Warranty replacement - should I get a brand new phone or refurbished?
I have a 32GB iPhone 3GS that yesterday went completely dead. I contacted o2 who took me through steps to do a hard reset and a force restore and nothing. The phone hasn't been dropped or anything like that and is clearly still in pristine condition, even though I've had it since March. The woman on the phone suspected it's a major hardware fault with either the flash drive or the battery as there is no sign of life at all.
As this is through no fault of mine, I am going to an Apple store later today to have it replaced under warranty. However, I've been advised that replacements can sometimes be a brand new phone or sometimes a refurbished handset. I had wondered if I would end up with an iPhone 4 as I'm not sure if the 3GS is still available with the 32GB, but I know they may still have these handsets in store if they have refurbished ones.
With my situation, what's the deal with this? Since this is a fault with the phone and nothing to do with me, should I insist on a brand new replacement? Or can I even do that? It doesn't seem right that my phone fails through no fault of my own and yet I am given a refurbished handset. I could understand this being the case with someone who has been careless and smashed their screen or something but not when the phone is clearly defective. I also have insurance on the handset and am now wishing I had gone down the claim route and said I'd lost it as the insurance would just ship out a brand new phone, regardless of the situation - and even if it HAD been my fault! I really do not want a pre-owned phone, even if it looks brand new. I really wouldn't be happy with that.
As this is through no fault of mine, I am going to an Apple store later today to have it replaced under warranty. However, I've been advised that replacements can sometimes be a brand new phone or sometimes a refurbished handset. I had wondered if I would end up with an iPhone 4 as I'm not sure if the 3GS is still available with the 32GB, but I know they may still have these handsets in store if they have refurbished ones.
With my situation, what's the deal with this? Since this is a fault with the phone and nothing to do with me, should I insist on a brand new replacement? Or can I even do that? It doesn't seem right that my phone fails through no fault of my own and yet I am given a refurbished handset. I could understand this being the case with someone who has been careless and smashed their screen or something but not when the phone is clearly defective. I also have insurance on the handset and am now wishing I had gone down the claim route and said I'd lost it as the insurance would just ship out a brand new phone, regardless of the situation - and even if it HAD been my fault! I really do not want a pre-owned phone, even if it looks brand new. I really wouldn't be happy with that.
Toshiba Satellite A500, Windows 7, 64-bit
