iPhone 5s screen issues

[dudesweet]

Hey guys!

Want to get your opinion on something.
So I recently bought a secondhand iPhone 5s online.
Got it at a great price and the phone seemed in really good condition.
Then I noticed that the screen looked odd. I had a 4S before, so am quite used to the retina display on there.
The 5s' screen looked like a pre-retina iphone display.
I wrote to the seller and let him know and he was pretty insistent that the screen had never been replaced.
I then took the phone to an iStore and the technician took a few minutes and confirmed that the LCD on the phone wasn't OEM. (the res was low, and the sides of the screen don't sit firmly when pressed)

The guy I bought it from says he bought it from Vodacom directly.
I'm actually inclined to believe he is being genuine.
Is there any chance that Vodacom would sell a second-hand phone as new to customers (I don't know if he bought it cash or got it on contract)
And if they would sell a second-hand phone as new, is there any chance that they would use a non-OEM part to replace the screen?
From this guy's perspective his phone has never been replaced - and for me it's quite clear that it has been replaced. (read:impasse) The rest of the phone seems fine though -

edit: phone is 6 months old he says, so technically should still be under warranty too. Thinking if his story is legit, then surely he could then have Vodacom issue a new one with an actual OEM LCD?

 

[123Eish]

Chances are his story is not true

 

[Spizz]

Chances are his story is not true

Totally. He is taking the p*ss.

 

[dudesweet]

Can't shake the feeling that he's not lying. His responses didn't really seem like a person being caught out on a lie.
And he'd been really efficient and customer friendly too.
I had already said I wasn't going to try return the phone (even if I do get the screen replaced the overall investment is still a good deal) so he has no reason to maintain that the screen is original.
Did a bit of googling, and seeing people complaining of faulty phones being replaced with other used but repaired phones by VC. That said I'm pretty sure VC wouldn't use a dodge LCD...

 

[Spizz]

Quiz him on the history of the phone and tell him you're going to take it up with Vodacom. Was it contact? What shop did it come from? Was it still boxed and sealed? What's his cell number?

Then if you still believe him and think he's got nothing to hide, go to the shop (ask him to come with if possible) and take it up with Vodacom

 

[dudesweet]

Shot: will try get some more details from him.
The in-person solution would be tricky as he's based in Jozi.

 

[Iluvapple]

Chances are the dude is talking horse****. Vodacom or any other Authorised Apple dealers do not sell second hand iPhones. When an Apple iPhone with warranty is damaged, it get replaced with another refurbished phone. The refurbished stock is called exchange stock and is directly supplied by Apple. No Authorised Apple dealer will sell repaired phones. Apple uses original parts to repair their phones and the refurbished phones are as good as new phones. The SP for refurbished phone is a complete new casing, battery and LCD display and the new part that was faulty. If the phone was originally sold through Vodacom, any Vodashop repairs will be able to tell you the date the phone was sold. There are unauthorized repairers that use counterfeit parts to repair iPhones. A friend of mine had her iPhone 4 LCD display repaired by these type of repairers but the LCD display is of lower quality and had some spots but was very cheap to repair. Chances are that the dude who sold you the phone had it repaired this way.

 

[Spizz]

Chances are the dude is talking horse****. Vodacom or any other Authorised Apple dealers do not sell second hand iPhones. When an Apple iPhone with warranty is damaged, it get replaced with another refurbished phone. The refurbished stock is called exchange stock and is directly supplied by Apple. No Authorised Apple dealer will sell repaired phones. Apple uses original parts to repair their phones and the refurbished phones are as good as new phones. The SP for refurbished phone is a complete new casing, battery and LCD display and the new part that was faulty. If the phone was originally sold through Vodacom, any Vodashop repairs will be able to tell you the date the phone was sold. There are unauthorized repairers that use counterfeit parts to repair iPhones. A friend of mine had her iPhone 4 LCD display repaired by these type of repairers but the LCD display is of lower quality and had some spots but was very cheap to repair. Chances are that the dude who sold you the phone had it repaired this way.

+1. My thoughts exactly.

It makes me think though. Many moons ago, a mate of mine in London bought a top end Sony VCR from a big chain store (Dixons) which cost a small fortune. After a few years it had a problem and being out of warranty he sent it to a local guy who repaired such things. Turns out the only Sony part was the casing and the innards were in fact made by a cheap Chinese company called Matsui which was Dixons answer to Sansui type stuff at Hi-Fi Corp :wtf:

So although I think the guy is at it, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that there could have been some dodgy doings by an employee swapping something somewhere along the line, but I don't think VC themselves would have had anything to do with it.

 

[PostmanPot]

Don't even waste your time. Return the phone and get your money back. Buy another one.

 

[dudesweet]

Thing is I got the phone including shipping for R4980 (32GB 5s). If I get the screen replaced with an OEM it will come to about R1400.
So all-in it will be about R5400, which for a 5s is still a great price. So don't think it's worth it returning it.

@Spizz - hadn't heard of that Matsui thing. Thought of the Matsu****a/Panasonic brand.

 

[ahoudet]

Thing is I got the phone including shipping for R4980 (32GB 5s). If I get the screen replaced with an OEM it will come to about R1400.
So all-in it will be about R5400, which for a 5s is still a great price. So don't think it's worth it returning it.

@Spizz - hadn't heard of that Matsui thing. Thought of the Matsu****a/Panasonic brand.

Just out of interest, was this a BoB auction that closed last Wednesday for a Grey 5S?

 

[tRoN]

Question is: can you replace a 5s screen with non-oem screen that is not retina resolution?

 

[dudesweet]

Guess it's possible coz it's what's happened...

 

[dudesweet]

@iluvapple,
Thanks a bunch for the advice. I called a Vodacom repair shop this morning and they said they couldn't do it on their side, so they asked me to call customer service. I did that, but they were only able to tell me when the phone was most recently activated (i.e. after I activated the phone).
In two minds again - might just be worth it returning the phone and getting another one - though it becomes another crapshoot in terms of the quality of the actual phone one then receives...

 

[sand_man]

edit: phone is 6 months old he says, so technically should still be under warranty too. Thinking if his story is legit, then surely he could then have Vodacom issue a new one with an actual OEM LCD?

Enter the serial number here to confirm warranty details.

 

[dudesweet]

Hey sand_man! Thanks for that. The dates correspond to the timeline the seller gave me. It's still under warranty until March 2015.
Anyone know if the warranty is still valid seeing as how he sold the phone on to me. Think I might just take it in to a VC store here and see if they'll replace the screen themselves then.

 

[sand_man]

Yeah, warranty should be valid. The warranty is linked with the phone and not the phones owner...

Not sure if they'll change the screen for you though. Take it to Vodaworld and try...

 

[dudesweet]

View attachment 163777
Hey sand_man! Thanks for that. The dates correspond to the timeline the seller gave me. It's still under warranty until March 2015.
Anyone know if the warranty is still valid seeing as how he sold the phone on to me. Think I might just take it in to a VC store here and see if they'll replace the screen themselves then.

And my embarassingly poor mental arithmetic above shows that the total cost would be R6400 and not the R5400 I thought. That kind of changes my feelings about this...

 

[PostmanPot]

And my embarrassingly poor mental arithmetic above shows that the total cost would be R6400 and not the R5400 I thought. That kind of changes my feelings about this...

Was waiting for that...

 

[dudesweet]

Yeah, the math doesn't work out. I'm sending it back and asking for a refund.
It's just not worth all this effort and back-and-forth.
Thanks for the advice everyone!