Apple gives my iPhone the shaft :(
First I want to say I appreciate any of you who take the time to read this and I also especially appreciate any words of advice.
I have had my iPhone plan (between me, my wife, and our roommate) for about 4 months now. I have a refurbished iPhone, but the one I'm discussing here is the brand new one that was bought by my roommate at the beginning of the contract. He has the one-year warranty that comes with all the new iPhones of course.
About a month ago will feeding and letting out the dogs for a while one of them jumped on him and since the phone was in his pocket it cracked the screen. Despite the obvious cosmetic difference the crack in the front screen has made the phone has otherwise had no problems and the touch screen even continued to work where the crack was. We were pretty sure that his warranty would not cover this so he has just been living with the crack.
This is where the question begins. About a week ago his phone just stopped working, what I mean by that is he just doesn't get signal anywhere. His phone is therefore rendered useless, so he decided it was definatly time to go to the apple store. Upon explaining the problem to a "genius", the "genius" told him that the problem was because of the OS 3.0 update on the iPhones and itouches. He said that some people had suffered from 2 problems after the download: 1. Phone batteries rapidly dying(e.g. Much faster than they should on a full charge) 2. Phones not being able to get signal anywhere therefore making them useless. Well after admitting that 3.0 was the problem, he said he would do some sort of update or something to something to do with the networking. I'm sorry I don't have many details on that part of it. My roommate was just relieved because the "genius" told him that the problem should be solved afterward and if there were any more problems to come back later in the week.
After no changes what-so-ever, he went back the next day. The "genius" told him pretty much that there were no other options to try, so getting a new phone was the only one. Assuming this would of course be under warranty he agreed and as they brought out the new phone and presented him with the $200 price tag he was very taken aback. Long story short on this part he talked to both the "genius" and his manager both telling him that no matter what was wrong, the crack in the screen trumped everything. "despite your warranty on the hardware, the fact that you have accidental damage trumps any problems".
There is my problem. The "genius" at the store admitted that the 3.0 update was the source of the problem, he said they could do nothing. Now, after calling back the "genius" has backpedaled to "no I did not say 3.0 was the source of the problem" and now won't even admit that 3.0 could have had anything to do with it. Also, after saying all he could do was get him a $200 phone earlier today, now said on the phone he could get him a new one for $99 "but that's the very best I can do". He did say that if we drove the hour drive back to the store for the third time we could get it in writing that OS 3.0 could have possibly caused a problem like this one.
I, through AT&T, own 3 iPhones and also own a MacBook. I have always had good experiences with mac products and customer service. It really saddens me that this is the way we have been dealt with in this situation. I know that there must be some way to get this sorted out. I have to get it sorted out because the phone bill will be due soon and I either need to pay for an unusable phone or get it disconnected, neither of which can I afford. Any ideas?
Again thank you so much to anyone who reads this and/or can help.
Thanks again,
Austin
I have had my iPhone plan (between me, my wife, and our roommate) for about 4 months now. I have a refurbished iPhone, but the one I'm discussing here is the brand new one that was bought by my roommate at the beginning of the contract. He has the one-year warranty that comes with all the new iPhones of course.
About a month ago will feeding and letting out the dogs for a while one of them jumped on him and since the phone was in his pocket it cracked the screen. Despite the obvious cosmetic difference the crack in the front screen has made the phone has otherwise had no problems and the touch screen even continued to work where the crack was. We were pretty sure that his warranty would not cover this so he has just been living with the crack.
This is where the question begins. About a week ago his phone just stopped working, what I mean by that is he just doesn't get signal anywhere. His phone is therefore rendered useless, so he decided it was definatly time to go to the apple store. Upon explaining the problem to a "genius", the "genius" told him that the problem was because of the OS 3.0 update on the iPhones and itouches. He said that some people had suffered from 2 problems after the download: 1. Phone batteries rapidly dying(e.g. Much faster than they should on a full charge) 2. Phones not being able to get signal anywhere therefore making them useless. Well after admitting that 3.0 was the problem, he said he would do some sort of update or something to something to do with the networking. I'm sorry I don't have many details on that part of it. My roommate was just relieved because the "genius" told him that the problem should be solved afterward and if there were any more problems to come back later in the week.
After no changes what-so-ever, he went back the next day. The "genius" told him pretty much that there were no other options to try, so getting a new phone was the only one. Assuming this would of course be under warranty he agreed and as they brought out the new phone and presented him with the $200 price tag he was very taken aback. Long story short on this part he talked to both the "genius" and his manager both telling him that no matter what was wrong, the crack in the screen trumped everything. "despite your warranty on the hardware, the fact that you have accidental damage trumps any problems".
There is my problem. The "genius" at the store admitted that the 3.0 update was the source of the problem, he said they could do nothing. Now, after calling back the "genius" has backpedaled to "no I did not say 3.0 was the source of the problem" and now won't even admit that 3.0 could have had anything to do with it. Also, after saying all he could do was get him a $200 phone earlier today, now said on the phone he could get him a new one for $99 "but that's the very best I can do". He did say that if we drove the hour drive back to the store for the third time we could get it in writing that OS 3.0 could have possibly caused a problem like this one.
I, through AT&T, own 3 iPhones and also own a MacBook. I have always had good experiences with mac products and customer service. It really saddens me that this is the way we have been dealt with in this situation. I know that there must be some way to get this sorted out. I have to get it sorted out because the phone bill will be due soon and I either need to pay for an unusable phone or get it disconnected, neither of which can I afford. Any ideas?
Again thank you so much to anyone who reads this and/or can help.
Thanks again,
Austin
Comments
The fact that the phone has been physically damaged does trump anything else. Perhaps there are more internal problems caused by the accidental damage and it caused over heating or something. I'm not sure, just pulling this out of my ass, but anything is possible.
I would suggest finding a temp phone until you have money to buy a new iPhone.
Good luck.