I went into the Apple Store for a Genius Bar appointment today. It was for a Macbook issue. My wife’s Macbook has the random shutdown syndrome problem because the logicboard is overheating or something. Anyways, after the repair for the Macbook was all set up, I told the genius that I had one more question.
I showed him my white iPhone and asked if he had heard anything about the cracks appearing in iPhones. He said hadn’t because he had been off for a few days. He looked at the crack and then started typing away on his computer. A couple minutes later he asked me 3 questions:
Q 1. When did you get your iPhone and when did this happen?
A - On July 24th, and happened on the 28th or 29th.
Q 2. Did you drop your iPhone?
A - No, the crack just seemed to appear from using the volume button and it looks like two more cracks are appearing near the volume button as well.
Q 3. Where do you normally keep your iPhone, in your front or back pocket?
A - In my front pocket, and when I’m at home or work, I put it on the table or desk.
He continued to type away for another minute or so and then he said, “I’m going to replace your iPhone”. I was like, “WHAT?!?!??!?”. He repeated himself again and a big smile appeared across my face. I was prepared to live with the crack on my iPhone for now and I hoped that Apple would address the issue in the future. He did have a white iPhone in stock and quickly brought it out. It was in a replacement iPhone box like this one that iPhone Fan got when his iPhone was replaced due to battery issues:
I thoroughly examined the replacement to make sure there were no cracks on it. It was fine. The Genius took out my sim and put it in the new one, un-bricked the phone, and I was good to go. It was a good thing that I brought it up because if I hadn’t, I would still be with a cracked iPhone. It never hurts to ask.
I think one of two things must have happened. Either Apple has acknowledged the issue of cracking iPhones now and put something into their computers for the Geniuses to go by or that it just depends on which Genius you get. Some may replace it, some may not. I’m not sure what it could be. It looked like Apple may have been trying to hide the issue when they deleted the long thread in the discussion forums about the problem but that is probably not the case. It is true though for a lot of customer service oriented type situations, it just depends on who you get. What do you think?
Here’s the record of the replacement:
Here’s my new crack-free iPhone 3G:
Now I have to get busy on installing my screen protector and loading all of my games and apps back onto the phone. What a turn of events!
If you were denied a replacement, I would make another genius bar appointment.
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One Ping to “I got a replacement iPhone today”
33 Responses to “I got a replacement iPhone today”
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1. Maxime Scrocca Says:
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:07 pmdamn your lucky :P
what you can do too is just call rogers (before the 1 month after purchase) say that your iphone 3G battery doesnt stay long and 24 hours later brand new iphone in the mail box
this is what i did for a scratch i made (dunno how) on my iphone :P
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2. ruffdeezy Says:
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:51 pmThat’s funny. But you should be happy with your phone and if you aren’t it’s nice to be able to get a new one. Hopefully they don’t test it and then say the battery is fine.
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3. iPhone Fan Says:
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:59 pmMan, Apple service rocks…I had no idea the Vancouver Apple Store even had iPhones!
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4. ruffdeezy Says:
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:05 pmYeah, I’m glad they do have them, I didn’t want to be without one for any time at all!
I guess they did expect that a few people would have problems so they did stock replacements. That is what you call customer service.
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5. GR81 Says:
August 4th, 2008 at 9:28 amso what happens if you have an invis shield or similar on your phone and they replace it? tough luck you have to buy a new one?
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6. ruffdeezy Says:
August 4th, 2008 at 1:20 pmYou probably would have to take it off first, I’m not sure though. I would want to take it off before taking it in if you are getting a replacement but I’m not sure what their policy is on that. Products like that are widely used so it should be ok I think.
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7. matt Says:
August 4th, 2008 at 4:21 pmI mentioned this on iphoneincanada as well.
I called Rogers, said I had a problem with my battery and pretty much was told… “Tell me about it! Battery life is horrible on all of them. It’s no defect.” Then I was also told, “We might carry another model of the iPhone in the future that will have better life, which you could buy.” Well geez… No replacement for me. Thanks Rogers! -
8. blameboy Says:
August 4th, 2008 at 4:28 pmiPhone v2.0.1 is out. Get it now and feel the different. :-)
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9. ruffdeezy Says:
August 4th, 2008 at 6:17 pm@ blameboy
got it, feels awesome -
10. ruffdeezy Says:
August 4th, 2008 at 6:18 pm@ matt
Did you try taking it to a Apple store or calling them? You could also try Rogers again because it may just be the person you talked to because iPhone fan got a replacement for the same issue. -
11. matt Says:
August 5th, 2008 at 5:19 am@ ruffdeezy
I booked a Genius Bar appointment for today. I’ll see what they have to say. I think I’ll be told my battery is normal by them as well. In my mind though, I shouldn’t have to fear that I’ll run out of juice through the day if I was to use 3G. It is the “iPhone 3G.”
I don’t turn Wi-Fi on unless I’m a known Wi-Fi area. I use EDGE all the time. I use about an hour of audio a day, but on recent flights 2 hours of video drains about 30% of the battery (that’s with airplane mode on). Upon landing using GPS 2 or 3 times decreases the battery about 10%. I do use push e-mail, which I know is not recommended. If I charge while I sleep overnight, I put the phone on airplane mode. Despite my efforts I still run to about 20% - 30%, which isn’t enough to get me through another day. Maybe this is normal… Still I’d like to use my 3G phone on 3G without the worry of it dying. -
12. ruffdeezy Says:
August 5th, 2008 at 9:18 amYou shouldn’t have to go through all that everyday, it shouldn’t be such a hassle. Hopefully they help you out.
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13. matt Says:
August 5th, 2008 at 5:54 pmWent to the Apple Store for my Genius Bar appointment. They now have a diagnostic tool that provides the Genius a usage report. Long story short, after about 15 seconds of reading info from my phone onto a MacBook Pro a thumbs up icon came up. Usage vs. battery life was said to be normal and if I still had problems I should shut unused services off.
In what ended up being a mistake, I decided to leave home this morning totally 3G with a fully charged battery today to prove a point to my Genius, but after what was recorded as about 11 hours of standby and 5 hours of misc. use I was still at half power. Best day so far. I asked the Genius if the 2.0.1 software update had anything to do with the extra juice today. He said it couldn’t of hurt given that power has become such an issue.
I was also assured by the Genius that if I had any problems within the next year to please come back and see him. They could easily replace my unit, however that’s Apple’s last case scenario, and for today I should just give the unit a restore. So that’s what I’m doing now.
It’s not my ideal outcome, but I do appreciate how the Genius admitted battery troubles and offered a replacement down the road if I continue to have problems. Starting tomorrow, I’m starting a usage journal separate from the iPhone record. Because there’s no AppleCare or extended warranty, I’ll be making darn sure that everything’s still near 100% come July 11, 2009. Luckily though, after the year is up, there’s always those extremely useful unofficial iPod/iPhone repair shops that’ll change a single broken part or replace a battery without needing to swap the whole unit and costing an arm and a leg plus a week without a device.
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14. Evan H Says:
August 7th, 2008 at 4:45 pmI got a replacement, too :)
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15. Evan H Says:
August 7th, 2008 at 4:46 pmsorry, forgot to ask, have you tried putting a Fido SIM? See if that works? The box looks ultra generic?
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16. ruffdeezy Says:
August 7th, 2008 at 5:10 pmThey just put in the same sim I had in my first iPhone 3G
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17. ruffdeezy Says:
August 7th, 2008 at 5:19 pm@ matt
It sucks when you take something in to get fixed and all of a sudden it’s working fine again. It’s like it has a mind of it’s own. Seems like a lot of work to go through to make sure your battery is working fine but we shouldn’t be settling for an inferior product. These battery issues we one of the reasons that Apple didn’t make a 3G iPhone the first time around. -
18. BeN Says:
August 12th, 2008 at 12:19 pmHey ruffdeezy,
I’ve also got a replacement from Rogers in the same brown box that you had recieved. I spoke to the Rogers tech guys and they told me it was brand new. But how can brand new come in this kind of packaging without the accessories, and not the same packaging in which we first recieved the iPhone? (sealed, retail black boxes)
So basically in your opinion, do you think that Rogers providing these “Replacements” are brand new as they say, or refurbs? or is Apple sending out “Replacement” iPhones in these kind of packaging, to save on box art costs?
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19. ruffdeezy Says:
August 12th, 2008 at 1:43 pmHey Ben
They are brand new. Apple stores and rogers is stocking brand new ones in these packages for replacements. Refurbs won’t be available for at least a few months. -
20. Ben Says:
August 13th, 2008 at 7:18 amHey Ruffdeezy
Thanks for the reply. I figured I’d ask you, since you’re more knowledgeable in the field of iPhones then I am. I also think these ‘replacements’ that Rogers provides are new. Because of the slim black box they provide, seems like an official box from Apple to me.
I decided that I’m gonna keep the ‘replacement’ one, and send back my 1st one. Although my 1st one doesn’t have any major issue other then freezing on me once, and small raised bump on the back. Thanks again for the help, gave me some reassurance =D -
21. ruffdeezy Says:
August 13th, 2008 at 10:48 amI guess it is cheaper for them to do it this way because they don’t have to include all the accessories, but it would be unreasonable to ask the customer to ship back everything included in the original box. Plus things like headphones, once used, they wont refurb them.
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22. Ben Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 9:34 pmHey ruffdeezy I got another question for you, if you dont mind :)
This problem is kind of weird but also kind of beneficial. Anyhow I activated my new replacement iPhone3G lastnight, because my 1st one I had a bit of a freezing issue. Anyhow, the new replacement phone starts with serial number 878, and had firmware 2.0, I tested everything on it. But I noticed this tidbit.
When I receive a call when the phone is blacked out in standby, I get the dialog with a red “decline” and a green “answer” box. On my 1st iPhone3G with the same firmware 2.0 and 2.0.1 I get the “Slide to unlock” dialog to answer the call. So I figured ok whats going on here? I went into Settings > General > Auto-Lock has been set to 1 min. I had this set for both phones.
I then did a restore on this new replacement, at the same time it updated to 2.0.1. I made sure, Auto-Lock set to 1 min again. Did a call to myself, while phone was in standby and same thing. I get the same red “decline” and a green “answer” dialog. As opposed to a slide to unlock dialog.
I did a full restore again, and I sometimes get the red and green box dialog, but mostly the slide to unlock. I’ve tested by calling myself from my home phone.
So with this said, I don’t really mind getting this dialog, instead of the slide to unlock dialog, as I prefer this one. But do you have any idea as to what is going on?
Should I send this one back?Thanks
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23. ruffdeezy Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 9:45 pmThat’s weird, never seen that before. The dialog one comes up when the phone is not locked. I’ll test mine out and see what happens.
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24. Ben Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 10:04 pmYea it is quite weird, my 1st iPhone never did that before. Please let me know how it goes for you as well. I maybe giving a call to Rogers tommorow.
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25. ruffdeezy Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 5:57 amYeah Ben mine works fine everytime
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26. Ben Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 10:37 amYea I definitely don’t know whats going on. I did a restore last night. Turned it off before I went to bed. This morning and @ work. tried calling myself, I get the ’slide to unlock’ dialog. I hope that fixed it.. its not exactly a major issue, but if its a defect hardware or software related, its still a issue.
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27. Benj Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:01 amI just received my iPhone in the mail from Fido last week. However, after reading in forums about the light leakage defect, I discoverd my phone had the same flaw. There is a visible 2 inch light leak on the left side. And upon a more careful inspection, I also noticed the rubber gasket/seal on the top portion isn’t fitted well (half the seal of the top section appears to be pinched into the chrome frame rather then sitting flush with the surface like the sides on the left/right/bottom.
I originally wouldn’t of noticed or minded the defect, but I want to know if this might cause any long term effects. Having read more about the results of Apple’s lack of quality control, I am uncertain whether it would be worth risking for a replacement, which might even be worst.
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28. ruffdeezy Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:09 am@ benj
Is the light coming out of the side of the screen while looking at it from the front or can you see light coming through the back when you turn it over? -
29. Benj Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:54 amFor me, the light is coming out from the side while looking from the front.
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30. ruffdeezy Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:00 amOk, that sounds like the problem then, I would make an appointment with the genius at the Apple Store if you are close to one or call into Apple. Don’t deal with Rogers/Fido.
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31. ruffdeezy Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:01 amBenj, can you take a photo of it? I’d like to see what it looks like.
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32. Benj Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:37 pmWell I don’t have a camera with me…
Heres a link to a picture which closely resembles mine.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rkeaveney/2776517680/in/set-72157606821196131/You can see if you have the same leak just by viewing the iPhone in a dark room.
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33. Dean Says:
September 25th, 2008 at 9:07 pmThe Light Leak is a major problem with a lot of 3G iPhones. I bought 2 iPhones (1 white 16gb and 1 black 16gb) both had the left front light leak. The white one also had the sealing “gasket?” on the front lifted in the top corner and the back light leaked through the back case in “patchy” areas (very ugly). I went to the Apple Store and they swapped them. I asked the “Genius” if these ones will not have the light leak issue and he assured me. At home I find that the new black one has the same left side light leak and now the right as well. That’s 3/4 brand new iPhone’s to have the issue.
I’m taking the black one back again. The gap creating the light leak can let dust and moister inside and under the screen. Apple needs to get their QC in order.
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