A couple of weeks ago the tip of my iPhone earphone broke off into the port. I had my iPhone in the inside of my coat pocket, I come home, take out the earphone and low and behold the tip became stuck inside of it.
My iPhone thinks that a set of earphones are constantly plugged in, even tho they are not. Because of this, I have to talk on the phone by either a bluetooth or speaker.
About a week ago I went to the Apple store in Manhattan and seeked some help. I didn't have an appointment or anything as I was just "touristing" around the city and just ran into the Apple store. I was planning on going to my local Apple store sometime after Christmas when I have a few days off and time to take care of it.
At the store, an blue shirt "genius" attempted to pry the piece out with some type of tool to no prevail. He then said to me since the iPhone is still covered under warranty, he would be happy to exchange it right then and there. I told him that I didn't want to as I wasn't prepared because I never backed up any of my contacts and such. The plan for me was to go home, backup my iPhone data, go to my local Apple store, have them look at it, and if they were unable to fix it, then get a new iPhone under warranty.
So today I go out to my local Apple store at King of Prussia, PA and the associate and manager there told me that they can not give me an exchange because the tip of the earphone breaking off was due to "accidental damage", and accidental damage is not covered by the limited warranty. (I looked over the warranty online after I left and it does say this.) However, how is this "accidental" damage? It was in my coat pocket comfortably, working fine all the way until I took it out. I asked the associate this and he referred to the roughed up edges on the rounded port to where you put the earphone jack into, and referred to this as accidental damage. BUT...that roughed up edge was caused by an Apple Store employee at the 5th avenue Manhattan store as he tried to pull it out with some tool.
After some more arguing with the store manager, I ended up not getting a new iPhone yet....But he did tell me that I can buy a new one for $299; like I didn't know how much I spent on it in the first place.
Anyways, what do you all think about this? The manager said it was accidental damage because of the roughed up edges, but those roughed up edges were caused by an Apple employee himself.
Another thing that sucks tho is that there is no history of me being at the Manhattan store as I never had an appointment and just walked in. But now there is a history of me going into my local Apple store and not getting a new iPhone because of "accidental damage", which was caused by an Apple employee.
My iPhone thinks that a set of earphones are constantly plugged in, even tho they are not. Because of this, I have to talk on the phone by either a bluetooth or speaker.
About a week ago I went to the Apple store in Manhattan and seeked some help. I didn't have an appointment or anything as I was just "touristing" around the city and just ran into the Apple store. I was planning on going to my local Apple store sometime after Christmas when I have a few days off and time to take care of it.
At the store, an blue shirt "genius" attempted to pry the piece out with some type of tool to no prevail. He then said to me since the iPhone is still covered under warranty, he would be happy to exchange it right then and there. I told him that I didn't want to as I wasn't prepared because I never backed up any of my contacts and such. The plan for me was to go home, backup my iPhone data, go to my local Apple store, have them look at it, and if they were unable to fix it, then get a new iPhone under warranty.
So today I go out to my local Apple store at King of Prussia, PA and the associate and manager there told me that they can not give me an exchange because the tip of the earphone breaking off was due to "accidental damage", and accidental damage is not covered by the limited warranty. (I looked over the warranty online after I left and it does say this.) However, how is this "accidental" damage? It was in my coat pocket comfortably, working fine all the way until I took it out. I asked the associate this and he referred to the roughed up edges on the rounded port to where you put the earphone jack into, and referred to this as accidental damage. BUT...that roughed up edge was caused by an Apple Store employee at the 5th avenue Manhattan store as he tried to pull it out with some tool.
After some more arguing with the store manager, I ended up not getting a new iPhone yet....But he did tell me that I can buy a new one for $299; like I didn't know how much I spent on it in the first place.
Anyways, what do you all think about this? The manager said it was accidental damage because of the roughed up edges, but those roughed up edges were caused by an Apple employee himself.
Another thing that sucks tho is that there is no history of me being at the Manhattan store as I never had an appointment and just walked in. But now there is a history of me going into my local Apple store and not getting a new iPhone because of "accidental damage", which was caused by an Apple employee.
. I've found that the Genius Bar experience is variable. I go to the Boylston Street store in Boston fairly often, and went there to have the headphones replaced, which was a huge ordeal with the genius I was speaking with. Conversely, I went to the Apple Store in New Hampshire, and got my phone replaced without any trouble. So, it largely depends on what kind of person you're dealing with when you have an issue like yours that could be considered Apple's fault, or could be considered accidental damage. You may find more luck at the larger store, but judging by my experience, it's not always so. But, if you get the genius you spoke to in the first place, he will most likely replace it for you, I assume.