iLemon

I really do like my iPhone, but I'm liking it much less right now. I've had it for almost three weeks now, but this weekend my Apple turned into a Lemon. The problem started on Saturday, every call I attempted ended with "Call Failed". (Warning Rants ahead)

The first stop was to the AT&T store to solve the problem. An hour later of the incredibly technical expertise of swapping SIM cards (extreme sarcasm) did not solve the problem, I was given the choice of calling Apple's 1-800 number or driving 40 miles to the closest Apple store. The first and almost comical solution of calling a 1-800 number with my phone that can not make calls seems a little square peg, round hole to me. It would be one thing had I been given a temp phone, but no, it's just assumed you better have another phone in your house. The second and major issue I have is clearly the phone has a problem, it's less then three weeks old, why not give me a new phone send mine in to get fixed, case closed? Apparently, that would be too simple.

Calling the 1-800 number accomplished two things. The first, they successfully restored my phone to its original state and in the process deleting all my contacts, content, and calendar events from my backup. So, now do I not only do I have a phone that does not make calls, but I get to have fun adding three weeks of things back to my phone. In Apple's defense, the 1-800 number did manage to schedule me for an appointment the next day to get my phone looked at the Apple store. The 45 minutes on the phone would have been better spend only scheduling the appointment, the other 43 minutes were not necessary and frankly had I not called, I still would have had my backup.

My Apple store experience went much the same as the rest of this story. I did only have to spend a total of 30 minutes in the store where I did walk out with a working phone. I have to admit, I was very skeptical because the swapped phone did not come from a brand new iPhone box. Instead it came from a plain white box. But Apple is known for their great PR, so I made the assumption that everything would be fine. In reality it was, I walked out of the Apple store with a phone that could make and receive calls. We all live happily ever after....or do we?

Eight hours later, my iPhone was almost back to normal. Songs, videos, programs all back and the only thing left to do was work on my contacts. While working on that, I noticed that my wifi signal was getting weaker, a few minutes later, my wifi signal was gone all together. My "new" iPhone's wifi is completely dead now! I think my "new" iPhone was really a refurbished piece of junk.

At this point, I haven't made any calls yet, but I already know it will be heading back to the Apple store 40 miles away to get another phone. Three weeks in, this will be my third iPhone. Apple has some great PR going with their products, but call me unimpressed. So far, this Apple is looking much more like a Lemon.