Apple store broke my phone screen during a battery repair

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Level 1

4 points

Apple store broke my phone screen during a battery repair

Hi all,

Today, I went to one of the Apple stores in Berlin to have the battery of my Iphone 12 pro to be changed. I left the phone and was told to pick it up in two hours. Then, I was told that the screen got broken during the procedure. As they didn't have a phone screen ready for Iphone 12, they gave me the broken phone and told me that they will send me an email when they receive the screen (they apparently ordered it). I asked if I'll get a backup phone meanwhile, but they told me no. I tried to explain that this is a ridiculous situation and talked to the store manager, but they simply offered me 10% discount on iphone cases due to the inconvenience (they were not kidding). I would be ok if they had a screen ready and changed it. However, I'm not ok with an apple store leaving me with an iphone that has a broken screen without a certain date to fix it. I find this extremely distrespectul and I'm wondering what my rights are in this case.

See the picture of the screen below. It's not usable at all.

iPhone 12 Pro

Posted on Oct 16, 2023 2:29 PM

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Answer 1

KaeBFly

Level 6

8,617 points

Oct 16, 2023 2:43 PM in response to keremse

Was your iPhone covered under an active AppleCare+ plan or were you paying out of pocket? If it wasn’t then unfortunately you might be stuck waiting until they can get the screen to repair. It’s unfortunate and frustrating but if they don’t have one available to fix it they can’t magically make one appear. If you have AppleCare+ you could call Apple, explain the situation, and see if express replacement is an option. Not sure about Apple Store repair but I know when I took my son’s phone in to an authorized repair facility (Best Buy in my area) they advised of the possibility that damage to the screen could occur during the battery replacement….and if it does because they don’t have the screen in stock they would have to either send the phone in to Apple for repair or wait for a screen to ship to them. They wanted to give the heads up just in case so if it did happen there would be no surprises and give us the opportunity to decide if we would be comfortable not having an immediate fix or would rather drive the 2 hours to the closest Apple Store (after verification that they did have a screen available if damage occurred while they did the battery replacement) so we wouldn’t have to worry about time without the device. The verifying of that Apple Store having a screen in stock was key because if they didn’t and the damage occurred then the same situation would have happened…needing to wait until they received a screen while being unable to use the device.

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Answer 2

keremse Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 16, 2023 10:36 PM in response to KaeBFly

Hi. Thanks a lot for your reply.

I don't have apple care unfortunately. I was going to pay out of my pocket instead of buying a new phone. I think in your case, the fact that you were told about this possibility and they had a screen ready for that is completely fair. I wasn't told about the risk. I only learned that when I got back to the store after 2 hours. They simply created a problem that didn't exist and expected to use my time which is highly valuable to repair it. I'll talk to the consumer right authorities in Germany to see what I can do legally.

Many thanks.

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Apple store broke my phone screen during a battery repair

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