Same happened to mine a few weeks back but I’m in warranty so was replaced but there is a fix for it on YouTube if you don’t mind opening the phone since its already out of warranty.

Obviously a last resort but just to make you aware

Hmm… I managed to brick my iPhone 4 while doing an iOS update.

Took it to Genius Bar, who couldn’t fix it either, and they gave me a replacement phone on the spot. I was well out of warranty but it was a goodwill gesture 😀

Obviously they recognise a fanboi when they see one. 🙂

Does anyone here think a £140 charge is reasonable for the repair?

It is a very reasonable price for a new phone which is what the OP will get. It’s not a reasonably price to pull some pocket fluff out of the button contact – but if you want that done then take it to another shop.

I smashed the back glass on my 4S about 6 months ago and I might be tempted to finally replace it for the bargain price of £25!

Don’t waste your money. A replacement back is less than a tenner and takes roughly 2 minutes to fit, 1:30 of which is looking for your screwdriver.
Undo screws, slide off back, slide new back on, tighten screws. Done.

also +1 for SOGA (even though at less han 2 years it’s still within the EU warranty period).

Since they’re usually/often sold as a 24 month bundle, and you can’t just upgrade without buying you way out of that bundle, then surely the phone must be reasonably expected to have a lifetime of 24 months or more (even if you’re on a 18 month bundle).

Does anyone here think a £140 charge is reasonable for the repair?

If damaged by the user, then maybe.
If failed due to fluff ingress due to reasonable typical use, or wearing out of the button due to typical use, then it’s a design failure. And it’s both still under warranty, and well within the reasonable expected lifetime. In which case I’d be getting it replaced or repaired at their expense. edit: or if they won’t, and payment was via credit card, I’d be using the consumer credit act.

It is a very reasonable price for a new phone which is what the OP will get.

His phone will be sent off and refurbished. He will receive either a brand new or refurbished phone.
If it’s a new phone, he (and every other Apple customer) have already paid for it, with his £140 covering some of the cost.
If it’s a refurbished phone, he’s paid Apple £140 to repair someone else’s phone, and someone else will pay the £140 to repair his phone.
Is any repair really worth £140?

They’ve managed to charge an arm and a leg for a ten minute job in a way that customers think is reasonable.

Should’ve got a htc/Samsung 😛

Is any repair really worth £140?

I’d say yes, if the only other course of action is to buy a brand new phone at ~£600.

The OPs fault doesn’t sound serious enough to warrant it – but it’d be the same price if he’d smashed the screen or put it through the washing machine on spin cycle.

I was happy to get a new phone for just £140 after mine took an unexpected dive into a pint glass.

Should’ve got a htc/Samsung

Yeah then he could have taken it to the HTC/Samsung shop where experts would look at it for free and offered him a heavily discounted handset…

…oh no wait.. I’m thinking of Apple. 😀

Can’t you use the 4 or 5 fingers coming together on the screen move on the iphone like you can on the ipad? The saves using the home button. It’s going to wear out eventually if you use it. I always thought it was a daft Idea having it there in the first place as its not needed anyway on an ipad.

He’s not broken the home button. It’s the lock/sleep button

Ahhh my bad sorry.

Its the law.

http://www.wak-tt.com/tt/2yearwarranty1.htm

I can’t link to the title below as the link stops when it hits the squiggly symbol for and. But hit up this.

DIRECTIVE 1999/44/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 25 May 1999

Basically, with the odd exception. ALL electronic good sold in the EU now have to come with a 2 year warranty.

Does this cover mobile phones ?. Not sure.

Don’t waste your money. A replacement back is less than a tenner and takes roughly 2 minutes to fit, 1:30 of which is looking for your screwdriver.
Undo screws, slide off back, slide new back on, tighten screws. Done.

Intersting, thanks. Might have a look at that later…

So its £140 for a new phone (albeit a refurb).

I’m not completely convinced they’re actually refurbs – the ones i’ve seen are indistinguishable from new. When I smashed mine the replacement was immaculate – not a mark on it anywhere, no sign of any dust around the ports.

More to the point a refurbished iPhone 4S sells for £350+ on eBay. Depending on the length of your contract it might be worth taking the refurb, selling it on eBay and talking to your operator about a new phone.

Given it’s not broken the repair bloke in your local phone shops your best bet.

Seriously? No-one’s graded the rant yet in 2 pages?!

8/10 for me, a few more CAPS and mis-types and it would grade higher…
🙂

Oh…….must read all of thread in future….. Still at least my scoring is in line with others!
Sorry…..

8/10 for me
not enough typos

but still a good effort

ime apple are great within the 1 yr warranty period but crap after it

i think its all part of their business model – to encourage you to ‘upgrade’ after a year anyway!

Not a fan of apple customer service at all but all the phones I’ve had on 2 yr contracts were covered for 2 years by the contract provider. Has the OP tried them?

Go here: https://expresslane.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action?locale=en_GB

select the appropriate options, If you select the product then “issue not listed” you get the option to write them an email (web form) and then explain the situation and that if you google “lock/sleep button broken iphone” it returns “About 8,050,000 results”, to the point that apple have authorised an App as a work around to a KNOWN FAULT.

Request a replacement, foc.

thats what I’d try….

if you google “lock/sleep button broken iphone” it returns “About 8,050,000 results”

To be fair if you google “monkey banana iphone” you get 4,000,000 hits. 😀

http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

Thats their new policty You have to take it back to wherever it was purchased. If it was from apple then them obviously with a copy of that. If not from the supplier.

My wife had the same problem and got it fixed at a privateer phone shop for £15.

and she didnt need a swear filter.

Not a fan of apple customer service at all but all the phones I’ve had on 2 yr contracts were covered for 2 years by the contract provider. Has the OP tried them?

i would imagine only if you paid about £15/month extortion insurance charges…

Hey Stelios

If you strike lucky and they give you a new replacement, I’d like to offer you £85 for it.
Can’t say fairer than as they only cost circa £150 new, it seems.
A good opportunity for you to bat for another team, phone-wise.

Only if it’s unlocked though. I could possibly stretch to £90. Assuming it’s 64 gigs.

Cheers

Well – the nice man on the phone at Apple sorted me out – a quick reference to SOGA and the EU Directive and he was helping to “restore my faith in Apple” with a one-off gesture to fix the phone for free. In fairness he was genuinely helpful, unlike the smug teenage blue t-shirted “Genius” who told me to sod off…

Hey Poodium – You can have the one they’re sending me for £85 (as you say fair’s fair – it was only £150 new) provided you also sign up to what I did back when I paid £150 for it – a 2 year contract at c. £30/month. Can’t say fairer than that… Cheers.

I like Apple customer service, they dont charge me when my KIDS DO SILLY THINGS WITH MY IPHONE Grrrrrrrr

😉

😯 I admire your restraint! That would upset me somewhat!

a quick reference to SOGA and the EU Directive and he was helping to “restore my faith in Apple” with a one-off gesture to fix the phone for free.

I suspect it was. They make it pretty clear how they expect to apply the law, as wysiwig kindly pointed out.

I forgot to add – thanks for all the advice from everyone on here – I was ready to start levering the back off the thing to (try to) fix it myself…

Also – the scores on my rant made my day – I’m not sure I’ll ever get the level of incoherence needed for a 10/10 – but next time I’ll certainly give it a go…

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