My Apple Experience-Trying to Replace a USB Cable

gadgetfreaky

So this was the worst warranty experience I have had in my life. I went in for a warranty replacement for my Iphone USB cable that Apple sells for 19.99. The cord was frayed and it is no longer syncing properly or charging. I also have a Macbook Pro that has the same problem with the plastic on its power cord which has also frayed.



I have already read on the boards and know people personally that have problems with either power cords or sync cables that have the plastic come off thus making the cords incredibly vulnerable to wear and tear.



First off the guy accused me of damaging the cord intentionally. Hey-I didn?t haul my sorry *** to the Apple store to get a warranty repair on a 19 buck cord because I damaged it myself or anything specific or special happened to the cord.



At no time was there any event or trauma to the cord besides normal wear and tear.



The cord started to evaporate at the top of the USB cable within 15 days of me getting my Iphone. Since that time, it?s frayed HUGELY more. Not only that it started fraying on the other end of the cable as well as a spot in the middle.



He also asked why I didn?t go to the store immediately when I noticed the problem. I didn?t go to the store until the thing stopped working because I didn?t want to spend



After I finished my deposition to this 20 year old ?Genius?---What was Apple?s argument? Well since it frayed in the middle it looks like it was not wear and tear or defective coating on the cord because ?it?s not near a natural tension point? so it must be some other damage caused by the user..



Apple charges a premium price and that?s supposed to be for NOT CHEAP PLASTIC coating that evaporates. It?s one thing to make supper crappy plastic cords to save a few bucks of margin but you gotta accuse your loyal customers (who has a Macbook Pro also), of being liars.



All this for a 19.99 cord that you probably make a 8 dollar margin on at most. The ?genius? spend a good half hour ?checking with the store manager??that?s two people most probably spending more Apple money on figuring out whether I was a liar or not and they could have just replaced it and had a happy customer with continued loyalty of only buying Apple products for far less money. Now, you gotta mad one who was ****** off for 4 hours for being called a liar by some punk who tried to tell me their cords don?t fray.



Worst experience I ever had for supposedly ?high end? products. When the Palm Pre comes out next month I am going to be looking at that and switching to that. Don?t charge me a premium on service, products for high margins then make crappy meltable cords and call your customers liars all at the same time.



UPDATE: Apple deleted by post on their website so I am trying to post it here. Maybe someone from Apple will read it and start making cords that don't melt.

addabox

Sorry you had a bad experience with a particular Apple employee.



Most folks seem to have a better go of it, I know I certainly have. I've had Apple Store employees replace out of warranty major hardware without much more than a brief exchange of pleasantries.



If the Pre proves to be a better match for you (kinda hard to say what it will actually be like to use at this point) then go for it. But I wonder what your experience will be like if you need to get a replacement cord for that-- at the Sprint store.

hookem841

I had a similar experience with a broken headphone cord. There was no externally apparent damage, but it definitely had static on one of the ear buds. It took about 15 minutes of similar action by the genius before I got a new set of headphones. It seemed to be a 2 minute job that turned into 15 minutes.



Except for the long time, it was a pretty pleasant experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gadgetfreaky


So this was the worst warranty experience I have had in my life. I went in for a warranty replacement for my Iphone USB cable that Apple sells for 19.99. The cord was frayed and it is no longer syncing properly or charging. I also have a Macbook Pro that has the same problem with the plastic on its power cord which has also frayed.



I have already read on the boards and know people personally that have problems with either power cords or sync cables that have the plastic come off thus making the cords incredibly vulnerable to wear and tear.



First off the guy accused me of damaging the cord intentionally. Hey-I didn?t haul my sorry *** to the Apple store to get a warranty repair on a 19 buck cord because I damaged it myself or anything specific or special happened to the cord.



At no time was there any event or trauma to the cord besides normal wear and tear.



The cord started to evaporate at the top of the USB cable within 15 days of me getting my Iphone. Since that time, it?s frayed HUGELY more. Not only that it started fraying on the other end of the cable as well as a spot in the middle.



He also asked why I didn?t go to the store immediately when I noticed the problem. I didn?t go to the store until the thing stopped working because I didn?t want to spend



After I finished my deposition to this 20 year old ?Genius?---What was Apple?s argument? Well since it frayed in the middle it looks like it was not wear and tear or defective coating on the cord because ?it?s not near a natural tension point? so it must be some other damage caused by the user..



Apple charges a premium price and that?s supposed to be for NOT CHEAP PLASTIC coating that evaporates. It?s one thing to make supper crappy plastic cords to save a few bucks of margin but you gotta accuse your loyal customers (who has a Macbook Pro also), of being liars.



All this for a 19.99 cord that you probably make a 8 dollar margin on at most. The ?genius? spend a good half hour ?checking with the store manager??that?s two people most probably spending more Apple money on figuring out whether I was a liar or not and they could have just replaced it and had a happy customer with continued loyalty of only buying Apple products for far less money. Now, you gotta mad one who was ****** off for 4 hours for being called a liar by some punk who tried to tell me their cords don?t fray.



Worst experience I ever had for supposedly ?high end? products. When the Palm Pre comes out next month I am going to be looking at that and switching to that. Don?t charge me a premium on service, products for high margins then make crappy meltable cords and call your customers liars all at the same time.



UPDATE: Apple deleted by post on their website so I am trying to post it here. Maybe someone from Apple will read it and start making cords that don't melt.

vandil

All my iPod (USB & Firewire) cables as well as my two powerbook AC adaptors have had zero issues, despite years of plugging/unplugging. But I also baby my tech gear a little (always grasp cords at the connector, not the cable, to pull them out, etc.)



Assuming you treated your cables like I do, your cord could have simply come from a bad lot. You never know.



Ordinarily, you'd think they'd just give you a replacement cable, especially if the device is still under warranty or AppleCare, but with the economy in the toilet, giving out free $20 cords adds up fast.

mrochester

Quote:

All this for a 19.99 cord that you probably make a 8 dollar margin on at most.

Apple probably make about 19.94 from every cable they sell. They're cables look and feel to be of no higher quality than any other cheapy cable I have in my house. In fact I'd go as far to say that the Apple USB cable I got with my iPhone is pretty damn cheap and nasty... it doesn't even have the spring loaded clips on the dock connector anymore.

duc

I too had a similar problem with both of my iPhone cords. I went to the Apple Store and after 30 minutes, they say they would replace it. The problem then is that they do not have any in stock! I asked them if it is possible to get one off the store shelf, they responded with a big NO! They said I can place an order which takes 4-6 weeks! I left the store frustrated and Still using the damaged cords, hopefully I don't get shocked or damage the iPhone.

viji_island

I first read your story before actually heading out to an apple store and get my damaged usb cord replaced. i was almost gona buy on ebay but i said id give apple a shot. as i was walking my way to the store, i already had the feeling that an employee would reject me and say its my fault it got broken and we would end up in a lengthy discussion and i would leave the store disappointed and swearing not to buy any apple product ever. but as i went in, i told the guy in orange i had an appointment and i was 15 minutes early, so i played around with the macs, and when my time came i went to the genius bar. the genius guy was also attending some other lady on her mac, and he asked me what i needed, i said i need a replacement for my usb cord. then he asked for the cord, i gave it to him, and he talked back to the other lady. i was just sitting quietly on the stool looking down on my iphone playing and in a few minutes he came back from the door and said "Here you go buddy!" and tossed me, literally threw at the table, a new usb cord! THis has really changed my perspective on apple. i tought tey were snubby dont-care-as-long-as-i-have-a-job teens who would just shoo me away. wat i experienced that day really enforced my faith in apple and that they really want to help their customers as quick and efficient as possible! I was a pessimist and ready for rejection, but that employee was just amazing. I wish i got his name (and number) lol! P.S. I signed up for this account only to tell you this story! thats how overjoyed I was!

Quote:

Originally Posted by gadgetfreaky


So this was the worst warranty experience I have had in my life. I went in for a warranty replacement for my Iphone USB cable that Apple sells for 19.99. The cord was frayed and it is no longer syncing properly or charging. I also have a Macbook Pro that has the same problem with the plastic on its power cord which has also frayed.



I have already read on the boards and know people personally that have problems with either power cords or sync cables that have the plastic come off thus making the cords incredibly vulnerable to wear and tear.



First off the guy accused me of damaging the cord intentionally. Hey-I didn?t haul my sorry *** to the Apple store to get a warranty repair on a 19 buck cord because I damaged it myself or anything specific or special happened to the cord.



At no time was there any event or trauma to the cord besides normal wear and tear.



The cord started to evaporate at the top of the USB cable within 15 days of me getting my Iphone. Since that time, it?s frayed HUGELY more. Not only that it started fraying on the other end of the cable as well as a spot in the middle.



He also asked why I didn?t go to the store immediately when I noticed the problem. I didn?t go to the store until the thing stopped working because I didn?t want to spend



After I finished my deposition to this 20 year old ?Genius?---What was Apple?s argument? Well since it frayed in the middle it looks like it was not wear and tear or defective coating on the cord because ?it?s not near a natural tension point? so it must be some other damage caused by the user..



Apple charges a premium price and that?s supposed to be for NOT CHEAP PLASTIC coating that evaporates. It?s one thing to make supper crappy plastic cords to save a few bucks of margin but you gotta accuse your loyal customers (who has a Macbook Pro also), of being liars.



All this for a 19.99 cord that you probably make a 8 dollar margin on at most. The ?genius? spend a good half hour ?checking with the store manager??that?s two people most probably spending more Apple money on figuring out whether I was a liar or not and they could have just replaced it and had a happy customer with continued loyalty of only buying Apple products for far less money. Now, you gotta mad one who was ****** off for 4 hours for being called a liar by some punk who tried to tell me their cords don?t fray.



Worst experience I ever had for supposedly ?high end? products. When the Palm Pre comes out next month I am going to be looking at that and switching to that. Don?t charge me a premium on service, products for high margins then make crappy meltable cords and call your customers liars all at the same time.



UPDATE: Apple deleted by post on their website so I am trying to post it here. Maybe someone from Apple will read it and start making cords that don't melt.

taskiss

I've never had a problem with Apple service and I've owned an Apple product ever since I bought my first computer - an Apple ][+



On the other hand, I take care of my stuff and I would never wait 'till stuff was falling apart before seeking a waranty repair. I'd agree with the folks at the Apple store - a cable with frayed ends and middle sounds like neglect. It's easy to get the cable caught in a drawer and crushed, or a kink or knot get pulled tight. Even with the care I take, the wire near the magsafe connector on my MBP is pulled in too tight a radius too often and it's going to have problems, but that's my fault and when it breaks I'll replace it. I don't expect Apple to pay for my neglect.

trumptman

I think Apple laptop cords are pretty notorious. My Powerbook 500 went through about 3-4 of them in what was a known design issue that was addressed in a later series of power adapter. My MacBook Pro had the first cable fray and it was replaced under warrenty The second one came with plastic that was about a millimeter thicker all around the base.



Next time make the ship it out to you. If they are going to waste your time in the store, just make a call on that wonderful iPhone and get a warrenty return and get it shipped.



For Apple I know that thin is in, but sometimes they seriously go to thin and cheap on the cables. They don't seem to stand up to wear and tear at all. My laptop battery also crapped out very badly after only 200 cycles. Apple doesn't seem to respond well when the people who make their wonderful designs screw up or get a bad batch of something. For the prices they charge, the service should be premium just like the supposed products.

foosbarred

After reading about everyone's bad experiences with Apple's USB cables, I looked around to see if there's anything else out there, and came across this http://cablejive.com/duraSync which looks much better than anything from Apple.



FB

vinea

Quote:

Originally Posted by foosbarred


After reading about everyone's bad experiences with Apple's USB cables, I looked around to see if there's anything else out there, and came across this http://cablejive.com/duraSync which looks much better than anything from Apple.



FB

Please do not spend $20 on a $1.53 part. It will not last 10 times as long.



http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2



Currently out of stock but I'm guessing it will be back in shortly.



Monoprice is awesome for cables.

jimikimo

I've been through several power cords and headphones for my original iPhone 3 and now my iPhone 5. I'm amazed how quickly they fall apart. I'm on my second set of headphones for the iPhone 5 in a year and the current power cord should fail any time now. I tried reinforcing the ends of the power cord where they fraying with black electricians tape and the adhesive on the tape is actually dissolving the plastic!

 

As a comparison of what's possible consider this. Before I break down and spend more money on Apple headphones, I dig out my old folding Sony Walkman headphones from the 1980's, the bright yellow ones. They are still going strong with no sign of wear. They actually sound better too! Also, my backpack was stolen in Costa Rica and had my charger in it. I bought a non Apple version from Radio Shack and it's also fine. It's black though. It gets the same wear as the Apple version, but looks like it'll last a lifetime.

 

I love my iPhone, but I think that Apple products in general are way overpriced and in the case of these cords are just plain CHEAP.

 

I never considered trying to exchange them under the warranty. I'll look into that when I go to the Apple store  to get my battery replaced on the iPhone which is performing horribly.

 

I have to admit that my experience with Apple customer service has been outstanding. At the Genius bar a person spent a couple of hours getting a laptop running as good as new that was given to me by a friend. I wish I had sold the 2000 shares of stock I had back in 2008! I'd be retired now.