[marksweston]

Are they?

My 20 month old (i.e. out of warranty and with no Applecare policy) iphone 6+ started showing the symptoms a week and a half ago. The "Genius" at the Apple Store immediately recognised the symptoms and processed a free replacement (refurbished) phone without any prompting or negotiation on my part.

So while it's true that they are staying very quiet about it in public, it does seem that knowledge of the problem and a free replacement policy has been communicated within the company.

[microtonal]

Note: if you are in the EU, settle for nothing less than a new phone (rather than refurbished).

There was recently a lawsuit in the Netherlands where someone sued Apple after receiving a refurbished phone after replacement under warranty [1]. She won the case:

https://www.iphoned.nl/nieuws/rechtszaak-apple-garantie/

The judge based his verdict on a verdict of the European Court of Justice [2], so it's likely that the outcome would be the same in other EU countries.

[1] 20 months would still fall under warranty in the EU.

[2] http://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?language=en&num=C-404...

[colejohnson66]

What's tong with refurbished? With regular devices, only a few are tested each batch. With refurbished, every single piece of the device should be tested.

[cududa]

Of the test batch of new phones, the standards tested for are much higher.

On refurb, many (but absolutely not all point of contact for chips to PCB) are tested, but require lower tolerances

[specialist]

I'm content with refurbs, under warranty. I consider it an extended burn-in period. (Maybe I'm wrong?)

[yodon]

Your experience is an example of how capricious Apple's handling of the issue is. I walked in with a 14 month old phone in the exact same situation as yours, including the immediate identification of the problem by the Genius Bar rep, and I was told buy a new one. Period. No help, no willingness to help. Just buy a new one.

[sottitron]

So when I've gone in for service at an Apple Store, they always take my Apple ID down. I always wondered if those who buy more get better service. For example, the person who has a purchase history of four or five iPhones, a few iPods, and pair of iPads, and a few Apple laptops might have a better chance of getting an out of warranty fix than someone who has only ever purchased one or two iPhones. It always seemed like this would make sense because Apple wouldn't want to alienate its diehards. Just a theory...

[strictnein]

I've wondered that too. I've gotten much better service in terms of hardware replacement at Apple stores than my friends, and I spend a lot more with Apple than they do

[cududa]

Could just be that you "speak tech"/ know how to talk to them better than non-technical friends

[celticninja]

Did you read the article? Considering the number of phones they talk about it is certainly not widespread or even Apple policy to replace these phones if out of warranty.

Perhaps a timely reminder than the plural of anecdote is not data.