly cutting in and out with the slightest movement or touch to the cable or phone. I order a new one. The same thing happens after about a week. I try using the Apple one my phone came with. Again, the same thing starts happening after a few days. Great! Now my phone is breaking charging cables and headphone adapters.
Note: It's extremely unlikely that power adapters have anything to do with this because this cord frying has happened when I was using the 18 watt Apple adapter, the 30 watt Apple adapter, and the 87 watt Apple adapter.)
So I'm talking to the 4th supervisor and I tell him that I need to try to fix this issue by restoring my phone and setting it up as a new device (not loading from a backup) ASAP. I needed to reliably charge my phone, I wanted to use my nice headphones, and if I returned anything else to Amazon, my account would probably get banned. I can't sit around waiting for the engineers to ask for log files or another supervisor who will ghost me. I can't even count how many hours I've spent with them on the phone by this point because they constantly say "hang on just one second" whenever they have to look up even the tiniest thing and then return after 15-30 minutes.
The supervisor has me extract and upload a bunch of log files and gives me the green light to restore my phone. He says he'll call me on [x] day and provide an update from the engineers. Despite promising to, he never did -- even after I had explained to him my frustration at being ghosted by 3 previous supervisors.
I restore my new phone and set it up as a new device. I had to re-download all my apps, re-folder them, log back into everything, re-setup my Apple Watch, redo all of my settings, etc. It took almost an entire day, but I'm feeling good. I have a clean new volume, some weird bugs I've had forever are gone, and the issue should be fixed.
New phone, new operating system. There's no way the issue could still persist, right? Wrong. My iPhone continues to slowly fry any new charging cable or headphone adapter I order. I have never come closer to actually banging my head against a wall.
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At this point, the only thing I can possibly think of is since my new phone did initially have a backup of my old one on it, maybe that "corrupted" volume somehow permanently damaged its hardware.
I call Apple, talk to supervisor number 5, ask for the previous supervisor, and get the usual spiel about how there's no way he can get me into contact with the last one. He says that engineering never responded to the last supervisor and that that's "very unusual" because it's been over a week and they usually respond within a day.
I explain everything that has happened and tell him that at this point, I think Apple should just replace the phone and I can set it up as a new device from the get go. He gets kind of defensive/combative and tells me it's very unlikely that Apple will replace my phone, and that my cables are probably the issue rather than the phone. I explain to him that I've had about 5 charging cables and maybe 6 or 7 headphone adapters all break the same way within the past couple months, and that I've never had issues before then. I ask him if he still thinks that the issue is probably my cables rather than the phone.
He says yes, he still thinks the issue is my phone. I told him "I can believe what you feel" and he tells me that he'll call me back the next day. He says he'll have engineering expedite a response and that they will definitely have gotten back to him by the time he calls me tomorrow.
He calls me about 24 hours later and before he says anything I go on this spiel of desperation about how I'm at my wits end and I need them to replace my phone. I also let him know that it's in mint condition with 100% battery health and perfectly applied screen protector that took my like 4 tries, so I'm not just scheming to get a fresh phone. He sighs and said something along the lines of the engineers still haven't replied so he basically has to send me a new one and hence I'm getting a replacement.
I'm glad, but he has me use Apple Express Replacement (not giving me any other options) which I'm getting charged $30 for. I also then asked Apple to replace my stuff their software broke and they said no and that my Amazon account wouldn't get banned (despite one of the previous advisors literally saying that it happened to him after I expressed fear about it). So I'm down at least $100 or so on all the broken accessories.
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So there you have it, probably the worst customer support experience I've ever had. I've been a loyal Apple customer for almost a decade and this is how they treated me. :/ I get my new phone tomorrow and I hope to god that it fixes this issue. I don't even know what to do if it doesn't. I will keep you guys updated. Has anyone else experienced something like this?
EDIT: I guess the title should actually be 2 haunted cord-frying iPhones. Oh well.
Background: I have owned iOS devices since the 3rd generation iPod Touch and never had any issues with charging cables or headphone adapters until now. Also, every non-Apple charging cable or headphone adapter used was MFi-certified using Apple chips from a reliable seller such as Anker.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So sometime in late August or early September of this year (around the time iOS 12.4.1 was released), the Apple 3.5mm to Lightning headphone adapter I used with my iPhone XS Max started to become unreliable. It would cut out randomly and sporadically pause and play stuff. I also started hearing these static-y clicking sounds often. Eventually it got the point where it cut out or paused stuff so often that it was basically unusable. Also, when it cut in and out during gaming it caused me to briefly lag very badly.
I went ahead and ordered a new Apple headphone adapter, and about a week or two later, I started having the same problems. Figuring that Apple headphone adapters just had awful build quality, I then ordered this rather expensive high-durability nylon braided one from a third party, which had great reviews. About a week or two later, it broke/deteriorated the exact same way as the first two. At this point, I'm thinking the issue has to be my phone. Maybe something is wrong with the Lightning port and it's sending out the wrong... voltage? Who knows.
(Note: One of the Apple ones completely broke -- like my phone wouldn't recognize it at all. I tried it with other iPhones and they didn't recognize it either. These adapters weren't just having issues with my phone, they were breaking).
Around this time, I get the iPhone 11 Pro Max. I ordered a new headphone adapter thinking that this issue is behind me. Turns out, I was wrong. Even with the new phone, my headphone adapters continue to rapidly break.
I called Apple support to explain the issue. The supervisor (and only this supervisor) said this is a "known issue" and that the engineers were looking into it. We're both thinking that this bizarre problem must somehow be software-related since both my old phone and now my new phone are frying the adapters. She said that restoring my phone and setting it up as a new device would refresh the OS or whatever and should fix it, but she told me not to do that yet because the engineers might want log files.
(Note: When getting new devices, I have restored from backups for 9 years straight. I guess this means I have been using the same iOS "volume" for 9 years, so the chances do seem high that it could have been corrupted in some way).
She never got back to me. I called Apple support to explain the issue and got ghosted by 2 more supervisors, one of which told me that it's actually not a known issue. (?) Each one was very nice and said they would call or email me back, then didn't. They had me do some silly things like sending the engineers pictures of my broken headphone adapters (which weren't physically broken).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I give up and just start using my big bluetooth headphones, which aren't practical for most of my use cases. Around this time, I notice that my charging cable is randomly cutting in and out with the slightest movement or touch to the cable or phone. I order a new one. The same thing happens after about a week. I try using the Apple one my phone came with. Again, the same thing starts happening after a few days. Great! Now my phone is breaking charging cables and headphone adapters.
Note: It's extremely unlikely that power adapters have anything to do with this because this cord frying has happened when I was using the 18 watt Apple adapter, the 30 watt Apple adapter, and the 87 watt Apple adapter.)
So I'm talking to the 4th supervisor and I tell him that I need to try to fix this issue by restoring my phone and setting it up as a new device (not loading from a backup) ASAP. I needed to reliably charge my phone, I wanted to use my nice headphones, and if I returned anything else to Amazon, my account would probably get banned. I can't sit around waiting for the engineers to ask for log files or another supervisor who will ghost me. I can't even count how many hours I've spent with them on the phone by this point because they constantly say "hang on just one second" whenever they have to look up even the tiniest thing and then return after 15-30 minutes.
The supervisor has me extract and upload a bunch of log files and gives me the green light to restore my phone. He says he'll call me on [x] day and provide an update from the engineers. Despite promising to, he never did -- even after I had explained to him my frustration at being ghosted by 3 previous supervisors.
I restore my new phone and set it up as a new device. I had to re-download all my apps, re-folder them, log back into everything, re-setup my Apple Watch, redo all of my settings, etc. It took almost an entire day, but I'm feeling good. I have a clean new volume, some weird bugs I've had forever are gone, and the issue should be fixed.
New phone, new operating system. There's no way the issue could still persist, right? Wrong. My iPhone continues to slowly fry any new charging cable or headphone adapter I order. I have never come closer to actually banging my head against a wall.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At this point, the only thing I can possibly think of is since my new phone did initially have a backup of my old one on it, maybe that "corrupted" volume somehow permanently damaged its hardware.
I call Apple, talk to supervisor number 5, ask for the previous supervisor, and get the usual spiel about how there's no way he can get me into contact with the last one. He says that engineering never responded to the last supervisor and that that's "very unusual" because it's been over a week and they usually respond within a day.
I explain everything that has happened and tell him that at this point, I think Apple should just replace the phone and I can set it up as a new device from the get go. He gets kind of defensive/combative and tells me it's very unlikely that Apple will replace my phone, and that my cables are probably the issue rather than the phone. I explain to him that I've had about 5 charging cables and maybe 6 or 7 headphone adapters all break the same way within the past couple months, and that I've never had issues before then. I ask him if he still thinks that the issue is probably my cables rather than the phone.
He says yes, he still thinks the issue is my phone. I told him "I can believe what you feel" and he tells me that he'll call me back the next day. He says he'll have engineering expedite a response and that they will definitely have gotten back to him by the time he calls me tomorrow.
He calls me about 24 hours later and before he says anything I go on this spiel of desperation about how I'm at my wits end and I need them to replace my phone. I also let him know that it's in mint condition with 100% battery health and perfectly applied screen protector that took my like 4 tries, so I'm not just scheming to get a fresh phone. He sighs and said something along the lines of the engineers still haven't replied so he basically has to send me a new one and hence I'm getting a replacement.
I'm glad, but he has me use Apple Express Replacement (not giving me any other options) which I'm getting charged $30 for. I also then asked Apple to replace my stuff their software broke and they said no and that my Amazon account wouldn't get banned (despite one of the previous advisors literally saying that it happened to him after I expressed fear about it). So I'm down at least $100 or so on all the broken accessories.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So there you have it, probably the worst customer support experience I've ever had. I've been a loyal Apple customer for almost a decade and this is how they treated me. :/ I get my new phone tomorrow and I hope to god that it fixes this issue. I don't even know what to do if it doesn't. I will keep you guys updated. Has anyone else experienced something like this?
EDIT: I guess the title should actually be 2 haunted cord-frying iPhones. Oh well.
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