Hello Tim,
My name is Shannon and I am a 20-something living in the silicon valley working as an Applications Engineer at a high tech company. I went to school at Northeastern University in Boston and graduated with a Bachelors of Science in EE. On an engineering, business and customer service level I believe I encountered a flaw in Apple's process.
My brand new iPad w/ Retina Display broke within 3 weeks with minimal usage. Below is my experience/frustrations and a solution which will keep a majority of the warranty policy but will allow for hardware defects to be resolved in a quality fashion.
On December 5th, my parents purchased the new iPad for my Christmas gift. I received it December 25th and during the first week of January I activated it, sync'ed it with iTunes and downloaded 3 apps - Facebook, Pinterest and iBooks. Although I used the iPad less than an hour a day - I was really excited to download a book and use it as a reader. About 2 weeks from turning it on I made my first monetary iTunes purchase and bought a book. The next day I was off on a business trip and during my 5hr plane ride - I spent 3hrs reading from my iPad. During the next week I rarely used it - other than to check my email at night. At the end of my trip I opened my case, purchased from the Apple store, and went to turn off my iPad this is when I noticed my screen would not respond to touch. I could not turn the unit off, I could not click on any of apps, etc. I did a full reboot of the unit and still no response from the screen. After a 5hr flight, I got home and tried again - nothing. I looked up information on Google - read multiple forums, went though online support at Apple.com and it was still a non functioning iPad.
Due to my crazy work schedule - I made an appointment at the Genius Bar for a week later. When I went to the Genius Bar - I was asked if they could do a complete wipe of the iPad and see if the issue was software. I agreed and we went down a checklist of steps to troubleshoot the unit. After 45 minutes - the genius worker said it was a hardware problem which was my assumption from the start. He then proceeded to tell me he was going to go to the back and get a 'like new' iPad replacement.
Now here is my problem with this - I used the iPad minimally for 3 weeks I did not want a 'like new' unit. First I asked for my money back or a brand new unit. I was told I could not get my money back or even store credit because it was after two weeks from the date of purchase. With this policy - prior to me even receiving the unit the warranty to get money back or store credit was expired. So why should customers purchase gifts from Apple for Christmas? If they buy it early - the warranty of the unit is already expired prior to receiving the gift unless it was purchased after December 11th.
Now if there was a workaround to my hardware problem - I could understand Apple giving me two options - keep my original unit or take a unit from the 'like new' stack. For example - if I had a battery issue where it lasted 2 hours instead of the full 10 hours. I could understand the staff offering me a choice of a 'like new' unit which offers 10 hours of battery life vs keeping my original unit w/ a battery problem because it is still usable. However - in my case my original unit was completely nonfunctional.
As I was left with no other choices - than to either lose 500 dollars or take a 'like new' unit - I settled for a refurbished iPad. Throughout talking with the genuis worker - he mentioned that Apple has 100% confidence that this 'like new' unit would behave and have the same lifespan as a new unit would. So when I asked if my warranty plan would then be 12 month from the date I receive this 'like new' he told me no - I keep the original purchase date. This shows me Apple does not have 100% confidence in the 'like new' unit other wise they would have extended my warranty like asked. Now as an engineer - I know if you use a circuity over and over again - the capacitors lose charge quicker etc. So getting a used unit w/ a new battery, touch screen and back panel - is not as good as a new unit and it more than likely has already been used more than my original iPad.
I understand that there are alot of people out there that will take advantage of Apple's warranty policy and that is why it is so strict. However - the policy leaves people like me, with my situation, at a disadvantage.
My proposal is that if within 3 months of purchase there is a hardware defect - and your Apple unit is left unusable then the customer can get store credit or a new unit. I believe the customer should always have 2 reasonable choices available on how they would like to proceed. Now if the unit is still usable just not performing up to spec (an example is the battery issue like mentioned above) then the customer can chose from a 'like new unit' or their original unit. I do not believe store credit or a new unit is warranted in this situation because they still have a functioning unit.
Additionally I would suggest to have an extended warranty longer than 2 weeks around the holiday time period which makes it easier to give Apple gifts to family and friends.
I would gladly discuss further my ideas to prevent issues like this from occurring or my stance on the warranty policy. But mostly I hope you take the time to read this and see where I am coming from.
Thanks,
Shannon
