iPhone Exchange Process

I am sorry that you are having battery problems.

I took evrything back and they gave me an entire new phone and box and all.

The second one I have is no better, but I did get another 14 days to see if the volume poroblems are going to be something I can live with.

I am planning on returning mine tomorrow. I had a "iPhone Needs Repairs" warning on mine...oh, and the speakerphone volume is aweful. Apple's phone support said that all I needed was the phone (not even the sim for testing) and the receipt (from AT&T). But since it is a 2 hour drive to the nearest Apple store, the prudent thing to do would be pack it all up and bring it all back.

Good luck!

UPDATE

I called support and they agreed that the "iPhone needs repairs" screen was "not good" and they made the appointment for me at an Apple Store. Because I had an appointment and an existing case number, the appointment took less than 10 minutes. I brought all of the packaging, accessories, receipt and my sim card still in the phone assuming they would test the phone. They seemed to be ready for me; they just swapped out my sim card into a new phone, which was activated and could make and receive calls immediately. I got a receipt for a credit and a purchase, net $0 (even though I originally bought my phone at an AT&T store). Overall, very smooth!

You should get a NEW box, phone and access as well. This is bull if you don't. Do not settle with that. You should have a box to match your serial # for any future inquiries. I got mine swapped twice at the apple store got everything NEW!

My exchange process was pretty simple. I went in to the apple store and at first I was upset because the place was packed and then the sign at the genius bar said no more appointments avalible. I went up to talk to someone and I told him my situation he said no problem we will get someone to take of your iphone, he put me in their appointment system and said someone will call you when they can get a second but we are pretty full.

After about 10 mins a guy called me over and I told him the situation. He went to the back and about 5 mins later returned with my iphone and a brand new box still unopened. He swapped the sim card and activated the new phone for me. He took my old box and gave me a new one with all new accessories, he said just incase something was wrong with anything in the box. The whole thing took maybe 20mins and I was happy.

My first iphone had the same battery charge issue you described as well as pretty short battery life and my usage meter never reset. My new iphone is awesome, it recharges fully every time (battery on screen is clearly full) and my usage meter gets a reset each time too. I am satisfied with how they took care of me.

I tried to exchange my phone due to the volume cutting out on the external speaker during video and audio playback.

Unfortunately, I was unable to reproduce the problem at the store in the 20 minutes I had there.... Of course, as soon as I get home it starts acting up again. I guess I'll have to take a video of the problem with my digital camera in order for Apple to believe me. Thanks for trusting your customers, Apple! It takes me about an hour and a half to get to the nearest Apple Store.

Now when I went in to the apple store to return my phone because of the Battery Issues.

They told me that they can NOT exchange my phone because I am past the 14 days return policy.. lol.. I'm a good guy and don't start trouble but!.. I paid $600 for my phone with 2 cases. took a day off from work to get it. At least there could be a 30 day return lol.

So the guys know me there, I buy a lot from them. So I chatted witht the G-bar guys and they said wait til the update is available it should fix a lot. I said ok. Then they told me that if I would like my phone fixed.. I have to send it out, which takes 3 days.. but they give me a loaner phone that costs $29.99 no refundable.. huh? why would I pay more. lol. thanks G-bar guys. I can do their job better lol.

I'm all for getting it fixed but I have been with apple for 17 years and this is the first time I feel like I am having my chain yanked.

I was #6 in line of like 200 people waiting for this phone and spent $600 plus tax plus two cases at $29.00 each.

I love my apple stuff but please advise me on what to do. I feel the guy should have walked out back got a new phone did the switch and called it a day.

Well thats just my 60,000 cents. <--price of iphone. lol

Thanks for listening. -jeffg

I'm sorry, that *****! Especially for a June 29 adopter! Bad form Apple!

I think I had success because I had started with a call to tech support and I had attempted all of their suggestions first. They had transfered me to elevated tech support who could not suggest anything other than a restore. Since I had already tried every form of restore, I think they just relented. The key I think was to have a well documented case number from phoned support. Also, have them make the appointment for you at the Apple store. I walked in to my appointment and it seemed as if the associate had already read my case#. He exchanged the phone without attempting to replicate the problem or even looking at my phone.

Keep trying. We are loyal Apple customers, sure, but they have to realize that their ver1.0 phone is buggy.

Good luck!

They don't have a 30 day return policy for anything. The problem he faces is that if he changes the store policy for one person then someone else will question why they didnt get that done for them. So right now the option is to send it in for repair.

I am keeping an unlocked GSM phone available to use as a spare if I ever need to send mine in. I am not paying money for a loaner phone to use for 3 days.

I'm going to call today.. I'm not really mad.. the phone is amazing.. I just want it the battery to tell me how much I am using. I was away this weekend on a long drive and left my charger at home.. my phone said full batt.. so I went with it.

when I needed it.. It failed on me. Hmmm?

I posted the following on another thread asking about the same thing...good luck!

I would highly recommend using the technicians and open a repair ticket for a while. The stores are going to be limited on what they can do pretty soon. Opening a repair ticket is so easy.

They opened mine...sent my loaner phone FedEx overnight and waived the $27 rental fee because it was within 30 days of purchase. I got the loaner, validated it worked and FedEx return mine overnight (they paid all shipping). The next day they did diagnostic and test, determined it was broken and FedEx my new phone the next day. In less then 48 hours I had a new phone and it cost $0.00, and I was never without a phone!!!

The Apple stores and AT&T are going to start being a little more picky on exchanges very soon and they will be telling people to do repairs anyway as they figure out what is and is not fixable. I think the route I used is the best and Apple was very good about it.

Well everything went great. we opened up a case with a technician and everything went perfect. I received a new phone and its working so much faster and better. Thanks again to you all for the great advice and apple for going over the top and giving me A ++ service. I'm really impressed with how well this was taken care of.

Total time at the MAC store 4 minutes at the G-bar and 25 looking for new products...lol..

Thanks again. -Jeffg

Our CEO asked me to handle his iPhone repair today because of a loss of "touch" on the bottom of the screen. I guess he went to the Apple store where they basically told him to come back tomorrow for a genius bar appt and then explained the process for exchange of phones and all that entails.

Paying a rental fee for a loaner phone (for a manufacturer defect)and having to even deal with the exchange time is a complete nightmare especially in a corporate environment. He left the store completely frustrated and not sure what to do.

This is where I came in to help... since I am the only Mac guy in the office (though I sadly buy thousands of dollars of PC equipment as the CTO). I called Apple support and explained the situation... as a company it's really hard to devote that many man hours to getting a simple phone replaced. Being that we have been with Cingular (ATT) for years, we have replaced a few phones and usually it's a quick and painless process. Dealing with loaner phones and repair send outs and returns is expensive and time consuming.

I am very disappointed about this process. I wish we could have had the experience of just going into the store, verifying the problem and getting a new phone right there.... heck I would have been thrilled just doing that over the phone. If a part goes out on a server or desktop, we call, get the replacement part and send the old one back. It's that simple.

Now I have a really upset CEO because his phone is basically useless (can't get loaner until Monday - today is Thursday) and now we have to deal with a unnecessarily difficult return process that includes dealing with the liability of having a "used" loaner phone. UGH!

I've ready here that they just exchange the iphone... no box or cables.