It happened to Fayetteville resident Lance Reid when it came to an iPhone.
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"It's locked up. It's a piece of metal, a paperweight."
Lance had a warranty on the phone through SquareTrade. He said Apple Store employees looked at it and told him there was nothing they could do since it was locked up. They told him he would have to send it to SquareTrade for repair.
He said SquareTrade told him he would get his phone back in about two weeks.
Those two weeks turned into several and each time he called SquareTrade, he said the company told him something different.
Eventually, Lance got his phone back, but when he turned it on to see if it worked, it still had the same problem. Lance was back at square one.
So he called SquareTrade and a representative told him since they couldn't fix the phone, he would be sent a voucher for a new phone.
When that didn't happen, he got ABC11 Troubleshooter Diane Wilson involved.
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"I said, 'let me call Diane Wilson' as this sounds like something you would get involved in," Lance said.
The Troubleshooter got on the case and a representative with SquareTrade said the delay was caused due to Lance not disabling the Find My iPhone Feature on his phone when he sent it in for repair.
Lance replied that he couldn't do that since the phone was locked up. Regardless SquareTrade took action and sent Lance an $800 check to cover the cost of a new iPhone.
Lance now said he is very happy with the outcome.
Troubleshooter Takeaways
Document everything when it comes to warranties. If you have to mail an item in for repair, take pictures and video of what is wrong with it so you have proof of what it is like before you send it away.