booked battery replacement under AppleCare+ but expired at the time of my appointment

lmfy2k · 20 Sep 2021 at 20:50

my iPhone 11 pro which I paid extra for AppleCare+ had 77% battery health. As it was under warranty (2 days before expiry) I booked an appointment at the apple store.

The applecare+ expired by the time I attended the appointment. Should they charge me for the battery replacement? Or should it be covered free under AppleCare+?

d_brennen · 20 Sep 2021 at 20:55

Apple are usually quite lenient as they properly charge for their devices. YMMV, you will only get your answer from them. But, be persistent if the worst happens. Covid and all that

tom_e · 21 Sep 2021 at 07:29

You raised the issue before it ended therefore I'd almost certainly say they'll honour it.

lmfy2k · 21 Sep 2021 at 08:14

Thanks guys. I took the phone into apple yesterday. Checked in all in and at the end the assistant said it would be £69 and need to pay when I’m collecting. I said I thought I was covered under AppleCare+ and he said the regardless of AppleCare the battery is a consumable and there is a charge.

He caught me off guard, when I got home I read here that should be free https://support.apple.com/en-gb/iphone/repair/service/battery-power

im going back today to collect it and will have a word and see what the say

store in question was the Trafford centre.

Squink · 21 Sep 2021 at 09:27

lmfy2k said:
Thanks guys. I took the phone into apple yesterday. Checked in all in and at the end the assistant said it would be £69 and need to pay when I’m collecting. I said I thought I was covered under AppleCare+ and he said the regardless of AppleCare the battery is a consumable and there is a charge.

You'd think store staff would know basic stuff like this. I bet they won't willingly refund your time/fuel/parking for making a second trip either.

tom_e · 21 Sep 2021 at 10:32

Squink said:
You'd think store staff would know basic stuff like this. I bet they won't willingly refund your time/fuel/parking for making a second trip either.

What 2nd trip? The OP needs to go and collect it either way.

Squink · 21 Sep 2021 at 10:39

tom_e said:
What 2nd trip? The OP needs to go and collect it either way.

I misread it. I thought the battery had been replaced on his first visit and this was a return visit to complain about the charge.

Scythe · 21 Sep 2021 at 10:50

Battery replacement under Applecare+ is only covered if your battery has less than 80% of the original capacity / battery health. See footnote 1 here: iPhone

Richard - London · 21 Sep 2021 at 11:00

What % do you need it to go down to in order for it to be replacement? my 12pro is already at 87% after 10 months,

edit: I missed the post above.

MrRockliffe · 21 Sep 2021 at 11:05

Scythe said:
Battery replacement under Applecare+ is only covered if your battery has less than 80% of the original capacity / battery health. See footnote 1 here: iPhone

His is on 77%

lmfy2k · 21 Sep 2021 at 12:09

Hi Guys, yep, on 77% health, also they left the sim in the phone too, is this common practice? seems the assistant was a bit of a amateur, the collection time was 9:05pm and my appointment was at 7:20pm, we needed to get home so chose not to wait the 2 hours, hence why im popping back this evening again.

will keep you updated,

lmfy2k · 21 Sep 2021 at 20:44

So went to collect the phone and they were adamant that as the battery has been consumed (and thus 77% as The phone has been used for 2 years) it’s a chargeable fee. If battery has become faulty and failed then it would have been replaced for free under warranty.

hey ho

VaderDSL · 21 Sep 2021 at 21:07

lmfy2k said:
So went to collect the phone and they were adamant that as the battery has been consumed (and thus 77% as The phone has been used for 2 years) it’s a chargeable fee. If battery has become faulty and failed then it would have been replaced for free under warranty.

hey ho

Email the store, give them a copy of the AppleCare + page, the date your AppleCare ran out, and email confirmation of your appointment. Don’t let them off, as failed and consumed batteries are covered under AppleCare + as the same issue, the terms and conditions of AppleCare + don’t differentiate between them now, below 80% and it gets replaced. Obviously if you booked the appointment beyond the AppleCare expiry then I guess technically they could charge, but if I had booked the earliest appointment within my AppleCare I would definitely escalate it.

lmfy2k · 21 Sep 2021 at 21:27

VaderDSL said:
Email the store, give them a copy of the AppleCare + page, the date your AppleCare ran out, and email confirmation of your appointment. Don’t let them off, as failed and consumed batteries are covered under AppleCare + as the same issue, the terms and conditions of AppleCare + don’t differentiate between them now, below 80% and it gets replaced. Obviously if you booked the appointment beyond the AppleCare expiry then I guess technically they could charge, but if I had booked the earliest appointment within my AppleCare I would definitely escalate it.

Many thanks. Will email them.

lmfy2k · 22 Sep 2021 at 08:13

lmfy2k said:
Many thanks. Will email them.

Turns out you cannot email any stores directly but have set up a call with a senior advisor today at 9am.

VaderDSL · 22 Sep 2021 at 08:23

lmfy2k said:
Turns out you cannot email any stores directly but have set up a call with a senior advisor today at 9am.

The store email should be on the receipt, near the top, it’ll be something like [email protected]

AppleCare will probably refer you back to the store, they can certainly take a look over you issue, but they won’t be able to offer you a resolution sadly. If you do speak/chat with AppleCare, I’d be asking them to note down in their system when you AppleCare expired, when the session was booked i.e within the AppleCare+ period and asking for a note that AppleCare+ covers battery replacement if below 80%m which you had.

lmfy2k · 22 Sep 2021 at 09:47

VaderDSL said:
The store email should be on the receipt, near the top, it’ll be something like [email protected]

AppleCare will probably refer you back to the store, they can certainly take a look over you issue, but they won’t be able to offer you a resolution sadly. If you do speak/chat with AppleCare, I’d be asking them to note down in their system when you AppleCare expired, when the session was booked i.e within the AppleCare+ period and asking for a note that AppleCare+ covers battery replacement if below 80%m which you had.

spot on this, I was on call for 25mins and in the end was asked to call the store direct, they tried to put me through to them directly but the store doesn't open until 10am.

Ive emailed the store just now, thanks for the info mate

Jay85 · 22 Sep 2021 at 10:58

lmfy2k said:
spot on this, I was on call for 25mins and in the end was asked to call the store direct, they tried to put me through to them directly but the store doesn't open until 10am.

Ive emailed the store just now, thanks for the info mate

Interesting, let me know how you get on with this for future reference and all.

lmfy2k · 22 Sep 2021 at 12:52

Jay85 said:
Interesting, let me know how you get on with this for future reference and all.

no problem will do, the chap at Apple direct kept saying their Applecare doesn't support "consumed" battery which is nonsense.

@VaderDSL do you have a link to solid evidence that consumed and failed battery are the same if under 80% health? i sent them this link https://www.apple.com/support/products/iphone/ and footnote1 stated about the 80% health.

VaderDSL · 22 Sep 2021 at 13:31

Sorry you're having a hard time with them. How employees are incapable of understanding simple terms and conditions is beyond me

Basically, if the battery within the 1 year limited warranty drops below 80% and it hasn't met the 500 cycles minimum, it is considered faulty and would be replaced under warranty.
If you have the insurance (Applecare or Appecare+), in order to make it slightly more competitive with other insurance options they added on the bonus of having a free battery when it falls below 80% regardless of cycles.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/iphone/repair/service

At the bottom of that page is breaks it down.

- The Apple Limited Warranty covers a battery that fails from an issue in manufacturing, but it doesn’t cover batteries that wear out from normal use.

- If your iPhone is covered by an AppleCare plan and the battery holds less than 80 per cent of its original capacity, we’ll service your product at no charge.

Applecare/Applecare+ do not take cycles into account, merely the 80% cut off. Again, sorry to hear you're having a hard time with them, this is literally Applecare 101 and they should know better