Apple rant - phone replaced after all

Megatomic

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
20,127
6
81
Was out for a run this morning. My 4S is cradled in an Otterbox Commuter which is in my Yurbuds Ironman armband. I'm listening to my favorite podcast and the volume goes to basically 10% of normal even with the volume controls maxed out. I get home and do a hard reset and volume comes back slowly, I think the phone was overheating maybe. But something worse has now manifested itself. The fvcking phone doesn't charge when plugged into the wall adapter, but charges just fine when I plug it into my laptop.

I google that, the common reason for this is the pins are messed up? Really? While I was running with the thing in a Commuter and stuffed into a neoprene sleeve? Where is the amazing build quality that we all rant and rave about now?

So yeah, I'm off to the Apple store this afternoon. If they tell me it's water damage this time someone is gonna get blasted. It did NOT get water damage unless the humidity field surrounding me while I run is THAT great. grrrr
 
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TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
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91
I hope you made an appointment at the store
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
12,089
45
91
Absolutely. 3:50 this afternoon.

It's bad enough that you're phone is malfunctioning, but a lot of people don't expect that they need to make an appointment, so allow that to compound their annoyance/anger/whatever.
 
Feb 25, 2011
16,906
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Or it could be a problem with the charger or cable. (Seems like that's always the problem for me - in the two years I've had my iPhone 4, I've buried probably 3 cables, 2 chargers, and god-knows-how-many sets of the apple headphones with the volume controls.

But I buy the fell-off-the-truck ones from Hong Kong on Amazon, so I don't expect much for $2.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,810
126
I had the original iPhone. The phone stopped charging after the warranty expired. I learned my lesson and every phone I owned since has had removable battery. If the charging port on my phone messes up or the battery malfunctions, I can just pop in a new battery or charge the battery separately on an external charger until I get it fixed.
 

TuxDave

Lifer
Oct 8, 2002
10,571
3
71
Good luck. Best case is that they find a way to swap it out for a quick fix.
 

Megatomic

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
20,127
6
81
Guys, get ready to flay me. Just before I left to go to the Apple store it began to work again... I went in to the Apple store anyways and a genius checked it out for me. Said if it happens again to bring the adapter and wire in and they'd give me new ones for free. The diagnostic they run turned up nothing and the moisture sensors were all pristine. He said overall the phone is in excellent condition and couldn't explain the behavior aside from a potentially glitchy adapter.
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
12,089
45
91
Guys, get ready to flay me. Just before I left to go to the Apple store it began to work again... I went in to the Apple store anyways and a genius checked it out for me. Said if it happens again to bring the adapter and wire in and they'd give me new ones for free. The diagnostic they run turned up nothing and the moisture sensors were all pristine. He said overall the phone is in excellent condition and couldn't explain the behavior aside from a potentially glitchy adapter.

Glad it worked out for you.
 

bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,605
3
81
A little off topic, but I had a really good experience at the Apple store last week. Had an iPad 4 an executive must have knocked against a wall and he knocked the headphone jack a little in to the case where it didn't work. There was also a noticeable nick on the side near the headphone jack.

No big deal, as they all but AppleCare+ on them, but the Genius looked at it and said he didn't think it was a contributing factor and swapped it out for free. The same Genius, whom 5 years earlier, told me with the straightest face that the MacBook Pro's hard drive was not a user replaceable part, and so upgrading my HD voided my ability to exchange my main board out under the 8600GT recall.
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
12,089
45
91
A little off topic, but I had a really good experience at the Apple store last week. Had an iPad 4 an executive must have knocked against a wall and he knocked the headphone jack a little in to the case where it didn't work. There was also a noticeable nick on the side near the headphone jack.

No big deal, as they all but AppleCare+ on them, but the Genius looked at it and said he didn't think it was a contributing factor and swapped it out for free. The same Genius, whom 5 years earlier, told me with the straightest face that the MacBook Pro's hard drive was not a user replaceable part, and so upgrading my HD voided my ability to exchange my main board out under the 8600GT recall.

So long as we're off topic...

Every time I have gone to the Apple store closest to me, it has always been the same Genius behind the desk that has helped me out. It's wild, I've been about a half dozen times for various issues, and it's always him.
 

TuxDave

Lifer
Oct 8, 2002
10,571
3
71
Guys, get ready to flay me. Just before I left to go to the Apple store it began to work again... I went in to the Apple store anyways and a genius checked it out for me. Said if it happens again to bring the adapter and wire in and they'd give me new ones for free. The diagnostic they run turned up nothing and the moisture sensors were all pristine. He said overall the phone is in excellent condition and couldn't explain the behavior aside from a potentially glitchy adapter.

/rabble rabble rabbl..... oh

ok.
 

Megatomic

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
20,127
6
81
So that phone got replaced by Apple yesterday. The audio issues got worse and spread to the GPS. Rebooting began to occur. So I took it back in and happily the phone rebooted while the tech was appraising the situation. New phone was in my hands in 2 minutes from that point. I restored the phone from the iCloud Backup I made just before leaving my house, talk about making me happy. It was soooo easy.

New phone battery lasts longer than the last phones battery did, too. I'm happy again.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
New phone was in my hands in 2 minutes from that point. I restored the phone from the iCloud Backup I made just before leaving my house, talk about making me happy. It was soooo easy.

As long as you live close to an Apple Store, it's usually rather simple to get something taken care of. Even when I accidentally gave my iPhone a "thorough cleaning" (read: couldn't feel the thin and light phone in my thick, super-warm robe as I put it in the washer :p), I was able to get in and out relatively quickly. Unfortunately, I also left a bit lighter... about $229 lighter. :p
 

MotionMan

Lifer
Jan 11, 2006
17,123
12
81
So that phone got replaced by Apple yesterday. The audio issues got worse and spread to the GPS. Rebooting began to occur. So I took it back in and happily the phone rebooted while the tech was appraising the situation. New phone was in my hands in 2 minutes from that point. I restored the phone from the iCloud Backup I made just before leaving my house, talk about making me happy. It was soooo easy.

New phone battery lasts longer than the last phones battery did, too. I'm happy again.

Maybe an update of your thread title is in order?

The Genius's at the Apple Store really have so much freedom to make people happy. I have to think that the only time it does not happen is if one of them goes a little overboard and gets reprimanded, and, thus they become gun-shy, or your situation is just one of those dead end events that they are simple are not allowed to fix.

MotionMan
 

Megatomic

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
20,127
6
81
As long as you live close to an Apple Store, it's usually rather simple to get something taken care of. Even when I accidentally gave my iPhone a "thorough cleaning" (read: couldn't feel the thin and light phone in my thick, super-warm robe as I put it in the washer :p), I was able to get in and out relatively quickly. Unfortunately, I also left a bit lighter... about $229 lighter. :p
Yup, I know that feeling of "lighter". My first iPhone was replaced with the refurb that just died at the low, low cost of about $229.
 

saratoga172

Golden Member
Nov 10, 2009
1,564
1
81
Sometimes it's tough to warrant a replacement if they can't see the issue duplicated in store. That's understandable. I've only ever had one issue and that was my iP4 screen shattering when I dropped it getting out of my car a few years ago. They replaced it on the spot free of charge. Made an appointment and was in and out in 15 minutes.

I've heard many great things about their genius staff and honestly is one of the reasons I stick with Apple. It's easy to get a phone replaced if I can show them the problem. It's a sort of measure of keeping the system from being "too" abused.

Anyways, glad it worked out for you OP. Don't think you were trying to game them in any way, just my perspective on why they didn't replace it first time if they didn't see any issues.