Wife's 3G dies. BS with buying a new one.

[AbjectEvolution]

Yesterday morning, my wife went to turn on her 3G and it told her to connect to iTunes. When we connected it to her computer, iTunes told her that it couldn't restore and it said something about the SIM card. I took the sim card out and did a hard reset with the same results.

She took the phone in this morning to the Apple store only to be told that they couldn't restore it either and she would need a new phone. Unfortunately, her waranty is expired and so they are telling her it's going to cost her $200 and all she gets is a new 3G... not a 3GS. I think it's crazy because you can buy a 3G new for less than $200 and for $200 you can get a 3GS with a new plan.

Anyway, I was hoping maybe someone has had this problem and knows of some way to fix her phone or maybe get around spending $200 on another 3G.

Thanks.

 

[The Californian]

We would need more information about what iTunes said about the sim card to help. As for the pricing, an iPhone 3GS does not cost $200 new, it costs nearly $600 new but you get it cheaper with a new contract because of the subsidy.

 

[AbjectEvolution]

We would need more information about what iTunes said about the sim card to help. As for the pricing, an iPhone 3GS does not cost $200 new, it costs nearly $600 new but you get it cheaper with a new contract because of the subsidy.

Yeah I said in my post $200 with a new plan.

I don't remember exactly what it said. Something about how it couldn't restore without a valid SIM card or something like that. I even took the SIM out of my 3GS and put it in her phone and it kept saying it anyway... so it wasn't her SIM card.

Anyway, get this. My wife just called me with her "new" phone. They wouldn't give her a new 3G, they would only give her a refurbished phone. They wouldn't let her buy the apple care protection plan to extend her waranty so this doesn't happen again. They told her the phone comes with a 90 day waranty and you can't pay to extend it. So she just spent $230 or so on a refurbished older gen iPhone and if it screws up after 90 days like her last one did, she has to go out and hand them however much more money they want.

Seems like total BS to me. I have owned every iPhone since launch and so my waranty always renews with the new phone I buy. I always go in and get it replaced with no questions when I have problems.

She should at least be able to buy an extended waranty.

 

[tcphoto]

I would get on the phone immediately and call AppleCare. The "genius" title is not to be taken literally and I have had better luck with AppleCare.

 

[The Californian]

While I agree that you should call up AppleCare and kindly explain your dissatisfaction with what happened, I also can see it from their point of view. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm assuming that your wife's iPhone was a 3G ... So she did not get

a refurbished older gen iPhone

, she got the same phone she had before. In fact, she actually got it for much cheaper that Apple has to give it to you. I believe that 8GB iPhone 3Gs are currently being sold by AT&T for $399. So you actually got it for half off.

 

[trainguy77]

Well you got an our of warranty replacement essentially at cost. If your contract was up for renewal that would have been a better bet.