Me and my wife just got iphone 4's. Her's was sick out of the packet, really bad coverage, mine would be 5 bars and hers would be 1 bar or no coverage it sitting side by side on a table. We took hers back to vodafone on a saturday and she had a replacement phone by the next thursday.
She ended up with a new phone, just not in retail packaging. So no stress it won't take too long.
on Thursday night, i noticed something's wrong with my iPhone4's display. There is a horizontal line on the LCD screen all the pixels seem inverted i.e. if the background is supposed to be black, then i see a white line, and if the background is supposed to be white/light colour, i see a dark line. apart from that, everything seems to be working just as usual.
At first i thought it's just some software glitches/refresh problem as my internet browser has crashed earlier. But after restarting the phone i still got the same problem and i become a bit unhappy as the phone is not even 1 month old. But then i'm probably just very bad luck and at least it's all covered by warranty. So i called the Apple Support the next morning hoping they have some magic solution for me and i don't need to send my precious iPhone back for repair.. the apple support guy was very nice and patience and he spent about half an hour with me on the phone, go through some check/reset/backup...etc process and in the end he believe my phone is faulty and asked me to contact Vodafone and they'll get it sorted for me. I called the Vodafone number he gave me and after talking to the vodafone support people for a while, he asked me to just take it to the branch i bought it from and they'll help me to sent it back to have it repaired and it will all be covered by warranty as its still within the warranty period. So I took it back to the shop at lunch time, and tell them the problem i have.. I told them i've already talked to the Apple guys and they think i need to send it back for repair. The guy in the shop checked the phone for about a minute or so.. and then asked if i impact damage it. I told him no and then he said he thinks Apple will say it's an impact damage and won't cover it by warranty. I told him very clearly again i didn't drop my phone. And ask him why did he say that it was impact damaged as none of the Apple or Vodafone guy i talked on the phone said even suggested that i may have impact damaged it? He said it's because they have never seen the phone. I told him i've explained the symptom very clearly to them on the phone and also there is not even a tiny winy scratch mark or any kind of physical damage on the phone so why did he say that this will probably not be covered by warranty because it can be a impact damage. He asked if i still want to send it to repair as if it's not covered then i've to pay $600ish for repair. As you can guess, I became very angry as i'm already wasting lots of my time to get this sorted and this was certainly not an impact damage and really I don't see any reason why he or he think Apple would think it is.
So while i'm now waiting for Apple to fix my phone, i'm just wondering if you guys have any similar experience when you are sending your iPhone back to repair?
if Apple refused to repair it under warranty then i'll be super angry as it's simply crazy if i've to pay $600ish to have my less than 1 month old phone fixed when it's clearly not my fault.
That shop assistant has no clue himself. Ask for his name and lay a complaint about his rudeness and poor customer service - not to the branch manager (who probably won't care) but to the regional manager.
I had a pretty miserable experience at Vodafone once. I wished i'd recorded the conversation on my phone as evidence
I was already quite upset about my faulty phone and I thought their job is to try help their customer minimise their pain and inconvenience, not increase the customer's worry by some ridiculous claims.
Thanks for the suggestions! I already have written down their names but I'll wait and see what experience i got when they get back to me. If i am really going to lay a complaint, I will contact the regional manager
got my phone back yesterday morning. Actually Apple replaced it with a brand new one and all covered by warranty.
I've to say i'm very happy with the Apple customer service and support. From how the apple customer support guy helped me on the phone on the 00800 number, to how quickly they get it all sorted when i send it the phone (and unlike the vodafone guys, they didn't try to accuse me of impact damaging the phone), and also when i call Brightpoint yesterday morning, the ladies there were also very friendly and also immediately return my call after i left my phone number.
But on the other hand, i'm still quite unhappy with how the salesperson in the vodafone shop treated me, I just don't feel they are there trying to help me at all. And funny thing is, after talking to my colleagues and friends about my experience, everyone of them told me they have very similar experience with apple and vodafone.
For my next iPhone i will probably just buy from Apple store directly so i don't have to deal with someone that does not care about or respect their customer.
yellow15: got my phone back yesterday morning. Actually Apple replaced it with a brand new one and all covered by warranty.
I've to say i'm very happy with the Apple customer service and support. From how the apple customer support guy helped me on the phone on the 00800 number, to how quickly they get it all sorted when i send it the phone (and unlike the vodafone guys, they didn't try to accuse me of impact damaging the phone), and also when i call Brightpoint yesterday morning, the ladies there were also very friendly and also immediately return my call after i left my phone number.
But on the other hand, i'm still quite unhappy with how the salesperson in the vodafone shop treated me, I just don't feel they are there trying to help me at all. And funny thing is, after talking to my colleagues and friends about my experience, everyone of them told me they have very similar experience with apple and vodafone.
For my next iPhone i will probably just buy from Apple store directly so i don't have to deal with someone that does not care about or respect their customer.
Iphones are not repaired they are replaced shoop assistants my say it's got to be sent off for repair but they are not repaired. they are assessed and replaced if hardware is deemed faulty.
the problem with vodfone is not all shops are really vodafone they can be franchised outlets even though they have vodafone plastered all overt them there is no obvious way to tell unless you ask.
generally the franchise outlets don't or won't do anything that they can't make money on. which leads to poor customer service imo. eg turn up at a VF franchise shop and try to get on account sim replacement they try and charge you for it when it should be free. show up with a faulty iphone they don't want to know.
personally I think these VF franchise outlets don't do VF any favors with their poor customer service
Well other than the extremely poor service all I can say is 'That is some pretty bad luck.'
I owned the very first iphone that came out in NZ and was happy. With my lifestyle though it only lasted 6 months. I don't want to be an anti apple boy but I will stick with android for now. I don't understand how apple will not let independent app creators make a living, I could go on but I wont.
Iphones are not repaired they are replaced shoop assistants my say it's got to be sent off for repair but they are not repaired. they are assessed and replaced if hardware is deemed faulty.
the problem with vodfone is not all shops are really vodafone they can be franchised outlets even though they have vodafone plastered all overt them there is no obvious way to tell unless you ask.
generally the franchise outlets don't or won't do anything that they can't make money on. which leads to poor customer service imo. eg turn up at a VF franchise shop and try to get on account sim replacement they try and charge you for it when it should be free. show up with a faulty iphone they don't want to know.
personally I think these VF franchise outlets don't do VF any favors with their poor customer service
The shop i went to is a real vodafone shop i believe. It's a "vodafone" branded shop in one of the big shopping mall here in Auckland next to the food court. Yeah the main reason we bought our iPhones from this shop instead of the other franchised mobile shops in the same shopping mall is that I've heard of quite a lot of bad stories about how those shop tened to treat their customers whenever there is a problem, so we went straight to the "vodafone" shop instead. Unfortunately the experience i had this time is bad enough to made me not wanting to buy anything from any Vodafone shop again in the future.
yellow15: The shop i went to is a real vodafone shop i believe. It's a "vodafone" branded shop in one of the big shopping mall here in Auckland next to the food court. Yeah the main reason we bought our iPhones from this shop instead of the other franchised mobile shops in the same shopping mall is that I've heard of quite a lot of bad stories about how those shop tened to treat their customers whenever there is a problem, so we went straight to the "vodafone" shop instead. Unfortunately the experience i had this time is bad enough to made me not wanting to buy anything from any Vodafone shop again in the future.
I went to a large VF branded shop also in a mall asked for a replacement sim as mine was faulty I've had the same sim or over 10 years I also requested it be swapped to a mico sim as I was getting a ip4
I was told in no uncertain terns I could not have a micro sim unless I signed up for another contract I pointed out I was all ready on account and had been for over 10 years and as an on account customer I'm entitled to free sim replacement and my sim is faulty no dice. called VF told told them my sim issue was txted a "ticket" for a sim replacement I asked were the nearest vf outlet was that not a frachise I was told the outlet I'd been to was a franchise the closest was silvia park. what a difference in the treatment I received at sylia park. treated as a valuable customer not a pain in the ass the franchise outlet couldn't wait to get rid of 'casuse there was no $$ in it for therm.
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