iphone 5s blew up

bozd

hi,

I bought an iphone 5s (reconditioned) on ebay in october last year, received it in november last year and it blew up 2 weeks ago. It was for my daughter and I had my misgivings about buying off ebay but the difference was being tortured if I got her a samsung locally with all the safeguards or fulfilling the bloomin teen driven need for the iphone.

anyhows I tried to contact the buyer - no reply - nor did I expect one. ebay said it cant do anything but here are a no. of organisations etc etc. . so anyone else experienced this?

170 euro down the drain, it was the battery that failed very rapidly after 6 months of use - then it started expanding and when the apple trained fixer opened it up it exploded with a bang and sparks - dangerous stuff.

So buyers beware - I wasnt tempted at any point but was pressured to get it and this is why I keep saying to myself - ya eejit.

Gumbo

Did your daughter charge it constantly, under her pillow for example?

bozd

kceire wrote: »

Did your daughter charge it constantly, under her pillow for example?

had it plugged in no doubt constantly in evening after school as it wouldnt keep a charge so didnt bring it to school ; even though had other smart phone (which she is using now) mind you she is campaigning for next iphone and doing lots of chores around house. we may string that out til xmas. then the merry go round will be on again.

phones dont have a happy life in this house - other daughter dropped hers in glass of water beside bed while half asleep - no sparks there.

drunkmonkey

Sounds like he punctured the battery when opening the phone or removing the battery, I presume he just put in a new battery and the phone is back to normal.

Smartphone battery's do explode, I don't want to say it's normal but it's not uncommon.

bozd

nope phone is kaput, fried, an ex-iphone - scorched on inside and melted - sim an all. tried posting pic but have to find its url ??????

drunkmonkey

Jazus he made a right mess of it, you have to be very careful removing them as they can puncture easy and explode.

Don't envy you come Christmas and when they break them in January.

bozd

well what I didnt say was in first month she had balanced phone on shelf to play music and it fell - smashing screen so it says alot about kids today - once ya got it tis no big deal - she is going to very much appreciate the next phone because its going to be well earned.

beauf

Batteries fail and swell regardless of where they came from.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5973137?tstart=0

Sad Professor

beauf wrote: »

Batteries fail and swell regardless of where they came from.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5973137?tstart=0

Yeah but it's far more likely with cheap knock-offs and "rejuvenated" batteries. I'm surprised we don't hear more reports of exploding iPhone batteries tbh. I assume it happens but mostly with older devices so nobody cares.

beauf

Happens with new phones too...and other devices...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7878022?start=0&tstart=0
https://www.wareable.com/apple/apple-watch-swelling-expanding-battery-767

That it happens with specific batteries like refurbs etc. May be true. But we don't know if its true. Unless anyone has stats on it.

drunkmonkey

Happens plenty with genuine apple batteries when you try and remove them, not explode but start sparking and clouds of smoke..I've done it a few times, first was scary now it's nearly normal. Not sure why there allowed to be honest, I've a 40yr old teddy with an inbuilt battery and he's never exploded and battery only died a few months back.

Wasn't an iPhone thought to have brought down a plane with a couple of hundred a while back. I'd believe it.

BOB2017

Might be worth a shot contacting Apple if its that bad. My brother had a 5c that he wasnt using anymore but battery started expanding and burst the phone open - never refurbished or attempted to fix it or anything, just a faulty battery. He argued with Apple enough that they sent him a new one, which he then gave to me. The first replacement didnt work at all, and the second one was destroyed when I plugged it in to charge one day and it started sparking and melted the battery. Again they sent me out a new replacement. No idea if they'll help you but worth trying!

beauf

happens with all batteries, laptops, car batteries etc.

One of the iPhone we had did it. The replacement has been fine. Though it needs changing again.

bozd

thanks for that but would imagine if didnt come through one of their outlets or approved dealers then I could be knocking head against wall - my batteries will be depleted taking on that. if you buy things local even that can be a struggle to sort out if problems arise - been to small claims court myself.

beauf

Power City do reconditioned iPhones now.

BOB2017

To be honest when I rang Apple directly they never asked where the phone came from - just for the serial number so they could confirm it was a genuine Apple phone. They're fairly quick to sort it out if something dangerous has happened so it'd be worth a shot to see could you get a replacement.