Faulty "Out of Warranty" iPhone 4S

scottishblondie

vuvuzela wrote: »

Have you tried rolling back the update and going to whatever the best working version of iOS 6 was ?

You would think that would be the best option, but you cannot "downgrade" an iPhone (or iPod, iPad etc) to a previous version of iOs (at least not by official means). It is something of an annoyance to many an Apple device owner!

OP, good luck!

bris

visidigi wrote: »

Interesting viewpoint. Which would be true if if broke all iPhone 4s's.

But it didn't, both ours are fine - which would mean its only become obvious since the update, but it existed from manufacture as its a batch that's clearly affected, not all phones of the same model.

But it may also be a different chip and Apple coded it for one chip but not the other, point is a software update broke the phone and EE did not supply this phone for it to be broken by new software.

shaun_from_Africa

bod1467 wrote: »

Interesting viewpoint, Shaun. Especially considering most retailers usually suggest going to the manufacturer for confirmation of faults. (And I don't just mean in terms of warranty).

But in this instance, if the manufacturers report stated that the fault was due to a software updating problem, they themselves may be held liable for it.
I'm not saying that it would happen, simply that a judge may consider that there is a conflict of interests in the manufacturer having to provide a report that could end up with them having to pay for a resolution.

If a manufacturers report stated an inherent problem for a single item then it may not be an issue, but if a report pointed towards a problem that could possibly affect may thousands of units, they might not be so inclined to give a truthful and unbiased report.

Zandoni

Get an appointment with an Apple store, they often don't worry if the warranty is just out of date.

InsideInsurance

halibut2209 wrote: »

Retailer compensates the Consumer. Manufacturer compensates the retailer.

Thats a big assumption unless you are particularly close to the EE and Apple commercial deal?

Sure for SMEs they normally can recover from their suppliers but frequently with larger corporate deals retailers dont and the "risk" they are taking is reflected in their wholesale prices.

The last retail company I worked with just flogged all its faulty returned items via its staff shop as long as there wasnt a H&S issue with it to recoup losses.

abc123456

Just back from the Genius Bar at Apple Store. No sympathy, no replacement phone, just 3 copies of the report (adviser said they were for giving to any legal representatives and Trading Standards, should I wish to start a legal action against EE !)


The diagnosis is one of a wifi hardware fault which requires the phone to be replaced, not repaired.


Verbally, he said it was a common fault, and one which he added that £159 would be the cost of the out of warranty replacement.


Common fault eh?....breaks down after 1 year?...phone fit for purpose?


Its a shame, but looks like all 7 iPhones in my family will be changed for Android come renewal as I will not even give Apple the steam off my po* in future.

abc123456

Zandoni wrote: »

Get an appointment with an Apple store, they often don't worry if the warranty is just out of date.

Mine did !!! :-(

Herbalus

This is an interesting thread. My iphone 4s was purchased in June last year, so I'm in warranty. I took it to the Apple store yesterday, they replaced it because they found the wifi chip had broken, but when I brought home my brand new phone and loaded all my backed-up data from the "broken" phone, I had exactly the same problem. Wifi wasn't available.

This appears to be a serious fault, and I've updated the software to 7.1 without resolving it.

So I'm going back to the Apple store today to see what their explanation is of a brand new phone developing the same fault on the day of purchase as the old one. I might even see if I can get a 5 from it - I doubt it, but worth a try I guess.

visidigi

Its not going to be a new phone, its going to be refurbished. Certain batches are affected by the Wifi issue. Get a 5? Only if you pay...

mrdwillcox

I bought an iPhone 4s in November of 2012 at Tesco (because MSE said they were the cheapest for a 2-year contract). After the iOS 7.1 update I lost wifi on my phone.

I took it into an Apple store and they did all the resets and nothing worked. This ruled out a software issue. The Genius gave me this analogy (and said that because he's not an engineer, this may not be completely accurate): In an iPhone, the wifi antenna has three parts. With iOS 7 the software was using one of the three parts of the antenna. The iOS 7.1 update was designed to make the wifi faster and so used two of the three parts of the antenna. Somewhere along the line, the second of the three parts of the antenna had been broken. Therefore, the wifi was working with the iOS 7 software but stopped working after the iOS 7.1 update. Again, he said that this might not be accurate but was a good way of understanding what may have occurred.

The Genius encouraged me to get in touch with Tesco and the Trading Standards people, which I plan on doing.