Many folk who’ve gotten an iPhone have learned the disheartening battery replacement policy of Apple for their new phone. The battery is soldered into the unit and is not user-serviceable or -replaceable, and when it conks out, you’ll need to send it in to Apple.
Here’s the bummer: the service will set you back US$79, with US$6.95 for shipping, and will take three whole business days. If that’ll be too long for you to be without your precious iPhone, Apple offers a loaner unit while you wait - for US$29. Say again?
People are up in arms that this little tidbit wasn’t properly disclosed until the near-one-million mob that bought iPhones this past week were over the novelty and looking soberly ahead at life with their new gadget. Apparently, unlike the service plans splashed on the front pages of the site, this tidbit is buried somewhere deep in the support pages out back. For the vast majority who’ve made it a habit to have extra batts that they swap in and out for their other phone, this is a major downer, apart from the fact that getting a replacement battery will set them back 20% of the original cost of the unit.
A consumer advocacy group named The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights has written a protest letter to Apple, and more and more folk are up in arms over this convenient omission from the deluge of press releases and promotions the iPhone’s been enjoying since January.
Let’s see what happens next.
July 11th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
[…] It’s got an onerous Battery Replacement Policy. See this previous post. […]
July 10th, 2007 at 11:56 am
A bummer indeed! I’m worried that if that happens here, service will even take longer as they will have to send the unit to Singapore! Much like everything else where you have to wait, not just 3 days, but 3 whole weeks! if you’re lucky!