Frustrated user claims Apple told him it was a hardware fault

Nov 2, 2011 19:21 GMT  ·  By

One of the many iPhone 4S owners out there claiming to experience severe battery drainage has made an entry on Apple’s official forums with the purpose of sharing his conversation with an Apple Care rep who allegedly concluded he had a hardware issue.

Knowing he was one of the hundreds, if not thousands of users out there affected by ‘Batterygate’ user deellow confidently picked up the phone to have a friendly chat with Apple’s tech support to try and see what there is to be done.

“Richard, as polite as ever, took my information, listened to me rattle off my issues and troubleshooting steps that I had already taken, took my usage stats, and kept me on hold while he spoke with a senior tech adviser,” he wrote.

“Their official conclusion: Since few people have called to complain, I was a minority user with such crappy battery life.”

However, deellow didn’t believe he was one of the ‘few’ who called, and quite frankly neither do I, looking at the sheer number of reports on this matter. So either this customer misinterpreted the conversation, or Apple isn’t being totally honest with its customers.

The story continues: “Surely, I can't be one of a few people calling about this as they claimed. Anyway, they indicated that it sounds like hardware issues (which I also find hard to believe based on the volume of users with this issue) and that they wanted to fix or replace my 4S- whichever was cheaper for them I suppose.”

Deellow, however, fails to specify exactly what led Apple Care reps to the conclusion that he had a hardware issue on his hands. He continues:

“All I would need to do was to send them my phone and receive it or another in the mail within a week or so. Or take it to the nearest Apple store which is 4 hours away from me. I politely thanked him for his time and asked to maul over my options and phone them back with my decision. He agreed and we ended our conversation of 30 minutes.”

Despite getting him nowhere, the conversation still left deellow with a good impression of Apple and its products. He said “the 4S is a solid phone and recommend it to anyone who wants the most out of their mobile phone.”

“Here's to hoping Apple releases an iOS patch so that we may live happily ever after,” he concluded.

Indeed, Apple is widely expected to dispatch iOS 5.1 soon to address several reported issues.

In the meanwhile, share your experience in the comments. Are you one of the iPhone owners affected by Batterygate? Have you had a similar conversation with Apple’s help desk?