Disappointed New Apple Fan

[scotty236]

Hello everyone

Some of you may think I am being a little silly but I have just bought into the whole Apple thing. I purchased myself an I Pad 2, I mac and I phone. I love all of them especially my I Pad 2.

This morning whilst on my way to work I had a catastrovy! The I pad came out of my bag and hit the floor, cracking the screen. So I thought it best to look on the net to see if others have had the same problem. The answer was yes! Most people have said that Apple Stores have been very gracious and replaced FOC.

Now I never expected that to be the case but thought I would give it a go. No such luck £256.00 for a replacement and no option to get the screen repaired.

This has really annoyed me for 2 Reasons.
1. Shouldn't all customers be treated fairly and the same.
2.Why on earth cant the glass on the front just be replaced....

As bad as it is to say I'm one unhappy customer right now and don't think that my situation has been dealt with fairly. What are your views ????

 

[SweetPoison]

Did you go into the Apple store? Exactly what did you tell them and what did they tell you? Apple is very good at a one time courtesy replacement ~ this is hard to believe.

 

[giradman]

Hi & welcome to the forum! And really sorry about your accident w/ the iPad2 - a bummer! :thumbsdown:

The experience on the forum (and threads exist on this exact subject) from my reading is that Apple WILL usually do a one time replacement in your situation w/o a charge, so I'm somewhat surprised - just curious if you talked to a regular sales person or a manager? Might be useful to return to the store and ask to see a more senior individual (since it is an 'unwritten' policy) - still if not successful, you might want to give Apple a call. At all times the advice has been to be humble & courteous - seems to help! Good luck and hope you have a more satisfactory outcome!

 

[SNOWDROP252]

Scotty236
The breakage should be covered under your Household Insurance Policy.

 

[scotty236]

Hi Yes my household policy excess is £100 so may just have to pay that, as annoying as this maybe. Not sure if I want to go back to the Apple store now. I am always very polite but not pushy just maybe on this occasion my luck is not in...

 

[leelai]

Did you make an appointment with the Genius bar or had you just walked in and asked anyone. A lot of the floor guys don't even know about the one off replacement. Frequently even the Genius people refer to a Manager. Above all your manner should be honest and humble and not to expect it. It is not a policy they want to admit to, so is totally discretionary. My daughters friend recently had her iPhone replaced after dropping it in the toilet. She was honestly distraught about it and enquired of the cost to fix it which made her even more distraught, this is when they told her they would replace it free of charge. I feel this is the demeanor they like to see and then they 'Make your Day'

As for just replacing the glass I can't say, maybe it's just not a viable solution for them.

As far as it being Fair - I really feel that if they were to make it a policy then the floodgates would open. Would some not be as careful if they could just get a new one? Sadly human behavior is not always noble. What company could survive that type of policy. Hence the courtesy and I feel it to be a wonderful gesture on Apple's part. I can understand your feeling of it being unfair as so many others have been lucky, but of late I've seen more talk of this and of it being discriminatory. I would hate to see Apple cease this gesture altogether if they start getting a lot of flak over it. My advice is to keep trying and as the saying goes - You catch more flies with honey. Good Luck!!

 

[scotty236]

Hi Leelai,

I completely understand your comments and think I may just go through my home insurance. It seems like far rto much agro for £100.00 I think what got me more was seeing other people talk about about it. I guess thats life!

 

[Bob Maxey]

So is this Apple Replacement "policy" indeed a policy? Or is it a case of a few people having extraordinary luck with replacements due to clumsiness and finding a few helpful Apple employees that sometimes make a decision to help. Odd how sometimes, the good luck a few people have is understood by others to be corporate policy. Bob does not know, just asking.

I am not sure about the construction of the iPad. Is the screen a part of the glass? You have the glass, the LCD/Display and digitizer.

I can tell you if you dropped a Palm Pilot, you not only broke the glass, but you damaged the LCD. If the LCD still works, you could not replace the glass because the glass/LCD were bonded. You could not fix it yourself because you do not have a clean room.

So I am not surprized that a glass replacement also requires a screen replacement.

 

[SweetPoison]

Gosh, I wonder if does depend on where you go for the replacement. There has been a few lately that stated they were not so lucky like the OP.

 

[Gabriel1]

As far as it being Fair - I really feel that if they were to make it a policy then the floodgates would open. Would some not be as careful if they could just get a new one? Sadly human behavior is not always noble. What company could survive that type of policy. Hence the courtesy and I feel it to be a wonderful gesture on Apple's part. I can understand your feeling of it being unfair as so many others have been lucky, but of late I've seen more talk of this and of it being discriminatory. I would hate to see Apple cease this gesture altogether if they start getting a lot of flak over it. My advice is to keep trying and as the saying goes - You catch more flies with honey. Good Luck!!

Great post. Damned if you do but not damned if you don't! If they didn't replace any due to accidental damage it wouldn't be an issue nor would there be any threads about it.

I think it's great news for those that have received replacements after breaking them but others should try not to be so hard on Apple, this is probably an issue that they could never have foreseen backfiring on them.

It's not an easy one this but IMHO Apple should at least get some respect for helping many out when they actually didn't need to do anything at all.

The Archangel

 

[Kathryn4812]

I think it's great news for those that have received replacements after breaking them but others should try not to be so hard on Apple, this is probably an issue that they could never have foreseen backfiring on them.

The Archangel

I agree. Right from when I first joined this forum, I've been worried about people complaining about Apple stores not doing for them what had been done for others. It seemed to me that Apple were acting out of courtesy rather than obligation, and it wouldn't help anybody if they clamped down.

 

[col.bris]

I am sorry that you had .the misfortune to drop the iPad. The iPod unlike other devices is a sealed device and so if dropped one can cause damage to other components as they are in a very tight space however in saying that being a solid state device and no moving parts like hard drives and DVD drives the damage usually is less. The fact is it is not economical to replace the glass and not knowing if nothing else is damage and this is why Apple replaces the iPad complete.

I should point out laptops are in fact a bigger issue when dropped or handled the wrong way. Picking up a laptop by the screen can in fact break or damage it. Replacing a laptop screen is real expensive usually $100 or more just for a quote plus screen etc etc.

Apple has in some countries have replaced iPads no questions asked but what one must realize is they really don't have to as dropping the iPad is nothing to do with warranty issues. My suggestion is make sure one has coverage under home insurance policies and or a all risk policy then you have peace of mind because most likely the insurance company will just replace it with a new one.

 

[thebirdman7]

I am sorry for your accident, but it was your accident. Why do we think it's fair to have companies pay for our mistakes? It is nice when they bail us out but expecting them to do so is perhaps a bit unfair.

 

[GoPackGo]

Knowing my luck, I would not get this type of treatment from the Apple Store (nor would I expect it). I just make sure to be extra careful with my iPad.

 

[s2mikey]

Gosh, I wonder if does depend on where you go for the replacement. There has been a few lately that stated they were not so lucky like the OP.

Yeah, this what I was afraid of when I kept hearing about free replacements. There will be a few that don't get it for whatever reason and that kind of stinks. I'm extra careful with mine but if it ever came to it I'd make sure to walk into my Apple store in tears with tattered clothing. Try and make 'em feel sorry for ya.