Harper’s ‘iPhone’ with third-party components has an Apple logo on the back, just like the original. | Photos: Adam Balla
This article was originally published in The Examiner on Feb. 1, 2018.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
Imagine your iPhone’s screen begins glitching after only a year. After taking it to your nearby Apple store, the technicians tell you they can’t repair your phone because it’s not a genuine Apple product.
This is VJ Harper’s story.
Harper said he’s been an Apple user since the early 2000s.
He explained that his original iPhone 6 that he purchased in 2014 was stolen Father’s Day 2016.
When he contacted an AT&T store to report the loss and get a replacement, he found out that his phone’s insurance policy was through Asurion, a company that other cell carriers like Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile also use for phone insurance.
Asurion sent him a new iPhone 6 — or so it appeared.
“[It was] all in an Apple box,” Harper said. “Apple accessories, with the earbuds, the adapter to plug it in to recharge.”
But the phone’s screen started to go out in spring 2017.
The screen had black striations like a barcode, but then “it would go totally black,” Harper said.
He took the phone to two different Apple Stores in the Houston area for service — the closest locations to his Port Neches residence. The Apple store on Dowlen Road in Beaumont, Computer Dimensions, unfortunately doesn’t service phones, although they repair other Apple products.
At the Apple Store in Memorial City, the technician’s report states “upon further inspection, [we] discovered the phone enclosure, display and internal components are third party.”
The Apple Store employees told Harper they could not service his phone, according to the documentation from the store.
Harper said he was left with the choice of returning that phone to Asurion for another replacement or reporting this incident as fraud. The “fake iPhone” itself stopped charging entirely and no longer turns on at all.
He said he decided not to return the phone to Asurion, which he was required to do for a second replacement, in order to “preserve the evidence.”
Harper said he now believes buying phone insurance through your wireless carrier is a bad investment. He canceled his phone insurance entirely after requesting a copy of Asurion’s policy, which is underwritten by Continental Casualty Company, a CNA company.
The terms and conditions mailed to Harper’s address state: “Replacements may be fulfilled with new, remanufactured or other models of like kind and quality. Colors, features and accessory compatibility are not guaranteed.”
Many consumers may not realize their cellphone carrier’s phone insurance policy doesn’t guarantee a replacement of their original iPhone with another genuine iPhone.
Complaints about Asurion and its insurance policies are not new. PC Magazine reported dissatisfaction with Asurion’s replacement phones and overall business model as far back in October 2013. While the company has an overall four-star rating from Consumer Affairs, 1,156 of those 10,327 reviews rate the company’s services with one star.
Negative reviews posted online detail complaints about battery issues, faulty speakers, unresponsive touchscreens and replacement phones arriving with cracked screens. Some of the complaints about Asurion’s services go back as far as 2009, describing faulty Blackberry replacements.
Harper said he would like to make the community aware of his experience so others don’t make the same mistake.
“It’s an ugly picture,” he said. “People need to be aware of the ripoff.”
AT&T, Asurion and Apple had not returned requests for comment by press deadline.
Jennifer Johnson contributed to this report.
Eleanor Skelton 