It is Jan 31st, It is kind of bad day - my iPhone display got broken. It was night and I was about to attend the call and found that there was crack running horizontally from home button to top and another one from middle to right side -- kind of forming inverted "Y". I was totally clueless how it broke like that. I started exploring on how to fix it. I called up apple support and scheduled an appointment with "Genius Team" to fix it.
I went there and a "Genius" looked at my iPhone and declared it as accidental damage and looked around the phone - he never able to find any scratch or chip anywhere - it probably scratch free due to the protection of my silicon cover and screen protector. And he is unable to tell me exactly what could have caused the damage. I was trying to tell him that I never dropped and I had another pouch in the belt which i always use for carry the phone. Since it is broken that means it is accident and he gave me print out of apple's terms and conditions and which indicated "accidental" damage will not be covered and warranty. Since he is not able to find visible mark for damage, he offered me $99 replacement. He was telling me that he has 6-7 years of experience in fixing the iPhone (probably other phones as iPhone is not even 2 years old) and he was telling me that glasses never break by its own. But I asked curious question "what if some external forces like defect in assembling or cutting the glass penal or something of that sort" could have caused, for which he said it never happen. I also heard from apple customer care that he(the guy who evaluated) is "Genius" among "Genius guys" so his finds is always correct and told me he did a great favor of offering me replacement for $99. I never mind paying $200, if i damaged it.
hm.. It is waste of time talking to Apple care. So I thought of replacing by paying them.
I did a Google search to find out similar incidents. I got to know Master card has extended purchase warranty for the product purchased from Master card. So I called them and found that something of that sort is available and they asked me bunch off documents amongst repair cost is one. So I planned to schedule another meeting with "Genius" guys to get the estimation.
I went to apple store again and told them my appointment. I was searching for my earlier "Genius" guy so that I can get the estimate from him without explaining more as I had met him earlier. But this time I got allocated to another guy. I showed my iPhone and told the story and asked for estimate. Another guy at apple store who looked at my iPhone just looked at the phone and told that it will be covered under warranty as the crack is originated from "home" button. The same time couple of other Genius come and looked at and agreed that it is covered under warranty. So they replaced me freely. It is kind of surprise to me as I never expect it to be replaced.
So, ultimately,
Apple warranty will cover the cracks in the iPhone display, if it is originated or cracks run through home button.
