Dropped phone - Now 'E' on keyboard doesn't work. Warranty?

[KegMaster]

Had my 3G since it came out and it's always had a case around it so the phone looks brand new. Last night I dropped it on the sidewalk and it hit pretty hard but thanks to the case nothing besides the case was scratched or visibly broken. However, I noticed today that the 'E' key doesn't work on the keyboard. Actually, that little section of the touch screen is very flaky so something broke. I did a full restore and it didn't fix the problem.

Will AT&T or Apple take it back and give me a new or refurb phone if it doesn't look physically damaged?

 

[iFerd]

If dishonesty is your game, you could try it and see.

 

[Mal]

Anytime the words "dropped" and "warranty" are in the same sentence, then there's something foul in the air.

Seriously, man up. You dropped it, pay to have it fixed.

jW

 

[KegMaster]

Anytime the words "dropped" and "warranty" are in the same sentence, then there's something foul in the air.

Seriously, man up. You dropped it, pay to have it fixed.

jW

So lemme get this straight fellas... you're saying if the phone has no sign of abuse, that I should tell apple I dropped it anyways and fork over another 300 bucks even if I have a good chance they'd replace it with a refurb for free?!? Man up? We're talking about a phone homeboy. You use the term man up when someone is flirting with your girlfriend behind your back... you man up and go bust the dude up.

 

[patrickdunn]

Had my 3G since it came out and it's always had a case around it so the phone looks brand new. Last night I dropped it on the sidewalk and it hit pretty hard but thanks to the case nothing besides the case was scratched or visibly broken. However, I noticed today that the 'E' key doesn't work on the keyboard. Actually, that little section of the touch screen is very flaky so something broke. I did a full restore and it didn't fix the problem.

Will AT&T or Apple take it back and give me a new or refurb phone if it doesn't look physically damaged?

Most likely. If there is no physical damage, and you say "no" when they ask if you have dropped it or sat on it and the water sensors haven't been triggered, then your chances are pretty good.

Bust the dude up? You sound like one of these:

Good luck with it all.

 

[SilentPanda]

You're either asking because you want to know if you can get away with it (maybe) or because you feel bad and want people to tell you it's okay (it's not).

It's yours, you broke it, they shouldn't be responsible for replacing it for free. It's not shoddy quality that broke it. You did it, even on accident.

 

[KegMaster]

You're either asking because you want to know if you can get away with it (maybe) or because you feel bad and want people to tell you it's okay (it's not).

It's yours, you broke it, they shouldn't be responsible for replacing it for free. It's not shoddy quality that broke it. You did it, even on accident.

Yep, I'm asking because I want to know if I can get away with it... seriously. I'm not going to be angry if they don't but yup, that's why I started this thread. I've got no shame in asking. I'm certainly not going to get in my car, stop at the ATM and take out $300, walk into Apple and purchase a new phone when I can probably get a new one (from what I'm hearing) for $0. Why would anyone do that unless your the pope? If you guys would, you're full of [!] Don't act like you wouldn't do the same thing... and then talk about me like everyone here is a [!] saint.

 

[SilentPanda]

I actually would. Let me rephrase that. I would actually tell them what happened. If they then offered me one for free I would take it. My iMac got zapped by lightning (no surge protector) and I called Apple and told them flat out that I was very confident that it got hit my lightning. They still replaced it for free. I try to take responsibility for my actions.

 

[rmb7984]

I have always felt that a phone should not break simply from an accidental drop. Apparently Apple feels this way too - about a year and a half ago, I dropped my first gen iPhone and the entire bottom third of the screen ceased to be touch sensitive. I brought it to the genius bar, told them what happened, and they replaced it with no questions asked.

In a nutshell, they should replace it. At least that was my experience. Hope you have the same.

 

[Glert]

If you accidentally back your car into a pole, should that damage be covered under warranty? Tell them what happened, you might be surprised.
And don't be bustin' any dudes up!

 

[Tradewind]

They will discover that it is caused by physical damage anyways if you want a replacement. Chances of a free replacement is pretty high in my opinion, especially for expensive devices like multimedia phones or gaming systems. My Gamecube's (at the time it was about the same price as iPhone) disc reader shattered when I dropped it onto hardwood flooring, and the Nintendo repair shop gave me a new one (after looking at warranty) without even looking at the disc reader right on the spot. Not sure if Apple repair shops are as lenient but if you lie the chances of repair will plummet down the drain.

 

[ckarcher]

I had a buddy that dropped his iPhone a couple months after he bought it and cracked the screen. A couple months after that, the vibration motor on his phone stopped working. He took it in and after some arguing with the rep, they replaced it.

Of course, they tried to say it stopped vibrating because he dropped it, which may or may not be true, we'll never know. I don't think you'd have a problem getting your phone replaced.

 

[JonHimself]

If you think trying to save $200-300 from a company that makes billions is "vulgar, defiant and dishonest", then you probably lost a few years of common sense training. And unfortunately most normal people understand the fact that it is perfectly normal to try to get something for free instead of buying it for $200. Are you saying that most people in the world would say "oh please no I can't take this iPhone for free, I simply must pay you $200 for it because Apple is such a great company and desperately needs that $200" after being offered a replacement? Not telling the cause of damage is quite different form lying about the cause of the damage for your information.

I think the point is that there's a difference between what most people think or do and what is right (of course 'right' is subjective making the rest of my point irrelevant if you disagree) but to intentionally withold information that you know in doing so will benefit you to the detriment of someone else is probably wrong. I agree that most people do it and that most people probably would, I still think it's wrong. I also disagree that lying and witholding the information are different - I think they are too similar to say that they're different.

Just walk through the scenario and I can't see a situation where you won't have to straight out lie. If you walk in and say "my e button stopped working" and they have no follow up questions and give you a new phone, then I suppose you wouldn't have to tell a lie but what are the odds the individual will end up saying "I'm not sure what happened" "I don't know how this happened" or something similar to that? That would be a lie because they do know that something happened. There is a strong possibility they would say "my e button stopped working" and they'll ask some kind of follow-up question to get information about how this could have happened. Seeing as how the individual posted the question that it could be bcause they dropped it, they would be lying if they said "I dont' think anything has happened that could have caused this".

I think that the value of either party is irrelevent. Just because Apple is worth "billions" of dollars doesn't mean it's all of a sudden ok to mislead the company into getting something for free... it's a lame way to attempt to justify something as being ok. Almost the same as saying musicians are rich, I don't need to buy an album. Just because it's A justification doesn't mean it's necessarily true (or right).