Will Apple Authorized Service Providers honor iPhone 6s battery replacement of $29?

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Level 1

5 points

Will Apple Authorized Service Providers honor iPhone 6s battery replacement of $29?

I made Genius bar appointments with an "Apple Authorized Service Provider" because the actual Apple store had very limited appointment availability. It appears when you book an appointment that these providers are offered equally as the Apple stores themselves. Will they honor the battery replacement terms as stated here (A Message to Our Customers - Apple) as well or should I just try to wait for a real Apple store battery replacement appointment?

Posted on Apr 12, 2018 10:09 PM

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Answer 1

rschifa1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 13, 2018 12:49 AM in response to rschifa1

I contacted Apple Support Live Chat and received this answer:

Yes, the Apple Authorized Service Providers are just like going to an Apple Retail Store, and their techs are certified to work on our Apple products. In fact they are usually much less busy so you can get in quicker.

Each Apple Authorized Service Provider is independently owned and operated so they can make their own choice on the services they provide. We do recommend calling before you go in to make sure they offer the service you are looking for.

It should be, but we do recommend calling first to make sure. Many are participating in the program.

tl;dr - Apple Authorized Service Providers should/could honor the same service and fees as Apple but may not, call your location to be sure.

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Answer 2

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Apr 13, 2018 6:47 AM in response to rschifa1

It really depends on the provider. I'm sure they're strongly encouraged to price their services comparably, especially for something this high profile. All one can really do is just ask.

I'd still recommend going to an Apple Store over an AASP. There are ways to get appointments. One is to go there in person, where there's actually a two-week window of appointment availability. Another is where you don't actually get an appointment per se, but call Apple's support number where they help the customer through a remote battery diagnostic (I think they send a link via email or text to run on the iPhone) and then ask where the customer wants to have the battery service done. Then once the battery is available the shop or Apple Store will call/email/text the customer, who has maybe 7 days to just drop in and get the service done.

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Answer 3

deggie

Level 10

167,519 points

Apr 13, 2018 8:44 AM in response to y_p_w

You are really an engineer? They send a text or email that runs on the iPhone? How would that work?

The Terms of Use here recommend that you test your answer before posting, you might want to follow that to actually find out how they test the battery instead of posting speculation. (And no, they don't send a text or email that tests it).

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Answer 4

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Apr 13, 2018 9:14 AM in response to deggie

deggie wrote:

You are really an engineer? They send a text or email that runs on the iPhone? How would that work?

The Terms of Use here recommend that you test your answer before posting, you might want to follow that to actually find out how they test the battery instead of posting speculation. (And no, they don't send a text or email that tests it).

I've seen pictures of the remote diagnostics screen sent to an iOS device. Sent from the email address "donotreply@apple.com" with a link to open remote diagnostics for a specific "ticket" number. And yes they had an option to send that link via email or an SMS text message. Maybe that's an older way of doing it. Regardless of whether or not they're still doing it that way, my point was that it should still be possible to perform an official battery health diagnostic remotely. This is the way someone else described it:

Has my iPad battery gone south?

You can call apple support and they can do a diagnostic check on the battery (they'll send it via email, sms).

I've had an iOS diagnostic done at an Apple Store. The employee provided me with a URL to follow and then enter a verification code that he provided. But this only worked through the Apple Store WiFi. If I try entering the same URL at home I get a sign-in page that says "Sign in to AST 2" whatever that is. Looked it up, and it stands for Apple Services Toolkit 2.

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