Tag Archives for technology

My iPhone 6s: No Replacement Joy

Today, Apple released its much-anticipated iPhone 7, with the usual fanfare to a gaggle of media and Apple acolytes, who seem to wait with bated breath each time a new version of an i-something is announced. Yesterday, I picked up my replacement iPhone 6s. There was no excited anticipation, or celebration, on my part and it took less than ten minutes for the representative at my local Apple Store’s Genius Bar to hand me my replacement phone after removing it from a nondescript white box and inserting my phone’s SIM card. My replacement phone, or as Apple calls it: a ‘service phone’, is a refurbished iPhone 6s that replaces the brand new, shiny, Space Gray, iPhone 6s I bought at the end of June that was defective out-of-the-box.

The store representative was happy to send me on my way after that brief interaction. My destination was home, to load my backed up data on to this replacement and pretend the defective phone was replaced with something new. The problem is, I know it’s not new. I know – because I asked someone an unexpected question – that Apple’s policy is to replace their products, when they are defective out-of-the-box, with refurbished products. Products that have had part(s) interchanged within their shells when they have failed diagnostics tests that indicate a hardware, not a software flaw; and knowing that makes me feel like crap because it’s not in any way – at least not to me – comparable to the phone the I paid hundreds of dollars for roughly two months ago. A decision I feel stupid for making, not because I’m an avid Apple fan, but on the basis that I didn’t have to learn how to use a new manufacturer’s phone and that my iPhone 4 had been reliable for four years so I believed this new improved model should be just as good.

In recent conversations I’ve had with Apple Support representatives, they’ve made it clear to me that Apple doesn’t have a problem explaining and supporting this policy of replacing the defective products people pay hundreds of dollars for with refurbished equipment. Even the Apple Store manager, to whom I made it clear that I paid out-of-pocket for my phone, when she flippantly suggested that my phone was a freebie I received as part of a locked-in-until-your-kids-are-old-enough-to-drive contract many people sign on to with their mobile phone service providers, only stumbled for a moment before getting back on-message. Not even my mobile service provider was aware that this happens with Apple’s defective out-of-the-box products, until I called them to see what options I might have in lieu of accepting what I consider a sub-standard replacement. In fact, the representative I spoke with stated, that he’d never had another customer call with my issue and that “I’m dumbstruck, especially coming from Apple that’s supposed to be the ‘Cadillac’ of companies,” when I explained some of the Apple Store manager’s rationale for why they use ‘service phones’.

I guess giving customers refurbished product must be at the top of the lesser-known policies Apple uses to grow profits and keep a high percentage of product market share, while presenting their glossy image – as they did today at the iPhone 7 launch – because people rarely think to ask the question I did. Now I get to walk around, until I replace my phone in another three or four years, with the displeasure of knowing that I have an iFrankenphone that was built to replace defective part(s) instead of the brand new, shiny, Space Gray, iPhone 6s I spent a shitload of money for.

 

Jerry Reed – She Got the Goldmine, I got The Shaft

 

My iPhone 6s: Screwed By Apple

Illness has ways of removing things from our lives that we take for granted when we are moving through the world in a healthy body. For instance, I haven’t had sex for more than three years mainly because I haven’t been in a relationship since the arrival of my illness, but more importantly because I’m in pain all the time. However, this morning after getting off the phone with the Manager from my local Apple Store I felt as if I’d been screwed  for the first time in more than three years – my apologies for the vulgar characterization.

In a conversation filled with platitudes, customer handling jargon, and loads of BS about saving the environment; the outcome is that I will not get a new phone to replace my brand new, shiny, Space Gray, iPhone 6s, which I recently purchased and was defective out-of-the-box. Instead, a phone that comes from Apple’s service inventory will replace my new phone that I was so happy to have purchased. The Manager did her very best to assure me that the quality of the ‘service phone’ will not vary in any way from my brand new, shiny, Space Gray, iPhone 6s because it comes from the same assembly line as all new Apple phones – with the only exception being the fish logo missing from the front of the box. However, none of what she said reassured me.

My iPhone 6s -Screwed By Apple

My brand new out-of-the-box iPhone 6s was defective and, according to the Manager, the only way to replace it under warranty, less than two months after it was purchased, is with a phone assembled with random components meant to revive a previously defective phone; I don’t find that at all reassuring. I also don’t find it reassuring that this Manager could not understand why such a policy, which was not disclosed to me during my earlier visit to the store, would not only be unappealing but also unacceptable to someone who had just shelled out hundreds of dollars for what is marketed as a “most advanced” product. When I pick up my replacement phone from the Apple Store: I will know it is not the same quality product I spent a considerable amount of time making the decision to invest such a great sum of money in. I will also know that Apple has done the expedient thing to save the company money at the cost of customer loyalty.

I know that many people will think I’m making a mountain out of a molehill. However, when you get ripped off by a mammoth company and they smile while doing it and tell you they have no options because Apple has no process “to return your defective phone to inventory” and you know that options do exist, it’s a pretty shitty feeling.

 

My iPhone 6s: A Service Phone Is Not The Same As New

It’s bad enough that I have to cope with an undefined illness that causes me extreme pain daily. However, when I pay hundreds of dollars for a new phone manufactured by a company worth more money than I can even imagine exists; it fails ‘out-of-the-box’ and they want to replace it with a refurbished phone, which they refer to as a “service phone”, it’s a bit more than I can bear.

It took months for me to decide whether to upgrade from my fully functioning iPhone 4, which never presented a single issue in the four years I owned it, to an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, or iPhone 6s Plus. Making the decision wasn’t hard because of any vastly unique differences in features between each phone model. It was hard because of what I need the phone for now, which is phone calls, taking pictures, and whatever features distract me from my pain and how long I would probably wait before upgrading again – I no longer work so I don’t necessarily need the highest level of functionality. I finally chose the iPhone 6s with the highest level of memory available so I won’t have to worry about storage, while still keeping moderately current in the coming years, on what I believed would be a phone as reliable as my old iPhone 4. Well, it didn’t turn out that way.

Shortly after purchasing my iPhone 6s at the end of June, I started to notice some functionality issues. The main thing, which at first I considered a minor glitch would happen while writing messages with the phone’s native messaging app. Unfortunately, that glitch turned into a bigger problem and started affecting other messaging apps. Because it’s a brand new phone, still under warranty, I contacted my service provider’s technical support. When I explained the issue, they walked me through some general troubleshooting steps, but soon realized that it was a product issue that had to be resolved by the manufacturer. They gave me the Apple Support contact information for my country and started me on what I assumed would be an uneventful manufacturer technical support process. However, if you’ve ever had a technical issue with any of your personal electronic devices, you know that there is no such thing as ‘an uneventful manufacturer technical support process’.

I had two telephone support calls with Apple Support that did not help to resolve my issue, which meant I had to make an appointment to see a support representative at my local Apple Store’s ‘Genius Bar’, which according to Apple is “[t]he best place to get support for Apple products.” After my phone was put through some diagnostic tests the support representative decided that the issue was not software related and that my phone needed to be replaced because my ‘glitch’ was definitely a hardware problem. He told me that my ‘new phone’ should arrive in the store within five to seven business days, and that I would receive an email to let me know when it arrived. Today took me beyond the five to seven business-day window and since I still had not received a follow-up email telling me I could pick up the replacement phone, I decided to call the Apple Store.

When I called the store, I asked a question that had been in the back of my mind since last week. Because it struck me as odd that I wasn’t given a new phone right there in the store I had to ask: Was my brand new, shiny, Space Gray, iPhone 6s being replaced by another brand new, shiny, Space Gray, iPhone 6s; or was I to get a refurbished phone? When I asked my question, the store representative responded by proudly telling me that I would receive a ‘service phone’. What’s a ‘service phone’ I asked? She told me “it’s not an ‘out-of-the-box’ phone. It’s a phone that has had parts replaced but it’s just as good as a new phone made by Apple.” I asked her if she understood the meaning of the word ‘semantics’? She said she did. I then told her that I had no interest in receiving a refurbished phone for the brand new ‘out-of-the-box’ phone I had recently purchased. She responded by telling me that’s the policy of the company. I told her that the service representative I met with when I brought my phone to the store never mentioned that I would not receive a brand new phone to replace the one with the ‘glitch’ for which I recently paid hundreds of dollars.

Shockingly, she responded with a question about whether I still wanted her to hold the phone for me. Meaning, would I prefer to keep the phone that didn’t work properly. I immediately asked to speak to a manager. She returned to the phone after a few minutes to tell me that there was no manager “immediately available” to speak with me, and asked if I would prefer to come in to the store to speak with one. I told her that if I came in to the store to speak with a manager it would not be pretty, so my preference was to have one call me as soon as possible. She took my details and I made it clear that I would be widely sharing this undisclosed policy of replacing defective ‘out-of-the-box’ phones with a ‘service phone’. That seemed to shake her confidence that an Apple ‘service phone’ might not be “just as good as a new phone.”

I’m still waiting for a call from an Apple manager. I’m angry about this. I’m angry that Apple, a company that prides itself on producing the “most advanced” products and providing top of the line support, would have this policy that is equivalent to pulling a fast one on their customers.

 

U2 – Volcano (Songs of Innocence)