Bent iPhone 6+

[zoltron]

My wife purchased an Apple iPhone 6+ in September 2014.

 

Fast forward to March 2015, my wife dropped her iPhone from the bed side cabinet and as a result the screen smashed and slightly scuffed the top corner. Not wanting to invalidate the warranty she took the phone back to Apple who replaced the screen as a fixed price repair.

 

When the phone was collected from repair the phone was not bent or malformed, however 2 months on the phone has begun to bend where the volume buttons are situated.

 

Now there have been reports of iPhone 6+ devices bending when placed in pockets, however my wife only places her phone in her handbag or purse.

 

Can someone please advise if this is something worth taking up with Apple under the sale of goods act as I deem the handset to not be durable. My concern is as time passes who knows what affect the bending will have on the internal electronics or battery.

[MaxxPower]

I would take it up with Apple, it could have happened in somewhere like a handbag or purse. Best bet is to try and get to a store and see one of the staff there.

 

I believe the cause of the issue was something along the lines of the aluminium body not having enough strength, the 6+ was especially bad for it due to the bigger size I believe.

 

I would be ready for a fight though. Last I heard was that Apple company policy was not to exchange/refund bent iPhones, so you may have to take them to court under the SOGA.

[zoltron]

I would take it up with Apple, it could have happened in somewhere like a handbag or purse. Best bet is to try and get to a store and see one of the staff there.

 

I believe the cause of the issue was something along the lines of the aluminium body not having enough strength, the 6+ was especially bad for it due to the bigger size I believe.

 

I would be ready for a fight though. Last I heard was that Apple company policy was not to exchange/refund bent iPhones, so you may have to take them to court under the SOGA.

 

We have a Genius Bar appointment booked for tomorrow, however we have also emailed Mark Rogers at Apple and made a complaint through him. A customer relations agent phoned my wife yesterday and she explained what had happened, she emailed some pictures across to him with the phone sitting on a spirit level with my phone also sitting on the same spirit level and pictures are shocking.

 

At the point of where the phone begins to bend it is measured at 2.5 degrees which may not seem a lot but it certainly looks quite bad and easily noticeable. My wife said she is almost certainly up for a fight as there is no way this is her doing and she is a massive Apple fanboi, she has used Apple products for over 15 years whe things weren't so great for them, and to this present day owns an iPad, iMac, iPhone and iWatch.

 

She said they either sort it or her loyalty is gone. But said she won't rule out issuing a court claim. Would it be worth taking a letter before action to the shop tomorrow as so they have been duly served and sending a copy to head office.

[MaxxPower]

I'd hold off on a Letter before action until they've had a chance to actually examine it and say yay or nay. If you walk in all guns blazing then it's just going to put their backs up and probably result in them not doing anything there and then for you.

[zoltron]

Just an update at where my wife is at, after attending the Apple Store in the Bull Ring Birmingham last Friday her phone was inspected and she was asked to be patient for a few days while the matter could be discussed with the store manager and the instore technicians.

 

Because a bank holiday followed on from the Friday before last she did not get a reply from the store until yesterday. The stores response was that considerable force would be required to bend an iPhone 6+ and as such they would not be repairing the phone under warranty.

 

Today she has taken the phone to be visually inspected at two mobile phone shops. Their view from both mobile phone shops is the bending has taken place over a period of time, they explained when an iPhone is bent purposely or in a single act such as accidental damage the metal at the fulcrum point of the bend shows signs of malformation such as a split, bulging or a crease in the metal. However my wife's iPhone suggests as none of those indicators are present in my wife's phone the bending took place over much longer period of time. Both shops said just below the volume down button on the inside of the case there is a hole that acts as a receptacle for a screw which holds the volume buttons in place, and it is at this point where the casing is at its weakest and most likely to bend. The one shop of the two said they have seen bending similar to my wife's phone on two prior occasions at exactly the same place just below the volume down button. Both shops said they can provide a report if required but on the basis the phone was only visually inspected, but would quite clearly detail they have seen bending in other iPhone 6+ devices in exactly the same location just below the volume down button.

 

One of the shops directed me to a web page which did their own independent tests on the bending of mobile phones. What the testing did show was the iPhone 6+ bends at around 70 pounds per square inch when pressure is applied to the centre of the phone but not at the point where the volume buttons are located. What is interesting is the iPhone 6+ is less durable than the iPhone 5s, the iPhone 5s bends are 140 pounds per square inch.

 

So my argument is why would a more recent generation of phone be less durable than the previous generation. You would think as each generation is produced it becomes more durable, however in a separate article it is stated the independent testing was flawed as it was not tested at the weakest point as complained about by victims of bent iPhone 6+ devices, the article stated an iPhone 6+ when tested at its weakest point just below the volume buttons can be bent with much less force than 70 pounds per square inch.

 

We have today submitted a letter before action to Apple Retail UK Ltd, basically stating SOGA 1979, she has mentioned the phone is not durable for the everyday use of the item in comparison to the amount paid for a premium product it is expected a £700 phone would stand up to reasonable use and other items of similar design and specification. She quoted the phone is not visually perfect in the sense you would expect from a premium device costing £700. She also quoted concerns about the internal components withstanding the continual stresses of the outer casing, also due to the bending concerns regarding the screen and the likelihood of it cracking. And also the battery being lithium ion and can present itself as a safety hazard due to the bending of the casing

 

I would be grateful if someone could give insight on the next move, is it a final letter before court or does the matter go straight to court after the expiry of the 14 working days following service of the LBA which was sent recorded delivery.

 

Regards

 

Lee.

[MaxxPower]

The reason it bends is basically due to it not having enough structural strength relative to the length. This is the big issue with phones getting thinner and lighter, it comes at the cost of strength.

In the letter you sent, did you advise you would be taking court action if no suitable response was received? If not, then I would send a final letter advising them that if they do not resolve the issue to your satisfaction then you will be taking court action. Also, have you forwarded them a copy of the report from the mobile phone shop? You should forward a copy of that with any final letter as it will further show that you're serious.

[zoltron]

We got no response from the first LBA, so we have sent a final LBA along with the engineers report.

 

To be fair the engineers report is quite detailed and is 2 pages in length, with 7 pages of additional photographs of iPhone 6+ handsets which the engineer has worked on. The engineer provided these as my wife's handset could only be visually inspected as its still under warranty.

 

However what the engineer has mentioned in his report is the devices he has investigated due to bending the metal shows stress indicating the metal was deformed quickly, it's either buckled or split, however at the point my wife's phone bends there is no stress to the metal, no buckling or splitting, which the engineer seems to suggest has happened slowly over a period time rather than a single stressful event.

 

The 2nd LBA has been gone 6 days now but that includes any days we've included for service of the LBA and any possible response back, I've said to the wife if we haven't had anything back by the 3rd July then we are going to enter the claim on the 6th July as I think we've been more than reasonable.

 

We've even thought about going to the retail ombudsman as Apple are members, but as my wife brought the handset before the 1st December 2014 we can't use the ombudsman, so we really are trying only to use the courts as a method of last resort.