US iphone repairs in UK?

[jmc007]

Hi, last week my partner received her white iphone 16gb 3g from smeegalbay and basically they done the dirty on us. They described it as Mint condition and sent us this,

sorry for the extremely bad pics though as you can still see, it has obviously been dropped onto concrete or tarmac, at least once.
Right to cut a long story short, we decided to not even bother any more with the seller and the site, couldn't be bothered with any long drawn out process and just stick with the phone.
So our position now is we are wondering how we stand with the warranty regarding repairs/replacement?
The wifi on the phone does not work. I was wondering if it to do with it being a US iphone? It finds the networks and even trys to connect, though only on the very first time, pretty darn sure of this as I have a 16gb 3g too, that I got a couple of weeks ago and mine works fine. There is also dust and a small loop of fluff under the screen and the battery life seems a fair bit worse than mine.
The warranty runs out in Sept. I have searched around a bit and can not find any concrete evidence on how we stand or how we would be dealt with if we booked an appointment at the Genius bar? I mean with the phone restored it couldn't even be tested could it? You know with no UK sim working with it.
Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers.

 

[jmc007]

Cheers for the replies guys.
startrek how did you explain, or did you even have to explain, why you have an iphone that is unusable in the uk without jailbreaking and unlocking it?
Were the repairs done at an applestore, genius bar?
Gonna ring Apple now anyways, feel confident enough to after the replies.
Ah little bit unsure how to explain how I know the wifi isn't working without being able to activate the phone ?

 

[jmc007]

Cheers for the replies guys.
startrek how did you explain, or did you even have to explain, why you have an iphone that is unusable in the uk without jailbreaking and unlocking it?
Were the repairs done at an applestore, genius bar?
Gonna ring Apple now anyways, feel confident enough to after the replies.
Ah little bit unsure how to explain how I know the wifi isn't working without being able to activate the phone ?

Right just got off the phone with Apple, officially it has to go back to Canada for repairs, though if I took it to an Apple store it may get repaired "by mistake".

Just thinking how the best way to go about this is now?
i.e. Once I restore it can the Apple store still check the wifi without a sim?

 

[jmc007]

Cheers again. Yeah I don't think we can return it now as we have left positive feedback. We contacted the seller and they asked us to return the phone then they would repay us via paypal. We bottled it at this stage and decided to keep the phone against my wishes but my partner couldn't be bothered with the hassle.
I don't want to be the person who says "I told you so" that we should have just returned it. I tried my best to reassure her that we were covered through paying with paypal. Plus she got her brother to take her side (maybe we have more problems than a duff iPhone)
So my best bet with Apple is to just restore it and take it in, even if it won't work with a UK sim then and keep our fingers crossed?

 

[jmc007]

Just to add to whats been said, I followed the process's in this link
https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do
Inputing my serial number, country where I am located and it tells me this:

The following service option(s) are available for this product in the location you've selected.

Apple Authorized Service Provider
Apple Retail Store
An Apple Store Genius Bar is the place to go for advice, hands-on technical support, and hardware service from a Mac Genius.
Find an Apple Retail Store

Online
Apple offers online service only for your product's accessories.
Request Online Service

So definately going to book a sesh with the Genius bar.
Wish me luck guys.

 

[jmc007]

I dont think they will cover it looking at the state of it.

Also from the apple site

"Can I get my iPhone serviced outside the country of purchase?

No, service for eligible repairs is only available in the country where your iPhone was originally purchased."

There is a page where you can check if the phone is eligable for warranty here.

If its not then you can get an out of waranty service done for £146.13.
All that info is available here.

EDIT: bit late posting this by the looks of it.

Cheers Dandle, checked it again even though it is the same link and yeah says I have warranty for the UK.
Going to the Apple store on Tuesday, will let you's know how it spans out.
Thanks again all.

 

[jmc007]

Just to give you the update; booked into the Trafford Centre, Genius bar. First thing they do after greeting us, is take out the sim tray and check the Serial number; to which they tell us, the phone was bought in Canada, and say sorry whilst embarrassingly plonking a little policy statement infront of us, then taking a step back.
Tried to take it further as filling out the warranty finder correctly on the Apple website, had told me I was valid for service from the Genius bar, in the UK and could/should have told me there and then I was not eliglble for service, surely? I was pretty humiliated by the manager, I only tried to explain the position I had arose in, to which he kept cutting me off and not even listening. He sneered at my partners sillicone "faux chocolate bar" case and again plonked the policy in front of us, really sarcastically/patronisingly handed our phone back to us; "There's your phone." and plonked the policy back infront of us.
Embarrassing I say again. We had been polite and friendly though they would not even listen.

 

[jmc007]

Basically we bottled it, with the seller asking for the phone back before a refund and with the waiting and shipping (Canada); not my wishes at the time, as I have said, though thankfully all is sort of ok now.
We have a couple of nice cases for the phone, which totally hides the dings in the back, the screen is virtually perfect. (You have to really look, with the phones backlight off to see the pubes and dust in the phone.)
Yes, the wifi still does not work, though overall we could have done worse, oh and we got $40 of the price before we would leave positive feedback, all he had in his paypal account apparently? still every little helps.
Cut a long story short konstantin_0077 tried it on with us, I reckon, because we asked him to underestimate the item before sending and shipping it as a gift, to avoid taxes and slung us a naff iphone. We shot ourselves in the feet with this one, o well. You live and learn.