Faulty charging port and being told it’s out of warranty

faultyhardware

Hi I’m looking for some help, I purchased an IPad through curry’s in 2023 and this past week it struggled to charge and eventually died while plugged in, took it to apple yesterday and told it was a hardware issue and there were no user misuse or error present but because I bought it through a third party I should go through them. So today (6th oct 2025) went in and showed them the written document of the visit at apple and was told nothing they could do since it was out of warranty and sent with a piece of paper and a number to call. 

To yet again be told there’s nothing they could do, to go back to the store and say that or go back to apple and that I would have to pay for a replacement,
I saw online there were others discussing the charging port failure and have emailed curry’s to say that it’s a breach of my rights as a consumer as because it’s out of warranty the fault that’s been there since purchase has only shown itself now I will have to pay when I expect more than two years usage of a product I paid a hefty sum for!
just wondering if anyone has any advice or any similar experience to this because I feel like I’m going mad thinking that it’s unfair!

MyRealNameToo

faultyhardware said:

Hi I’m looking for some help, I purchased an IPad through curry’s in 2023 and this past week it struggled to charge and eventually died while plugged in, took it to apple yesterday and told it was a hardware issue and there were no user misuse or error present but because I bought it through a third party I should go through them. So today (6th oct 2025) went in and showed them the written document of the visit at apple and was told nothing they could do since it was out of warranty and sent with a piece of paper and a number to call. 

To yet again be told there’s nothing they could do, to go back to the store and say that or go back to apple and that I would have to pay for a replacement,
I saw online there were others discussing the charging port failure and have emailed curry’s to say that it’s a breach of my rights as a consumer as because it’s out of warranty the fault that’s been there since purchase has only shown itself now I will have to pay when I expect more than two years usage of a product I paid a hefty sum for!
just wondering if anyone has any advice or any similar experience to this because I feel like I’m going mad thinking that it’s unfair!

Did apple give you a report stating it was faulty hardware and in no way your fault?

As it's over 6 months old it's up to you to prove it was inherently faulty. Note also if they decide it cannot be repaired/replaced then a cash settlement will reflect that you've had over 2 years use from the item. 

My guess is you have no such report from Apple and so thats the first thing you need to sort. Apple typically won't give you the type of report you need but there are some exceptions inevitably. 

visidigi

I assume Apple store did the usual deep clean on the power socket?

Okell

faultyhardware said:

... took it to apple yesterday and told it was a hardware issue and there were no user misuse or error present but because I bought it through a third party I should go through them. So today (6th oct 2025) went in and showed them the written document of the visit at apple and was told nothing they could do since it was out of warranty and sent with a piece of paper and a number to call...

Did you make it clear to the seller that you weren't making a claim under the warranty but under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, particularly s9, "Goods to be of satisfactory quality" - which considers factors such as the price paid for the item and the durability of components.

As MyRealNameToo has already said, what Apple has put in the "written document" is very important because the legal onus is on you to prove - on the balance of probability - that the item was "not of satisfactory quality" when you bought it.  Obviously if the Apple report says that it is a hardware issue and that there is no evidence of misuse by you or other damage caused by you, then that goes some way to you establishing that it was not of satisfactory quality when purchased.

So what did Apple actually say about the failure?

And who is the retailer?

vacheron

The Major cause of most slow / no charging issues are:

• Underrated, poor quality or faulty USB power source. 
• Poor quality or damaged charging cable.
• Contaminated, corroded or damaged cable plug or iPad socket.

Have all of the above been completely ruled out?  as Apple's very vague report of "A hardware issue with no user misuse or error" could include any of these.

Okell

vacheron said:

The Major cause of most slow / no charging issues are:

• Underrated, poor quality or faulty USB power source. 
• Poor quality or damaged charging cable.
• Contaminated, corroded or damaged cable plug or iPad socket.

Have all of the above been completely ruled out?  as Apple's very vague report of "A hardware issue with no user misuse or error" could include any of these.

If any of those were the cause of the issue would it necessarily defeat a claim that the item was not of satisfactory quality under s9?

vacheron

Okell said:

vacheron said:

The Major cause of most slow / no charging issues are:

• Underrated, poor quality or faulty USB power source. 
• Poor quality or damaged charging cable.
• Contaminated, corroded or damaged cable plug or iPad socket.

Have all of the above been completely ruled out?  as Apple's very vague report of "A hardware issue with no user misuse or error" could include any of these.

If any of those were the cause of the issue would it necessarily defeat a claim that the item was not of satisfactory quality under s9?

The power source depends if the original charger is being used. If so, then you may have a case.

I (personally) would consider a USB charging "lead" as a wear and tear item. 

If the iPad socket is full of packed lint/crud/corrosion, again not unfit for purpose, in the same way your car isn't "unfit for purpose" just because the user interface to the power system (say the cigarette lighter socket) has got so full of gunk that it can no longer properly conduct electricity. 

SiliconChip

Okell said:

faultyhardware said:

... took it to apple yesterday and told it was a hardware issue and there were no user misuse or error present but because I bought it through a third party I should go through them. So today (6th oct 2025) went in and showed them the written document of the visit at apple and was told nothing they could do since it was out of warranty and sent with a piece of paper and a number to call...

And who is the retailer?

First line of the OP - Curry's. Which as we all know means there's likely to be a struggle to get a resolution.

MyRealNameToo

Okell said:

vacheron said:

The Major cause of most slow / no charging issues are:

• Underrated, poor quality or faulty USB power source. 
• Poor quality or damaged charging cable.
• Contaminated, corroded or damaged cable plug or iPad socket.

Have all of the above been completely ruled out?  as Apple's very vague report of "A hardware issue with no user misuse or error" could include any of these.

If any of those were the cause of the issue would it necessarily defeat a claim that the item was not of satisfactory quality under s9?

Yes, iPads dont come with chargers any more so it would be a separate item not supplied by the retailer

Cables are probably consumables. 

Contaminated would be the OPs fault for filling iPad or cable with fluff or other such debris. 

Corroded could be if they have exposed it to salty water (eg lived its life on the beach etc or not been dried properly after submersion etc)

Damaged could go either way, could be a fault in the construction that made it weak or could be the OP dropped it, caught it by the cable, saved it from hitting the floor but damaged the socket. 

Alderbank

@faultyhardware, instead of going mad thinking that it’s unfair, have you tried charging it from someone else's iPad charger?

That might help you resolve the issue.

MyRealNameToo

Alderbank said:

@faultyhardware, instead of going mad thinking that it’s unfair, have you tried charging it from someone else's iPad charger?

That might help you resolve the issue.

The Apple Store would normally have plugged it in using their charger and cable 

The guys that do the assessments dont actually do repairs themselves, they run some basic tests, guesstimate what it is and then pass it over to engineers if the customer wants to proceed. 

I would expect them to have eyeballed the port to see if its clogged up but they dont normally have a loop or anything similar to be able to look at the pins or really see if its full of crud. They tend to be pessimistic, give you the worst case and then you get a nice surprise when they say actually they found it was full of playdoh and they fixed it for 30 minutes labour instead of needing a whole new board etc that they'd quoted you for.