My new iPhone was tampered with

You are not addressing Apple here. We are all iphone users like you.

This happened to me as well. I have never opened my phone, taken it to anyone but the apple store, nor do I even know how to open this. I am furious with the Milenia Mall Apple Store who accused me of this. Their manager told me my only two options were to buy a brand new phone or "google" how to open my phone and fix it myself/have a third party do it.

I have never taken my phone anywhere but this store to be fixed. It could have very well been one of their employees who "tampered" with the phone.

IT IS RIDICULOUS. THEY CANNOT ASSURE ME THAT ONE OF THEIR STAFF MEMEBERS DID THIS.

AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE.

You obviously have AWFUL, AWFUL reading comprehension. Again, YOU ARE NOT ADDRESSING APPLE HERE. WE ARE ALL IPHONE USERS LIKE YOU.

The same happened to me at the woodlands mall in the woodlands,Tx.

Wifes Iphone 4s was repalced due to the volume bar missing in apps and the ringer. everything else worked. 2 days later, i took it back because the picture quality was poor. The Apple Genious said it was tampered with. I am 1000% sure and would be my months salary that It was not tampered with other than by apple. They ended up replacing it though. I did not sign anything 2 days earlier when It was replaced. The secind time I did.

Me too. Described in a post here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4289200?answerId=19572969022#19572969022&ac_cid=mh123456#19572969

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And you have rubbish empathy skills.

Even if this isn't the way to contact Apple, it's still worth recording these events on forums like this so that they turn up in search engines. Knowing that you're not alone with a problem can be a huge help and advice from other phone users on how they've resolved similar issues could be invaluable.

I have just had personal experience of a "pre-tampered" phone so I know that it can and does happen. Hopefully we're NOT ALL IPHONE USERS like you.

My husband had the same issue with his IPhone 5. It was so bizarre!

We both got our new phones on the same day. We bought it trhough FIDO, but they came brand new, box inside the plastic and all the covers in place.

Since then it was always with us. We never had our phones lost, missing, borrowed, or on service of any sort. Personal cell phones is a device that is always with us, unlike computers and TVs. We can really tell if it would have been missing for a while.

After about one year and a half he started having problems with the battery, and we took it to the Genious bar at an Apple store.

For our surprise, they said that they could not repair it because the phone "had been tampered with". We argue a lot as we are absolutely sure it did not happened in our watch. They showed us it had a paper inside and suggested some parts were not original. Indeed, we saw a piece of paper folded inside (even though they did not opened the phone in front of us in the first place).They indirectly suggested it happened at FIDO.

We try to follow this with FIDO, but we had to agree with them that the phone was completely closed from fabric we first got it. We also had pre-ordered and we got the phones at the release date, so I can not see how FIDO would have refurbished models.

I am quite convinced now that it came as it is from the production line, adding to all the other cases reported in the internet, at many different countries and even with older models.

In our case, it was not in warrant any longer, so done at Geneious or another place we would have to pay. we had it serviced somewhere else and our problem was resolved.

However, I am deeply unhappy and disapointed with the fact that we bought two IPhones 5 but at least one of them was a "pinapple" instead. Well, it did change a lot the way I trust APPLE products and services. If I ever buy another product from them, they will have to open it at the store and certify in paper that it did not came "tampered with" from their own factories.

Two days ago I took my I phone to the Apple store as it would no longer charge, I was expecting a quick fix only to be told they could not fix my phone due to it being tampered with. I got my phone on contract from Tesco on Tesco mobile, I have only ever taken this to the Apple store for all problems I have had and that was once two weeks ago because it froze while doing an update. Apple have told me they have no record of me going into their store to have my phone looked at on the first occasion which does concern me a lot. I do not know If this was tampered with by an Apple "genius" or if I was supplied a tampered phone. I also do not understand why on my first visit to the Apple store that this was not noticed and they fixed the errors on my phone without question.

I had a similar situation a few months ago when I went to the genius bar and they told me my iphone had been opened up and tampered with and I disagreed. The phone had never been anywhere except for apple to be serviced. I would suggest the next time you have a problem use the mail in service!! A person from customer relations told me that apple has a depot that will look at the phone and inspect it. If they find a problem they will either repair it or replace it if its under warranty. If they say it was tampered with and you disagree, a Sr Advisor can create an escalation ticket and have the engineering team take another look at it and have a response within 24 to 48 hour. But what ever the engineering team decides is final but sometimes the may find that the phone was never tampered with and send you a replacement under warranty. Hope this information helps!!

Dawn M. C wrote:

I had a similar situation a few months ago when I went to the genius bar and they told me my iphone had been opened up and tampered with and I disagreed. The phone had never been anywhere except for apple to be serviced. I would suggest the next time you have a problem use the mail in service!! A person from customer relations told me that apple has a depot that will look at the phone and inspect it. If they find a problem they will either repair it or replace it if its under warranty. If they say it was tampered with and you disagree, a Sr Advisor can create an escalation ticket and have the engineering team take another look at it and have a response within 24 to 48 hour. But what ever the engineering team decides is final but sometimes the may find that the phone was never tampered with and send you a replacement under warranty. Hope this information helps!!

Normally, when someone bumps a thread that is months or years old, it contains no useful information.

Your post is the exception to that rule. I concur with your point; getting a second opinion is definitely worthwhile.

I hope that your post and your advice is useful to others in the future. Humans can make mistakes. And while a decision at the Apple Store is usually correct and final, it is possible to get another set of eyes involved.

One thing I would add would be to get the Store Manager at the Apple Store (or a senior Genius/Admin) to look over the first Genius' inspection results. I have heard of occasions in which the decision was reversed at the store level, once another person looked it over. I suggest something along the lines of, "Could we please get another, perhaps senior Genius, to look over this, just to be sure? I'm confident that this iPhone has never been opened by anyone other than Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider."

If the decision stands, then ask for it in writing, so that you can present it to the retailer, and press your case there. If that still fails, then definitely contact Apple Support, ask for a Senior Advisor, and explain you want to submit your device for inspection to the Apple Repair Depot. Be advised that that decision will definitely be final. There's no higher authority than the Apple Repair Depot when it comes to determining if a device has had tampering or unauthorized service. If it comes to that, then you'll have to go back to the initial point of purchase and pursue your claim through them.