Apple do not authorise repairs on iPhones!

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myopinion

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#73132 10-Dec-2010 09:53

Hi Guys

I look after about 25 iPhones at work and I have one that has obvious battery issues. Its a 3G iPhone just over a year old.

So I sent the unit into get repaired and got a quote back for around $450 to "exchange" the unit. I asked what exchange meant - battery or entire iPhone. The response was the entire iPhone as Apple don't authorise repairs on the iPhone.

This seems to be a bit of a rort to me. If I pay for the exchange unit there's no warranty so if something goes wrong I'm up for another $450. What should I do? Buy a new iPhone 3GS instead?

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#415410 10-Dec-2010 10:01

The $450 is effectively a repair fee. They don't do repairs - they replace units, which is common practice in the IT industry.

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myopinion

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#415415 10-Dec-2010 10:10

Update - the replacement handset does come with a warranty of 90 days.

josephhinvest

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#415416 10-Dec-2010 10:10

If you pay for an exchange unit from Apple, this will have a 90 day warranty.

If the unit is out of warranty, you may well be able to have just the battery replaced, not the whole unit. This would typically cost around $135 incl GST.

Cheers,
Joseph.

myopinion

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#415417 10-Dec-2010 10:12

Can you recommend a place that replaces batteries for the iPhone 3G? I see kits available online for about $50 but non-gunuine batteries have caused me problems in the past.

myopinion

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#415451 10-Dec-2010 11:21

Well I'm going to try replacing the battery with one from a company called VPIND BATTERIES. I reckon this whole replacement thing for $500 no matter what is wrong with the iPhone is a complete rip-off. The iPhone is only just outside its warranty at 13 months.

graemeh

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#415452 10-Dec-2010 11:21

myopinion: Hi Guys

I look after about 25 iPhones at work and I have one that has obvious battery issues. Its a 3G iPhone just over a year old.

So I sent the unit into get repaired and got a quote back for around $450 to "exchange" the unit. I asked what exchange meant - battery or entire iPhone. The response was the entire iPhone as Apple don't authorise repairs on the iPhone.

This seems to be a bit of a rort to me. If I pay for the exchange unit there's no warranty so if something goes wrong I'm up for another $450. What should I do? Buy a new iPhone 3GS instead?

I'd be checking out the fair trading act and having a discussion with the company phone supplier about how a phone just over 1 year old that costs $450 to repair was not the high quality phone they led you to believe it was when it was sold to you a year earlier for $1k.

If that goes nowhere I'd ask them to nominate a company representative to be named in your disputes tribunal proceedings.

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#415485 10-Dec-2010 12:13

The battery should last longer than 13mths..... shouldn't it?
Whats a fair-time to expect the handset, and battery, to last before it should need replacing?

If you have this issue with 1 and not the other 24...... I'd be speaking to Apple.

wellygary

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#415491 10-Dec-2010 12:27

myopinion: Well I'm going to try replacing the battery with one from a company called VPIND BATTERIES. I reckon this whole replacement thing for $500 no matter what is wrong with the iPhone is a complete rip-off. The iPhone is only just outside its warranty at 13 months.

Apple have a specific Battery replacement programme, as opposed to an exchange programme,

Are you sure you got shunted into the battery replacement, (its around US$70 so $450 NZ sounds extortionistic)

http://www.apple.com/nz/support/iphone/service/battery/

wellygary

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#415492 10-Dec-2010 12:27

myopinion: Well I'm going to try replacing the battery with one from a company called VPIND BATTERIES. I reckon this whole replacement thing for $500 no matter what is wrong with the iPhone is a complete rip-off. The iPhone is only just outside its warranty at 13 months.

myopinion

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#415497 10-Dec-2010 12:37

wellygary:
myopinion: Well I'm going to try replacing the battery with one from a company called VPIND BATTERIES. I reckon this whole replacement thing for $500 no matter what is wrong with the iPhone is a complete rip-off. The iPhone is only just outside its warranty at 13 months.

Apple have a specific Battery replacement programme, as opposed to an exchange programme,

Are you sure you got shunted into the battery replacement, (its around US$70 so $450 NZ sounds extortionistic)

http://www.apple.com/nz/support/iphone/service/battery/

That program is for US customers. In NZ you either go through Vodafone if you bought it from them or Mobilefone Repair if you bought it directly from Apple. I was told to go to Mobilefone Repair and that exchange price was for a defective battery.

Quote Mobilefone Repair:

Diagnosis:

Verified battery easily drains. Non warranty.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Action Required:

Quote to exchange unit.

When asked what do they mean by exchange:

Apple do not authorise repairs on iPhone so the quote is to exchange the whole handset.
Regards

Quotes Tetam

exportgoldman

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#415499 10-Dec-2010 12:42

oxnsox: The battery should last longer than 13mths..... shouldn't it?
Whats a fair-time to expect the handset, and battery, to last before it should need replacing?

If you have this issue with 1 and not the other 24...... I'd be speaking to Apple.

The industry standard is that batteries are classified as consumables, so are only warranted for 12 months, this is standard on Lenovo, HP, Sony laptops etc.

I checked with someone in the know.

Apple will deny the fault because it is out of Warranty
The battery replacement program is not available in New Zealand, and you can't courier the iPhone to be replaired to in America under the battery program because warranty repairs are restricted to country of purchase.

BrightPoint would be the ones which do the iPhone repairs in NZ, and they have chosen not to offer the battery repair.

I would try doing a factory reset of the iPhone and then run the battery test again because it may be the software causing issues - it has been known to resolve issues with battery life.

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#415550 10-Dec-2010 14:36

exportgoldman: The industry standard is that batteries are classified as consumables, so are only warranted for 12 months, this is standard on Lenovo, HP, Sony laptops etc.

I checked with someone in the know.

Apple will deny the fault because it is out of Warranty
The battery replacement program is not available in New Zealand, and you can't courier the iPhone to be replaired to in America under the battery program because warranty repairs are restricted to country of purchase.

BrightPoint would be the ones which do the iPhone repairs in NZ, and they have chosen not to offer the battery repair.

I would try doing a factory reset of the iPhone and then run the battery test again because it may be the software causing issues - it has been known to resolve issues with battery life.

Industry standard is irrelevant, a $1k product which requires a $450 repair after 13 months is something where Apple is pretty much guaranteed to lose in the disputes tribunal as it is not the high quality product it is held out to be.

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#415570 10-Dec-2010 14:59

If battery is considered a consumable, then the consumer should be able to change it; else at $450 to repair after just a year is definitely a "not fit for purpose"

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myopinion

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#415572 10-Dec-2010 15:01

I have a contact at Apple who I purchased all the iPhones from. Shall I send the "quote" from Mobilefone Repair and get his response?

mattwnz

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#415578 10-Dec-2010 15:05

exportgoldman:
oxnsox: The battery should last longer than 13mths..... shouldn't it?
Whats a fair-time to expect the handset, and battery, to last before it should need replacing?

If you have this issue with 1 and not the other 24...... I'd be speaking to Apple.

The industry standard is that batteries are classified as consumables, so are only warranted for 12 months, this is standard on Lenovo, HP, Sony laptops etc.

I checked with someone in the know.

Apple will deny the fault because it is out of Warranty
The battery replacement program is not available in New Zealand, and you can't courier the iPhone to be replaired to in America under the battery program because warranty repairs are restricted to country of purchase.

BrightPoint would be the ones which do the iPhone repairs in NZ, and they have chosen not to offer the battery repair.

I would try doing a factory reset of the iPhone and then run the battery test again because it may be the software causing issues - it has been known to resolve issues with battery life.

I believe that would apply for batteries which can be easily removed from the device, where the consumer can just buy a new battery and replace it themselves. Thus the battery is a consumable. However when the battery is inbuilt into the device, and it is not able to be removed by the consumer, I wouldn't consider it to be a consumable. Thus I would expect it to be designed to last the life of the device, but it is more of a grey area. I would be interested to hear how you get on.

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