Apple, Xfinity and the Defective IPhone

I try not to obsess over things as much as I used to. My recent IPhone debacle certainly tested that. I can’t erase what it took me to get a working phone, but I want to tell my story and give you some tips on how you can avoid this.

First, some background
I was a customer of Verizon for about 10 years. Last summer, I started having trouble getting service in my house. I called Verizon and was told they were working on updates in the area, they should be done in a few weeks, and I would receive a credit.

When the lack of service continued another month, I called back. There was no record of service in my area, and they weren’t giving me a credit! I went through a half dozen people, up to supervisors, and was told the same thing. I had a few other people on Verizon try their phones in my house with no service.

Around this same time, I was getting constant offers from Xfinity Mobile. They would cut my monthly bill dramatically, pay off my contract with Verizon, and give me a new IPhone 17. My monthly bill would be less than $20 a month for unlimited service. It sounded too good to be true, but I couldn’t turn it down.

Just a few months later
My phone service was fine, and I had no unexpected charges with Xfinity. Then I woke up one day after five months and my IPhone had not charged during the night. I thought it was the cord, so I plugged it into another. I got a message that the battery was defective. While I tried everything to get it to charge, the battery kept going down until it was totally dead.

I contacted Xfinity on phone, chat, social media, and the executive office. I went to the store and explained I was disabled, had just spent a week in the hospital with a heart problem, and didn’t have a phone. I was told that it was too early for an upgrade, but he could give me 0% interest on a $650 phone, but I should be aware that I couldn’t do a trade in since my phone was dead! Even though the phone was only five months old, Xfinity took no responsibility for it. I needed to deal with Apple.

I had phones with Verizon that stopped working within warranty. They would give me a replacement and be responsible for returning the defective phone to Apple. They knew it was under warranty so there was no problem. This was not Xfinity’s policy.

I contacted Apple and was told I could bring it into Best Buy’s Geek Squad for a repair. I couldn’t get an appointment at my local Best Buy, so I had someone drive me an hour away to another. The tech was nice and said he’d even give me a loaner, but the phone was totally and completely dead. He apologized, but under Apple’s policy, I needed to personally bring it to a store. The nearest one is two hours away.

He suggested a temporary pre-paid phone to use with my number (for $100). I bought one that works for “all carriers.” I went back to Xfinity and the same salesman who offered me a $650 phone told me that the phone I got doesn’t work for Xfinity. He said they only activate Samsung Galaxy or IPhones! I reiterated that I couldn’t spend $500 and he shrugged.

It was another three days of no phone before I could get to Apple. They informed me my phone  would need to be sent to the Apple repair center. It would be back in about a week and then I’d have to return (another four hour round trip) to pick it up. He offered me a loaner phone, and I was thrilled   I would finally have a phone after a week.

I was happy to have a phone, but he didn’t tell me and I didn’t realize until I left it was an IPhone 14. Since I was going down three versions, little from my phone would download from ICloud. I didn’t have my apps, my ringtones, my passwords, and a lot more.

He said Xfinity is the only carrier that doesn’t work directly with Apple so he couldn’t put my number on it. I had to go to the Xfinity store and wait an hour (despite an appointment) to get them to transfer my number.

As the days went on, I spent time re-doing everything, onto what was supposed to be a phone for a week. It took almost a month for Apple to fix my phone. I went back there and was rather annoyed when the tech told me they took the covers off and gave me brand new inside mechanisms, then put the covers back on! That took a month.

Things you should do to avoid this
What I went through with this phone was a costly and draining experience. I’ve  gained a lot of knowledge, and I’d like to offer suggestions to all phone users:

• Think carefully about using Xfinity Mobile, especially if you have/want an Apple phone. They may be cheaper, and the service itself may be good, but the customer service is the most horrendous and uncaring I’ve ever dealt with. If you have a problem, you cannot count on their help.
  
  
• If you do get an IPhone, be sure to back it up on iTunes in addition to the iCloud. If you have to restore it on a new phone, ICloud won’t get every little thing, especially if you need to downgrade a phone for any reason. 
  
  
• Consider Apple Care for an IPhone if you do have service with Xfinity. If I had Apple Care, they would have replaced it instead of sending it away for a month.
   
• If you have an IPad or a Mac, set up messages and phone while you have working devices. Once my IPhone was dead, I couldn’t get those phone calls and messages. Also, make sure you have a voicemail password set up so you can retrieve voice mails from another phone.

Will I stay with Xfinity? Will I get another Apple product? I don’t know at the moment. I am not going to make another costly mistake so it’s something I need to plan.