Scuffs/Scratches On New iPhone 5 Right Out Of The Box

Hmm. Seems like your going to have to put up with it...

Please stop stealing my Sig.

120 sites, videos and more and displaying this. Keep on ranting about it wont help. People know. Tons of pictures already. Stop ranting. It's obvious by those speeches apple has made its decision. I'd probably keep this.convo going. If everybody rants, apple might redesign it. However 5 million.. good luck.

Stop stealing my signature!

Simple: If you don't like this thread, unsubscribe!

If I helped, gimme a thumbs up! (FYI, I've seen this on multiple forums before so sue me! 😎)

It doesn't matter how many forums you have seen it on. The only reason you are doing it is to aggravate him.

We have an Einstein here ^^^^!!! I'm glad you're power of observation is over 9000!!!

If I helped, gimme a thumbs up!

Gave you a thumbs up because you helped me realize you're a troll.

Yes, because defending this thread and the people who post on it is trolling. You are correct. Good for you! 😉

If I helped, gimme a thumbs up!

In regards to what Phil Schiller stated we can all agree that aluminium will scratch "WITH USE" and those are the magic 2 words, "WITH USE"

What most of us in this discussion are saying is that our iPhone 5 handsets have already been scratched BEFORE we the customer get to use them. We are opening the boxes and finding chips and nicks out of the band before we even handle them.

If I scratch my iPhone its my fault I can accept that but to have a £529 iPhone scratched before I've even lifted of out of the box is what we are all saying is unacceptable and this is the question Phil Schiller and apple seem to be avoiding at the moment.

Allow me to share my experience, it is lengthy, sorry in advance...

Opened black iPhone 5 box on Friday, noticed scratch, went to Apple Store who didn’t have any convenient appointments available and suggested I go to AT&T store around the corner. Went to AT&T store, they don’t have any replacements available, suggest I call support (611). Called support and spoke to a nice gentlemn who tried to help, and eventually bounced me to Apple Warranty Support who were all but clueless. Unfortunately, after being on hold for 2+ hours I had to terminate the call, but my problems were documented. AT&T support did offer a $50 credit for my problems, which was nice of them.

Made appointment for Monday evening at the Apple Store. The very nice Apple Tech looked at my phone, and agreed that there was a flaw. She then went into the storeroom and returned a few minutes later with a brand new, black, 16GB iPhone 5. After doing the paperwork to process the exchange I was handed the brand new iPhone 5 and after a very brief inspection I found another glaring flaw in the black anodization. The Apple Tech sighed, and proceeded to exchange the exchanged iPhone for a new one. After another 15 minute exchange process I was again handed a brand new, black, 16GB iPhone 5. Again, after a brief inspection I found another glaring flaw. This is three brand new phones with three distinct, glaring flaws in the finish.

At this point I was getting a little impatient and asked if I could just get a white one, I explained that I didn’t really care what color it was and the inevitable scratches on the white ones didn’t show up so I would be fine with that. I was told they didn’t have any 16GB white phones so they could do that. I then offered to upgrade to a 32GB, I would be fine with that too. This seemed like a perfectly reasonable solution for Apple, but I was then told that they couldn’t exchange a black phone for a white one, all warranty exchanges must be “Like for Like”. The Apple Tech then went looking for an unblemished, black iPhone 5. She disappeared for another 15-20 minutes and when she re-appeared she told me she looked through a number of boxes, but could not find an unblemished phone.

At this point I asked to speak to a manager, this was getting ridiculous. I had been at the store for nearly an hour. When I spoke to the manager the issue was explained and he was sympathetic to my plight, but he could offer no solution. No white phone because the warranty exchange had to be “like for like”. He suggested I go to the AT&T store a second time to return the phone under AT&T’s 30 day return policy. So, after waiting another 30 minutes for them to reverse the 2 previous warrant exchanges, I made my way around the corner to the AT&T store, for the second time.

Upon entering the AT&T store for the second time, and explaining my situation the less than sympathetic and frankly rather rude salesman for AT&T, he inspected my phone and informed me that they could not accept a return under the 30 day return policy because my phone was not “like new”. He told me that I would have to deal with Apple. You can imagine my frustration building…

I walked back to the Apple Store and asked to speak to a manager. Luckily the Genius Bar greeter recognized me and didn’t tell me I would have to make an appointment. He asked a manager to come over and about 5 minutes later I was introduced to manager #2 at the Apple Store. Manager #2 was slightly less friendly and a little more combative, but I was resolved to have an unblemished phone. After explaining the problem (for the 5th time now) manager #2 said she would find a solution for me and off she went into the back. When she returned she said she would look for an unblemished, black iPhone 5 for me. We walked over to the Genius Bar and she began unboxing a phone. Luckily they decided to allow me to inspect them prior to going through the 15 minute exchange process. The first phone had a flaw, the second phone had a flaw, the third phone had a flaw. At this point she said “You must be REALLY careful with your phones…” in not too thinly veiled intimation that somehow this was my fault, which only worked to solidify my resolve. I responded by saying that “No, I am not very careful. I let my kids play with them all the time, but when I pay good money for something I expect it not to be damaged when I open the box”. She wasn’t pleased and we proceeded to look through 3 more boxes. After looking through 6 boxes with manager #2 she told me that they obviously didn’t have any phones that could meet my expectations, I responded again that “I only expect them to not be damaged when they are brand new”. She explained that I would have to process a return through AT&T because that is where I bought the phone. I countered with “But Apple made the phone”, to no avail. Again I explained that I would be more than happy with a white one as the blemishes on them aren’t as visible, and I was again rebuffed with the “Like for Like” response.

When I left the Apple Store for the third time on my way to the AT&T store (for the 3rd time) I was thinking to myself “I wonder how Steve Jobs would rate this experience?”. When I spoke to the salespeople at AT&T again they didn’t tell me that the phone couldn’t be exchanged, but they did tell me that they didn’t have any exchanges and I would have to send AT&T my flawed phone, wait 4-5 weeks for a replacement and pay a $35 restocking fee! I was, as you can imagine, livid. I walked out, I had been dealing with this for over 3 hours.

When I returned home, I called AT&T support who gave me the same, send us your phone, wait 4-5 week spiel. They did say they would graciously wave the $35 stocking fee though, how kind… I then asked to be transferred to Apple, again. After speaking to a Apple Warranty Claims rep and explaining the entire situation I was told that I could only exchange a black phone for a black phone, even though they don’t have any that aren’t flawed. I again proferred the swap to a white phone and was again rebuffed with the “Like for Like” Appleism and told that I would have to return the phone to AT&T and get a white one from them. When I explained that AT&T didn’t have any phones for exchanging I was basically told that this wasn’t Apple’s problem. The final solution offered to me was to wait 2-3 weeks for Apple to sort out their manufacturing issues so they could get some non-blemished phones in stock.

So… the saga continues…

Just got off the phone with a manager from the Apple store, he called because I left a less than glowing review of the service I received. After a lengthy discussion where we basically re-hashed everything above he says he has one for me this evening that should “meet my expectations”. I informed him that while I appreciate the effort, I take offense at the language. I expect the phone too look like it does in their advertisements. I expect the sort of micron level precision they are so proud of. It isn’t that the phones haven’t met my expectations, it’s that they haven’t met Apple’s. The “I’m sorry that the phone doesn’t meet your expectations” line is simply insulting.

Received my replacement in the mail this afternoon.

It is absolutely pristine! Now I'm a happy camper :-)

My wife's 64GB white and my 64GB black just shipped, reading these posts I'm wondering if I should just keep my black in the box and take it straight to Apple to exchange it for a white 64GB. Think they'll agree to that? I can't believe Apple's not going to have a recall on their hands with this product. 50% of what makes Apple products so desirable is their form, and to have a product that's meant to be carried on your person, every day, scuff in an hour seems like an unbelieveable fail on Apple's part.

I just received my iPhone 5 64GB Verizon today and it's scratched. 😟 I don't know what I should do now. Should I try to take to the Apple store or just deal with the scrathes ? I am NOT very happy about this at all. 😠

If you are not happy with it, return it.

So you haven't received your black iPhone 5? I think you should just take it in to an apple store and open it there. If it has scuffs, try to exchange it.