[informmaha]

Little big story, but do not have a solution yet

I bought a 16GB 6S in August 2016. The phone was very good and no issues until August 2017. We went for a trip to ooty in August 2017 and it was raining heavily, the phone did not even get wet because it was inside a bag. But that was the first time I noticed a "No Service" issue, thought it might be due to climatic conditions, hence kept the phone aside and it started working the next day morning once the climate was back to normal.

This "No Service" was happening on and off and went to check with the Apple Authorized SC in Chennai (@ 12th Main Road, Annanagar) in September 2017, they checked for 10 minutes, came back and said replacement is the only option without mentioning what the issue is. I was persistent on finding the issue, but they never gave me an answer and were least interested to talk too.

So went to another authorized sc (Chintamani, Annanagar) and they asked me to first check with my sim and asked me to get the 128 bit sim (some are 64 bit), since they wanted to rule out that cause. I did that, but still the same issue and they did a reset and did a diagnostics for couple of hours and came back saying that there are no issues in the phone and use it as far as it goes.

During all these months from September to April, sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not. When I went to the service center both the times, it was not working. Then I left the phone idle for some days, suddenly it would pick up signal and start working by itself.

From April 2018, the "No Service" issue was not going off like before. So called Apple care and checked with them. They asked me to do a reset by connecting to itunes, did all that they mentioned, but still it was not working. So they suggest to go to an Apple Service Center (ASC), went to one and they were the worst of all the SC (@Inorbit mall, whitefield) I had visited. They just heard the issue and told replacement is the only option, without even doing any diagnostics. I mentioned this scenario to Apple customer care executive and that person also accepted that this is unacceptable and they will raise a complaint internally and take action. They asked me to go to another SC and they asked for options and I mentioned that HSR layout is the nearest one and they booked an appointment there.

Went by around 6.30PM to HSR ASC and they said your case ID has already been passed to us and we will do the needful. I asked them of what they will be doing and they said it will be diagnostics and after asking what kind of diagnostics, they said software. I was tired of explaining same statement again and again, so for one more time I explained that there is no problem with software and all the reset steps were already carried out and its something else with hardware. But they did not listen to me and insisted that they will do only software, phew.

Made a call immediately to Apple care and did a conference call with all 3 of us in the same call from the service center itself and the service center person accepted that he will do the hardware diagnostics, but since it was already 8PM (yes, I was there for nearly 2 hours), since the store is closed by 7PM, the SC person asked me to bring the phone next day morning, which I promptly did.

Another twist here is that he totally forgot (or acting so) and asked what the issue was, later explained and he said Ok, I will do it but I had to bare the diagnostics expenses which is Rs. 1178/- since the phone is not under warranty for which I said, I am ok to pay, but please find what the problem is, but don't do the software diagnostics again and ask for the money, he did not listen to my points at all. I even mentioned that I am ready to pay for the hardware if you find that is the problem, because its better to repair the phone than to get a new one. After 2 hours, I get a mail saying that its beyond repair (attached document is their mail), no reasons of why its not working or what the exact problem is.

Post this, I asked what options do I have and they mentioned replacement. Ok, for replacement the options are either get a replacement phone with same specification for Rs.27000/- with only 90 days warranty or upgrade to a new phone and they will take this phone for Rs.4000/- with a 1 year warranty. What's the reason for a 90 day warranty, because that is a refurbished phone and they said that after I asked for it.

After all this, I again called the Apple care and since I created lots of issues in 1 week, my case was transferred to a new person who claimed to be the Senior Advisor and any communication further will be with that person on this case. I explained all that happened and asked how can a premium company like yours not find what the issue is. After talking for 5 minutes with no proper answer from them (which I was expecting), asked what is the solution and that person also said replacement is the only solution. I asked how can you people be so dumb, when you cannot find what the issue is, what is the use of having a service center. Blackening of screen - is this a reason for "No Signal" issue. I was totally upset and had to hang the call since I knew that I was wasting my time and energy talking to them.

I am not interested to go to local mobile shops to fix this issue, not sure if they can fix it too. I also work in a product based company but never had come across such a product or service support.

Someone might ask on how I did not go for an extended warranty, actually I was not aware until I talked to the Apple care person that there is an extended warranty for phone's too, I am not much tech savvy, but post this harrowing experience, I am becoming one.

So, it is pretty clear that they are looting people. They know what that issue is, which is clearly something related to hardware. Get this phone for Rs.4000/- , change the motherboard (worst case) and sell it again as a replacement phone, so a profit of approximately Rs.13000/- (27000-4000-10000{mother board})

I had made a complaint in consumercomplaints.in and Jagograha, but yet to get any response.

The phone is idle now and no solutions even after I tweeted them for answers and I might have to use that as an Ipod after this.

[ani_meher]

Wow, sad to hear this. Really sucks to be running pillar to post for 'software check' and itunes reset which you can even do at home. No service really seems like a hardware issue, since you started facing it after a monsoon (not because of water damage).


Don't write off the local repairmen. I am sure that Bangaluru being a prominent IT city, it would have capable outside non-Apple repairmen. Spending 27000 again doesn't sound good, especially when the problem is not even yet identified.

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by informmaha

So, it is pretty clear that they are looting people. They know what that issue is, which is clearly something related to hardware. Get this phone for Rs.4000/- , change the motherboard (worst case) and sell it again as a replacement phone, so a profit of approximately Rs.13000/- (27000-4000-10000{mother board})

This is true of all mobile phones, not just apple. The electronics are simply so complex that they think repairing it harder (and usually more expensive) than repairing.

Apple's policy was always a replace only policy - but I hear that they have started repairs too recently.

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by deep_bang

Apple's policy was always a replace only policy - but I hear that they have started repairs too recently.

The repairs are limited only to display change and battery change is what I think i read up. These are the 2 main things that are necessary anyways and anything beyond this, the replace instead of repair policy is actually better when in warranty.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by deep_bang

This is true of all mobile phones, not just apple. The electronics are simply so complex that they think repairing it harder (and usually more expensive) than repairing.

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

replace instead of repair policy is actually better.

Blame the push for increasingly compact devices with absurd power-efficiency demands for the 'replace not repair' syndrome.

When the entire system is built on a single chip with minimal or no swappable parts that often need a magnifying glass to even spot clearly on a chip, it is easier and much cheaper - for the manufacturer, not necessarily the customer - to just replace the whole device rather than spend considerable time and expense to train people to be capable of testing individual components and replacing them to acceptable factory standards in a small workshop tucked behind a swanky customer service center with tools much inferior to the OEM assembly line.

A sign of the times, and it's going to get worse because who wants to go back to phones the size of a flip-flop that weighed a kilo? Okay the flip-flop bit is no longer true () but these phones (phablets?) pack more computing power than a full-blown computer from just FIVE years ago!

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Originally Posted by informmaha

Little big story, but do not have a solution yet

Post this, I asked what options do I have and they mentioned replacement. Ok, for replacement the options are either get a replacement phone with same specification for Rs.27000/- with only 90 days warranty or upgrade to a new phone and they will take this phone for Rs.4000/- with a 1 year warranty. What's the reason for a 90 day warranty, because that is a refurbished phone and they said that after I asked for it.

This is bit strange. I my case I was getting the new phone at 50% of the price. I had an iPhone 6 though. If I remember correctly, they definitely were offering more money for my iPhone 6 than 4000 if I upgraded. Don't remember exactly but maybe 11000.

Rachit

[akhil994]

@informmaha

That sure does sound like a harrowing experience. Diagnosing a hardware fault should be the easy bit for these service centre guys. Request you to consider the option of taking it to a competent mobile repair shop. Their standards have gone up from earlier times especially when it comes to handling of expensive devices.

This ordeal of yours makes me remember something similar that I faced, regarding the software side of things, on my iPhone.

My apple id used to show a backup failed error whenever I tried to backup my iPhone data to icloud. If I put in someone else's Id, the backup would proceed fine, but just with my id that issue seemed to happen. It took apple execs 3 months nearly to figure out the issue from the back end and fix it. But to their credit , I was in conversation with a very honest senior executive from Apple technical support and they were quite honest about it. Apparently this was the first time where they had faced such an issue where all their troubleshooting did not resolve the issue.

I was nearly resigned to losing all my iCloud data since I contemplated creating a new id. But the issue was fixed surprisingly.

Strangely, they never explained me what the issue was 😛

[riteshritesh]

On a related note, my Dad's iPhone 5s, one day, was found in a small pool of water on the windows ledge, where my mother was watering her plants prior to him placing it.

Quickly picked up the phone and I dryed it with a dryer etc... Fast forward 8 months later, I tried to connect it to iTunes for a backup and the computer failed to show it connected. Tried multiple computers with the same result. All this while, the phone worked properly and could even update OTA.
The OCD freak that I am, took it to Apple Service, as the phone was in extended warranty period, which is when it was diagnosed as water damaged ( from the earlier mentioned incident).
They asked for 21000 for a new replacement ( as the phone was in warranty), but considering a new 5S was 29000 online, didn't opt for it. Went to an aftermarket fellow, who after 2-3 months of trying, toasted the phone rendering it useless.


So my suggestion is to get the replacement rather than trying out after market guys. As it is, since the problem is unknown ( mostly it could require the GSM antennae replacement), successful repair is unconfirmed.


Check what the replacement phone could sell for on olx/quikr, etc and then take a call.

[informmaha]

Thank you all for your inputs.

Originally Posted by ani_meher

Wow, sad to hear this. Really sucks to be running pillar to post for 'software check' and itunes reset which you can even do at home. No service really seems like a hardware issue, since you started facing it after a monsoon (not because of water damage).

Don't write off the local repairmen. I am sure that Bangaluru being a prominent IT city, it would have capable outside non-Apple repairmen. Spending 27000 again doesn't sound good, especially when the problem is not even yet identified.

I even tried after all this with "To Doo" who are one reputed people who did the screen change of my friends friend for a 6S (Apple was not doing at that time), they tried changing the antenna, but they said it did not work and they did not even ask for money for trying to bring back this phone back to life. They were very courteous and mentioned that if it worked we could have taken money, was wondering that Apple should learn something from these people, wherein ASC's only motto was to extract money, even from my first discussion with the service center people.

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

The repairs are limited only to display change and battery change is what I think i read up. These are the 2 main things that are necessary anyways and anything beyond this, the replace instead of repair policy is actually better when in warranty.

Rightly said, these are the only 2 they do

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

This is bit strange. I my case I was getting the new phone at 50% of the price. I had an iPhone 6 though. If I remember correctly, they definitely were offering more money for my iPhone 6 than 4000 if I upgraded. Don't remember exactly but maybe 11000.

Rachit

May be you were lucky enough to get this much for a 6. I would have opted for an exchange if they had provided something nominal like this. It felt like I have bought a car from Mercedes and going to the service center of BMW/ Audi.

Originally Posted by akhil994

@informmaha

That sure does sound like a harrowing experience. Diagnosing a hardware fault should be the easy bit for these service centre guys. Request you to consider the option of taking it to a competent mobile repair shop. Their standards have gone up from earlier times especially when it comes to handling of expensive devices.

This ordeal of yours makes me remember something similar that I faced, regarding the software side of things, on my iPhone.

My apple id used to show a backup failed error whenever I tried to backup my iPhone data to icloud. If I put in someone else's Id, the backup would proceed fine, but just with my id that issue seemed to happen. It took apple execs 3 months nearly to figure out the issue from the back end and fix it. But to their credit , I was in conversation with a very honest senior executive from Apple technical support and they were quite honest about it. Apparently this was the first time where they had faced such an issue where all their troubleshooting did not resolve the issue.

I was nearly resigned to losing all my iCloud data since I contemplated creating a new id. But the issue was fixed surprisingly.

Strangely, they never explained me what the issue was ��

I tried at "To Doo" who are one reputed people, after the antenna change, they said motherboard change is the only option which they do not want to do.

Even I faced similar issue before with iCloud, then started using google photos so that the photos automatically gets uploaded to that and no problems in deleting from phone storage. Rs.60/ month for 20GB storage in iCloud is ridiculous, according to me.

[landcruiser123]

Hello fellow BHPians,

Can someone please tell me how to handle notifications in iOS 11.x ? I switched to an iPhone SE a few months ago and this is the only irritating part compared to Android.



Apps like Facebook messenger and WhatsApp throw too many bubbles and are not grouped. Anyway to have grouped notifications by app? It's very irritating to get rid of them one at a time.

I hope iOS 12 improves it.



TIA

[bigben]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Hello fellow BHPians,

Can someone please tell me how to handle notifications in iOS 11.x ? I switched to an iPhone SE a few months ago and this is the only irritating part compared to Android.



Apps like Facebook messenger and WhatsApp throw too many bubbles and are not grouped. Anyway to have grouped notifications by app? It's very irritating to get rid of them one at a time.

I hope iOS 12 improves it.
TIA

Well, since these are different apps they will have different notifications. One option is to go into settings-Notifications and turn either one off.
This way you will not receive individual notifications and pop ups but the app will have a number near the top right corner to tell you when there is a message.

[itwasntme]

Query on Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular)

https://www.apple.com/hk/shop/buy-wa.../A&step=detail
https://www.apple.com/hk/en/watch/cellular/

Will a Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) model bought in Hong Kong (exact model sold in India. i.e. A1891) work seamlessly on Airtel or Jio? From what I have read, the only constraint is that the LTE bands have to match the region, which I am ensuring. This should mean that the watch eSIM is not 'locked' and should start working as long as the phone is on one of the Airtel or Jio approved plans.

I am planning visit a Airtel store in BLR to find out but they typically give idiotic responses to out-of-the-box questions.

Does anyone have a clue?

[ashis89]

I am using a 5s which is running on iOS 11.3. I noticed that the Wifi gets disconnected the moment the screen gets locked. Searching for wifi networks is also not seamless like earlier when the available list of networks popped up when the phone started using apps which needed internet. Not, most of the times, I have to go to Settings and manually connect to my saved network. This has been frustrating and I keep my mobile data ON most of the times to avoid this issue. Is there a solution for this?

I use an iPad Air 2 with 11.3 (upgraded to 11.3.1 yesterday) and I don't face this issue at all.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by ashis89

This has been frustrating and I keep my mobile data ON most of the times to avoid this issue. Is there a solution for this?

My wife's IP7 was doing the same irritating thing after an update but seems to have gone away after switching on the 'Join known networks' option.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by informmaha

I bought a 16GB 6S in August 2016. The phone was very good and no issues until August 2017.
====
This "No Service" was happening on and off and went to check with the Apple Authorized SC in Chennai (@ 12th Main Road, Annanagar) in September 2017, they checked for 10 minutes, came back and said replacement is the only option without mentioning what the issue is.
=====
They just heard the issue and told replacement is the only option, without even doing any diagnostics.
=====
.

Sorry to hear this but if you had checked online, such issues has been reported and mother board replacement which means a replacement is the only sure shot option. Since the device was out of OE warranty and you did not have apple care, the stores happily washed their hands off.

My suggestion is see if this can be repaired outside and used to pick up a new device on exchange or something. If that is a viable option. Unless apple or dealers give you a good rate say 7-9k total discount would be a good price point to cut a deal.