iPhone 4 - Lock Button broken - Out of warranty

JamesU2005 · 27 Dec 2011 at 15:53

Howdy,

My iPhone 4 lock button has broke, it will no longer lock the phone unless I put huge amounts of pressure on the button, then it will lock.

I got the iPhone 4 on launch day so it's now out of warranty.

What should I do?

MagicBoy · 27 Dec 2011 at 15:58

Either :
1) Cope with it
2) Pay to get it fixed

whitecrook · 27 Dec 2011 at 16:03

or 3) dont' use the lock button

JamesU2005 · 27 Dec 2011 at 16:08

Thought these might be the options.

I can't buy Apple Care now can I?

How much do you reckon Apple will charge for repair?

JamesU2005 · 27 Dec 2011 at 16:10

Would the "Sales of Goods Act" work here?

Scythe · 27 Dec 2011 at 16:35

There's loads of iphone repair places around. I can't imagine it would cost more than £30 to fix.

Diggsy · 27 Dec 2011 at 16:46

Take it to your local Apple Store, or if you can, get a female friend to do so as they are well renowned for replacing them out of warranty especially for the female of the species

Or if you've got time, patience and a little skill you can buy the part and fix it yourself... http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-iPhone-4-Power-Lock-Button/4332/1

MagicBoy · 27 Dec 2011 at 17:02

whitecrook said:
or 3) dont' use the lock button

That comes under 1) Cope with it.

Sgt Tackleberry · 27 Dec 2011 at 17:18

What about choosing auto lock to 1min so it locks itself

.

Koom · 31 Dec 2011 at 08:26

If its jailbroken, install 'activator' and you can set it to lock just by shaking the iphone.

Schizo · 31 Dec 2011 at 08:46

Sgt Tackleberry said:
What about choosing auto lock to 1min so it locks itself .

thats what i do,i close my phone cover and let the phone lock it's self.

Jimmy1983 · 31 Dec 2011 at 10:07

Koom said:
If its jailbroken, install 'activator' and you can set it to lock just by shaking the iphone.

This

chris_87 · 31 Dec 2011 at 11:02

JamesU2005 said:
Thought these might be the options.

I can't buy Apple Care now can I?

How much do you reckon Apple will charge for repair?

It'll be the standard £140 or whatever it is. The same thing happened to mine a few months ago, it was about 2 months out of warranty and therefore apparently outside of Apples "good will" window. However, after a lot of persistence and talking to two different managers they agreed to replace it with a new one for £70 (the phone otherwise being in excellent condition probably helped here). Still wasn't really happy with having to pay that but it was certainly better than ~£140.

slinxy · 31 Dec 2011 at 11:47

Try a can of contact cleaner that may free the button underneath and remove any grit that's stopping it from working. I've managed to get a few (say 3) working again.

lamboman · 31 Dec 2011 at 13:20

JamesU2005 said:
Would the "Sales of Goods Act" work here?

I would say in this situation, I agree with this.

A phone is supposed to last more than a year and a bit.

tom_nieto · 1 Jan 2012 at 21:22

Mine has done this, I chose to deal with it. It's a nuisance but not much of a hassle.

sanofi · 1 Jan 2012 at 21:33

£119 for a replacement out of warranty. I've got a dodgy home button and asked the what they could do about it as my phone was onto of warranty (launch phone too).

lamboman · 1 Jan 2012 at 23:59

Personally, I still think that it should be replaced under the Sales of Goods Act, merely because the button shouldn't wear in a year. The button could be argued as wear, but certainly not within a year. And contracts for the iPhone are usually two years - the phone is supposed to outlast the contract.

MrMoonX · 3 Jan 2012 at 20:43

my mrs has this problem with hers, taking it to apple tomoz, low cut top ready to be deployed lol

Noble-Kebab · 4 Jan 2012 at 10:37

is the phone on contract? Because surely it's reasonable to assume that the phone will work for the length of the deal? "Sales of Goods Act" could come into play.