Earphone tip broken off into port - Employee tries to fix, considered accidental dmg?

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
A couple of weeks ago the tip of my iPhone earphone broke off into the port. I had my iPhone in the inside of my coat pocket, I come home, take out the earphone and low and behold the tip became stuck inside of it.



My iPhone thinks that a set of earphones are constantly plugged in, even tho they are not. Because of this, I have to talk on the phone by either a bluetooth or speaker.



About a week ago I went to the Apple store in Manhattan and seeked some help. I didn't have an appointment or anything as I was just "touristing" around the city and just ran into the Apple store. I was planning on going to my local Apple store sometime after Christmas when I have a few days off and time to take care of it.



At the store, an blue shirt "genius" attempted to pry the piece out with some type of tool to no prevail. He then said to me since the iPhone is still covered under warranty, he would be happy to exchange it right then and there. I told him that I didn't want to as I wasn't prepared because I never backed up any of my contacts and such. The plan for me was to go home, backup my iPhone data, go to my local Apple store, have them look at it, and if they were unable to fix it, then get a new iPhone under warranty.



So today I go out to my local Apple store at King of Prussia, PA and the associate and manager there told me that they can not give me an exchange because the tip of the earphone breaking off was due to "accidental damage", and accidental damage is not covered by the limited warranty. (I looked over the warranty online after I left and it does say this.) However, how is this "accidental" damage? It was in my coat pocket comfortably, working fine all the way until I took it out. I asked the associate this and he referred to the roughed up edges on the rounded port to where you put the earphone jack into, and referred to this as accidental damage. BUT...that roughed up edge was caused by an Apple Store employee at the 5th avenue Manhattan store as he tried to pull it out with some tool.



After some more arguing with the store manager, I ended up not getting a new iPhone yet....But he did tell me that I can buy a new one for $299; like I didn't know how much I spent on it in the first place.



Another thing that sucks tho is that there is no history of me being at the Manhattan store as I never had an appointment and just walked in. But now there is a history of me going into my local Apple store and not getting a new iPhone because of "accidental damage", which was caused by an Apple employee.



Anyways, what do you all think about this? The manager said it was accidental damage because of the roughed up edges, but those roughed up edges were caused by an Apple employee himself.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,323moderator
    What I would try to do is get a thin piece of fairly rigid metal (like a paperclip or even a partly sawed headphone jack) and some very strong adhesive like a metal epoxy resin:



    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-Min-Epoxy-Re...1%7C240%3A1318



    Just put a very small amount on the tip (not even enough to make a drip, just so the flat end looks a bit wet) and push in into the center of the hole and wait until it dries. Then try to pull out the broken tip.



    Be very careful not to touch the sides of the hole. You could also try a powerful electromagnet attached to the metal you poke into the hole but I don't know if that would affect the phone in some way.



    It's not a good situation to be in. Perhaps you'll have to go back to the Apple store in Manhattan to be able to prove that the damage was caused by the Apple store employee and have them replace it.
  • Reply 2 of 4
    Spoke to Apple tech support on the phone. The person was trying to get me to go to my local Apple store and have it looked at there, but I told them that I work 70 hours a week and don't want to spend my 1 day off driving 1 hour away to somewhere I dont want to really be when I can spend that 1 day off with my kids.



    The truth is I have off this entire week, the nearest Apple store is 20 minutes away, and I don't have any kids, lol.



    They are overnighting me a new phone, then I send back this POS.
  • Reply 3 of 4
    No need to fix the damaged ear phone,,, better get new one in apple store...
  • Reply 4 of 4
    batbat Posts: 47member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jonb83 View Post


    Spoke to Apple tech support on the phone. The person was trying to get me to go to my local Apple store and have it looked at there, but I told them that I work 70 hours a week and don't want to spend my 1 day off driving 1 hour away to somewhere I dont want to really be when I can spend that 1 day off with my kids.



    The truth is I have off this entire week, the nearest Apple store is 20 minutes away, and I don't have any kids, lol.



    They are overnighting me a new phone, then I send back this POS.



    Congratulations on your scam. I'm sure everyone here is proud of you.
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