Apple Warranty - dissapointed

ambiophonics

Just need to vent for a moment here.

I have an ipod touch 4G and since the most recent OS update the wifi has been flaky. I finally decided to send it it for repair (turns out the warranty was about to expire) but I just made the cutoff date. Today I get news from apple that my ipod is being returned un-repaired because it was "abused". They said there was slight oxidation on the dock connector which voided the warranty.

They did not address the wifi problem and simply returned my ipod (waiting to receive it now).

I find this extremely frustrating - I live in a humid enviroment and that dock connector is open to the air. I don't know who else to call at apple to complain so I guess I'll just stop buying apple products, not that they will notice or care. :sad:

nwohlford

Do you have an apple store nearby? You will get much better service there. You can explain your situation. They are usually very sympathetic and will work out a reasonable solution.

ambiophonics

unfortunately the closest store is a couple hours away... and my warranty officially expired today.

janmike

I would call them.

jimbo1421

ambiophonics wrote: »

unfortunately the closest store is a couple hours away... and my warranty officially expired today.

My experience is that Apple is not too fussy about warranty expiration dates. Anyway, you initiated the issue before the expiration. Call AppleCare again and try again with another rep.

Jim

ambiophonics

I'll try them again. Wish me luck!

codyc1ark

My brother dropped his iPad2 a few weeks after buying it, went to an apple store and they replaced it free of charge. He had a great experience with them. I'd try a store or call in and beg!

AsSiMiLaTeD

I've had excellent service with apple as well. They're right up there with Polk CS, or at least have been for me and everyone I know.

Fireman32

Apple CS is excellent. My first iPhone was out of warranty for 6 months when it developed a problem. I took it to the Apple store expecting to have to buy a new phone but they replaced it for me free of charge. I would try again and it might be worth driving to the closest store. They would probably just give you a new one.

GlennDog

Ditto to all the above. Apple CS rocks, I've never been disappointed. . . . I hope it turns out well for you!

G

stretchl

The apple store in in Miami replaced, thats right, replaced, my three year old fully pimped Mac Pro with a brand new similarly tricked out machine at no cost to me whatsoever. Get a real person on the phone (ask for a Level One tech support specialist) and share your story. You might be pleasantly surprised.

BeefJerky

nwohlford wrote: »

Do you have an apple store nearby? You will get much better service there. You can explain your situation. They are usually very sympathetic and will work out a reasonable solution.

Meh, it all depends on the store. The Apple "geniuses" at the store in The Woodlands mall here in Texas were incredibly unhelpful and condescending...and the manager was no better. Mind you, I haven't dealt with this store in years due to this, so maybe they've "cleaned house" so to say. That said, the problems I did have were resolved by CS over the phone.

gdb

I have a very simple rule: If you're not satisfied with how you're treated by any corporation, keep going up the food chain until you get the desired response. (the big shots don't enjoy having their golf time interrupted by the ineptness of their underlings !)

mystik610

I had a bad experience with Apple.

About 6 months into owning my iPhone 4, I cracked the screen. Knowing this wasn't covered under warranty, and because it was purely a cosmetic problem anyway, I didn't bother to get it fixed.

Two months later, I brought my phone into the Apple store because the home screen button stopped working, and they declined the warranty on my phone because of the cracked screen. I told them that I didn't care if they fixed the cracked screen, I just needed a functioning phone. Even though the genius bar guy acknowledged that the cracked screen had nothing to do with the malfunctioning home screen button, he indicated that Apple doesn't do partial repairs (only full replacements), and that my phone doesn't quality for a replacement because of the broken screen. Mind you this is my work phone, and I travel a lot and NEED a functioning phone to do my work.

I went back to work and read the warranty and it does indeed void coverage for cosmetic damage and damage caused by abuse or accidents (forget the actual wording), but my argument was that the home screen button failure was purely a functional defect that is an isolated event from the cracking of the screen, and that Apple was liable to fix it. If the home screen button failure was a result of the cracked screen, Apple would have to prove that the two were related to deny service.

Failure of the home screen button is a rather regular occurrence. My wife's iPhone had the same problem (as did a guy at my work), which they actually repaired in store. Hell, they even replaced her iPhone when she cracked the screen a month later. They did the same for my boss.

Long-story short, I brought my case up the chain, but it took threatening to file a civil claim against them to get them to do anything. I was dead serious about the civil claim too, as I still think I had a rock solid case against them.

stretchl

gdb wrote: »

I have a very simple rule: If you're not satisfied with how you're treated by any corporation, keep going up the food chain until you get the desired response. (the big shots don't enjoy having their golf time interrupted by the ineptness of their underlings !)

What he said.

Drenis

gdb wrote: »

I have a very simple rule: If you're not satisfied with how you're treated by any corporation, keep going up the food chain until you get the desired response. (the big shots don't enjoy having their golf time interrupted by the ineptness of their underlings !)

This doesn't always work.

Last year I was told by a very reputable car dealerships president that he "didn't care if I was unhappy with the service as there were 99 other people who are happy with theirs today".

bklynNupe

I’ve had a macbook and a ipod classic fail on me on two separate occasions within a month or two out of warranty and they still honored the warranty. For the macbook I had to write a letter to corporate and a supervisor called me to say they were going to re-open my warranty for 30 days. I essentially go a new machine when it was all said and done. For the ipod, I called applecare and they wouldn’t budge. However they suggested I make an appointment at the genius bar to see if they could do anything. Sure enough the guy went to the back and came back with a refurbished/new ipod. I know some others have had not so good experiences with Apple, however I do have to say for a company of this size they can be responsive and flexible if you manage to get to ahold to the right person.

gdb

FWIW.... there's always Square Trade warranties that I believe will cover stuff that manufacturers won't.
Not a big issue for me, I still carry a 10 year old Nokia that operates as a telephone only, and that's all I need or want from it !

http://www.squaretrade.com/iphone-landing24

stretchl

This actually now reminds me of another time when I broke the hinge on a MacBook Pro about a month after my three year AppleCare warranty expired. The guy at the genius bar said they'd take care of it, no worries, and they did.

No corporation is perfect, but a few aren't as evil as most.

Of course, this proves that "corporations are people," or some such nonsense...