OMG! My 2nd Maxis iPhone’s Screen Glass Cracked!

Posted: 09 Feb 2010 11:54 PM PST

Apple iPhone doesn’t goes well with me. My 1st iPhone from Maxis was dead few months ago. Waited over 1 month for the replacement unit, my 2nd iPhone.

Now, the 2nd iPhone screen glass is cracked!

my apple iphone 3gs with a single line crack on screen glass

How did iPhone screen glass got crack?

Frankly, I didn’t know. I just left the iPhone on my table while I was working on my iMac. When I picked up the iPhone, I noticed a line on the screen glass. Initially, I thought it was dusk or dirt but it is not!

“OMG! My iPhone screen glass is cracked!”

It was a single line crack in the center of the screen from top to bottom. The iPhone touch screen was still working fine, didn’t affected by the crack line.

Is iPhone screen glass covered by warranty?

Immediately, I google for “iphone screen OR glass cracked” and, apparently, it is a common problem of Apple iPhone. There are many users got their iPhone screen cracked (but still working), mostly caused by dropping the iPhone, which is not my case.

“Not user damaged” cracked iPhone glass is covered by Apple Warranty.

If you accidentally cracked your iPhone (the broken glass got more than ONE crack line), it is NOT covered by Apple Warranty. Apple could repair it for you at a cost of USD$200-$250.

Or, there are 3rd party services to fix the screen glass at a cost of USD$150-200.

Claim Maxis iPhone warranty for cracked iPhone

Learned from my previous bad experience at Maxis KLCC, this time I went to the Maxis Centre MidValley Gardens instead.

Waited half an hour for my turn. I handed the cracked glass iPhone to the Maxis staff and he checked for couple minutes, made a call to his “boss” then he told me that “It is user damaged and not covered by warranty.” The Apple fixing cost is as high as RM1,000! (you can get another iPhone!)

“What?!”

I told him that I didn’t drop iPhone or something dropped on the it. “It is not user damage.”

The staff picked up my iPhone and examine, very detail, again. He checked so carefully that I wished I got a magnifying glass to lend him.

No scratch on iPhone side

He can’t find any scratch on the iPhone sides. Then, he checked the iPhone warranty claim documentation.

At last, he told me that he will send my iPhone to claim warranty BUT no guarantee it will be rejected or not (?!).

The Maxis staff also showed me the iPhone screen glass warranty documentation with a few example of iPhone cracked glass. Glass with many crack lines like the following photo are not covered.

iPhone glass crack not covered by warranty
[photo by gregmote]

Mine is single crack line and fall in the category of “covered”.

I did erased all data and settings before hand my iPhone to Maxis, filled the Maxis Customer Repair Receipt Acknowledgement and the waiting time is 4-6 weeks.

Meaning, I don’t have iPhone during the coming Chinese New Year.

With my bad luck with iPhone 3GS, now I wish I could buy the Applecare Protection Plan for iPhone, which is not available in Malaysia.