Apple FRAUD ALERT -- iPhone 6 Plus has design flaw, stores charge $149 to fix it

[Dan Druff]

Apple poorly manufactured/designed their iPhone 6 Pluses, allowing a problem to start occurring as the phones aged.

This was known as a "touch IC" issue, which causes a flickering grey bar to appear at the top of the screen, and for touches to the screen to be unresponsive. This is an intermittent problem, but once a phone has it, it becomes extremely frustrating to use, and borders on uselessness.

For many months, Apple denied the problem and refused to even offer fixes to it. If the phone was out of warranty, you were told "tough luck" and told to buy a new phone. If the phone was in warranty, they would swap it out for a refurbished model -- which is usually a disaster, because refurbished cell phones tend to be full of problems.

After 4 class action lawsuits (still pending), Apple compromised and finally acknowledged the problem in November, 2016: https://www.apple.com/support/iphone6plus-multitouch/

However, Apple will not acknowledge this was due to bad design. Instead, they blame it on the phone being "frequently dropped", which is BS.

They charge $149 for repairs to fix this out of warranty. However, in some cases they cannot repair it, and they again stick you with the dreaded refurbished phone.

Total joke.

This should be a FREE repair, but Apple is greedy and arrogant, and refuses to do this.

My girlfriend's phone has fallen victim to this, and I'm bringing it in today. We basically have no choice.

[lewfather]

thats why you wait for the S's braj

[dick]

I wonder how many hours were wasted by you calling customer service, and realizing you aren't entitled to a free repair.

[SrslySirius]

It's not a flaw, it's a feature, and it's called planned obsolescence. If you bat an eye at buying a new device every 18 months, you're not Apple's target demo. You should have tossed that 6+ last year to stay fashionable.

[sonatine]

It's not a flaw, it's a feature, and it's called planned obsolescence. If you bat an eye at buying a new device every 18 months, you're not Apple's target demo. You should have tossed that 6+ last year to stay fashionable.

lest we forget, the new iphones are coming and they list at over $1k usd a piece, on the low end.


all the money people i know are balls deep in apple at the moment.

[snake_in_the_ass]

If you bat an eye at buying a new device every 18 months, you're not Apple's target demo.

Apple is antisemitic

[DonaldTrumpsHairPiece]

I am a dinosaur, that and not stupid so never owned one (iPhone), never will.

I use my cellphone for calls and emails for work, that's it.

If you use it for more you are a girl.

[wrenchjockey]

lol iSheep

[Dan Druff]

Only reason I put up with this shit is because I like the Apple smartphones the best, and they are also still the main standard in the US.

I don't like Apple as a company. Very arrogant and controlling, as if Steve Jobs were still alive and personally supervising each store.

I wonder how many hours were wasted by you calling customer service, and realizing you aren't entitled to a free repair.

Zero point zero. I know Apple too well than to waste even one second asking for something non-standard from them.

It's not a flaw, it's a feature, and it's called planned obsolescence. If you bat an eye at buying a new device every 18 months, you're not Apple's target demo. You should have tossed that 6+ last year to stay fashionable.

This one actually was a flaw. They didn't realize it until the 6 Plus devices aged a bit. Then they tried to deny it was a problem. But yes, this does play well into their planned obsolescence model.

Something particularly infuriating is that they change the iOS operating systems enough to where the newer ones stop working with older phones, and then you're screwed because most apps won't run anymore on the older iOS (unless you don't update them, and then they sometimes stop working entirely).

[chinamaniac]

Someone in my family had an apple watch that was bought around December 24th 2015 and it had a standard one year warranty

Sometime in August 2016 they stopped using it because it would not charge and tossed it in a drawer. They mentioned to me over the holidays that it just stopped working and did not realize the warranty was good for a year.

I said I bet if I take that thing back to Apple they will honor the warranty and they did. I brought it in there a few days after the warranty expired and they still honored it (told them I was on vacation when the warranty expired) . They swapped it out for a brand new apple watch.

This is the only time I have ever had to go to apple for anything

[The_Lurker]

If you buy a new car with 60,000 mile warranty, and the motor blows up with 62.000 mile on it, it sucks, but nobody owes you anything. Even if it was a major design flaw.

My personal record for before breaking, soaking, or losing a phone is 13 months. Get over it and go buy a new phone.

Everytime I read one off your "customer service" stories, I wonder how many buggers, spit, or pubes you have eaten at the hands of a food service worker?

[OSA]

Refurbished phones aren't shitty. Same with computers. They usually come with the same specs and warranties for a steep discount. You just don't want to use other people's junk, which is ok.

Check out this deal I finagled.

I have Samsung S6 and my contract is up. Trade in is $121 and down payment for the S8 phone is $126, so it evens out. Phone is $15 a month which is paid off in 2 years($360 total). However, 14 months in I get to upgrade free of charge. Either way phone is mine.

I was able to stack the other promotion they have which is a free Samsung Gear VR Headset, $180 value.

If that wasn't enough, I got them to waive the $30 upgrade charge, AND gave me a $40 credit for phone case. But the savings wont end there because when I call in 1 month complaining about service issues, they will credit me $10 a month lowering my bill and pretty much evening out the phone payment.

[lewfather]

Someone in my family had an apple watch that was bought around December 24th 2015 and it had a standard one year warranty

Sometime in August 2016 they stopped using it because it would not charge and tossed it in a drawer. They mentioned to me over the holidays that it just stopped working and did not realize the warranty was good for a year.

I said I bet if I take that thing back to Apple they will honor the warranty and they did. I brought it in there a few days after the warranty expired and they still honored it (told them I was on vacation when the warranty expired) . They swapped it out for a brand new apple watch.

This is the only time I have ever had to go to apple for anything

cracked my iphone 6s plus screen last summer and i figured the apple store would be the most expensive. So i shopped around local places and found out they were all more expensive than the apple store! I took it there to have the screen replaced and they said it would be like 45 mins. My friend and I decided to just go eat dinner and we actually made it back a few mins before the time they said it would be ready. The guy apologized like profusely and told me it would probably be like another 15 mins. When he came back like 10 minutes later with the phone he told me because the phone wasn't ready at the time they said it would that they were just going to give it to me at no cost. Apparently 10 mins of my time is worth over a hundred bucks.

[Dan Druff]

Refurbished phones aren't shitty. Same with computers. They usually come with the same specs and warranties for a steep discount. You just don't want to use other people's junk, which is ok.

Check out this deal I finagled.

I have Samsung S6 and my contract is up. Trade in is $121 and down payment for the S8 phone is $126, so it evens out. Phone is $15 a month which is paid off in 2 years($360 total). However, 14 months in I get to upgrade free of charge. Either way phone is mine.

I was able to stack the other promotion they have which is a free Samsung Gear VR Headset, $180 value.

If that wasn't enough, I got them to waive the $30 upgrade charge, AND gave me a $40 credit for phone case. But the savings wont end there because when I call in 1 month complaining about service issues, they will credit me $10 a month lowering my bill and pretty much evening out the phone payment.

Trading in your phone, other than the rare promotion where they give you an unusually good deal, is stupid.

If they gave you $121 for it, you probably could have gotten double that (or more) on eBay.

Refurbished electronics suck. In most cases, "refurbished" means something was returned for not working, they run a few cursory tests on it, and if they don't find anything right away, they assume the customer was an idiot and stamp it good.

This is why it's a huge mistake to buy any refurbished or "floor model" electronics or appliances.

I am literally batting .000 with refurbished devices and appliances. They have all been terrible.

Most people I know also have had lots of bad experiences with refurbished stuff, including our own Master Scalir.

Once in awhile you get lucky and a refurbished device/appliance works well, because it actually WAS returned by a moron who didn't know how to work it. But most times you're getting a defective piece of shit.

[Dan Druff]

If you buy a new car with 60,000 mile warranty, and the motor blows up with 62.000 mile on it, it sucks, but nobody owes you anything. Even if it was a major design flaw.

My personal record for before breaking, soaking, or losing a phone is 13 months. Get over it and go buy a new phone.

Everytime I read one off your "customer service" stories, I wonder how many buggers, spit, or pubes you have eaten at the hands of a food service worker?

If it's just bad luck that the device breaks down shortly after the warranty, you are correct -- nobody should owe me anything.

If it's due to a major design flaw, then yes, they should fix it for free, especially if it's a premium piece of equipment like an iPhone. I'm not talking about some $19 piece of shit piece of electronics you buy from a Chinese seller on Amazon.

Since you're bringing up cars, I will too. Many times you will get a letter from the manufacturer of your car that a certain defective part has an additional warranty. One of my cars has up to 100,000 miles on a particular part known to be defective, while the rest of the car is 50,000. I received this letter long AFTER I bought the car. Automakers typically do this to avoid lawsuits.

Basically, when you make a purchase, especially a major/semi-major one, you have a certain expectation of quality. If there is a major defect, the company needs to rectify it in some way.

Your "Oh well, get over it and take it up the ass" attitude typifies why customer service sucks so much these days.

There are already 4 class action lawsuits filed over this very issue. I'm pretty sure at least 1 or 2 will make it through, but I'm unlikely to see much money BACK, as class action lawsuits suck and tend to only enrich lawyers and screw everyone else. But I'll make great use of the $9 check I get in 3 years.

[Dan Druff]

I brought it in today and I did get stuck with the refurbished phone. Apparently they don't even bother to fix them now, and just give you a refurbished replacement.

Fingers crossed.

Had to pay $149+tax. The tax was odd because it's supposed to be a repair, and repairs aren't supposed to be subject to sales tax, but they said it was taxable, and clearly this was figured out awhile ago and there was no point arguing.

I was told that it was $349 a short time ago, but Apple relented and cut the price down to $149 (nice people!), and apparently anyone who paid $349 is entitled to a $200+tax refund. No word if these people were contacted by Apple, or if they had to hear about this on their own.

LOL Apple

Seriously.

[simpdog]

I brought it in today and I did get stuck with the refurbished phone. Apparently they don't even bother to fix them now, and just give you a refurbished replacement.

Fingers crossed.

Had to pay $149+tax. The tax was odd because it's supposed to be a repair, and repairs aren't supposed to be subject to sales tax, but they said it was taxable, and clearly this was figured out awhile ago and there was no point arguing.

I was told that it was $349 a short time ago, but Apple relented and cut the price down to $149 (nice people!), and apparently anyone who paid $349 is entitled to a $200+tax refund. No word if these people were contacted by Apple, or if they had to hear about this on their own.

LOL Apple

Seriously.

Apple refurbs are better than other phones brand new.

[FPS_Russia]

Refurbished phones are shit huh. I thought they fixed everything before sending em out. hmm

[DonaldTrumpsHairPiece]

[donkdowndonedied]

Whining about Apple at this point is LOL. You know what you are getting into.

The hardcore/early adopter crowd moved on years ago.

Druff is right about refurb electronics. Those things have millions and millions of transistors. Any one of which can be faulty. There is no way in hell they can test it well enough. The chances of your refurb unit having some flakey behavior is very high. Only one of those millions of transistors has to be faulty and you have equipment that will crap out at seemingly random points for as long as you own it....