MSE News: Apple offers free battery replacement for faulty iPhone 6s handsets 22 November 2016 at 4:42PM edited 22 November 2016 at 5:07PM in Mobiles 13 replies 4.2K views

Former_MSE_Nick

Tech giant Apple is offering free replacement batteries for certain iPhone 6s models after a fault was detected...

Read the full story:
'Apple offers free battery replacement for faulty iPhone 6s handsets – how to check if you're eligible'

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tonycottee

Does anybody know how long it takes to replace the battery? I've been quoted 5-7 working days from an official repairer. The nearest Apple Store is over an hour away. I have read it can be done in 45 minutes but not sure how accurate that is.
I'm not keen on losing my phone for 10 days!

d123

I was told about an hour, iirc.

AndrewArts

The iPhone 6s battery replacement programme is a disaster.

I read Martin's email on Wednesday, and followed the instructions to create a Genius Bar appointment to check if my phone was affected. Unfortunately there were no appointments at my preferred store, so I called the Apple helpline number. They were able to confirm that my phone was one of the affected handsets. They also could not book me an appointment at my preferred store, and advised me instead to get a walk-in appointment - but to go early or I may have to wait a long time.

I went to the Regent Street Apple Store this morning. The store opened at 10am, and I arrived at 10.15am. I didn't realise it was Black Friday, and it was incredibly busy.

It took 15 minutes to get in the Genius Bar queue (there is no signage confirming where people should go). I then waited a further 2 hrs & 30 mins for them to see me.

After they (again) confirmed that my handset was part of the recall programme, they told me they can't offer a battery replacement there and then. I will have to come back in to the store another day. They have created a work order for the replacement, but sent me away to wait to be called in.

I can't believe how bad the customer experience was today:

• They directed affected customers to the Genius Bar, but there were no appointments available at any of the central London Apple stores.
• I had to wait 2.5 hours to be seen. Fair enough - it was busy, but that is an excessive amount of time and there was no info available to customers about how long it would be.
• Their text message telling me when to attend the Bar for my appointment was mishandled by the Specialist. (I got a "you haven't checked in so we had to move on" message, despite having already checked in and been allocated a Genius.
• I still have no idea when the battery replacement will take place.
• I will need to go back to the store on another occasion for them to carry out the work order, and will presumably have a further wait. The replacement may be same day - but only if my appointment is early in the day. Presumably I will be without a phone whilst this happens.

I'm really fed up by the poor experience from Apple this morning. This is their mistake, but they're not supporting affected customers properly.

I've been an iPhone customer for over ten years, but am seriously considering moving to another phone next time.

fo1m2s3e4

I had similar experience with this programme and I am very disappointed.

After the usual run around in both Brent Cross and Cambridge stores I was directed to the online support team.

Their official response so far is: "I do apologize for this. As you can imagine we are extremely busy. So we are a little backed up in this region at the moment with the services. Come December 5th you can use the chat back link to chat back in and pick up where we left off."

Additionally they could not comment on the length of repairs: "device being with us for an extended period of time" so essentially they are going to leave my wife without a phone too.

These are pretty expensive handsets so I would have expected that Apple can ship the handsets for repair elsewhere. They can also choose to replace the handset and repair the old one in their own time.

Not the type of service one would expect from Apple. This is essentially their mistake and they seem to have the wrong approach here.

tece

I agree this replacement program is very unorganised and a corporation such as this should be on top of their game
DD's iphone 6S which is approx one year old kept losing charge so when this program was announced we went to our local apple store to enquire about it.
The first agent said we had to telephone apple and only when pushed grudgingly looked up the serial code for us and advised the phone qualified for a battery replacement. An appointment was duly booked with the genius bar and we were advised all of this would be recorded and off we went shopping for a couple of hours.
On our return to the shop we were called for our appointment and had to go through the whole situation again. So the information was either not recorded or they didn't check. I wish I had questioned which at the time but didn't.
DD has a small crack on her screen which we were advised had to be replaced at a cost of £119 if the battery was to be replaced. When we ummed and arhed the agent told us we were basically getting a new phone and intimated we should be very grateful. I pointed out that there should not be a need to be getting a new phone if they sold things that were fit for purpose in the first place.
The battery was not available there and then as someone had not pressed the button we were told in time, therefore, the batteries were due in within the next few days.
Suffice to say we have to pay apple for the new screen as we were told if we got a £65 screen off the guy on the high street this invalidates their cover, therefore, no new battery.
DD has had the email that the battery is now in stock but she cannot get an appointment online until a week today. Online it advises to try in store for a walk in appointment but this is a 40 mile round trip.
Our whole family have iphones and I am honestly really disappointed in apple as I feel held to ransom and ripped off by them.
I hope they learn from this debacle and improve their customer service accordingly.

d123

tece wrote: »

DD has a small crack on her screen which we were advised had to be replaced at a cost of £119 if the battery was to be replaced. When we ummed and arhed the agent told us we were basically getting a new phone and intimated we should be very grateful. I pointed out that there should not be a need to be getting a new phone if they sold things that were fit for purpose in the first place.

If your daughter has a cracked screen the likelihood is great that the screen will crack completely when they try and remove it. (To replace the battery the whole screen assembly has to be removed).

It's not Apple's fault that your daughter cracked her screen.

tece

d123 wrote: »

If your daughter has a cracked screen the likelihood is great that the screen will crack completely when they try and remove it. (To replace the battery the whole screen assembly has to be removed).

It's not Apple's fault that your daughter cracked her screen.

I can't see that I ever said it was, but it is Apple's fault that the phone needs a new battery.

It was explained to us that the screen was likely to crack and had to be removed completely hence the requirement for a new one. It would however be nice if they would offer a new screen at a more reasonable rate, ie guy on the high street rate. It does after all have to be removed to replace their faulty battery.

prowla

Apple Stores ain't what they used to be; the staff seem to have become arrogant.
Maybe they think they don't have to try anymore.

Cassius1979

Apple announce a replacement programme but then don't seem to have stocked the batteries for the replacement before the announcement, I wonder how many phones have been affected ?

MamaMicah

My model does not fit any of those listed (it is still an iPhone 6s but was purchased in Paris 2016) and yet I am still having problems - particularly when using the camera I can lose power at anything up to 50%. Is anyone else in a similar situation?