Apple take the absolute piss

[Buxtonstill]

I bought a pro iPad 2 years 4months ago; it cost almost £1000. It is in pristine condition, not used by children or gamers and really well looked after.
A couple of weeks ago, the home button would not work, so I made an appointment at the Apple store. The assistant took the iPad into a back room, and blew some pressured air etc into the machine in case there was debris making it stick. Apparently the home button is broken. He said there was nothing they could do as Apple ‘don’t repair’ iPads.
The only solution he could offer me was to replace it with a refurbished iPad. Oh, and I have to pay £349 and give in my old iPad....and the rehashed machine would only have a 90 day guarantee.

AIBU to expect something costing £1k to last a lot longer than 2 years?
And how come Apple can’t ‘repair’ machines yet they can cobble together all the return machines and charge customers? And if they don’t have the confidence to offer more than a 90 day guarantee, then I am not going to waste £350 on something that could break in 91 days and I would be seriously out of pocket.

Obviously, I’m now looking to gradually look at other brands to replace our phones and tablets. Any recommendations?

Go to ismash or similar.

This should apply

www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

If they can't fix them, why do they want yours and what the fuck is refurbished?! I had my home button fixed a few times- not by Apple but it can obviously done! Granny bastards I'll never use Apple again!

Granny bastards 🤣🤣🤣🤣
GRABBY

Apple have brainwashed their customers into accepting that built-in obsolescence, fragility, lack of durability and lack of waterproofing combining to lock them into two-year replacement cycles is entirely normal, acceptable and to be expected.

People are gullible and status-obsessed and will put up with anything to be seen with the ‘right’ gadget.

Posted from my IPad.....

Refurbished ones are normally ones that have been demo ones for shop staff (not the ones customers use on the stands) or slightly older machines (as they're rarely in proper sales) rather than damaged returned ones.

Sadly many companies electronics have limited life. The alternatives are no better ime. Mind I've had good customer experience: DD's iPod touch years ago stopped working and the store swapped it for a brand new one there and then, no questions. And I've got an original iPad at work which, although doesn't update, still works fairly fine - a tad slow at times on some bigger apps. Also their laptops seem to have a much better life span than equivalent Microsoft ones. Just my experience though.

No, they aren't demo ones and yes they have current models. They sell them after all. They're completely refurbished (look like new) with new serial numbers.

If they are completely refurbished and good working state then then should give them a guarantee of more than 90 days. I wouldn’t pay £350 for anything else with virtually no guarantee. If they had the confidence that they would work for a year at least then they would give a 365 day guarantee. I have found a few consumer rights letter templates that I will use to cobble a letter together with tomorrow and send it to Apple. I doubt it will achieve anything but I have a spare couple of hours on a train. Thanks for your input everyone.

This is from an Irish site but as you're still in the EU, it should apply to the UK too:

www.eccireland.ie/ecc-ireland-issues-advisory-on-consumer-warranties-and-statutory-rights/

You may still be able to get Apple to do something about your iPad...

Let us know how you get on OP

I sent iPhones off to a company called screen surgeon. Cheap and very fast.

Did you actually buy it from an Apple Store?
Both me and my DH had iPads that stopped working ( at different times) when out of their warranty times. Took them to Apple Store, and they were replaced as were irreparable! I was actually very surprised at this, however, they said they only do this for products bought directly, not for products bought from other retailers.

take it to an independent repairer, like this one for example:

www.ibrokemygadget.co.uk/

its out of warranty anyway so you wont be invalidating anything.

I bought a new iPhone and after a couple of months the camera stopped working. Took it back to the store and they opened it up and said there were some components missing but that it “wasn’t possible” apple had made it like that so I must have opened it up and done it??!!

I wouldn’t have (a) had a clue how (b) had any inclination to do so. I was so cross at being called a liar but they refused to believe their product was faulty.

(I got a new phone free in the end as they then lost it when they sent it for repair (they said I’d have to pay for the repair)).

We've had two ipads replaced when they've gone wrong in less than 6 years (one was replaced with a refurbished model, I can't remember for the other one). You need to be pushy and cite your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Things should last a reasonable amount of time and 2yrs 4mths for a £1000 is not reasonable.

Buxton if you buy a refurbished ipad at full price you get a year of warranty. I would guess they cut it to 90 days for the out of warranty exchanges because they drop the price to around half (or less).

In all honesty though, they will quite often do an out of warranty replacement for free. I'd try a different apple store. If not just take it to someone to repair it.

I have emailed apple, and also copied in the CEO UK of Apple. I will update on here when I hear back. Whilst the assistant was trying to convince me to buy a refurbished tablet, he did said out of the blue 'I don't work on commission' Which makes me wonder if they do get a bonus for selling the refurbed items. It rather galls me that they would replace my home button for pennies, then sell the machine on for £350, while I would be handed a tablet that could have a battery that was on its last legs, worn parts etc etc.