In October 2023, I bought 2 new iPhone 15pros from Verizon on a 3 year plan. I generally get a protection plan for new phones that I keep for usually around 18 months, but somehow it was never instated for these two phones - which I learned (unfortunately) when my daughter dropped her phone and the screen (not just the backglass broke). Phone was still usable, but right 1/4 of the screen was blank. Up until now the phones have been generally fine and required no servicing.
I decided that the best option was to get the screen replaced at Apple Store, which I expected to run around $350 plus tax. What I did not expect was this from the Apple Genius Bar:
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Issue: Customer came in with a cracked display. Upon opening the phone for repair, noticed internal damage that appears to have been caused by someone working inside the phone. It does not appear to have been caused by the cracked display.
Steps to Reproduce: Visually verified.
Proposed Resolution: We are unable to repair the phone due to the damage to multiple internal components, we would have to replace the whole phone for $649+tax
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I would have been fine paying for the repair, but I am not fine with learning that Verizon sold me what seems to have been a refurbished phone as new. The phones came directly from Verizon in the mail (fedex) in a new sealed boxes, so while it is *probably* not their fault, I feel it is definitely their responsibility to compensate us in some way for this apparent fraud (selling a refurbished device as new). If Verizon wants to blame Apple and be compensated by them for this problem, that’s up to Verizon, but it is Verizon that should compensate us for this error. They sold us a used phone as new.
Instead, they deny all responsibility and ask why we didn’t notify them sooner about any problem with the phone. Well, there was no problem before now, and now that there is, we cannot reasonably fix the broken screen (our fault) because of the fact that internals of the phone were tampered with before we got it (not our fault).
How can I get Verizon to acknowledge this and compensate us. Since the phone *should be* 13 months old, I would settle for a refurbished iPhone 15pro at this point, but they refuse to acknowledge any responsibility for selling us a non-new phone as new. Do I have any options short of filing some kind of fraud claim?
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