Stuck iPhone 4 Lock/Power button

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Level 1

0 points

Stuck iPhone 4 Lock/Power button

Wouldn't you know it, the day of the release of the 4S and my 4's lock/power button is stuck! I've had this non-scratched, babied gem for 15 months always with a screen protector and always in an Otterbox Defender and never dropped. I'm two months away from an upgrade and thought I'd just weather out the new model till the 5, but I can't turn my phone off, lock it or do a hard reset if needed. I've seen that Apple is the suggested fix for this, but with them being slammed because of the bad timing of the new 4S release it looks like I might have to wait a while. My question is, how much is this fix charged by Apple cuz I'm sure people have done it. I don't have Apple Care and I'm outside of the warranty.

Thank you in advance!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Oct 15, 2011 9:05 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 18, 2011 12:43 PM in response to rx4tx

My Lock/Power is stuck since this morning on my iPhone 4. My warranty expired one month ago, and because of the 4S craziness, I can't talk to someone in store. I would also like to know the price apple charges for the repair.

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Answer 2

Kwopau

Level 4

1,742 points

Oct 18, 2011 12:45 PM in response to Letters_or_numbers

Out of Warranty service is 199 bucks. If you don't want to use your upgrade then you have the option to replace your phone by paying 199 bucks + tax.

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Answer 3

Oct 18, 2011 1:03 PM in response to Kwopau

I'm in Canada, on a 3 years contract... so no upgrade in my case. And for 199$, I will try to change the power button myself first! Thank you.

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Answer 4

Oct 24, 2011 10:31 PM in response to rx4tx

My power/lock button on the iPhone 4 is also stuck. Out of the blue. I am not due for an upgrade until 3/12. I had an appt with apple last weekend. They said there is no way to fix it. All they can do is replace it. Since I don't have AppleCare, they said it would be $149 to replace it.

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Answer 5

rx4tx Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 25, 2011 7:02 AM in response to kristiedeene

Sorry for the late response, but I scheduled an appointment at the Genius Bar (Apple Store) and they were really great, as usual. I was out of warranty and two months away from being eligible to upgrade but I was able to replace with a new/refurbish iPhone 4 32GB (same as I had) for $149 and there was no mention of having to use an upgrade. In fact, I was very pointed to get an answer several times that in two months I would be able to upgrade to the 4S and the answer was yes. My reason for getting the $149 replacement is that it is as good as new and I will be able to sell it as an unlocked phone for between $300 or maybe even $350. If I had kept my other phone then I probably would have left money on the table. Too, I guess I could have opened it up following some tutorial DIY on YouTube and tried to fix myself, but what if it needed a part or I screwed it up? Then I'd be out the phone and couldn't get the replacement.

Either way, for me, I am happy and now have a new phone with the battery life I once had!

And if anyone is interested, I will have an as good as new black iPhone 4 32GB for sale on December 14th!

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Answer 6

Dec 1, 2011 11:37 PM in response to rx4tx

Called the Apple service centre in Mumbai. They said if the product was not bought in India, they will not touch it even on a chargeable basis. I found this to be a very stupid policy since its still an Apple product which I bought from an Apple store in another country by paying the full price prevaling there! Apple needs to learn something from Sony whose products can be repaired anywhere in the world for a reasonable fee irrespective of where they were purchased from.

Anyway, took it to a repair shop that specializes in Iphones - fixed it for approximately $25. They said if it was only the switch itself it would have cost only $10 but since they had to replace the circuit too it cost a little more.

Does'nt say much for Apple service centres ripping their loyal customers off for $150 for what is obviously a manufacturing / design defect.

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