Apple: No Free Cases to Fix iPhone Antennae

[TheDuke]

they should really fix the design flaw and stop acting like everything they touch is gold and people are just diluting there creations magnificence

 

[_Cubase_]

I think they made up the part about the 3G reception issues to make the iPhone 4 seem less bad. I own a 3G an never lost any reception from just holding it naturally... or completely covering it for that matter.

 

[jazn1337]

They forgot the most important part:

5. "Just don't hold it that way."

 

[guzz46]

I can cover all 4 corners/top and bottom on my nokia n82 and i don't even lose a bar, i guess if you want a good phone then its best to buy from a company that specialize in making phones not a company that takes old technology and puts it in a fancy case then sells it for an arm and a leg. I don't know why people defend apple so much when they won't even fix a fault their own product with out charging the consumer for it, helsinki syndrome maybe

 

[alphadark]

[citation][nom]micr0be[/nom]i'v always thought that apple products can go to hell.... then i thought all of apple can go to hell ..... now i realize its the apple customers that can go to hell ..... IF U STILL LIKE APPLE YOU KNOW WHERE YOU CAN GO ??? ... to hell with it/end rant[/citation]

No kidding they stand in front of the Microsoft stores with their Ipads. They have issues.

 

[SevenVirtues]

Apple can say what they like but at the end of the day they are selling a product which is not fit for purpose. They either fix the problem, lose customers or get sued. Simple.

 

[nukem950]

I am not really sure how to handle this. I mean this is all the standard jargon for a customer service rep.I would know because I was one for a year and then a supervisor for another year.
Please realize that this is an internal document and it is written for customer service representatives that need precise instructions so they can do their job correctly in a set time frame.

 

[halls]

Apple sure loves to kick its customers in the teeth.

 

[halcyon]

I'm certainly not an Apple (or any other kind) of fanboy but they typically make a well designed product. The iPhone 4 has some issues and Apple is too arrogant to admit it...and its disgusting, at least to me. I like my iPad, Macbook Pro, and Macbook Air, and have had iPhones in the past but I'm done with the iPhone for AT LEAST a year. I'm really disappointed to see it proven that Apple really doesn't care about customer service. I hope they pay the price for it but since there's so many iFans/iZombies I doubt they will.

I should receive my Evo on Tuesday. Screw the iPhone.

 

[Strider-Hiryu_79]

And watcha cried and said the "rubber-band" wasn't a solution.

Let's look at the potential bonus revenue will make from this cam

Potential rubber band sales :

1,700,000 x $29 = $49,300,000

Fill in the rest for me TH community:

% of iPhone 4 users most likely to fork over the 29$ = ??

% of iPhone 4 users most likely to return their 1st batch iPhone4 = ??

% of iPhone 4 users who are self-proclaimed engineers and will develop their own rubber-band = ??

Probability that 3rd party companies will develop clone/knock-off rubber bands and sell for much less than the $29 apple version = 100%

 

[Pei-chen]

Anand did a detailed review of iPhone 4 and it seems the antenna problem is overblown by yellow journalism
http/www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review

 

[eeide]

Does anyone here that is complaining about this actually have an iPhone 4? If not how can you be sure it's not a location based thing or just people with the AT&T Microcell. On my Tilt2 if you hold it normally my signal goes down almost to no bars on the Microcell. This also happens on my brand new HTC Aria as well. If I unplug the Microcell it only goes down 1 bar if I hold it that way. Also, on my Aria it isn't instant. You have to hold it that way for at least 10 seconds. You can also go on YouTube and find plenty of other people with same issue. Almost all phones have the antenna somewhere in the bottom. So how can you be sure that this is an iPhone 4 problem? With that many handsets, spread across the whole country, there is no possible way that anybody that has posted this as news has done any sort of root cause analysis to know that it is the iPhone 4. And if truly holding your phone normal drops your calls there would be LOTS of returns! Typical news outlets trying to fill space pick up on a few people that are complete edge cases having problems with there phone and once one blog picks it up all the auto aggregators throw it around as "news". And if you don't even want an iPhone 4 why do you care? And if you do and you believe the hype instead of formulating your own opinion then shame on you!

 

[Pyroflea]

Great customer support. There's a major design flaw, which happens, but they begin by denying it's existence, and then say that everyone is SOL. I don't know why people still deal with this thieves.

 

[killerclick]

Some competing smartphone manufacturer should give away free iPhone 4 bumpers with their own logo. Even if it sets them back like $30M it would make the news and humiliate Apple.

 

[kinggraves]

[citation][nom]Pei-chen[/nom]Anand did a detailed review of iPhone 4 and it seems the antenna problem is overblown by yellow journalismhttp/www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review[/citation]

Overblown? Not at all. There is still a problem, this antenna still loses signal strength with a natural grip. People in somewhat poor signal areas will still get a zero bar signal. Not everyone lives next to a tower. Those people just bought a device that's fairly useless for calls. It's a problem that can easily be remedied with a piece of rubber.
The REAL problem and what people take offense with is Apple's arrogance on the matter. Instead of giving out a free fix to soothe customer anger, they're trying to make a buck off it, and a pretty large buck too. Instead of admitting there is a design flaw, they treat their customers like they're idiots who can't hold a phone correctly. I can tell you that the worst thing a CS rep can do is treat an upset customer like a fool. No company with respect to it's consumer base will tell that consumer that THEY are in the wrong and that the customer's problem is not a problem.
The bandage they're going to use here is an update that will change the bar display to show a different signal range, thus fooling the user into thinking that the problem went away. Reality is, if "holding it wrong" drops calls now, it will continue to.

 

[eeide]

[citation][nom]Pei-chen[/nom]Anand did a detailed review of iPhone 4 and it seems the antenna problem is overblown by yellow journalismhttp/www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review[/citation]
How come Tom's Hardware doesn't do this anymore? Very detailed breakdown of the antenna problem. Tom's seems to just find stories and repost them. What happened to creating your own stories and being a real journalist instead of being a news aggregator.

 

[eeide]

[citation][nom]kinggraves[/nom]Overblown? Not at all. There is still a problem, this antenna still loses signal strength with a natural grip. People in somewhat poor signal areas will still get a zero bar signal. Not everyone lives next to a tower. Those people just bought a device that's fairly useless for calls. It's a problem that can easily be remedied with a piece of rubber. The REAL problem and what people take offense with is Apple's arrogance on the matter. Instead of giving out a free fix to soothe customer anger, they're trying to make a buck off it, and a pretty large buck too. Instead of admitting there is a design flaw, they treat their customers like they're idiots who can't hold a phone correctly. I can tell you that the worst thing a CS rep can do is treat an upset customer like a fool. No company with respect to it's consumer base will tell that consumer that THEY are in the wrong and that the customer's problem is not a problem. The bandage they're going to use here is an update that will change the bar display to show a different signal range, thus fooling the user into thinking that the problem went away. Reality is, if "holding it wrong" drops calls now, it will continue to.[/citation]

Obviously you didn't read the article at anandtech fully! The only way to make the phone unusable was to cup the bottom of it completely. Just pick up your smartphone right now and cup the bottom 1/4 or so semi tightly and you will see your signal go away! It seems that holding your phone normally and not trying to make the signal go away won't have problems for 99% of users. For the edge case users they should promptly return it! If I had any phone that dropped signal because I had bad signal in the first place and a design flaw made it even worse and I don't want a case then I would return it and get something with an internal antenna. No big deal. Why should Apple give you something for free or appease you in any way when you aren't required to have an iPhone and have plenty of Android handsets on the market to choose from. If everybody had problems I could see Apple doing something, but why waste millions for a few edge cases?

 

[christopherknapp]

I am going to the Apple store tomorrow, and I will state right now that I WILL get a free bumper case.

 

[guzz46]

I can cup all sides on my n82 and i don't lose any signal at all

 

[CChick]

[citation][nom]mrmoo500[/nom]Whoever leaked that memo better move to another country.[/citation]

The only way this person can get away is ... death.

Why? Apple losers are EVERYWHERE ON EARTH!

This is just how sad and pathetic this world has become.