Guys! We just did it, and in record time!
So this saturday June 16th the same thing happened to my girlfriend's iPhone 8 Plus, phone was charging, nobody touched it, there was no physical contact, just like magic: broken button and apple logo boot loop. The only way to get out of the boot loop is restoring the phone but that will only get you to the Welcome screen to find out your home button no longer works, and if you turn the phone off you are back to the boot loop.
I was going crazy until I found this thread, which is the key to my success, cause how else would anyone ever believe this story? So, first tip, keep this thread handy. Now my path to success:
CHAT SUPPORT - Saturday 16th
I went in a long conversation with chat support explaining what happened and showing him this thread and sending him a photo, he said he understands but there's nothing he can do about it without someone taking a look at an official Apple Store. Ok, understandable but I told him that the people there will look at me like I'm crazy or a liar so that I really need some backup, some acknowledgement from Cupertino, a special note that says "please listen to this guy".. something. So he agrees to schedule a call for me the next day, first thing in the morning, with an "Asesor Principal" (I'm from Mexico but this is pretty much a "superior", an expert customer service or something, let's call it Main Support).
MAIN SUPPORT CALL FROM BED - Sunday 17th
Here everything is pretty much the same as the chat but with voice, he agrees that this is weird but insists that I should go and have it looked by an actual person and that if I don't like the outcome of my Apple Store visit I should call back so they can see what they can do now that my case has official notes from someone who looked at the phone. Again, understandable.
APPLE STORE VISIT - Sunday 17th
I tell the whole story again, tell him about the thread. My Genius checks the phone, gets some magnifying thing and explores the fracture on the home button and decides it is physical damage so it isn't under warranty. I tell him if he even looked and the thread, he saids he didn't so he takes a look and asks me to wait a little while he goes to the back and talk to some people. He comes back and tells me that he can't authorize something like this because it still is physical damage but recommends me to talk to Apple Support so they can give me a CS code. Apparently its a "Customer Satisfaction code" that means you have talked to Apple Support and for whatever reason Apple is giving you a free pass and they have to fix it for free. Sounds just like what I needed, but the drama just began.
NORMAL SUPPORT CALL - Sunday 17th
Here we go again, I explain the whole thing and this guy tells me "Well, I believe you because who would make up such a fascinating story, but since it has physical damage you still have to pay, don't take this personal".. oh man that really changed my mood but you really have to keep it cool, we need to understand this story does sound crazy. So I tell him I do take it personal cause the money would be coming from my personal bank account to pay for something I didn't personally break. I tell him I was told I should ask for a CS code because this case was special. And with that magic words he said he would transfer me with "Main support".
MAIN SUPPORT CALL FROM APPLE STORE - Sunday 17th
Apparently I shouldn't have said the CS code thing, or my genius shouldn't have told that to me, I'm not really sure what happened but at first my main support agent was very interested in talking to my genius who had already left the store so he couldn't but he asked for his name, what exactly did he tell me and put me on hold several times to talk to the store looking for him. Since he didn't find him I just told him "dude, look at the thread please, this guy was going to charge me and he didn't mention the CS code until he saw the thread, it's important". So he did and the mood changed, he understood there was something weird and started listening carefully. He said he would send a report to the engineers and they would be the ones taking the decision, this would take between 2 to 7 days but he would keep me updated. He said he was going to do anything in his power to reach an outcome that has me satisfied, he said that I couldn't talk to the engineers but he would be like me lawyer, he would take my case.
From this moment I had direct support to him, through phone and mail, no phone maze, no automatic replies. This is pretty much as high up as you can go, from here he really acts as your lawyer and told me if the engineers didn't agree he would just keep going higher up. We agreed to talk on Wednesday 19th or before if he had any news.
MAIN SUPPORT UPDATE - Monday 18th
This was jut a quick follow up, the engineers apparently aren't very busy so they answered quickly. They said the phone has physical impact and I have to pay. My agent said he told them to really look into it cause this case is weird and he believes they should make an exception. I thanked him and waited.
MAIN SUPPOR UPDATE - Tuesday 19th
The engineers again said they can't approve it because of physical damage but since the story is so peculiar they would let my agent make the final decision, and he gave me a CS code. This was a bittersweet success because I feel like nobody believed me but him, I don't feel like I set a precedent, I just feel like my history of 10+ years with Apple, my calm voice, my technical knowledge and my luck getting a great agent got me an exception.
Any company can makes mistakes, but is the way they handle those mistakes what makes them great, Apple has outstanding customer support and that's why I love them. But still, I feel like they should have been more interested in getting my phone to analyze it or something, but they just went "ok, have a new phone". I want to believe they know this problem is true, they were just testing me to see if I was really affected or I was just trying to use this thread for my advantage, and also that they've decided to help anyone affected by it but not to acknowledge it publicly.
So back to the story, my fabulous agent schedules a Genius Bar appointment for the next day.
APPLE STORE FINAL VISIT - Wednesday 20th
This was fast, I tell the genius the whole story even though she has everything she needs to know on her iPad, she checks the phone, checks the CS code, has me sign some stuff and hands me a phone replacement. That's it, case ***** closed.
So to sum it up: be patient, be polite and be persistent. Have this thread handy, Apple has excellent customer support but we have to understand this case is crazy and difficult to believe. We went from boot loop to new phone in 4 days, but that's probably too much to ask for. I really believe Apple stands by it's customers so just be patient and explain the problem.
P.S. Sorry if I sound like a fanboy but I just got my horrendous problem fixed with a new phone.
[Personal Information Edited by Host]
