Apple India — Fraud & inferior quality product

Address: 400016

Website: www.businessinsider.com/apple-replacing-bent-iphone-6-2014-9?IR=T

The Incident:
One fine day I'm just having lunch on my table & the Iphone is in my track pant...I get up wash my hands & take out my handset keep it on the table & realize it got bent.

The incident was actually more simpler than it sounds.

The care free Panic:
keeping in mind the product, reliability & brand value I did panic initially as to how come such a reputed product from a Big Brand encounter such a small & simple accident...I also got a bit confused & shocked as to how could this happen in the 1st place...which handset on earth bends just by being in your pocket..& even if it did what an inferior quality product for such a high price!!!

But keeping in mind that it’s an Apple product...THE BIG BRAND...with customer centric values & customer satisfaction ideologies I kind of took it easy thinking they will understand that the product is at fault & not my fault...so i took it to the nearest service center at Imagine, Atria Mall, Worli, Mumbai, India.

The showing of the true colors of THE BIG BRAND:
I spoke to the advisor over there & he informed me that we need to confirm it with the offshore Apple team as it can be replaced or not as they were not sure about it & directed me to call the contact center of Apple & said if they agreed then it will be possible for them to replace the handset immediately within 2 hours as the stock was available with them.

I spoke to Renu from the Apple offshore department(Case Id:[protected] & explained to her the exact situation where the Iphone 6 had just bent without me banging it anywhere or dropping it & it being a scratch less piece. However after hearing this Renu assured me that it is definitely not a mistake on my part as there was no physical damage to the phone & the phone itself was very delicate so the phone can be replaced by Apple as a goodwill gesture. She directed me to leave the handset with the service center advisor to check for any technical or physical damage to the handset. I was advised to visit the service center the next day as the service center team wanted to get the replacement approved by the offshore team. After their chat to the offshore team(Case Id: 4168041) they informed me that there was no physical damage done to the handset from my side but still they informed me that the replacement was rejected on the basis of “device bent due to pressure” .

Now here I have few questions which have to be understood…
1) Is there a special pocket which everyone makes to put their handsets in that I have not made?
2) If the mobile is in the pocket & even if it got ‘bent due to pressure” so is it my fault that I am a 5foot 8inch 63kg ectomorph that the handset could not handle my pressure!!! What would have happened if I were a Big show or a Rikishi!!!??
3) Which Handset bents with the pressure created in the pocket, I haven’t heard a single complaint for other brand handsets having metal body’s that their handsets got bent.
4) And if the handset is made of thin Aluminum it is not a fault on customer’s part, it’s a manufacturing defect & it should be replaced by the Apple Company.

Continuation:
Then I tried to contact the Apple higher authorities but couldn’t find a single email id which could direct to the senior department, the feedback/support section on the website has very limited typing space….I then again contacted the Apple call center & I spoke to Rea & she again went running around the bush & said it can’t be replaced however she can help me in getting a discount on the repair cost.
I couldn’t imagine myself for being a bigger fool to pay for the repair cost after spending 5 grand on an inferior quality product that too after it not being my mistake.

The Confession:
To my shock when I had gone to the store:
1) I met the senior engineer Ishaan there & he did confess that they have replaced handsets with bents in the recent past, so my question to him was either the handset was dropped in that case it cannot be replaced or it got bent due to pressure & my handset was very slightly bent so the bent on the other handset would have been more than mine or at least equal to it so why can’t my handset be replaced!!!
2) This is the same confession the contact center adviser Rea had made that they had replaced handsets in the past bent due to pressure but on asking the same question as did to Ishaan she too started running around the bust & kept repeating the same thing that the criteria for a replacement differs on handset to handset but what are the criteria’s she failed to address.
3) Apple to have advertised that it will replace the bent Iphone’s due to normal use like PHONE BENT AFTER KEEPING IN THE BACK POCKET after a visual inspection done which in my case has been done & the advisors did accept that it got bent in the pocket.
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-replacing-bent-iphone[protected]?IR=T
http://in.pcmag.com/smartphones/49642/news/apple-to-replace-bent-iphones-that-pa...⇄

NOTE: My handset is absolutely scratch less which proves neither there was some other external pressure nor was it dropped.


The frustration:
Now I am totally frustrated, fed-up & disappointed from running to the service center to speaking to advisors & also with Apple & its product…I am not able to use the handset for which I paid through my hard earned money. This is not what I had expected out of such a Big Brand.

I want to take further action on Apple & get the handset replaced. request you to please look into the matter.

Thanks & Regards,
Anwaar Ahmed Motiwala
[protected]
[protected]@gmail.com