Count The iPhones With Terry! One… Two… Three?

No matter how much I try to convince myself, not every iPhone is perfect. I learned that lesson twice over recently with my iPhone 4.

Since the purchase of my iPhone 4 from Verizon last February, I noticed the volume of the ear piece during calls was low making it difficult to hear callers. Honestly, I don't have an iPhone to make phone calls, so I just let it slide. After all, I could send a text or email anyway. Still, it didn't seem right to me. After doing some research on the Apple Support forums I found that this was a common issue with the iPhone 4.

I decided to call Verizon Technical Support, and am currently in possession of my third iPhone.

In Verizon's defense, they were quick, efficient, and courteous. I truly consider the techs to be some of the best I've worked with. Of course it helps that I still have my warranty and I bought an additional Apple Care Protection plan. I think the fault lies with quality control at either Verizon, or Apple where all the refurbished iPhones originate. (Yes all replacement iPhones, no matter which carrier you're on, are refurbished.)

When my replacement iPhone arrived and I started to set it up, I noticed the screen appeared to be yellowish and really sort of dingy. This wasn't the beautiful Retina Display I had fallen in love with on my previous iPhone. This one looked as though it had power-smoked an entire carton of cigarettes leaving the display smoke and nicotine stained.

But hey, it made phone calls, right?

I can't understand how that iPhone made it through quality control. All refurb iPhones are tested, any defective hardware is replaced, screens are replaced, and the front and back glass are replaced. An Apple refurb iDevice is just like brand new. But not that iPhone.

Another quick call to Verizon, no troubleshooting at all, and a second replacement iPhone was headed my way. Last night I activated my 2nd replacement iPhone 4 and carefully compared the displays on it and the first replacement.

The new display was beautiful, and as an added bonus, this iPhone makes phone calls too!

It took a a while, I had to sit through the 90 minute activation process twice, but I finally have my perfect iPhone 4. The moral of the story: you paid for the warranty and Apple Care so use it, and always make sure the replacement isn't a step backwards.