Chris021.com

Posts Tagged ‘iPhone’

Posted on my GeekZone blog today:

www.geekzone.co.nz/chris021

With iPhone 4’s dropping like flies and heading in for service I thought now would be an opportune time to share the delight that is the iPhone service process for New Zealand.

In New Zealand we have only the 2 ways to buy iPhones ‘legitimately’. Online from Apple or alternatively from Vodafone.  Being a sucker for handset subsidies I purchased my iPhone 4 from Vodafone.

A few weeks ago my iPhone much to my surprise developed a fault. I was no longer able to hear anyone unless they were on speaker phone or via headset. After some Googling and resetting to factory default I resigned myself to the fact that it was a hardware fault that would require fixing.

As this is my fist apple product to require such attention I once again turned to Google to find that Apple have a phone number that you can call for such emergencies. After a quick call with a rather helpful gentleman from Apple I was advised that I would need to take it into their service company, mobilefonerepair. After expressing my ‘concern’ at their technical prowess I was assured that they simply swapped the faulty handset for a replacement upon confirming the fault. Phew.

First thing the following morning I marched myself off to mobilefonerepair with my Apple care case number in hand looking forward to a short wait but a fixed iPhone 4. Like most things in life that result in a blog post I was sorely disappointed. Not only did I not have a shiny new iPhone 4 I had just wasted an hour dealing to Auckland traffic in the rain!

You see mobilefonerepair only will handle your iPhone if you purchased it from Apple! WTF? No matter how much I argued and explained that Apple had sent me with a magical case number, they still wouldn’t play. They were kind enough to give me the Vodafone iPhone repair agent’s number.

Next stop Brightpoint! Fortunately I engaged brain before battling the traffic from south Auckland to Albany and called Brightpoint before turning up. Brightpoint, unlike mobilefonerepair don’t deal directly with end users. They will only accept your device if you go and visit a Vodafone store. So faced with little other choice I visited a Vodafone retail store where they were most helpful at sending off my device and advised that it would be a week.

So to recap, had I purchased my iPhone 4 from Apple, I would have had my device replaced on the spot, however I bought it from the only official carrier Vodafone so it takes a week! Not entirely sure why my Vodafone purchased iPhone doesn’t get the same support.

For the record my iPhone 4 took 7 days to repair. It would have been 3 less had the Vodafone store correctly labelled the package sent to Brightpoint. It would have been an hour or 2 if it was bought from Apple online.

If anyone can shed some light on this I would be most interested…