The iPhone 5 was my most jinxed iPhone ever (huge upgrade from my iPhone 2G though when it worked, I was tempted by the 4 but got cold feet reading all the 'Antennagate' at the time on here (hindsight is a wonderful thing, I really shouldn't have been put off by that considering I've always used my iPhones in a case anyway!)
It is the only time I have had to complain to '
tcook@apple.com', I've still got the email in my archive!
Good evening
I originally purchased the 'iPhone 2G' on launch day November 9th 2007. For many years I was happy with this phone and kept it for many years until I was able to purchase an iPhone 5 shortly after the release date of September 21st 2012.
Unfortunately, the first unit I bought the screen had an issue with not being properly sealed and I promptly returned it and received a refund at the time. I then bought a new iPhone 5 unit a few months later and this worked fine until shortly before the end of my 1 year warranty when it had issues with charging and poor camera quality. I sent this unit into Apple Service via the mail system (Serial) and a refurbished unit was sent back out to me (Serial).
Shortly after using the refurbished unit for a few hours it was found the touch screen would suddenly stop responding to all input even after a restart and full software restore of the phone. This problem is intermittent (The touch screen can work fine for hours / days then suddenly stop responding for hours / days). I booked an appointment with the Apple Store on January 22nd 2014, where a full screen replacement was suggested and carried out. I have no complaints over this level of service.
Unfortunately, despite the screen replacement the problem still exists as proven by this video taken on February 10th 2014 :
(video long gone sadly!)
I booked another appointment at the Apple Store for February 12th 2014 where a member of staff advised me my phone was out of warranty (This should not be the case as although my original warranty has expired the refurbished unit sent as a replacement should I am led to believe have a 90 day warranty on it) and the only thing they could do was to replace the screen again (This does not seem to be the cause of the issue). I was unable to replicate the issue to the member of staff on this occasion as at the time the touch screen was responding however I did show them the same video of the issue and also it would be logged in my service history that the previous member of staff witnessed the issue).
It is hard for me to make the time to continually visit Apple stores and contact support and get no end result, all I am wanting is a reliable iPhone! (As you can imagine it is quite inconvenient when your touch screen stops responding in the middle of a 4 hour train journey for example). Would it be possible for you to investigate my case and arrange for a replacement iPhone 5 to be shipped out to me? (Ideally I would like to receive a replacement unit and then send my defective unit back, I am happy to provide billing details as 'insurance' if this is necessary).
My contact details are as below
Many thanks for your assistance
No personal reply from Tim of course but in fairness that eventually did lead to them agreeing to replace the entire unit for another refurbished unit and the touch screen worked flawlessly...hurrah!
...until I dropped it a few months later in the pub on a solid floor and smashed the screen (the first and only time I've ever smashed a iPhone screen to this day)
...which I got replaced at a third party repair shop easily enough
...by then the battery was poor though, I could easily burn through nearly a full charge by lunchtime!
...then just to top it all off I had it stolen from my pocket without even noticing on the way home from work a couple of months after the screen replacement - even worse I didn't have a screen unlock code set up (let alone Find My iPhone!) on it at the time as I had turned it off temporarily on my previous unit due to the touch issues and forgotten to put it back on so was quite paranoid about all my personal data for quite a long time, although I suspect the thief wiped the phone pretty much straight away
In an opposite view to many people on here as a result of all this I then had a much happier experience for many years after being 'forced' to then fork out for a iPhone 6 Plus which lasted me many, many years with no real issues apart from the whole battery saga at the time, but that ended up being resolved with the whole reduced cost battery replacement scheme
My friend then sold me their iPhone X which again lasted many years until I decided to more recently treat myself to a iPhone 14 Pro Max brand new with AppleCare theft and loss so I'm sorted now for many years!