IPhone Repair Horror Stories

[tigertazz]

Hi

I thought I would share the horror story surrounding my poor Iphone.

I was running late from work to catch the train home. I had my phone in my pocket and my headphones in. My headphones had been waterdamaged previously and so the mic/answer button wasnt working. My wife then decided to call me to find out where I was. I took the phone from my pocket and as I got to the answer slider my sweaty hands slipped...............
It was like slow motion the phone fell. My arms flailed around uselessly in their attempts to capture the falling device. Then a miracle! the headphone wire became taught and the falling phone stopped about 1ft from the floor.... the phone bounced up like a bungee cord. Again my arms flapped... the phone was still ringing. It dropped down again but this time the headphones popped out. the phone dropped to the floor and a sickening crack echoed around the station.

The rear casing had cracked. a 2" crack. but the screen was intact.
I rang my insurance company and they agreed the claim, sent a form and a prepaid envelope for the phone.

It came back 15 days later and the repair note said "Repaired to Apple satisfaction" the crack was still there and to top it off the lower edge of the screen is now unresponsive. even better is that the phone screen flickers when a call comes in..... a new feature of 3.1?

So repairing something to "Apple Satisfaction" means: Taking a damaged device. Keeping it for 2 weeks+ and then damaging it further before sending it back!!!

I have now sent it back again they've now said if they can't repair a new phone is coming my way.......

only time will tell

enjoy the tale. Feel free to post any other HORROR stories as well

 

[DipDog3]

Who repaired it??

Doesn't sound like it was Apple.

 

[tigertazz]

Who repaired it??

Doesn't sound like it was Apple.

Unfortunately It was.

The repair note came back from the Apple repair centre, Ashford, Kent

Been sooooo dissapointed with the service so far....

 

[nehunte]

Doesn't sound like a horror story, you're getting a new phone. Could be a lot worse.

 

[eastercat]

Moral of the story: buy a protective case.

 

[tigertazz]

Moral of the story: buy a protective case.

Too true

well I haven't got the phone yet I have to trust them to not destroy it further yet! either that or lose it.
Lol

 

[bjelder]

Insurance on an iphone?

 

[Dominat0r]

wow, which insurance company and type of insurance covers the iphone?

IM not really worried about it now...since i have a 50$ refurb...but i only bought this cause i have until 11/09 for the next upgrade (i have 3 phones on my account) I figured id pick up the 3G, see how i like it and if anything, im only down 50$. However, im going to get the 3GS in november and keep my 3G as a backup...i would love to get insurance on the 3GS since its a few hundred smackers, even with a eligible upgrade.

Im glad you are getting a new phone though....most of the time, they would of just replaced the backing, wiped it clean and call it a day.

 

[MWPULSE]

Moral of the story: buy a protective case.

I dropped my iPhone from waist height in a hardcase. It didn't even recieve a bump. A trip to the beach n sand did more damage believe it or not lol.

 

[Dominat0r]

just because of this thread, i just bought a otterbox impact silicon case for work....and it was 7$ hahaa....

7$ could of prevented your damage =)

 

[tigertazz]

just because of this thread, i just bought a otterbox impact silicon case for work....and it was 7$ hahaa....

7$ could of prevented your damage =)

Yes all of 7$ could have

wow, which insurance company and type of insurance covers the iphone?

Luckily My bank gives me FREE insurance as part of my current account.

Still, cost me £25 (40$) to have the repair centre break my phone.

I hope I can get a new one from them. But it's not garenteed

Hard case here I come

 

[nateo200]

I once saw a guy drop a white iPhone 3G through the openig from the airport terminal to the airplane...fell like 50 feet as he watched it shatter into a million pieces. Still get chills from that one! Held onto my stuff much tighter since then. How much is insurance for an iPhone from your insurance? I might consider....

 

[mcdj]

Once upon a time...

 

[tigertazz]

I once saw a guy drop a white iPhone 3G through the openig from the airport terminal to the airplane...fell like 50 feet as he watched it shatter into a million pieces. Still get chills from that one! Held onto my stuff much tighter since then. How much is insurance for an iPhone from your insurance? I might consider....

shivers

I get the insurance for free from my bank account. I get the account Free because I'm staff.

It's a pretty good deal in all fairness

the only issue I have is the cowboys they employ to repair phones!!

 

[tigertazz]

HMMMMM....

after the last time i spoke with the Insurers they agreed that they would replace the phone......

Unfortunately they "Don't Do Iphones" but they will cover the cost of a new one.

That was the 25th September..... I'm still waiting for a bank transfer so i can buy a new one.

In total been without a phone for a month now and it's getting really old really quickly.

maybe tomorrow

 

[bunts]

Well here's my story, and it will entail a little trust on the part of anyone reading.

My iPhone 3Gs is just over 5 months old, a couple of Sundays back an error message kept popping up on screen saying "charging with this accessory not supported". I'd seen this before when trying to connect my 3Gs with my 2G accessories but this time my iPhone wasn't connected to anything. It was just sitting on the table in it's case.

I ignored it thinking it wouldn't happen again but it did, over and over. So I reset... didn't help... I restore from a backup... again, did not help. Over the next day it began not being recognizde when plugged into the computer or charge from the plug socket.

So I take it to 02 and they send it off for repair.

First things to note here, the 02 lady who took my phone in deemed it as in very good condition on the notes before sending it away, and it was in very good condition. I had a 2G before this one which got all scratched up through normal wear and tear without a case on, so I wasn't going to let this one get like that so I'd kept it in a pre-ordered case from the moment my phone arrived.

I get a call a week later from 02, they tell me my phone is irreparable, and that the issue was out of warantee. They couldn't say why. So I pushed to find out, and they finally come back to me 3 days later saying it is water damage.

I was angry and stewing over this until I could get to the store. I had a 40 minute discussion with the assistant manager over the fact that I hadn't got my phone wet, and how unfair this was. He agreed and said that he understands, that it's a horrible position to be in, told me all about how it can be just a bit of moisture, or rain.. and then proceeded to tell me how I could do an insurance scam in order to get a replacement because it was out of his hands once the apple "authorized" repairer had deemed it water damage.

The water damage is the other part you'll have to trust me on. Now I've endlessly read about the water sensors over the last week or so since this all started and the only thing I can get from it is that my senor must have been tripped without my negligence... moisture, rain, who can say, if the senor was tripped so be it, but it was not my fault. My experience of the situation is simply this, my iPhone started playing up all of a sudden..., that's it, full stop. Manufactures fault, not mine.

After a long, and quite frankly criminal chat with the assistant manager, I reluctantly left. I rejected their repair quote and the phone was on it's way back. I was planning on sending it direct to Apple for a second opinion, although I guess they would say exactly the same thing, but this is so unfair I can't let it go.

So, as you can gather i'm already not happy about several things. 02's customer service. The fact that the assistant manager is giving me insurance scam tips, (why I need to go through such lengths is so frustrating and unfair, not to mention criminal) and that my iPhone is being deemed water damaged, and out of warantee even though I had not done anything silly with it.

I turn up to the store today, and here is when it gets just that little bit more ridiculous. I pick the phone, open the repairers box, and I find my sim card tray is damaged where you insert the ejector tool. It looks like someone had forced it open, warping the little circle where the took goes in to the point where it doesn't now shut properly.

I tell them this wasn't like this, and the lady who originally took it in agrees that it wasn't and the manager agrees her employee would have noticed that kind of damage. They look up on the system and find that the repairers had noted that the tray was damaged when they got it!!!!!!!

It was not!!!

Someone in between me handing to 02 and the repairers sending it back did this!!! It is totally unbelievable!!! It makes me even question whether my phone is actually water damaged as they said they found it to be. I've now checked the senors that are visable from the headphone jack and charging connector and they are not tripped as shown on the apple website, they are not red, pink or anything else, they are normal.

I'm so mad about this, but I've never had to deal with such poor service and what could be, and I make it clear when I say could be, deliberate damage to invalidate my warantee.

The manager is writing an e-mail to the repairers to say the tray wasn't damaged when they sent it off, but she says it probably won't do any good... can you believe this situation!!!

Any advice would be appreciated, I'm totally shocked at all this crap. The manager told me if I send it to Apple for a second opinion, and they see a broken sim tray they won't do anything, let alone the "water damage". They will reject a repair just based on the tray being damaged! I have to say it again, it wasn't damaged when I gave it to them!!! The whole situation is absolutely unfair and crap!

It's feeling like someone along the line has damaged the phone in ways that cover it against any possible wanrantee claim.

Please if anyone has any advice?

Regards,

Tom B

 

[Deadman64]

Unfortunately It was.

The repair note came back from the Apple repair centre, Ashford, Kent

Been sooooo dissapointed with the service so far....

But their ads say they have the highest customer satisfaction evaar

 

[Interstella5555]

But their ads say they have the highest customer satisfaction evaar

Yeah, when it comes to something that is actually covered under warranty, which accidental damage isn't.

 

[greygray]

I once saw a guy drop a white iPhone 3G through the openig from the airport terminal to the airplane...fell like 50 feet as he watched it shatter into a million pieces. Still get chills from that one! Held onto my stuff much tighter since then. How much is insurance for an iPhone from your insurance? I might consider....

Sits down weakly on chair. . . recovers from shock . . .

Once upon a time...

That is one shop I'm never going to. That guy's going to hack my iPhone into pieces!