Iphone5 Swap/Apple non knowledge

[bmattox79]

didnt know how wlse to name this or exactly where to put it. Just wanted to relay and experience and get a little bit of info out that might help someone someday.

Earpiece on my 5 week iphone 5 died, went to apple to have it looked at they said they would try to replace the earpiece, if not they would replace the phone. they come out bout a half hour later telling me they cant fix it so here is your replacement, wich is remanufactured, i complain to the manager and tell him that i will not accept a refurbished phone to replace my 5 week old phone. Few minutes later out comes new phone. Sign into my apple id make a call go home. get home and phone says invalid sim. nothing works. Call Sprint they forward me to apple spend 1 hour on phone with apple, very nice but could not fix my issue, makes me a new appointment at apple for next day. The day i am supposed to got apple i get an idea sign into my sprint account and behold,, apple activated my new phone the imei of my current phone was on my account but my old sim card number was still active not the new one, call sprint activate new sim start phone as new activation.. voila!!!! just like before.

 

point im trying to get out is if u need to swap a I5 and have connectivity issues make sure they have the right imei from the new phone and the right sim card activated. Sorry for the long winded explanation but if it helps someone down the road it was well worth it

[koiulpoi]

i complain to the manager and tell him that i will not accept a refurbished phone to replace my 5 week old phone. Few minutes later out comes new phone

Not really sure what the hate for reconditioned devices is. Well over 95% of the time, reconditioned devices are completely indistinguishable from new devices, in both functionality and appearance. That other 5% of the time, it's a minor defect that's noticed immediately and it's simply sent back. I'm honestly surprised that the manager of that store gave you a new device; most stores, neither Apple nor Sprint aren't willing to take the $630 hit for a new iPhone 5. In fact, do you know that it's new? PM me if you're curious.

 

Sign into my apple id make a call go home. get home and phone says invalid sim. nothing works. Call Sprint they forward me to apple spend 1 hour on phone with apple, very nice but could not fix my issue, makes me a new appointment at apple for next day. The day i am supposed to got apple i get an idea sign into my sprint account and behold,, apple activated my new phone the imei of my current phone was on my account but my old sim card number was still active not the new one, call sprint activate new sim start phone as new activation.. voila!!!! just like before.

 

point im trying to get out is if u need to swap a I5 and have connectivity issues make sure they have the right imei from the new phone and the right sim card activated. Sorry for the long winded explanation but if it helps someone down the road it was well worth it

Yes, this is correct. The UICC SIM and the iPhone 5's ESN need to match for the phone to provision at all. I'm surprised the store you were at overlooked this, and let you go with the old SIM still activated.]Sounds to me like somebody wanted you out the door as quick as possible...

 

Also...

I5

Why do people refer to it as the "i5" and not the "iPhone 5"? I've heard the "i4". The best is hearing the "s4" for the iPhone 4S, not the Galaxy S4.

[bmattox79]

Not a hate for refurb as I'm sure they are as good just feel that paying for a brand new phone 5 weeks ago and having it break( guess brand new doesn't really matter huh) should have a new phone. As for if its really new hmmm not sure brought me out one that she said was refurbed ask for new she talked to the manager right behind me and he said no prob but sure curious to know

[koiulpoi]

Not a hate for refurb as I'm sure they are as good just feel that paying for a brand new phone 5 weeks ago and having it break( guess brand new doesn't really matter huh) should have a new phone

Exactly, they gave you a phone with fewer issues than you previously had. Apple does a fantastic reconditioning job. Replacement devices being reconditioned is a pretty standard practice in the industry. If 5 weeks is too soon for you, what would you say the cutoff is? One year? Trust me, I've heard "I've been paying insurance for years, and now you're saying I'm going to have to pay more to get a refurbished phone!?" and similar things.