4th gen shuffle battery dead after 13 months. Apple says "you're welcome!"....

[redgtxdi]

So I'm not the happiest guy on earth right now.

I just returned from the apple store thinking surely apple will do SOMETHING for me since I own about three grand worth of apple crap, right? WRONG!

The simplest, cheapest device in my collection died instantly. They wanted $49 to replace the battery or $49 for a new one. And they smiled!

I can't pretend this is a $50 item. It's more like $10 out of china and I can't reward apples behavior on this one. Can anybody recommend another brand of chea and easy mp3 player I can use to run with?

TIA

 

[kelvin18574]

You should maybe try again at the apple store. My dad recently went to an apple store because his iPhone 4 was having a hardware failure. That iPhone went past the first 30 days exchange policy but the guys at apple still gave my Dad a brand new iPhone 4, all new accessories. Not only that, they restored backup from iCloud for him at the store and helped set up everything. Best Service yet. ^__^

 

[TheStu]

You should maybe try again at the apple store. My dad recently went to an apple store because his iPhone 4 was having a hardware failure. That iPhone went past the first 30 days exchange policy but the guys at apple still gave my Dad a brand new iPhone 4, all new accessories. Not only that, they restored backup from iCloud for him at the store and helped set up everything. Best Service yet. ^__^

Um, all Apple products (ok, you might be able to find one or two smaller ones that don't) come with a 1 year warranty standard and 90 days of phone service. AppleCare upgrades that to 3yr/3yr. And for hardware issues that are not related to water or physical damage should always be replaced if they can be replicated.

You may be thinking of the 14 day (nee 30 day) exchange period that AT&T, Verizon, et al offer for phones.

 

[Kaido]

So I'm not the happiest guy on earth right now.

I just returned from the apple store thinking surely apple will do SOMETHING for me since I own about three grand worth of apple crap, right? WRONG!

The simplest, cheapest device in my collection died instantly. They wanted $49 to replace the battery or $49 for a new one. And they smiled!

I can't pretend this is a $50 item. It's more like $10 out of china and I can't reward apples behavior on this one. Can anybody recommend another brand of chea and easy mp3 player I can use to run with?

TIA

I was going to recommend buying the AppleCare plan for your iPod, but it's $39 for the Shuffle :biggrin:

 

[Kaido]

It's more like $10 out of china and I can't reward apples behavior on this one. Can anybody recommend another brand of chea and easy mp3 player I can use to run with?

If all you want is basic MP3 capabilities, Deals Extreme has a ton of stuff:

http://www.dealextreme.com/c/mp3-players-101?page=1&pagesize=52&pagesort=price

And forget $10 out of China. How about five bucks with free shipping? :awe:

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/usb-re...layer-w-3-5mm-audio-jack-tf-slot-black-102154

 

[redgtxdi]

Man you are so right, Kaido. Haven't bought from dx in a long time. That's just too good to pass up. I wonder how those headphone versions work. That would be nice to get rid of the wires while running. Heck, for the money I could try a half dozen versions for the price of a shuffle.

If this were something truly innovative like an iPod touch or nano, I'd be the first to say, "hey, apple wins cuz they innovated!" but in this case it's just a shuffle. Heck, i might have even given them the $39 for apple care, if they had proposed that as an option and offered to make it retroactive but they didn't even consider it.

I didn't expect full freebie status but a slap in the face while sitting on $3k worth of their product at home doesn't encourage me to want to open my wallet for them again. :thumbsdown:

 

[Cougit]

Save it and maybe a couple years from now they'll have a recall on the battery and you can swap it for a newer generation model...

 

[fr]

I don't understand why you feel you are entitled to warranty service after the warranty has expired or why they should offer you AppleCare past you eligibility period. Do general policies not apply to you?

 

[redgtxdi]

Re-read the OP.