iPhone 3GS ruined by official upgrade - any legal options?

horsepills

TonyBroke wrote: »

I've been in touch with Apple by phone (my nearest Apple shop is 300 miles away!). No offer of service was made, the only option open to me was to replace the phone at a cost of £146, which might suggest that they are perfectly aware that certain models of the 3GS can't cope with iOS 6....

So I've decided to give up. Going through the Small Claims Court would probably be pointless since it'd be just about impossible to prove that the update was responsible for ruining the phone.

Go into your nearest Apple store and ask to speak to a manager. Don't try to make an appointment beforehand.

They are usually pretty good at offering some form of resolution, even if its just a reduction on the new handset.

grumbler

horsepills wrote: »

TonyBroke wrote: »

...my nearest Apple shop is 300 miles away!...

Go into your nearest Apple store...

:think:............

MikeWhite

horsepills wrote: »

Go into your nearest Apple store and ask to speak to a manager. Don't try to make an appointment beforehand.

That would be the store that's "300 miles away"?
That's a long trip on a half-chance (at best).
Mike

EDIT: Beaten to it!

gjchester

horsepills wrote: »

Go into your nearest Apple store and ask to speak to a manager. Don't try to make an appointment beforehand.

If you make an appointment they have spares to hand, if you don't you are likely to come away empty handed at best, or not see anyone at worst.

Mike_Grant

TonyBroke wrote: »

I have an Apple iPhone 3GS which dates from 2009, so is completely out of warranty and contract both.

I recently updated the phone to the latest version of Apple's iOS, iOS6, following which the phone has become completely unusable, despite working perfectly previous. Basically, it crashes after a day or two and has to be restored from scratch. I have tried multiple restores and all sorts of techniques suggested online, to no avail.

An investigation of the Apple forums revealed a few other people with what sounds like the same issue, suggesting that certain models of the iPhone 3GS just weren't compatible with this upgrade.

Unfortunately, Apple prevents users from downgrading back to the original version of the phone's operating system, so I'm stuck!


I'm wondering whether I have any legal options under UK consumer law?

I know two people who've had similar sounding experiences with iphone 4's with ios6, so you're not alone. They were lucky though - their phones were under guarantee.

I think you should try calling Apple's Customer Care instead on 0844 9400255, and explain what's happened, stress that the phone was working before the update and how you're convinced the update is to blame. Mention the small claims court if need be

BTW, does your phone show the "connect to itunes" screen when it crashes? This is called "recovery mode" and I've managed to get iphones out of it by shutting the phone off by holding down the home and power buttons, then rebooting. I should mention though that sometimes when you connect to itunes following this, itunes thinks the phone is in recovery mode

albionrovers

Try recovery methods on youtube, apologies if you already have exhausted these.

TonyBroke

A brief update: basically, someone who knew more than I do helped out and managed to downgrade the iPhone to the version of iOS it came with (it turned out that the infamous "SHSH blobs" were still on the phone itself).

So - I have a stable phone that works as a phone again. It's just too bad that the old version of iOS is the ancient version 4.1.1, however - there are zero compatible apps, and no known way to upgrade to anything previous to iOS 6.0.1!

Interestingly, most of the posts on Apple's Support Communities from other people on related topics have been deleted en masse! A tactic I've seen there before when the subject of dodgy software / hardware raised its head, and as good as an admission that iOS just isn't suited to certain models of iPhones!

albionrovers

Yip, everyone must upgrade to Iphone 5, it's the Apple way. !!

I'm happy with my 3GS runnning on V5.something

albionrovers

For what it's worth:

I was in Glasgow Apple store yesterday with my wife's 3GS which has stopped charging ... Apple genius tested it and we had a nice chat, phone was immaculate apart from the fault - I got a swap unit (immaculate Apple refurb, 90 day warranty) for £55.

molerat

For what it is also worth :

Yes they do provide some excellent customer service but when they !!!! up big time with software issues they are not interested as illustrated above.

Their on line exchange program is also staffed by incompetents who send phones back as "not the same imei as on report" when it is, then take 2 weeks to collect the phone again, then send it back as (even though it was a collection arranged by them with an auth repair number) they did not know what it was sent to them for, then charge £200+ because the old phone had not been returned, then do not refund that money as there is no record of the refund being authorised (3 times), then do not return calls when promised. :mad: rant over !!