For my daughter's 18 birthday, we bought her an iPhone 5c. It was yellow, her favorite color, and she was so excited. Last night, 2 weeks later, she dropped the phone, which was in an Otterbox commuter case, and the screen shattered and the phone was a wreck. Lines across the screen, playing random music all night. Anyone know anything about iPhone repair? She's eligible for an upgrade in November. I say she has to use my old 4s until November and then she can get a brand new phone for $200 (rather than spending $200 to repair her new phone). She's had an iPod Touch for 4 years, plus regular cell phones for the last 6 years and she's never dropped or broken one. I didn't buy insurance because it's crazy: $10/month plus $169 to replace the phone each time it needs replaced. Plus, we have two old iPhones sitting around the house, so I didn't think we needed insurance. Anyone have an advice? She's 18 and she's been doing the "Mom, you have to trust me" thing for several months. Mostly about driving and going out with friends, but telling me I have to trust her. I trusted her with a $550 phone and she dropped it not even 3 weeks after I bought it. I kind of feel like I'm done and she needs to be punished.
I thought Otterbox guaranteed no breaks? I don't suppose you bought AppleCare? (oh never mind, I see you didn't - for future reference, insure them through Apple. $50 to replace and you can use it twice in 2 years) Failing both of those, I think Apple will replace the screen for $100. Which of course I'd make her pay.
She had the cheapest Otterbox because I thought iPhone 5c.... what's the point of buying a cute phone if you're going to cover it up. Yeah, she'll be buying her own phone come November and she can pay for Apple Care or Total Protection via Verizon. For now, she's got my iPhone 4s until she decides whether to try to fix her 5c.
Otterbox's warranty is on the Otterbox. If the Otterbox is damaged, you can submit a claim on that, but you won't get anything for the iPhone. It sounds like there's a good chance it's not just the screen that's damaged, so the $100 probably won't fix it.
Eek! Accidents do happen though. I dropped my daughters and shattered the screen. Total freak accident, we've dropped the phones 1000 times, but this time it just happened to catch on the right spot. We got it repaired at a local cell phone place for $100. I've got a lifeproof case on mine, but if you read the fine print, if it somehow breaks they replace the case, not the phone, so I don't know if otterbox is similar or not.
Didn't you just do a page about that iPhone? How sad! Will apple do a free check on the phone? To tell you what it would cost? Then it's not just you saying that she should wait, but it's also the money talking.
I did do a blog post and a PL page about the phone. She was so thrilled with it. However, she's been using my 4s, which is in an Otterbox Defender and has been dropped dozens of times over the years and she feels more comfortable using it right now than to try to get the 5c fixed when she could save her money and get a brand new phone in 8 months. I will tell you... I upgraded to the 5s at the same time we got her phone. I have been using a Speck case because I wanted something less bulky than the Defender. This morning I ordered myself a Defender. As I said, I dropped my 4s countless times over the 2 years I had it. Spilled drinks on it. Used it during a tropical storm when we were on vacation in Florida. I know that Defender saved my butt countless times and I'm seriously kicking myself for not buying her one in the first place. They're ugly, but they do protect the phone.
Ugh. So sad. My son had a similar life experience. He saved his own money for over a year and bought an iPod touch. We bought a case for it that was made out of silicone. He kept taking the case off and on and we kept telling him to leave it on at all times. After one such reminder to put his case back on, he dropped it while putting the case back on and shattered the screen. He had to use his own money to get the screen fixed for $100 and then he never took the case off again. I hate how expensive it is to replace or fix Apple products. Even with Apple care, you still have to pay to fix them, just a little less. So dumb.
Karen - my kids take the cases off everything all the time, too. Drives me nuts! My daughter (14) got an iPhone 5c for Christmas, and with it a Lifeproof case. I told her the first time I saw her phone without that case on it would be the last time she'd have an iPhone. I know how clumsy she is! She shattered her iPod touch and broke her old texting phone to smithereens.
