[the-facts-machine] Long waits for some iPhone batteries
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <the-facts-machine@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2018 16:02:42 -0500
BlankLong waits for some iPhone batteries . Hayley Tsukayama.
Complaints about replacement program Some people across the country are
reporting that they are
having a tough time getting new iPhone batteries through Apple's replacement
program, which was launched after the company admitted that it slows down
phones with older batteries to preserve the phones' performance. From Silicon
Valley to Washington, from Detroit to Atlanta, people are sharing stories
of long waits, dropped customer service calls and hard-to-get appointments.
"I've lost confidence in this rarefied company," David Cohen, a former newspaper
publisher from San Jose, said in an email to The Washington Post. "I'm
disappointed in them. As far as I'm concerned they should have recalled the
phones
and replaced all the batteries for free. Cohen said he was initially told, more
than a month ago, that there were no batteries for his two-year-old iPhone
6. He placed an order for a new battery and was told that delivery might take
several weeks. He still doesn't have his battery. Others have said it has
taken weeks to even land an appointment. And some were told there aren't
batteries available. One man told the Chicago Tribune in February that he was
told to come in after a two-week wait for his battery appointment, only to be
told then that there were no batteries. Post columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler
wrote on Twitter last month that one store in the Bay Area told him that stock
levels might not be back to normal until the summer. When asked to comment
about the long wait times, Apple pointed to its support site. The company
warned
consumers that supplies would be limited. Different models can have different
wait times. Some of the phones covered by Apple's replacement program - the
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus - are no longer being manufactured, which means
the battery supply is limited. (Many of the people who have been complaining
say
they have the iPhone 6.) An internal document reportedly leaked to MacRumors
about a week after the replacement program launched warned that some of those
batteries would not come in until March. Some time after the launch, Apple
began saying on its website that people would not be able to make appointments
until there is a battery available for their phone. The battery replacement
issue has been a lingering one for Apple at a time when the company is trying
to
maintain its hold on the shifting smartphone market. The admission sparked
a rare apology from Apple and a price cut for out-of-warranty battery
replacements - to $29 from $79 - through the end of the year. The company is
also
facing multiple lawsuits and government inquiries over the battery issue. Sen.
John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, sent a letter
asking Apple for more answers. So did Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of
the
House Commerce Committee. When asked how many people have tried to get
replacements, Apple did not say. The company told Thune in a recent letter that
it has seen "strong demand" for new batteries. Calls to 10 Apple stores
across the country last week showed wait times for a new iPhone 6 battery
ranged
from three to five days to two to three weeks, with no discernible pattern
for which stores had shorter wait times than others. Even the act of calling
can
be a trial. During one recent call, Bob Marley sang that "every little
thing's gonna be all right" for seven minutes before an Apple specialist
answered to say that a huge influx of work requests had backlogged the store.
A call to the Apple store in Little Rock - the only one in Arkansas - dropped
after 10 minutes of hold music. A call to the store in Anchorage, also the
only store in its state, dropped before getting to Apple's service counter, the
Genius Bar. Apple has said that people who want a new battery can also
go to an authorized service provider, which can swap out batteries on Apple's
behalf. Apple lists the providers on its website. Yet while many of these
other stores aren't seeing the same crush of appointments as Apple's own
stores,
they are still facing delays, said Georgia Rittenberg, the president of
ComputerCare, a repair chain that has been given Apple's stamp of approval. "As
an Apple authorized service provider, ComputerCare receives its battery
inventory directly from Apple," Rittenberg said. "Therefore, we deal with the
same inventory constraints as the Apple retail stores.
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