Ipad 3 one month out of warranty - advice?

dw85

Hi, looking for some advice although i think i know what the answer is (ever the optimist!)
I have a 3rd Generation iPad which I spent £470 on two years ago with JL. I upgrded the OS to OS7 in Jan and since had sporadic charging. As we dont use it that much its always had enough charge to work. Last week, i tried charging but nothing so thinking I'd got it in June, thought it was still in date. Anyways, long story short, Id purchased in April 2012, so 1 month out of date -DRAT!
Passed on to Apple to see if they can repair it as i cant get it to charge and now wont switch on as a result. Cue very chatty irish man who confirmed that everything ive tried so far has been correct, but that if i could get to Apple Store, they could run a battery diagnostic, or carry replacements there if i wanted to go down that route.
So, one 'genius' appointment later, ipad still wont charge, so they wont offer a battery swap, just a full unit like-for-like for the princely sum of £250 :eek: (total ipad spend =£730)....i cant afford that! Plus i dont believe an ipad should only last two years...but my own fault for not chasing the issue sooner.

Im off to the US in july, should i just bite the bullet and get a new one out there and not have any type of warranty (or purchase applecare here?) or try and get it repaired by a third party?

any help/advice welcome! thanks!:)

wealdroam

dw85 wrote: »

Hi, looking for some advice although i think i know what the answer is (ever the optimist!)
I have a 3rd Generation iPad which I spent £470 on two years ago with JL. I upgrded the OS to OS7 in Jan and since had sporadic charging. As we dont use it that much its always had enough charge to work. Last week, i tried charging but nothing so thinking I'd got it in June, thought it was still in date. Anyways, long story short, Id purchased in April 2012, so 1 month out of date -DRAT!
Passed on to Apple to see if they can repair it as i cant get it to charge and now wont switch on as a result. Cue very chatty irish man who confirmed that everything ive tried so far has been correct, but that if i could get to Apple Store, they could run a battery diagnostic, or carry replacements there if i wanted to go down that route.
So, one 'genius' appointment later, ipad still wont charge, so they wont offer a battery swap, just a full unit like-for-like for the princely sum of £250 :eek: (total ipad spend =£730)....i cant afford that! Plus i dont believe an ipad should only last two years...but my own fault for not chasing the issue sooner.

Im off to the US in july, should i just bite the bullet and get a new one out there and not have any type of warranty (or purchase applecare here?) or try and get it repaired by a third party?

any help/advice welcome! thanks!:)

Have you even spoken to John Lewis about this?

Your statutory rights are with whoever sold the thing to you.

Have a read of MSE's Consumer Rights guide for details.

searchlight123

agree with above.
JL have a very good customer relations reputation. and i would be very surprised if you contacted them and had the copy of your receipt that they wouldn't help you. politely point out that this was one of the main reasons you chose to purchase from them in the first place.
secondly, if all else fails, you can get a battery replaced a lot cheaper elsewhere than at the apple store, but personally i think you will be pleased you bought from JL after talking to them. either way please let us know how you get on.
good luck.

Browntoa

May not be the battery from what's been said , may be a broken lightening connector ( lead twisted, trodden on etc ) so it's a more involved repair

martin2345uk

My iPhone 5 developed this sake issue with sporadic charging. It was also out of warranty. I took it to the apple store anyway, the guy looked into the lightning port, and said the issue was a build up of dust and lint inside the port. He used the SIM card removal tool to very gently scrape it all out, and now it works fine.

Also make sure it's not your charger cable at fault.

dw85

wealdroam wrote: »

Have you even spoken to John Lewis about this?

Your statutory rights are with whoever sold the thing to you.

Have a read of MSE's Consumer Rights guide for details.

Yes, i originally phoned JL, who confirmed that it was April ( I could only find the delivery note at the time i called, but subsequently checked back through email receipts) and that since it was out of warranty by a month, there wasn't anything they could do and suggested i try Apple for a solution.

Their customer service is usually exemplary (sorry if bad spelling!) and their 2 year warranty at the time was the reason i chose to purchase from them. Currently they are offering 3 years warranty with the new ipads.

Ive not had a chance to look at the guide yet, but its next on the list!

dw85

Browntoa wrote: »

May not be the battery from what's been said , may be a broken lightening connector ( lead twisted, trodden on etc ) so it's a more involved repair

Its not got a lightning connecter, its the version right before it (old 30pin connector) but i've tried a variety of cables, tried charging via mains & via laptop to see if it registers. The dock doesnt look damaged, and the 'genius' didnt suspect the dock on my trip to the shop.

Moneymaker

On the basis that a "tablet" might be expected to last 4 years before the battery (or something else) fails, and you got just over 2 years, I would expect to pay just over 50% for repair or replacement (470/2 = 235). So £250 doesn't sound like a bad offer if it gets you another 2 years usage or more.

Moneymaker

(Mind, it would really p*** me off if I had to pay that for a new torch battery!)

dw85

Moneymaker wrote: »

(Mind, it would really p*** me off if I had to pay that for a new torch battery!)

Exactly!


Is 4 years a reasonable period for a tablet? I would agree with you. So will be heading back to JL armed with that, and hope for the best.
although on your calculations, perhaps im wrong, but id be paying £700+ for 4 years usage?

Thank you all for your responses. Will keep you updated.

buglawton

I've seen the teardown articles on iPads and it takes experience to get these apart!
Try asking for a quote from a mail order specialist like http://www.iservicesni.co.uk/repair-by-post
Did you also try a new official Apple charger together with a new official cable together? Mind you I guess the Genius bar would have tried this.