Constant iPhone problems - at the end of my tether

remoteboy

Hi,

Have had nothing but trouble with my iPhone 3G since I bought it and looking for people's advice on what to do next. First up, it's worth saying that (on the occasions that it works) it's a great phone. I don't want to get rid of it.

Got the phone on launch day (July 08) in CPW. It broke January of this year (the only way I could take calls was on speakerphone (earphones not working, earpiece on iPhone not working. Took it back to CPW. Gone for two weeks. They replaced it with a new unit. The new unit broke (same problem) in July 09 (about 5 days outside the warranty, but still covered by CPW insurance). Took it back. Had to wait 6 weeks (:eek:) , at which they issued me with a replacement unit.

Had the replacement unit a few days. Was working OK. Upgraded to 3.1. No Wi-Fi. No Bluetooth. Have performed numerous resets - made no difference. Have been living with it for a couple of weeks but really starting to annoy me now. Can't get 3G where I live, so basically can't use it for data heavy applications - Spotify, etc.

My options appear to be -

1. bring it back to CPW. lose it for another 6 weeks.
2. unofficially downgrade it to 3.0 and risk that going wrong and voiding my insurance policy.
3. wait until 18 month contract is up and upgrade to 3GS

Any ideas / commiserations etc.?

Regards.

R.

jester77

I would bring it back in or even better would be to take it to your local genius bar. The 3.1 firmware is plagued with problems, just have a look at the Apple support site.

remoteboy

Hi Jester,

Thanks for the suggestion but there are no Genius Bars in Rep of Ireland. As for bringing it back that's really my only option but I can't live without it for another 6 weeks.

Regards.

R

dazedandlost

remoteboy wrote: »

Hi Jester,

Thanks for the suggestion but there are no Genius Bars in Rep of Ireland. As for bringing it back that's really my only option but I can't live without it for another 6 weeks.

Regards.

R

I would suggest calling Apple care on 1850 94 61 91, they are very helpful, may offer you a new iPhone for €29 and you may even get the 3GS as a replacement if you have a 16gb 3G iPhone as they are no longer making them...

They are also very quick and you could have a new iPhone delivered by tomorrow by UPS... with a box to send your old one back...

Victor_M

dazedandlost wrote: »

I would suggest calling Apple care on 1850 94 61 91, they are very helpful, may offer you a new iPhone for €29 and you may even get the 3GS as a replacement if you have a 16gb 3G iPhone as they are no longer making them...

They are also very quick and you could have a new iPhone delivered by tomorrow by UPS... with a box to send your old one back...

+1, one of the advantages of dealing with an image driven company like apple is that they don't like bad press and as a result have a fairly quibble free exchange/repair policy. I had a small cosmetic crack on the rear of my phone, called apple care, courier picked it up the following day, 3 days later i had a brand new (or possibly refurbed but looked brand new) phone in my possession.

Dades

+ 1 on calling Apple. Should be the first thing you do. They will at least tell you if you're still under warranty.

remoteboy wrote: »

3. wait until 18 month contract is up and upgrade to 3GS

You shouldn't have to wait 18 months for an upgrade. O2 give everyone a silver upgrade option after 12 months. If you login to the o2.ie site I bet it will tell you you're due an upgrade. I got a 16GB 3GS after a year for €199.

spoongibbon

Are the wifi and bluetooth options greyed out?

Have you tried the following?
Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings
Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.
Restore the device via iTunes

Have you tried doing a fresh restore and not from a back-up?

If so there might not be too much hope for you! You've had a run of bad luck but there is hope; as mentioned by other posters, Apple are far better to deal with than CPW would be, and will likely have a new phone to you in a matter of days, not weeks.. and fortunately because you received your replacement phone in July of this year:
'Replacement phones have a 90-day limited hardware warranty or assume the remainder of your standard warranty or AppleCare Protection Plan for iPhone coverage, whichever is longer.

I'd give Apple a call.

dazedandlost

remoteboy wrote: »

Hi Jester,

Thanks for the suggestion but there are no Genius Bars in Rep of Ireland. As for bringing it back that's really my only option but I can't live without it for another 6 weeks.

Regards.

R

If you go the Apple Care route, can you post here to let us know how it worked out? Good to get feedback from others as they experience problems so may help us in the future...

remoteboy

Hi Spoon,

Thanks for that. I've done all the different restores mentioned below. I haven't restored anything at this stage - I've just used the setup a new phone option. I even deleted the previously downloaded 3.1 firmware and forced iTunes to download it fresh in case the download was corrupted in some way. I reckon it's knacked.

I'll give Apple a call later on and post their response back here.

Regards.

R

dazedandlost

Remoteboy, just wondering if you tried Apple and how you got on?

remoteboy

Hi all,

Apologies for the silence - been mad busy but the news is good.

I spoke to Apple last week and once I explained that the replacement phone was only a couple of weeks old they agreed to do a warranty exception (took about an hour on the phone to get sorted).

They sent me out a box to put the phone in, which I received last Friday. I sorted out a backup phone yesterday (I had an old Meteor PAYG phone, which I got unlocked for a tenner). Rang UPS at 3:30 yesterday, turns out they had someone in the area. They picked up at 4:30 yesterday. Got an email today at 2pm to say that the phone had been received. Just checked the status of the repair online and the phone is listed as issue identified and product replacement pending. Very impressed!

Regards.

R.

dazedandlost

Result !

remoteboy

And I just got a call to say it's waiting at home for me. 48 hour turnaround - insane!

dazedandlost

remoteboy wrote: »

And I just got a call to say it's waiting at home for me. 48 hour turnaround - insane!

So what did they send you out? Repaired iPhone or new replacement?

remoteboy

A brand new phone with a 90 day warranty. And it works perfectly. Couldn't be happier.

Leiva

Hopefully the end of the matter ...enjoy !