Very disappointed with Apple's customer support -- would AT&T help or am I screwed?

[luxamnesiac]

I went to the Apple Store yesterday because my earpiece stopped working. I was told because my phone is out of warranty (by just over 2 weeks!) that it would be $199 to replace the whole phone. Everything else about the phone is in working condition. Odds are they would just fix the earpiece and then sell it as a refurb. But it would cost me $200 for a phone that would probably just break again.

I already had to exchange my phone once because it stopped getting service in January. That was an easy exchange because I was still under warranty at the time.

Both times, however, I've looked at discussions on sites—including the Apple site—and this is a common occurrence. It is a known issue, and not a user-caused issue. Despite the fact that the warranty is expired, when the error is the fault of the company, the company should take some responsibility for it.

Unfortunately, for fans of Apple products, there is not a lot we can do. There is no other option. I wanted to talk to someone about this issue today, but just speaking to someone about the issue would cost $19.

I am being punished because I was an early adopter and bought my 4s when they came out.

I see a Droid in my future.

[dwill05]

Not sure how you are being "punished" for being an early adopter. Your phone broke and it happened to just be out of warranty. Unfortunately that happens sometimes. Your beef should be with Apple as they made the phone and they set the length of the warranty. Nothing here relating to AT&T.

[sandblaster]

If you think any of the droid manufacturers will be more forgiving on their warranty, I suspect you will be in for a rude surprise. Anyway, there is another potential solution you might consider, switch to a bluetooth headset. I listen to all my music via bluetooth. There are a number of excellent stereo bluetooth headsets that are quite a bit cheaper than the $199 it would cost for out of warranty replacement of the phone.

[luxamnesiac]

Wow, you're really rude.

I am upset with the service from Apple, and wanted to see if AT&T customers experienced the same thing. I do think that it feels a bit like punishment because this is apparently a common issue with the phone—and because I bought the phone when they first came out, I am unable to get this issue taken care of.

And yes I realize Droid won't be forgiving with warranties, but I haven't heard nearly as much complaining from friends with Droids compared to friends with iPhones...

Forgive me for looking for actual feedback though!

[cousintim]

I think that you are being "punished" for not buying AppleCare.

[Facci]

So if you bought your phone 3 months later than you did and the speaker broke over a year later it would still be out of warranty. Theres no guarantee it would've broken at the same time. You should have purchased the apple care and wouldn't be in this bind. I own 2 iPhone 4S' that we got on launch day and luckily still have no problems. Also own 2 iPhone 4's that were purchased on launch day over 2 years ago and luckily have no problems either. It's just luck of the draw!

[luxamnesiac]

You speak the truth. At the time I couldn't afford it (because I was also buying my Mom a phone), but I won't make that mistake again.

I realize my first comment was histrionic but I really didn't expect a lot of rude replies; however, looking at the number of exclamation points on some points, I guess I can understand why people who post a lot on here are kind of inclined to roll their eyes at the hysterical "I'M SO UPSET WITH MY POOR CHOICES AND THE LACK OF HELP I'M GETTING DUE TO THEM" comments. Still, I basically had a panic attack over this thread? But there's no way to delete them... So I guess I'll just keep going.

Anyway, I should have had AppleCare. Even so, Apple's customer support is pretty terrible in general. Even when the problem is a known one (MacBook Pro first gen batteries, for example). But, Apple users have no alternatives, so we'll continue to rail at the gods and shake our fists on any oulets with a Post button.

If it's too terrible to use the headset that came with the phone after a few months, I'll save up for a replacement. So far it seems bearable even though the earbuds that fit your ear didn't come til iPhone 5 (maybe buying those would be a cost-effective solution, eh?).

Beware the earpiece problem, fellow 4s owners!

(This post brought to you by the levity of a Louis CK clip in which he points out that "Everything is amazing and no one is happy.")

[sandblaster]

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luxamnesiac wrote:

Wow, you're really rude.

I am upset with the service from Apple, and wanted to see if AT&T customers experienced the same thing. I do think that it feels a bit like punishment because this is apparently a common issue with the phone—and because I bought the phone when they first came out, I am unable to get this issue taken care of.

And yes I realize Droid won't be forgiving with warranties, but I haven't heard nearly as much complaining from friends with Droids compared to friends with iPhones...

Forgive me for looking for actual feedback though!

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If that comment about being rude was intended for me, my apologies as I certainly was not intending to be rude. I only wished to point out I don't think any of the android manufacturers are any different than Apple.

As for feedback on Apple's customer service, I've only seen good comments about them and my own experience (granted, the phone was within its warranty period) has been good. From what I have seen, complaints against Apple's customer serivce are not common.

After re-reading your posts, though, I'm wondering is the problem the phone itself or just the earbuds that came with the phone?

[Kerry78]

Hi can you tell us more about the earpiece issue your experiencing?

Usually if this happens its a case of it has water damage,
My 1st 4S got compost stuck in the headphone jack and the handset
Would simply not allow me to use it for calls u could not hear anything
Also this would be the same for water damage

The water damage stickers are in the charger port and headphone jack
If there white your phone isn't affected if they are red then that indicates
Liquid damage

[johninsj ACE - Wizard]

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luxamnesiac wrote:

Beware the earpiece problem, fellow 4s owners!

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All electronic devices are subject to failure. It's an unfortunate truth of the disposable world we live in that the "repair" is done by exchange (and then your broken device is either recycled or refurbished, not in the US but offshore at 1/20th the labor cost)

There is no general "earpiece problem" in the 4s - it will fail for any number of reasons. As will the Home button, and the other physical buttons. Your only choices are to pay the applecare if you want to have replace costs amortized over several years, or pay roughly the same amount of money each time it needs to be swapped out for repair.

The assumption is you'll be replacing it every two years (which is the point when you're more likely to start having failures anyway) so you're only gambling for a year without applecare.

You won't get any special waivers, simply because at this point Apple has 10s of millions of iPhone customers - the rules are the same for all of them.

You can use any earbuds you want with the phone. A nice $20 set of in-ear buds with mic will work and sound much better than the 50 cent ones included with the phone.

AT&T isn't going to help simply because it's not their product.