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

Hi Edmundlee,

I am also a casualty of the Liverpool One store.

Were these brand new phones you opened or service parts?

Regards

Jon

Hi jonchild,

These were brand new sealed phones opened up instore.

Hello everyone, Hello Tournelle,

On Saturday I posted pictures of my new white phone with scuffs on the lower edge and back.

Now I am just coming back from the Apple Store (Frankfurt, Germany). It was a time consuming but successfull endeavour. I will quickly summarize what happened to me then I'll try to give some suggestions: I arrived at the store just after it opened and an "Apple Specialist" greeted me and I explained my issue. He was very friendly but mentioned that only in exceptional cases the phone can be swapped right away - in most cases you must go to the Genius Bar. He outlined the exceptions: "the phone was bought very recently (like 1-2 days ago) and the phone was bought directly in the store where you are (so they can do something with their billing / inventory system)". So I had to look for a slot in the Genius Bar schedule. Fortunately somebody just cancelled so I could stay there and wait for my 11:00 AM slot. The Genius was also very helpful. She looked at the phone, spotted the scuffs and explained she needs to take it back for some pictures and will swap it out. After a while she brought out the new phone - we examined it together and it seemed okay (no nicks, no obviuos dead pixels, no scuffs). So we were done.

Suggestions: I totally support the good summary by user Tournelle. Apple Retail staff was friendly and helpful. They seem to be somwhat aware of the issue. The product is made in China and among the millions of devices from the first wave there seem to be some with issues. I would suggest examine yours closely and directly/quickly go to Apple if you observe anything that does not resonate with Apple's claims. And as it has been said before: If you are very cautious then wait one more month or so before you order, then the tightened QA should have you covered.

For the people in Germany I can say: Even if you bought your phone from a carrier you can (and probably should) go to Apple. The Apple store in Frankfurt dealt with the issue very professionally and they seemed to have enough replacement units in store. The fact that I got my phone from T-Mobile was never an issue. The only unfortunate thing is - even with an obviously new / never used device I had to make a Genius Bar appointment. All in all it took ~2hrs. - so the whole scheduling, waiting, wondering what's going to happen and so on is a bit unfortunate if you just want to enjoy your new device.

Good luck to all of you out there and hopefully this issue will somewhat be mitigated by tight QA - so everyone can enjoy the "finely crafted - watch-like" iPhone 5.

Congratulations on your new phone arcandoz! Great that the Genius gave you a new phone instead of telling you to deal with T-Mobile.

Meanwhile, if anyone wants to lighten up, there was a pretty funny skit on Saturday Night Live making fun of various criticisms of the iPhone 5.

Hi ,

Just to say I had the same concerns as my black 64g which I purchased through a network also had to scatches on it ( a small nick on the back and one just below the antenna ,button side when I unboxed it! As I was due to go on holiday 2 days later , called apple care who were very good but I did'nt fancy going through the concierge scheme as they charge your credit card and also bill you for postage for returning the faulty phone. ( so I was informed).

The rep did give me a case number and was very clear in stating I would get a replacement and he had added notes to this effect in the call log. I came back from holiday , and booked a genius and my phone was replaced yesterday afternoon at my nearest store , no fuss or hassle. I of course checked it over before I accepted it and all is well, the genuius rep stated he didn't know of many that had come back due to this issue but was aware of it and mentioned quality control issues.

I must say though it's a worry when spending that kind of money as customer you encounter issues such as this. I had an issue with my Iphone4 when it first came out and had to change it twice and my nearest store isn't exactly on my doorstep either! I am hoping that I don't have any further issues considering this is supposed to be a premium product and that said at least I didn't have to jump through hoops to get it exchanged , something I have witnessed when people try returning an iphone to their network provider even when it's only a few days old.

I do think they need to tighten up the quality so it matches the hype otherwise it ends up leaving people wary with possiblity of lost sales along the way. I know they are making huge amounts but arrogance and apathy could be their downfall !

What do you want to bet that Apple already has the 5s on the drawing board make of sturdier material. I think that they have taken lighter and thinner too far. Personally, I like the weight and thickness of my iPhone 4 better. It feels sturdy. The 5 feels fragile. Maybe that's what everyone wants, but not me. I want a phone that has a sturdy feel to it.

All right, just got back from the Apple Store from my appoint to get my phone replaced. Things went pretty well. The Apple employee was very friendly this time around.

I called Apple yesterday and told them my issue, I had them book me an appointment specifically telling the store my case and that Apple was prepared to replace my phone. Today when I walked into the store (Fairview Mall Apple Store in Toronto) I explained to them my issue. I said that I had bought the phone, had a large chemical mark on it and replaced it once, then I noticed the dents and smaller chemical marks on the replacement. I then told them about my call with AppleCare and how they told me I could get my phone replaced etc.

At this point, I showed the marks on the back of my phone and the dent on the corner. The employee at first told me that they could only replace the phone once for cosmetic issues and went to talk with other workers.

A few minutes later he comes back and tells me that he can open ONE more only and if it still had issues, I would have to deal with AppleCare over the phone. He also says that it is normal for aluminum products to have dents or whatnot on them. At this point I asked "even if its brand new out of box." to which he replies "yes." Well I agreed to proceed with the replacement and decided to test my luck, if the phone still had issues, I'll just see what I can make of the situation.

He comes back a few minutes later with a phone from a white box, a service replacement. At this point I really didnt care if the phone was refurbished or not as long as it was in acceptable quality. Once the phone is opened up, I inspected it carefully for defects. The aluminum on the back this time looked good, no chemical marks, no black dots and no scratches. I look around the edges and on the top corners I find no dents. Then finally on the bottom back corner of the phone, I find 1 small black chip in the aluminum. This time it was not a dent but more of a chip of the paint. The mark is incredibly small and I could barely see it but it was there. I then proceed to check the other parts of the phone, screen, buttons, edges edges and edges. I find no other marks so I decided this is acceptable. The black dot is very small and I can hardly feel it. This was different from the dent in which I could see (and be annoyed by) easily.

All in all, I'm statisfied right now. I have a phone that is 99.99% perfect and IMHO, I'd rather have a beautiful design with a slight mark than a plain device thats 100% perfect.

I would say that at first, the store did not want to replace my phone, however I brought up Apple's own marketing about the design (29 mp cameras, fine precision like a watch, etc), the fact that AppleCare agreed to replace my phone, and this very thread about scratches. After that the store really did not have anything to say. For other people going in store to replace their damaged phones, just make sure you have some points to say about their marketing, other people with similar issues, and if you can, ask AppleCare to book the appointment for you and ask for a service number.

I believe Apple may have told their retail stores to deny the problems and just say that aluminum dents. Even though the employee told me that today and I was quite shocked for him to say its normal for a BRAND new product as well, they were helpful and nice and got me what I needed. I believe it would be hard to another company to replace a phone for me 3 times for something cosmetic even if its their QC problem.

Although this whole thing has taught me to just wait next time to get a new device, I'm definitely not going to be an early adopter of a electronic device anymore, especially if its a device that has been heavily refreshed!

I can't stand the Fairview store! Worst customer service ever!

I was on my 4th exchange on the iPhone 5 during launch week. A manager told me that he would only swap one more unit as well and that after this unit replacement if I was not happy to look at getting another smartphone from another company. I also mentioned to him about the over hyped marketing that Apple brags about - it seems as he didn't care. I took his advise and bought a Galaxy SIII. I called Apple customer relations to report him and my experience. They were baffled. Apple customer relations took care of the situation and I told them that until they took down the clever marketing campaign on the website, I was going to keep looking for the 'PERFECT' iPhone as stated on their website. They agreed.

I also told the manager that instead of blaming the customers for expecting a perfect device as stated by your own company's marketing campaign, they should contact Apple headoffice and find out why such devices are shipping damaged upon arrival! He didn't look too happy. Nor did I. Anyhow it looks like we had the same bad experience and this store needs some serious Apple customer service training! This store is a complete joke!

I didn't speak with a manager today but the overall service I got was decent I think. They certainly didn't want to replace my phone however they weren't hostile about it. Still managed to be fairly friendly. I had originally bought the phone from Yorkdale actually and had my first replacement there. The reason I didn't go back today was because last time when I went in, I was talked to in a pretty condesending way and esentially was blamed for "over reacting" because I had spent over $600 on a phone and wanted to replace it since it had a large and visible manufacturing chemical stain on it.

Although I am surprised that a store manager actually told you to look at another smartphone, especially when Apple has such fierce compititon with the Galaxy S III.

I also dealt with Yorkdale and they were much better! I guess it depends who you deal with... The manager wasn't rude... just not very customer service friendly about the situation.

The problem is that the Apple employees don't care as much as we do about our products because they aren't spending the money and having to deal with the imperfections out of box.

When you spend about 700 plus tax for a 'new' item, I expect it to be NEW and not used looking!

Now that the iPod nano and Touch have been released (both with colored anodized aluminum), I'm curious why those devices have not been affected by suffs and out of box damages. At least I have not heard anything on the net so far.

Do you think Apple uses a different, more sturdy process to color the aluminum on iPods vs. the iPhone 5?

Opened my white iPhone 5 and saw a big dent on the back lower right just above the white line. It is very obvious. Worse thing is I dun have an Apple store here. Called support, I can bring it back to an Authorised Apple reseller. They will ship it back to Apple. Not sure when it is coming back. Even if I get a replacement set, what happens if it is not in perfect condition? I have to wait for them to ship another replacement?

Those days without iPhone 5, I cannot put my nano sim into another phone unless I buy an adapter. This is really bad. Wasting more money in the process.

Mine was damaged out of the box and got my partner to do the talkng and got given the worst fob off story I am planning to go back and give them a piece of my mind.

A damaged unit it not acceptable in any case, they refused to replace the unit.

Recommend you ask Apple to send you a replacement while you continue to use your defective device. They have done this for some. They may want to put a hold on your credit card, but have not done so for others. Don't think it's acceptible for you to be left without a phone to use. I assume worse case is that your carrier can swap back a micro sim for you to use until you get your replacement. Again, I'd ask Apple to send you a replacement and letting you hold on to your existing i5.

Good idea. I am asking them to call me now. Because I am afraid of getting a damaged replacement set, I need to wait again. Might end up waiting a long time getting a perfect iPhone 5.