I wanted to ask the people on this blog if they have had the same bizarre experience that I have just had with Apple. I have been a lifelong Apple user and have literally owned every major model since the first Apple computer. I also use the iPhone. That is, until this week when I encountered the imMACulate submersion defense — a claim by Apple that my dead iPhone had been submerged in water when it has never been wet, let alone submerged.
Frankly, my experience with the iPhone has been horrible. My phone has never functioned correctly since I bought it in February with the phone turning off suddenly or going into loops. Ironically, even the belt holder that I bought at the Apple store broke within two months.
However, I was able to just turn the phone on and off with its repeated malfunctions. That is until my recent speech in Houston when the phone literally died before my eyes. It went into one of its loops with a little pinwheel icon and then shut off. From that point on, it would not take a charge or stay on.
I went into the Tysons Corner Apple store and encountered a “Mac Genius” who promptly told me that I should not have submerged the phone. He said that a “submersion light” was on. I immediately told them that the phone had never been wet — let alone submerged. The manager looked at me skeptically and offered to look at the two internal submersion lights which could prove it was submerged. I encouraged him to do so. He came back and admitted that the two lights were not on and did not show submersion. However, he still refused to replace the phone because it was submerged. I told him that this was positively ridiculous. I would not fight over a lousy $200 bucks but it is entirely impossible that this phone was ever submerged. I would have had to be submerged with it because it never leaves my belt. They could have a “dingo chewing” light but it would not make it true.
The geniuses said that they believed me but if one light was on, it was technically submerged even if it wasn’t. I proceeded to call the corporate headquarters to get an idea of how this non-submersion submersion works. I have not received an explanation on the submersion of warranty policies.
The funny thing is that I do not even pay for the phone, but I hate to buy a new phone based on something that I know to be patently false.
What is interesting is that my secretary had to replace her iPhone when the charger caught on fire. When she went in, the geniuses quickly grabbed that melted charger, put it out of sight, and gave her a new one as if she had put a severed head on the counter.
Of course, I now have something to use in the Turley Trebuchet that is a modern equivalent to a diseased animal.
Has anyone else encountered Apple’s submersion mystery?
UPDATE: Thanks to Nal, it appears that this is a problem beyond my phone going out for a secret shvitz without my knowledge: here:
Apple places one sensor in the iPhone headphone jack and one adjacent to the dock connector (pictured). But according to a number of reports from news organizations and consumers, these sensors have been known to give false positives.
UPDATE: Apple has replaced my phone. I am once again in communication with the world.
Phantom Phone Call
Tim O’Brien
(Cornbread Nation, admin. by Bluewater Music, ASCAP)
http://www.timobrien.net/Lyrics2.cfm?ID=183
Have you felt that phantom phone when it calls
Have you felt that phantom phone when it calls
You feel it vibrate, you reach for the cell
But no one’s there, that’s how you tell
You felt that phantom phone when it calls
I read all about it in the morning news
I read all about it in the morning news
Doctors are hearin about it a lot
Phantom phone syndrome is what you got
I read all about it in the morning news
Have you felt that phantom phone when it calls
Have you felt that phantom phone when it calls
You feel it vibrate, you reach for the cell
But no one’s there, that’s how you tell
You felt that phantom phone when it calls
Phantom phone calls weighin on my worried mine
Phantom phone calls weighin on my worried mine
Six months since you went awy
Six times I felt you call today
Phantom phone calls weighin on my worried mine
Have you felt that phantom phone when it calls
Have you felt that phantom phone when it calls
You feel it vibrate, you reach for the cell
But no one’s there, that’s how you tell
You felt that phantom phone when it calls
The mobile phone is a threat to the human race
The mobile phones is a threat to the human race
Up by your ear it’s bad for your brain
In your pocket it’s a sperm count drain
The mobile phones are a threat to the human race
Have you felt that phantom phone when it calls
Have you felt that phantom phone when it calls
You feel it vibrate, you reach for the cell
But no one’s there, that’s how you tell
You felt that phantom phone when it calls
Former Federal LEO 1, October 22, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Just an observation. We have had an abundance of new posters/commenters and the blawg is running along like a well-oiled machine.
Thanks for the good dialog, Folks.
***************
Sir I was noticing the same and it has been funny some of the witticism that has been put out here. I think Elaine M’s “Cafe Au Lay” yesterday was funny. Tea started going up and out my nose when I read that.
It is nice to hear all of the new voices.
Just an observation. We have had an abundance of new posters/commenters and the blawg is running along like a well-oiled machine.
Thanks for the good dialog, Folks.
Of course, there’s this:
“So, the CIA, in 1999, set up an investment arm called In-Q-Tel that sort of makes investments in technologies that the spy agencies would like to see grow. And their latest investment is in this company called Visible, which basically takes blog posts and takes Twitter updates and takes comments on YouTube videos and sort of sorts them out and decides which people have the most weight in the blogosphere, which people are the most influential, and also filters out, you know, certain key words, decides whether certain posts are hostile or positive. And it’s basically a way for them to sort of keep track on what’s going on in Twitter, on the blogs, etc., etc.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/22/cia_invests_in_software_firm_monitoring
I am pretty sure that Apple uses the 3M 5557 Water Contact Indicator Tape.
Here are some data sheets on it. http://tinyurl.com/ykwxs8v
Good luck Ashlie.
It seems to me that is should be possible to design a battery charger for phones that trickle charges or shuts OFF after a certain peak voltage. I have many AC/DC chargers and I have lived with a home solar system with an inverter for power for 27 years. Batteries are definitely the weak link in any power scheme.
I am a lifelong Apple customer, every gadget, every improvement. So in September when I got my newest, greatest iphone I was so very happy and content – for exactly 6 days when my loop-hell began. It was like the damn thing was on meth, just going and going and going on loop mode. I went through 2 charges in the first 5 days since the charger it came with sparked and spit. So I took my problem product to the nice techies at Appleville and they told me “you must have overcharged it” which is why the phone was now in full blown loop mode.
My discussion with him about faulty product and delusional conclusions was quite astounding. The supervisor refused to replace the phone. Calls to hdqtrs resulted in 2 operators telling me “you must have a dysfunctional electrical connection in your home to cause the overcharge which resulted in the phone malfunction which we are not liable for”.
wtf???
It is on my list of things to pursue in coming weeks. For now I am concentrating on getting through chemo, but when I get some strength and anger back the people at Apple are first on my list!
Blessing JT, this blog keeps me sane!
Something else about the iphones I have heard about:
Apple: Exploding iPhones Not Our Fault
JR Raphael, PC World
Aug 28, 2009 4:31 pm
…”In all cases, the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone,” a London-based spokesperson [for Apple} tells Bloomberg.”
http://www.pcworld.com/article/171065/apple_exploding_iphones_not_our_fault.html
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Apparently Apple doesn’t doesn’t change it’s argument much, it’s always the fault of the customer no matter what the problem.
If you plan on replacing your iphone with another one I’d keep it off my belt, what with all that ‘splodn and all.
They know the phone was immersed.
It’s just like the time they told me I could not return a book because the book had been to the bathroom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bookstore
They know everything.
And they are out to get us.
If the “genius” was calling the sensor a “light” then there’s part of the problem. In the same way that Homeland Security’s recent announcement that they were going to hire “1000 cybersecurity experts” is problematic – there aren’t 1000 such people in the world, let alone 1000 who would (or would be allowed to) work for the government. There aren’t enough Mac “slightly enlightened” people, (let alone “geniuses”) to staff all their stores. It shouldn’t surprise me that these fine examples of human beings would claim that they knew nothing of false-positives. Bah!
I’m no engineer, but I have a hard time imagining how such an “immersion” sensor could actually differentiate “immersion” from other wet conditions. Any surface will be subject to condensation – take a cold object into a warm, relatively humid environment, and liquid water will condense on the cold surface. Unless your belt storage device (?) was a pouch, the phone could also have been exposed to some rain droplets, which hardly qualifies as “immersion.” It’s also wesaly of Apple to take the position that any one sensor being tripped means that they absolve themselves of responsibility for any other problems with the unit. Not cool. (If this issue is wide enough spread, it would be interesting to check a sample of the phones that are “in the wild” for false-positives and positives on fully functioning phones.)
To take a step back, this is part of why Apple held off for so long in entering the phone market. They now have literally millions of units in the hands of millions of people expecting their phones to be as solid as the Apple desktops of the good old days (ah, the Quadra series…) Those phones are out in more harsh conditions than any laptop endures, so obviously they are going to fail more often. It’s too bad that Apple has decided to dick customers around rather than just replace wonky phones.
It’s a detection problem (that is, trying to answer the question did event x happen or not?). There will always be false positives and false negatives. You happened to be one of the unlucky ones.
Here’s a slashdot thread about the subject: http://apple.slashdot.org/story/09/08/06/1733253/Apple-Working-On-Tech-To-Detect-Purchasers-Abuse?from=rss
And, for what it’s worth, Apple has a long history of anti-consumer behavior. So don’t be surprised when they try and fuck you over to make a buck. They’ve done it plenty of times.
I refuse to believe this. Everyone knows that Apple isn’t even a company, it’s a collection of benevolent and enlightened hippies and artists who just want to do cool things with technology for the good of all mankind.
Maybe you should bring the problem with your IPhone and Apple’s policy the next time you have a play date with your friends at MSNBC.
You don’t need a submersion light to tell you that Apple’s business model is “all wet.”
You’re not alone:
Apple iPhone Abuse Detection Sensors: Who Is Abusing Whom?
Apple places one sensor in the iPhone headphone jack and one adjacent to the dock connector (pictured). But according to a number of reports from news organizations and consumers, these sensors have been known to give false positives.
Very interesting Nal, I added that link to the entry. The funny thing is that the geniuses insisted that these lights are never wrong and had never heard of a claim of a false signal.
can you say “Class Action”?
Thats why I like my MotoQ or did until it died the black screen of death….
Maybe you should call a lawyer?
“They could have a “dingo eating” light but it would not make it true.”
_________________________________
Sentences like that are why you just gotta read this blawg.
I am looking into a powerful desktop computer and at one point, I considered a Mac Pro. However, after reading some owners’ reviews and the $1000.00 plus cost above a comparable PC, I have decided against an Apple purchase.
Another main reason was the recent lawsuit Apple has against “Australia’s Woolworths for trademark infringement over the use of the new logo” that I learned about within this blawg.
A company has too much ‘fool’s gold’ if they file what appears to me to be a frivolous or ‘I’m too big to fight or fail’ style of lawsuit.
I have, however, purchased many MP3 songs from i-Tunes, although I prefer Rhapsody. Amazon is now offering an abundance of MP3s, a market that i-Tunes once had ‘cornered’.
I can’t remember the brand, but a client had me handle her cell phone return for her and the manufacturer was very insistent that she had gotten it wet. Insistent beyond the point of rudeness.
I’m sorry to hear that Apple is playing the same game now. I’ve been on a Mac since 1990, and the more money they make, the more they’ve started to turn into real a**holes.