I have always had the utmost respect for Apple. Even before I used Macs and before the iPhone came out, I knew they were a top notch company.

I have had five iPhones. I have had 6 or 7 MacBook Pros. My kids have Macs. My kids have iPhones. My parents use iPads. I think a lot of Apple products and service... until today.

We took my daughter's hand me down iPhone 5 in to have the ear piece and top button fixed. It's been in the family the whole time. It was never owned by anyone other than family. Last year, I took it in for the Apple Store Battery Replacement Program. That is the last time anyone had it open. In fact, that may have been the last time it was out of its case. More on this later.

After we dropped off the phone today, we were told it was going to be an hour. No problem, we could kill some time. We came back an hour later and the person brought us the phone out and tells us that they refused to work on it because the screen is a 3rd party part. Whoa! What? I tell her that the only place it was ever worked on was in that exact store. She goes to get a manager. I thought, OK, the Apple customer service I know and love is about to kick in. They are going to realize their mistake and this will all be good. Or, even if they still think it's a 3rd party screen, he will come up with some resolution for the problem. Um, no.

He says the same thing (almost verbatim) to me that the previous person said. I again tell him it has only been opened by them. He offers to take it to the back and have a technician open it up again. He was not really gone long enough for that. He comes back, points at some things on the screen and tells me that is how they know it's a 3rd party part. I again, tell him that only the Apple Store has had it open. His response is a carefully crafted piece of technicality that can only come from lawyers and businessmen. It was along the lines of "At some point, this screen has been replaced with a 3rd party screen. I am not saying you are lying. I am not claiming to know how it was replaced. I am only stating that this is a 3rd party screen." What?

So, OK, what now? I mean, it wasn't under warranty. I did not expect to get a new free phone. I was going to pay to have it fixed. Nope. They won't touch it with a ten foot pole. It has a 3rd party part on it. He claims, that because they base their repair fees on being able to refurbish and reuse the parts they pull off of the phone (the phone I own and paid for by the way), they can't offer to repair a phone with parts they can't refurbish. I can't even pay full price, whatever that is. He never gave me a price to pay for a new screen with no discounts.

At this point, I realized I needed to leave. I was so furious. I was furious it was happening. I was furious that the manager had no solution for me. I was furious that he was speaking in legalese.

Just to be clear, I could buy my daughter a new iPhone 6. I am not trying to get something for nothing. I just wanted the phone to work again. One of the things I love about Apple products is how well they hold up. Sure, you have to have some work done on them sometimes. Batteries go bad. Buttons quit working. But, let's be real. My daughter uses this thing for hours a day. I have the data bill to prove it. So, I like that I can have an Apple product repaired when it breaks and it gets a longer life. The alternative is to throw it away.

How did I end up here? I can only come up with one scenario. And the thought that this is what happened upsets me even more. When we took it for the battery replacement last year, they kept it longer than their initial estimate. And the store was dead that day. When they brought it out, the case would not fit on the bottom of the phone. It was like the screen was not on all the way. The person took it back to the back again. They came out later and it seemed to work fine. And I was fine with all of this because it's Apple. I trust(ed) Apple. But, what if, they broke the screen? What if the tech that broke it was used a screen from some returned phone that did have a third party part and no one caught it? Or what if, Apple was knowingly using third party parts?

If I had not just had the battery replaced last year, I would think maybe there was some shenanigans in the shipping when the phone was new. We bought this phone brand new when the iPhone 5 came out. It would not come as a surprise if some devices had been intercepted and taken apart along the shipping lines. Or even in production. But, we just had it serviced at the Apple Store last year. They had no problem with the screen then other than the one they caused when they had to put it back together a second time.

This all sounds too far fetched right? Sadly, there seems to be a trend of Apple denying service to people. All of these people can't be lying. They can't all be out to get one over on Apple.



While waiting for our appointment, I overheard an Apple Genius telling a woman she "may" have had water damage. She didn't tell her she did. She did not claim the woman was lying. She thought she "may" have water damage. I don't know if she did or not. What struck me was the way she told her she "thought it could be" water damage. She told her she had seen lots of bad screens, but none of them (really? not one single screen?) had vertical lines in it like this. It's like she was setting her up to come back later and say "Darn, the tech says it is water damage." Sadly, I find myself doubting that conversation now. It makes me want to take a phone in with horizontal lines and see if I get the same story.

Of course, I know what many, many people will say to this. You will say that if I am really this upset, I should not buy anymore Apple products. And you are right. That is the American way. The free market is the way to get to companies. The thing is, if I bought a Samsung Galaxy, where would I get it fixed? Would my experience be any better? There is not Samsung store. There are no Authorized Samsung repair facilities. So, what would that get me? A disposable phone? Maybe that is what Apple wants. Maybe that is their goal. Deny service to people in hopes it will lead to more sales and less long term use of their devices.

And you know what makes this all even more crappy? One of the reasons he says he knows it is a third party screen is that the home button is lose. It wasn't lose when we brought it in! I was using the phone myself to make sure a back up was done just before we handed it over to the Apple Store. They did that when they opened the screen and decided it was a third pary part. So, now, my daughter's phone not only has no working ear piece and a top button that works only some of the time. Now, her home button spins around. Sigh.