On a Saturday night/Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago, the clock had not long struck midnight and it was time for bed. My iPhone was already in sleep mode so I pressed the sleep/wake button (that’s the button on the top of the phone) as I wanted to make sure the alarm was off.
When I pressed the button, although it responded, it didn’t feel right. There was no click to it, it was as if it was sticking. The phone was working, it was a minor thing but as it was covered under Applecare, Apple’s extended warranty scheme, I decided I’d get it looked at.
I had 2 options – send it away for repair/replacement, or book an appointment at The Genius Bar at an Apple Store (we have 3 Apple Stores within a 40 mile radius of where we live).
According to the Apple website, there were no Genius Bar appointments at The Trafford Centre, Manchester or Liverpool until later in the week, but, whatever course of action I took, I’d need my Applecare details, so I logged into the Applecare site to get the Applecare agreement number to find…that my Applecare had expired 15 minutes ago!
You could not make it up!
I decided that I’d go to The Trafford Centre anyway first thing next morning on the off chance that they might be able to do something so in preparation, I removed all my music, photos and podcasts, backed up the text messages using Phoneview and then backed the phone up to iCloud.
The next morning, I arrived at The Trafford Centre at about 11:40 (20 mins before opening). There were about 20 people in queue. In fact, it was the only shop with a queue outside.
When the Apple Store opened I spoke to one of the staff who confirmed that I’d need a Genius Bar appointment, but having checked the website several hours earlier, I knew that there were none to be had.
So what happened next? To find out, you’ll have to listen to Episode 68 of MacBites