iPhone 6 screen easily scratched?

I have owned my space grey iPhone 6 since launch day and the hairline scratches are getting worse after only 3 weeks. I pre-ordered the phone sight unseen and am incredibly loyal to Apple products. Always have had a great customer experience but I feel like Apple has lost me even though I have around 7 Apple devices at home and have bought each of my employees high end MacBook Pro Retina's for my business.

I arranged a Genius appointment today and advised having owned every iPhone device from the 3GS to the iPhone 6 and have never had an issue with the screen or needed a screen protector. My iPhone 5 battery died after 12 months and I received a refurbished unit as a replacement but that is fine by me. These things happen.

When I took my iPhone 6 into the Genius bar the 19 year old girl at the counter treated me as if I scuffed and scratched screens on barely 3 week old Apple phones are the norm and I should be happy that I paid $1000 for the privileged of owning such a poor quality and built device. I informed her that the screen quality was clearly defective and sub-par in that I have used the iPhone 6 exactly the way I have my previous iPhone's (keeping it in a suit jacket pocket and jeans on weekends and the screen is scratching terribly from all angles, especially the corners. She told me that it was simply my 'disappointment' with the device and there was nothing in the guidelines reported about the issue called her supervisor over and obviously tried to get me out of the store ASAP. Not a great way to treat your most loyal of loyal customers who rarely complain. Not sure what to do given that others are clearly suffering from this defect and I've become slightly disillusioned by the experience given that I was planning on upgrading our company iMac's to the new 5K iMac 27's. That's what poor customer service from your store staff gets you Apple.

I'm very sorry to hear about your treatment, I received a similar experience at the Genius Bar. I had hoped by now that they would have had a consistent approach to this issue. I can't believe this is not on their radar even if they wont admit fault. Having managed to get my money back from my mobile operator I felt so ****** off with my treatment that I went as far as to try a cheap android phone. This has just reaffirmed my opinion that android is a bit s**t, no surprise to anyone reading this I'm sure. I'm left hanging on to my old 4s and waiting for whatever comes next!

I have good news to report back, my friends! First, I want to thank all that have experienced this issue and added their experiences to the discussion. Without your stories to validate mine, I probably would have accepted my issue and lived with it.

After my last check in with you guys and the online applecare chat, I headed to my Genius Bar (Los Cerritos Apple Store in California) appointment today, scheduled by the chat representative. Once I checked in, I was greeted by a fairly rude girl who asked me why I was in today. As I explained my issue, she cut me off and told me I needed to tell my story to a technician and walked away. Eventually, they moved me closer to the "bar" and I spoke with the technician, who was friendly and polite, but told me it wasn't within his power to replace my phone and said I would need to speak to a manager. He summoned the manager (Lindsay Taeger) and I explained the issue and my journey thus far, including this thread. She told me you could find complaints about absolutely anything on their online community and that isn't a valid reason to replace my phone. Plus, it is only cosmetic damage, so no. I then explained to her that I literally have been "all in" with Apple for the last 10 years...my condo is filled with Apple products. I have NEVER had an issue before as the usual Apple product quality is high...that's why we pay a premium. I told her that she should replace my phone in good faith as I have been a loyal customer. She asked me where I purchased my phone, I told her Best Buy, she told me no. If I had purchased it directly from Apple, she would, but she would not, as I bought it from Best Buy...you can imagine my irritation. "So Lindsay, I am considered a second class citizen because I didn't want to stand in line for 12 hours at an Apple Store on the first day? Regardless, Apple manufactured the product and I paid for it." She said no and turned me away.

The happy ending - after calming down, and almost running down a few people in my car on the way home, I called Apple Customer Support. I asked them immediately to transfer me to a supervisor. I spoke with a very professional and friendly agent named Jacob, recounted my "very disappointing" experience, complained excessively about Lindsay and he agreed to replace my phone in 5 minutes. He said he was shocked that Lindsay wouldn't replace my phone because I bought it at Best Buy. He said that is in no way an Apple policy and would be following up with the store and Lindsay about it.

SO, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Please seek your own resolution with Apple and hopefully they will recognize that this is an product issue and make it easier in the future. Cheers!

dacata wrote:

I have owned my space grey iPhone 6 since launch day and the hairline scratches are getting worse after only 3 weeks. I pre-ordered the phone sight unseen and am incredibly loyal to Apple products. Always have had a great customer experience but I feel like Apple has lost me even though I have around 7 Apple devices at home and have bought each of my employees high end MacBook Pro Retina's for my business.

I arranged a Genius appointment today and advised having owned every iPhone device from the 3GS to the iPhone 6 and have never had an issue with the screen or needed a screen protector. My iPhone 5 battery died after 12 months and I received a refurbished unit as a replacement but that is fine by me. These things happen.

When I took my iPhone 6 into the Genius bar the 19 year old girl at the counter treated me as if I scuffed and scratched screens on barely 3 week old Apple phones are the norm and I should be happy that I paid $1000 for the privileged of owning such a poor quality and built device. I informed her that the screen quality was clearly defective and sub-par in that I have used the iPhone 6 exactly the way I have my previous iPhone's (keeping it in a suit jacket pocket and jeans on weekends and the screen is scratching terribly from all angles, especially the corners. She told me that it was simply my 'disappointment' with the device and there was nothing in the guidelines reported about the issue called her supervisor over and obviously tried to get me out of the store ASAP. Not a great way to treat your most loyal of loyal customers who rarely complain. Not sure what to do given that others are clearly suffering from this defect and I've become slightly disillusioned by the experience given that I was planning on upgrading our company iMac's to the new 5K iMac 27's. That's what poor customer service from your store staff gets you Apple.

If one of your employees violated your rules as the business owner, I suspect you'd have some repercussions for them. If Apple has not authorized that employee to replace your device, then it's ridiculous to expect her to risk her job just to make you happy. She even called over a supervisor to help you, and obviously you got the same answer.

And I'm sure Apple is trembling in it's boots over your decision to not upgrade your computers. I'll keep an eye on my stock price to see if your 'threat' causes me to lose a few pennies per 100 shares.

Mike you might want to check the statutory consumer laws in Australia they are quite stringent on what an average consumer should expect from a premium device after a few weeks of typical use.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/apple-forced-to-adopt-new-r efund-policy-under-australian-consumer-law-20131218-2zkkr.html

dacata wrote:

Mike you might want to check the statutory consumer laws in Australia they are quite stringent on what an average consumer should expect from a premium device after a few weeks of typical use.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/apple-forced-to-adopt-new-r efund-policy-under-australian-consumer-law-20131218-2zkkr.html

The ACCC found Apple and its suppliers told customers it did not have to provide a refund, repair or replace products with a "major failure", when in fact consumers should have been allowed to choose either a refund or replacement. And that consumers should have been entitled to free repairs, refunds or replacements for products with minor faults.

I missed the part where it talks about cosmetic issues that do not impair the functionality of the device.

Hi TJ,

Great warranty term 'cosmetic issues' as a way to get out of any material quality defects on unaware consumers drafted by in-house legal. However, as stated above, in Australia we have quite stringent rules around what a consumer should accept to be goods of merchantable and acceptable quality. Namely applies by following Australian Consumer Legislation (by the way I did in fact finish Law school back in 2002):

Goods must be of an acceptable quality

The Trade Practice Act implied condition of 'merchantable quality' was replaced with a guarantee of 'acceptable quality' in 2011. Acceptable quality is defined as goods which are:

- fit for purpose;

- acceptable in appearance and quality of finish;

- free from defects;

- safe; and

- durable for their purpose.

There are some differences between acceptable quality and merchantable quality:

For goods to be of acceptable quality, they must be fit for all of the purposes for which goods of that type are commonly supplied. Under the current standard, goods are of merchantable quality if they are of use for any purpose for which such goods would normally be used and in normal in operating conditions.

- It pays to know the legislation and your rights as a consumer.

Mike458 wrote:

dacata wrote:

I have owned my space grey iPhone 6 since launch day and the hairline scratches are getting worse after only 3 weeks. I pre-ordered the phone sight unseen and am incredibly loyal to Apple products. Always have had a great customer experience but I feel like Apple has lost me even though I have around 7 Apple devices at home and have bought each of my employees high end MacBook Pro Retina's for my business.

I arranged a Genius appointment today and advised having owned every iPhone device from the 3GS to the iPhone 6 and have never had an issue with the screen or needed a screen protector. My iPhone 5 battery died after 12 months and I received a refurbished unit as a replacement but that is fine by me. These things happen.

When I took my iPhone 6 into the Genius bar the 19 year old girl at the counter treated me as if I scuffed and scratched screens on barely 3 week old Apple phones are the norm and I should be happy that I paid $1000 for the privileged of owning such a poor quality and built device. I informed her that the screen quality was clearly defective and sub-par in that I have used the iPhone 6 exactly the way I have my previous iPhone's (keeping it in a suit jacket pocket and jeans on weekends and the screen is scratching terribly from all angles, especially the corners. She told me that it was simply my 'disappointment' with the device and there was nothing in the guidelines reported about the issue called her supervisor over and obviously tried to get me out of the store ASAP. Not a great way to treat your most loyal of loyal customers who rarely complain. Not sure what to do given that others are clearly suffering from this defect and I've become slightly disillusioned by the experience given that I was planning on upgrading our company iMac's to the new 5K iMac 27's. That's what poor customer service from your store staff gets you Apple.

If one of your employees violated your rules as the business owner, I suspect you'd have some repercussions for them. If Apple has not authorized that employee to replace your device, then it's ridiculous to expect her to risk her job just to make you happy. She even called over a supervisor to help you, and obviously you got the same answer.

And I'm sure Apple is trembling in it's boots over your decision to not upgrade your computers. I'll keep an eye on my stock price to see if your 'threat' causes me to lose a few pennies per 100 shares.

You missed the second part of Dacata's quote:

The happy ending - after calming down, and almost running down a few people in my car on the way home, I called Apple Customer Support. I asked them immediately to transfer me to a supervisor. I spoke with a very professional and friendly agent named Jacob, recounted my "very disappointing" experience, complained excessively about Lindsay and he agreed to replace my phone in 5 minutes. He said he was shocked that Lindsay wouldn't replace my phone because I bought it at Best Buy. He said that is in no way an Apple policy and would be following up with the store and Lindsay about it.

SO, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Please seek your own resolution with Apple and hopefully they will recognize that this is an product issue and make it easier in the future. Cheers!

You also missed the entire part of them not replacing it because it was purchased at BBY (that should not make any difference):

I told her that she should replace my phone in good faith as I have been a loyal customer. She asked me where I purchased my phone, I told her Best Buy, she told me no. If I had purchased it directly from Apple, she would, but she would not, as I bought it from Best Buy...you can imagine my irritation. "So Lindsay, I am considered a second class citizen because I didn't want to stand in line for 12 hours at an Apple Store on the first day? Regardless, Apple manufactured the product and I paid for it." She said no and turned me away.

So basically, the Genius and the manager both didn't want to replace the phone without any reason besides, "you must have done that yourself, cosmetic damage". They made no attempts to even figure out if the screen was up to Apple's standards (if it isn't up to standards, it's no longer cosmetic damage), nor offer any sort of help. If they did test the display, and found it didn't meet Apple's standards (EG, have an engineer look at it like they do for mail-in units), they might have found something, and if they did, they can replace it without risking anything. They decided not to even look at the unit and just claim user fault.

A 5 minute phone call (OK, maybe a little longer than 5 minutes) with Apple Support got more help than either of those two did. And we also find that they were allowed to replace it for this reason (I got mine replaced for this reason because it's not normal and could be defective). The phone call opens up a lot saying that they were allowed to swap the phone, they just chose not to for whatever reason. That "you scratched it, cosmetic damage" mentality is bad business in general. Instead of giving a clear answer to what is causing this, and why it's happening, they simply say it's the customer's fault/issue. It's BS.

Apple may not be trebling in their boots, but if it was a specific store you purchased at often, the Store itself might have issues with losing a customer of the last decade.

I had success following tinyman392's advice on his post.

You can ask a Genius if they can replace it. There have been mixed issues with this, however. Some have replaced it no questions asked citing that it's irregular/not normal for this to happen. Others state cosmetic damage isn't covered under warranty.

What you need to do is get some Apple-representative statement saying that this can be covered under warranty (just in case you get the latter Genius that states cosmetic damage). This was normally done (for the people in this forum anyways, including me) through the Apple Support Chat (Get started). Traverse through the menus and at the end, select to either call (or be called) or to chat online. It generally is not a long wait. After you do that, explain to them that you haven't put the iPhone in a position where it should get scratched (EG, only kept it alone in your pocket when not in use, babied it, etc.) and that you have been noticing scratches on the iPhone after such a short time. You don't feel this is normal and you are disappointed with the quality of the screen.

At this point, the chat representative may either replace your phone on the spot (through mail, or send you to a store), or ask that you go have the phone looked at by a Genius. If it is the latter, then make sure you ask the chat rep if something like this is covered under warranty (the answer should be a conditional yes, EG, if the screen is damaged). At which point, you politely end the conversation by thanking them (for their time and help), saying good-bye, etc.

Copy and paste the conversation into a file. Sync that file with your iPhone somehow (a note or pages document for example). Make sure you get the case ID or support ID (token, etc.) before you close out. Make an appointment with the genius bar, go to the Apple Store. Explain to them (again) what has happened, what you've been doing with the phone (EG, nothing that should get it scratched, look above) and that you spoke with a rep in chat (give them the ID number of the ticket, etc.) and that the rep stated that it can be replaced under warranty if the screen is defective.

At that point, the rep will either replace the phone or test the screen's resistance to scratching in some way. Most likely replace the phone.

I chatted with Apple Support regarding the hairline screen scratches on my launch day purchased iPhone 6. The Apple Support representative was very helpful. After asking about how I use my phone (keep in a pocket by itself and have babied it since purchase), he recommended coming in to the local Tampa Apple store and made me an appointment for the next day.

I was prepared with all the information that I felt I needed upon arriving to the store. It was easier that I expected. The Genius confirmed the very fine scratches and immediately got my a new phone. I asked if he had any questions for me and was told that he was simply fulfilling the expectation that had been set by Apple Support. Very easy.

As Apple Support set my appointment, the content of our chat was already available to the Genius.

As for the replacement iPhone, in 3 days I've found no scratches.

Good luck

I have taken pristine care of my iphone 6 since I got it earlier this month. One day, out the thin blue air I got a scratch on it. Needless to say I was super disappointed. I've made a genius bar appt tomorrow at the Soho, NYC location. I hopeeee they remedy this problem and get the phone fixed for me!!

If the new phone need to be put into the case or applied the screen protector as soon as we get it, they should put this into their instruction.

I have never had issues with scratches until this 6 plus. I have the leather apple case on the back and make sure the 6 plus always goes into a pocket with nothing else in it. I don't sit with my phone in my pocket either. I saw the first scratch... was mad about that but then decided "well 1 scratch I guess I can live with" So I decided to be extra gentile. Now it seems its a self replicating scratch, multiplying to about 6 scratches and its really frustrating me now. The glass quality is terrible and apple is asking for another class action lawsuit just as they did with the nano a few years back. Its a bit ridiculous as its the most expensive iPhone yet. My only guess is that its the little copper rivets around the pockets of my jeans, but at the same time I watched some guy with a knife dig into the screen and it didn't scratch at all. I think there is a supply issue with the glass!

Just got back from the Genius bar. The guy said he couldn't replace it because it was "cosmetic damage." He said Apple hasn't marketed the iPhone 6 as "scratch-resistant" and he didn't know if they used Gorilla Glass, so he couldn't determine that the scratches were a sign of a defective device.

Can anyone confirm this? Is the iPhone 6 glass a poorer quality than the iPhone 5?

I've had my iPhone 6 (4.7) for about a month, and much like everyone else on here, never had a scratch on my 4s, 5, or 5S. Two weeks ago I noticed a series of small scratches on the left side of my phone moving horizontally down the side. They are only visible when I have the phone in sunlight, but they're really annoying. Today I noticed, in the same area, about twice as many of these scratches. I keep the phone in my pocket by itself, as I always have. My only guess is that my wedding band sometimes hits the screen when I reach into my pocket to pull it out, but come on, that shouldn't be scratching the screen of an expensive device. So frustrating.

Its hard for me to believe the iphone6 is somehow worse then then iphone5, but there certainly seem to be a lot of complaints about it, a similar search for iphone5 scratched screens does not pull up anything like this. Hard to say what the reason is, but its happening. A friend of mine has had her iphone6 for about a month and she is supposedly hard on phones, but her husband says she doesn't have any scratches. Or maybe they haven't noticed yet, I don't know. Both the iphone5 and iphone6 use gorilla glass. But if there are any differences between the actual glass in those two phones, I do not know. I never owned a 5. I have an iphone4 and after 4 years of traveling all over the world, including backcountry, camping, hiking, 3rd world country adventures, lost in taxis and found again thanks to Find my Phone, where it was found tossed in a pile of stolen phones, etc.....in and out of my ski parka, etc, etc, etc...there is not a single blemish on the glass. The iphone4 did not use gorilla glass. My opinion is that gorilla glass is the problem, but some people will counter that with factoids of course, but what I can say is that my pre-gorilla glass iphone has no blemishes after years of use. The iphone6 I got had some unnaceptable blemishes after less than 24 hours, most of which I was just toodling around the house. For the life of me I can't figure out what could have caused that to happen. The guy at the AT&T store suggested I should just return it, so that is what I did. If I get another iphone it will be a 5s becuase at least I can cover the screen with screen protector and it will look ok, the iphone6 looks stupid with a screen protector on it.

Its also disheartening to hear the advice about going to the genius store to get this resolved. Some lucky people get someone nice to swap their phone at the apple store and that's great for them, but its almost entirely up to the opinionated discretion of whoever is working at the applestore that day. I think the people that got swaps were lucky. I would have pretty much expected Apple to deny any wrong doing or to swap any such phones. If this continues to be a wide spread problem it will catch up with them, but its left to be seen whether this is truly a design flaw or some flukey manufacturing hitch. For my part I can say I didn't do anything with my phone during the first 24 hours that should have caused that to happen, I think this phone bruises like IKEA furniture.