The Fruit Store Rocks

[mathnerd]

Last night my 12 year old complains to me that his phone won't stay on and won't charge. I tried to do some basic troubleshooting, but I can't get the thing to stay on long enough to do anything, so I go to Fruit's website and request a support chat.

Awesome support chat dude tries to walk me through a hard reset, but I can't get it to do anything. Even with the phone plugged in, it won't stay on long enough to get anywhere, if it even gets past the logo screen. So, he makes an appointment for me at the Fruit Store today.

First, let me say that the place was an absolute madhouse. I've seen Black Friday crowds that were lighter. The tech at the store starts to do the hard reset thing, but has the same results as I did last night. Then he goes to check the water damage indicator and finds the problem. It wasn't that there was water, but the angle he had the phone at to pull the SIM card out made it apparent that my darling child had actually managed to bend his phone.

My heart sank. You see, I got these phones on November 29th, and had every intention of getting FruitCare put on them, but the holiday season got away from me and I forgot. I figured I was on the hook for a new phone. Awesome FruitCare guy decided to make an exception and not only replace the phone, but allowed me to retroactively purchase FruitCare for all four phones. He really didn't have to do that, and that place was mobbed, so there really was no incentive for him to take the extra time to get all that processed, so I'm really grateful.

Next time I really shouldn't forget to get the protection plan in place!

[wolfie]

It wasn't that there was water, but the angle he had the phone at to pull the SIM card out made it apparent that my darling child had actually managed to bend his phone.

Is this the VI model (bigger than the previous generations)? I've heard they're susceptible to damage from bending, due to the longer lever arm available. In addition to FruitCare, you might want to consider a rigid case to prevent the damage in the first place.

[mathnerd]

Wolfie, I keep all the phones in OtterBox cases. The phone in question is a 5s. I've given $600 phones to teenage boys. I do everything possible to keep them safe.

[dawnfire]

dawn wonders how do you bend a 5s in an Otterbpx case ?

[mathnerd]

dawn wonders how do you bend a 5s in an Otterbpx case ?

Talent, I suppose. I was wondering the same thing.

There are teeth marks on the outside of the case (this is a Defender series case, btw). I'm assuming that he bit down on the corner of the phone and then pushed up with his hands on the other corner. He's been known to rather aggressively bite things like pillows and stuffed critters when he's pushed to a point of extreme frustration. That's the only thing I can figure.

[MoonCat]

I would guess that the fact that you didn't make a scene, scream, yell, curse, threaten to have the store guy fired, etc., etc., the way SC's do had a lot to do with the fact that he made an exception for you. If only SC's would learn this!!

[mathnerd]

I would guess that the fact that you didn't make a scene, scream, yell, curse, threaten to have the store guy fired, etc., etc., the way SC's do had a lot to do with the fact that he made an exception for you. If only SC's would learn this!!

As soon as the guy said it was bent, I just sort of sighed and said, "So what are my options?", with a sort of resigned tone of voice. I didn't even ask him to do anything, which is part of what made things so awesome. I think it was a combination of the fact that I wasn't an SC, and the fact that he could see that I also have an iPad, a MacBook Air, and previously had 5 other phones covered by their protection plan that led him to make the exception. Sometimes being a loyal customer does help in these sorts of situations. It was definitely out of character for me not to have the coverage.