Apple is taking a liberal approach to iPhone problems at the Genius Bar, according to several customer reports, including one person who broke the screen. Apple’s motive includes providing a superior customer experience, but is also intended to collect technical information for the engineers in Cupertino for possible design improvements in subsequent versions of the device. In a flickr set a man said he smashed the screen less than 24 hours after buying the iPhone. He put Scotch Tape over the crazed glass and continued using the phone, but then went to an Apple store Genius Bar. “After I met with a Genius, they just handed me a new (iPhone) with my old SIM installed and told me to re-sync,” he wrote. But he warned, “They said my replacement was a fluke because it was one of the first (their engineers wanted to analyze it) and if it had broken at a later point, they would not have replaced it.” Indeed, after AppleCare becomes available for the iPhone in about two weeks, replacements may not be as easy.
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This is quite common during an initial release of an iPod. Apple sends info to all the retail stores to replace the device without question until otherwise said. This happened with the iPod nano when it was first released when people were breaking the screens. This will last about three-five weeks.
Based on my past experience, Apple has been great at replacing equipment:
Story #1: My daughter was using a laptop on her lap while holding her baby. The baby pushed the screen back and broke the hinges. It worked for a while by putting a “brick” behind the screen, but then the video connection failed. My daughter brought it in just to get the video connection fixed. She asked about fixing the hinges, but Apple said it wasn’t worth the cost - would probably be about $1500. She got the laptop back totally fixed (including the hinges) at no charge - Apple apparently transplanted the laptop into a new case. She panicked because she thought Apple would charge her even though she told them not to go ahead with the $1500 repair. Of course they didn’t.
Story #2: My son-in-law had a tower in which the power supply failed. Brought it in and they replaced the power suppply. It failed again. Replaced again. Failed a third time. This time Apple replaced the machine, but by this time they were no longer selling his model, so they upgraded him to the newer model.
Story #3: Had an iPod that failed (out of warranty). OK, Apple wasn’t about to fix that for free, but I did have credit card insurance on purchases, so Apple gave me a receipt indicating that it couldn’t be fixed, only replaced and the credit card company paid for a new iPod (except for the tax.)
So while Apple takes a pretty strict stand offically, in practice they seem to want to do the right thing, especially for the more expensive product lines.
Yeah, these CRUs (Customer Replacement Units) won’t last too much longer.
Come in with busted screen or other accidental damage in another week or two and you will get the “Sorry, but that is not covered by your warranty” speech.
People…buy a good hard plastic case for your iPhone. And use it!
