Apple i phone support won't help me.

[Oblomov21]

Please does anyone have any advice?

I am getting nowhere with Apple support.

I bought a new iPhone 11 August 20 from the Apple shop near me I have the receipt which I have already sent apple is proof of purchase.

It ran fine from August 20 December 20.

I am a prolific phone user and use my phone for everything Facebook mums net messenger WhatsApp emails everything.

But other days when I work from nine till three I hardly use it at all I my only send my husband a couple of texts.

Around Christmas time I noticed that on the days I do work with minimal usage the phone was dying at about 2 pm.

I took photos to prove this suddenly at 2 pm it would be 12% 6% or 2%.

I contacted Apple support in February 21 and I've had 30+ phone calls with them including one today.

I also took it back to the Apple Store and they run diagnostics and he claimed that as far as they were concerned there was nothing wrong with it.

He suggested I deemed the brightness on my phone and wondered whether I had any background apps running behind the scenes using battery life without my knowledge. I handed in my phone and asked him to look and turn any that I had running off he reviewed it and said oh you hardly have any there are three here shall I turn those off which I replied yes.

He said run it will run it like this for a week and see if it makes any difference.

I felt like I was being fobbed off like his desperate attempts reeked of desperation I said to him you don't know what's wrong with it do you I said I feel like you're not offering me any proper solution is it reeks of desperation is it's like a sticky plaster you don't know what to do you're just suggesting I did my brightness are you seriously suggesting that such a minor thing would correct a major fault such as what I'm telling you I have.

He was ice cold and said a diagnostic test show there's nothing wrong with the hardware and nothing wrong with the software.

I feel like standing in a court of law and screaming in frustration apple insist there's nothing wrong with this phone but are use it every day and I'm telling you the phone dies in the middle of the afternoon even on a day when I'm at work with minimal usage.

I feel like this phone isn't safe I said iPhones for 20 years this is the first brand-new one I've bought from the shop.

I'm a diabetic I don't want my phone dying I want to know that it's safe and secure so if I have a diabetic hypo I can phone my husband or I can phone and ambulance I don't feel safe I know that sounds dramatic and I'm milking it a bit.

I feel like I've got nowhere left to go because it's now gone past work August I'm now out of warranty I feel that they deliberately made drag to my case out for as long as possible so that on my phone is now not in the warranty period.

I feel a steamer stalemate because they say that there is nothing wrong with the phone and I insist there is.

I'm going to the Apple shop again this Friday. I have asked for a complaint I have asked for a record of all my phone calls I have emailed apple I've tried to get this escalated I've tried to make complaints I've got nowhere.

I feel powerless.

Today after yet another telephone call they have agreed to send me a box and I will send it back to Apple repair however on the phone the man warned me that is highly likely they will once again run diagnostics and claim that there is nothing wrong with this phone and then send it back once again I'm in stalemate and we go round and round in circles them insisting there's nothing wrong with it me insisting that there is I can't see any resolution to this.

Sorry. Posted without editing.

If Apple continue to say there is nothing wrong with it, your only option is to get a report from an independent engineer. If that supports your view that the phone is faulty, you can then send Apple a letter before action, including a copy of the report and giving them 14 days to sort out the issue. Be clear that you will take legal action without further notice if they fail to sort it out by this deadline.

Thank you prh47, that is very helpful. As you always are.

If you fully charge it and then put in airplane mode how long does the charge last? Are you using an approved iPhone charger or just a cheap copy?
Genuine iPhone charger plugs have battery charging and protection circuit in the actual plug, not the phone itself. So using a non genuine charger will possibly damage the battery.
Your comment about the phone not being safe is a bit lame. If you don't feel you are safe because of a medical condition just buy a cheap payg phone to keep with you while this is being sorted out. If you haven't that suggests you really are not that worried.
You need to be more specific with the fault. Write down hourly what the charge level is in airplane and non airplane mode. When you charge it, how long for etc. you may have found an issue apple are not even aware of. All the additional info will help. All any company will do when faced with a very vague fault is to run diagnostics, they won't open it up and chase their tail for a fault that might not exist. You need to help them help you.
Have you tried a factory reset and checking for the latest software. This is a last resort but might help.
Turn off location services, you don't need it on unless using maps, that eats a lot of power.
Has it been dropped or got wet by accident? I dropped an iPhone 8 and found I could no longer call out. I replaced it as it was so old.
You might genuinely have a faulty phone but don't go screaming and shouting and demanding apple supply you with records of all your calls. I'm not sure they have to do this and it will have you labeled as a difficult customer.

If you go on to the battery part of settings it will tell you which apps are responsible for what % of your battery usage. What does yours say?

I felt like I was being fobbed off like his desperate attempts reeked of desperation I said to him you don't know what's wrong with it do you I said I feel like you're not offering me any proper solution is it reeks of desperation is it's like a sticky plaster you don't know what to do you're just suggesting I did my brightness are you seriously suggesting that such a minor thing would correct a major fault such as what I'm telling you I have.

Anyone who's ever worked in 1st/2nd line IT support will recognise this as being the point at which the person trying to help you flipped to a 'work to rule' approach. If you try to keep the person helping you onside, you often find they will then go above and beyond their remit to help in any way they can.

I agree with PP, you need to go back to basics with this phone to pinpoint when this fault is happening:

• only use official chargers and cables
• close all apps and turn off all location settings, notifications, dim the screen right down and see what happens. Be really strict and if the fault still happens you can disregard those as being a cuase. If the fault does not happen, then change one thing at a time and see what triggers the fault.
• check the battery statistics (though I suspect that Apple will have already done this)
• make a note of the battery level over the course of a day - e.g. 9am 95%, 9.30am 92%, 10am, 90% .... 2pm 85%, 2.30pm 12%.
• If you can pin down the time of day this happens, think about what else happens than. Do you use the phone in a specific way,? Keep it somewhere cold or hot during that time? Or is it always X hours after you took it off charge?
• if you leave the phone to drain the battery, does it shut down when it gets to 0-3% or does it go on for a long time after that (suggesting it's the % reading that's faulty not the battery itself). i.e. how long does the battery actually last before the phone shuts off, if you ignore the % rating
• if you cannot pin it down, try a factory reset to see if this 'cures' the fault

Thank you. I appreciate the time and effort to write such a long responses.
I have taken on board all the suggestions. Many of which I have already done, but many I have not.

I do use an Apple iPhone charger, but also use another, a very expensive one Dh bought.

and no it hasn't got wet or been damaged.

I do feel like a difficult customer. I didn't want to be.

And re-the helper in the shop going into default mode. I was really really polite, deliberately quiet when I first went in. he basically took his stand very early on, after the diagnostics and I basically begged him please is there anything else you can try.

Only then did he check the phone for running background apps and then suggested dimming my brightness. Which is very dim anyway.

Underneath I was extremely frustrated and felt he wasn't taking me seriously or giving me any reasonable service. but I tried to remain very calm and just said I'm really sorry that that feels like a very weak fix.

I was playing dumb and doing my old classic female trick of trying to be Uber polite but really Inside I was absolutely seething that he was being so dismissive right from the start.

So I dispute the fact he 'flipped' to the 'work to rule' after I was apparently being difficult. because that's not what happened. he started at that point. he never gave me any decent service in the first place.

"If you try to keep the person helping you onside, you often find they will then go above and beyond their remit to help in any way they can."

No. He didn't.

When I was on the phone to Apple support yesterday the man said that he had never come across this problem before, never seen it before.

Great.

He told me that taking it to the Apple shop tomorrow was pointless because they would run diagnostics and insist that there was nothing wrong with the phone.

My box arrived this morning so I'm supposed to send it to the apple care centre but the man on the phone told me yesterday that this too was pointless because they too will run diagnostics find nothing wrong with it and it sits there is nothing wrong with it so send it back to me.

Based on prh47 I have started looking for an independent engineer re-iPhones. I've only just started googling but so far I have found no one.

Apple man dialled in and try to reset phone but this failed.

I will now have to try again. I don't want a blank phone, but I'm prepared to do so.

I will do some of the suggested things below: Run it on Airplane Mode and monitor throughout the day to see when and how it drops.

I have the latest software.
Location services are already off.

He asked about my battery yesterday.
Mumsnet 21%
Facebook 19%
Google 14%

He said this was totally normal.

iPhones have only been around for about 13/14 years

If you've logged this as an issue then the phone will still be covered, i know this from past experience.

There are lots of things that can affect the battery and if you've had an iPhone for any length of time you know the batteries don't last as well as the good old Nokia's did.

The battery useage in settings is very useful and I find that force closing apps after use makes a big difference in the battery drainage. Have you checked what the battery health is like?

Have you backed it up, then totally reset it to factory settings?

Then maybe ask for the battery to be replaced under warranty, even if they don't think it's needed, as you first complained when it was still covered - they might do it if there is nothing else obviously wrong. Or worst case, could you just pay for them to replace the battery? yes, you shouldn't have to, but if you honestly feel unsafe not having a reliable phone, then it would be worth it.

I think you'll need to take the emotion out of your complaint and just write down the facts, clearly, of what the time and percentage battery is, in the various modes, what you have tried, and what you'd like them to do. They aren't going to replace the phone if there's nothing they can find wrong with it. They might replace the battery, though, so you could ask for that. Leave out your impressions of the assistant demeanour, tone of voice, etc, as that's all your perception.

It's not desperate of them to suggest turning off apps in the background etc, as those often can be the cause of batteries suddenly running down.

perhaps go in and speak to a new person and explain the problem again, but without the history of all the previous calls, just say what you've tried and what they've done so far that hasn't worked, and see what they suggest. If there isn't any obvious fault coming up on their diagnostics, it is hard for them to say what is wrong.

Do you have Bluetooth on? That can drain the battery, mine is only on when using headphones

My DD had exactly the same issue and like you, was totally fobbed off over and over. Her phone just go from almost full charged to 10% in less than 30 minutes.

She had the same issue before too with her old phone. I keep telling her to change brand, I think this time, she is starting to believe it!

It’ll be the battery. My last phone did this after a while. Once an iPhone goes old they tend to wind down. It’s crap but it happens. I’ve got the 12 and it happens on this too.

It's a brand-new iPhone 11 that I bought last summer from the apple shop.

it automatically updates.

when I first got it it lasted 1.6 days. on every charge. it's only been charged 237 times in a year. that proves the fact it was only being charged occasionally / not every day and lasting 1.6 days,

which I was told is the expected. For this phone.

I paid for a brand-new iPhone. I've had iPhones for 20 years, but this was the first brand-new one I've had.

I don't expect it to be like this.

I don't expect to go to work and not use it between nine and three pm, and suddenly look round to find it's died down at 6% at 2 pm.

I feel like I'm being made out to be unreasonable for asking for this not to happen.

They won't change the battery because Apple insist that it is neither hardware nor a software issue. they said they've done diagnostics and they can find nothing wrong with the phone.

They won't replace the battery because they say it's healthy there's nothing wrong with it.

I have not yet done factory reset.
I will. The Apple man tried to do it but it did not work, it failed, so I will do it myself and run it on factory reset and see what happens on that.

You won't find an approved independent Apple engineer as they aren't allowed. Apple have a monopoly on fixing them.
You can buy a new battery for around £50 from the Apple store. If it's under 2 years old it should be covered under warranty but only if it's faulty. If they don't find a fault then it probably isn't faulty.
Where do you keep the phone during work hours? Is it cold? Cold temperatures can drain batteries.
Do you always use the approved charger and leave it until it's fully charged? Do you let it run down to almost empty before charging?
Are you sure there are no location apps running while you're not using it? Do you put it in airplane mode?

I felt like I was being fobbed off like his desperate attempts reeked of desperation I said to him you don't know what's wrong with it do you I said I feel like you're not offering me any proper solution is it reeks of desperation is it's like a sticky plaster you don't know what to do you're just suggesting I did my brightness are you seriously suggesting that such a minor thing would correct a major fault such as what I'm telling you I have

It's a phone, and he was trying to help you. FGS chill, this sounds unhinged.

Unhinged

I think it was the double use of 'reeks of desperation' that did it
I doubt he was desperate in the least

AIBU
Everyone : Yes. YABVU.
OP: No I'm not.

I get it's frustrating. Truly I do.

In all honesty, if it were me I'd skip the whole lot of it and do a factory reset. The fact that one hasn't happened on. this phone yet would have me going straight to that option first. Mainly because it fixes a fair amount and it one of the easiest of the opions. Don't restore from a backup, just set the phone back up as if you'd never had one before.

I'd be tempted to do the reset then ONLY run with the default apps for a few days and ONLY use the official charger (regardless of how expensive the other one is). See if that makes a difference.

If it's a fault integral to the phone (hardware or apple software) this fault will happen again. if it doesn't happen again, you can start to load apps etc back on slowly. Pausing for a few days between each one so you can see if a specific app causes the fault to start up again.

Ok. I didn't actually say that.
I just thought it.

I reported it to Apple support. February? They only recommend I took it to the shop for diagnostic checks last month.

It's now out of warranty. yesterday on the phone he told me that I never had any warranty now and they thus didn't even need to offer me apple telephone support any more because I wasn't entitled.

I've had 30 phone calls. They say they'll phone back. Never do. They say things and one man said he'd emailed the local store to insist they replaced the battery at the appointment he made for me at the apple Genius Bar.

Next person told me that this isn't in the notes, but that Even if it was, the previous person had no authority to make such a promise.

I feel like a fool.
I do wish I'd never bought this phone.