Yeah Apple is good for this. There was one time I had a phone to old to replace. They ended up just giving me a newer phone and I didn’t pay shit.

For what reason did they even have to replace your phone for?

I broke my screen. At the time I was using an iPhone 4s and the 5s was out. They ended up just giving me a 5s.

Damn they really must have not kept any in stock.

I mean I had the phone for a very long time so I’m not shocked. What I was shocked over was the free upgrade. I’ve always kept Apple care after this. I’ve found it to be much better than the coverage a carrier can offer in most cases.

Yeah, they do this. We took my daughter’s iPhone in for repairs and messed it up so they gave her a same model replacement phone. Also, there was a recall of the original first gen iPod Nano and I sent it in, I got a sixth gen iPod nano as a replacement.

Our cat knocked a glass of water over on my wife’s 4S back in the day. Turned it off right away and tried to dry it out. No luck. Took it in to the Apple Store, they said “no luck, the water sensors were triggered. But if you look at the charge port, see that tiny little crack that doesn’t effect anything? Manufacture defect, here’s a brand new phone, have yourselves a great day!”

I tried to get my iphone repaired once it was out of warranty, it was only about a month over the expiration date and they said they would have to charge me the full price, said no thanks, sent my wife in the following week with my phone, the same guy replaced it for her, no questions asked

AppleCare is the regular warranty, AppleCare+ is the extra one. It's possible they broke something, it's also possible they couldn't tell whether they broke it or if it was broke when it came in, in that case they will simply replace the whole thing because it's not worth arguing with the customer.

I had my 8+ battery replaced at a Best Buy almost two years ago and they broke the screen while repairing it. They didn’t say anything but didn’t charge me for it either. Still charged me for the battery, but hey, $50-ish for a new battery AND screen ain’t too bad.

my experience is that if you are invested in the ecosystem, they will be more lenient with you. Their customer service is unparalleled.

I had the iPhone 7 and when leaving work it was windy as hell and it basically got blown out of my hand when I took a mis-step. Contacted Apple via Live Chat and they overnighted me a replacement before even getting my broken one back. Cannot fault their Customer Service most of the time.

I assume she has the Yonkers?

It’s called good customer experience. Apple reps have this type of discretion. That’s why you ALWAYS be nice to them if you need something fixed. Never lie. They can make you pay full price or give you a new phone. Next time you want to buy a new phone, you will think of this and go Apple. Or, even if you went Samsung, if same thing happens and Samsung charges you, you will think “Apple gave it to me for free!”

I've seen Apple give us a new Macbook power supply when I asked about the old one not working. It was out of warranty.

Made us very happy.

Small things like that go a long way towards brand loyalty. It's cheap for Apple in the long-term to do that.

Yup. I bought my daughter a used iPhone SE (2016 model) in 2020. I took it to get a new battery just so it would have full capacity, even though the one it came with was still ok. When I came back to pick it up, they told us the Touch ID sensor was bad, so they gave us a whole new phone for just the cost of the battery, $40. No warranty, no AppleCare, not even the first owner.

A few years ago I had my iPhone 6s serviced by an Apple Authorized service center (London Drugs). They installed a new battery in my phone and I paid them 60$ CAD. A few hours later the battery started swelling enough that the phone was not sitting flat anymore and the screen was malfunctioning due to excessive pressure. I brought it back to the service center and after they inspected it they got apple to send me a new 6s free of charge.

sorta related, but i used to work for t-mobile and sometimes people would do warranty exchanges and the system would be like, “lol gtfo w that old ass phone. here’s an upgrade” it was rare, but it happened.

i also just remembered as i’m typing this, a lot of us exploited the system too lol. i never did, but i knew a few people who had old ipads. they’d add the insurance (it wasn’t supposed to work) process a warranty exchange, and the system offered them an ipad pro

People live in a fantasy world if they think this is the way Apple operates all the time. There are just as many stories in the other direction. What happened is simple and is exactly what you assumed. They broke your phone while replacing the battery, the damage in question could not be repaired on site and could not be blamed on the user, and a manager made the call to give you a replacement with a standard excuse.

Lol I went with my apple watch 82% battery health. I asked to pay to replace the battery but got rejected because it has to be under 80%. 2 weeks later its under 80% but I'm in a foreign country which I told them was the reason I came in person as apple support suggested

There are many different reasons why they may have done this, from they may have broken the phone themselves, and they’re covering, to it may be a possible defect, they discovered. But ultimately, since Apple takes the “defective” phone back, they can reuse the parts that are good on the phone in other devices. I went in for a screen repair, and they said the antennas on my phone were messed up, so they just gave me a brand new phone. I had to pay for the screen repair, but that was it.

Basically, apple can make back most of, if not all the money they will lose by giving you a new device. It’s why I always recommend people go to an Apple store if they can, because your options are a lot greater than if you go to a phone repair shop in a strip mall.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that you will always get a new device, it’s just it’s not uncommon as people think.

How old is your phone? Phones in Australia have to have a “reasonable” length of warranty - Apple interpret that as 2 years. With phone’s price these days I wouldn’t be surprised if you can argue to make it 3 years (it’s already 3 years for all Macs).

Yup. They did this once for me with a $2500 iMac. Having screen issued so they tried to repair. Started acting up again and called Apple support. They apologized and said “we’re just going to send you a brand new one”. Two days later it was on my doorstep. New one was perfect and lasted over a decade.

Edit: Sorry. Misread your question. You said if they break it. Either way, Apple takes care of their customers.

I had this happen to me! I took my iPhone 8 Plus in for a battery replacement and when I went to pick it up they said they replaced the Taptic Engine because it stopped working. It still wasn’t working, so I went back next day and they replaced my phone with a brand new iPhone SE 2022. Even got a 20W charger for free to offset the cost of the battery

The charm I’m sure

I was a “genius” many years ago and if you were nice to me and the rest of the team and were under warranty, I’d swap it out under “single hairline crack” for free, even if there was some other type of accidental damage on the device. Those who were impatient and rude because they had to wait an hour for their walk-in appointment would pay for it :)

Yeah this case along with OP’s sounds like it may have been a generous store employee that was able to identify a minor defect and get you a good deal for it.

AppleCare is one of the best things ever. I had one of the liquid cooled G5 computers and one time late at night the computer decided to leak all the liquid onto our office floor and the thing overheated and fried itself. I had Applecare. They were just short of replacing it outright but instead literally replaced EVERYTHING inside the computer except for the DVD drive. So power supply, CPUs, liquid cooling setup, drives, the video card, the ram memory was still good, but everything else. The repair literally would have been almost as much to replace it (upwards of $2500). After Applecare? $0. So it was like getting a brand new PC in a slightly familiar case. So yeah, ever since then I get applecare for Apple products I buy.

Back in the 4s day apple was a lot more generous with this policy. They’re still way better than most companies, but compared to Jobs apple not close.

This has not been my experience at all.

I had my iPhone 12 mini serviced at an authorized repair center (battery replacement, still inside the warranty window).

During the repair, the tech broke the Face ID array (they sent me an email and the exact wording was that they “made a mistake during the repair, which has caused irreparable damage to the Face ID components”). They then wanted me to pay around 500€ for a new Face ID array, along with the original 80€ for the battery replacement.

After I declined, they basically told me to fuck off; if I wouldn’t pay, my Face ID would not get fixed, and I would not get any replacements. So to this day, my Face ID still does not work.

But you went to an authorized repair center, not an Apple Store. That’s the difference.

After Apple refused to expand to this region, citing that “Authorized Repair Centers offer equivalent service quality,” I’d expect actually equivalent service.

Yup I agree 100%

They broke something and you got a new phone. To cover their expense, they classified it an “AppleCare replacement”. Have a nice day, mate!

It may have been consumer law, battery replacement would not have able to be covered but a faulty past like a button would be

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They broke my 12p max and handed it to me at the store during a screen replacement, MISSING SCREEN, and said “sorry water damage”

I brought my iphone 5 in smashes to shit from years in trades and they said ‘oh the camera doesn’t work, that is independent of the damage so have a free new phone’.

I sent in my 11 to get a new screen a few weeks ago and they sent me a brand new phone. No idea why. Looks like my dad is getting a new phone.

You are a good person. I’m sure you made so many peoples’ days. It’s hard to work in retail and to deal with the public. Sadly, so many don’t deal with employees as real people.

I’ve heard many stories like this. Generally speaking if you are honest about what happened and act like a decent human being there is a good chance they will go above and beyond.

I managed restaurants and worked in retail for years. I was always more willing to help a kind customer than one that started the conversation in a rude or demanding manner. It’s not rocket science; most people will react the same way.

They do this, if you bring in your device for a repair and they find something broken that shouldn’t be they will repair or replace it free. Years ago, I brought in my several-year old phone for a $29 battery replacement, they gave me a entirely new same-model phone because they said they found the battery had swollen.

Two handfuls of charm

The best and funniest memory I have was a very sweet lady who had broken her phone but was out of warranty…I noticed the phone’s battery was below threshold during diagnostics so I swapped the whole thing under swollen battery replacement (I think it was $99 vs $300+) to replace the entire device.

About an hour later she comes back SOAKED from head to toe, including her hair (she was wearing a long dress) and tells me she had fallen into one of the mall’s water fountains lmao! At that point I swapped it again at no charge since it was within a 90 day warranty.

Yeah it's almost like you are paying the price of 2.5 phones so it's NBD if they give you a whole new one.

That sucks man, I'd report it to Apple itself if you haven't already.

My 13pm recently died and I'd only bought it last May. I took it to the Apple store. They replaced the entire system minus the screen. It would've been $600 but since it was still under warranty it didn't cost me anything. It only took them 45minutes to fix and they were busy. I will always keep AppleCare.

Same thing happened to me with that exact description. Power button not working 😅

Hahaha that’s amazing. Thank you for being a great human!

I watched a Genius Bar employee just straight up give a dude something once.

This guy brought in his MacBook that was having issues and the Genius Bar employee hooked up a wired Apple keyboard to run some diagnostics. The guy was like “Oh man I’ve been meaning to get one of those. They look really nice.”

And the employee just goes “I think you came in with it. 🤫” The guy seemed confused so he just repeated “I think you came in with it. 😉” And the guy put it in his bag after they were done.

An ex of mine got a brand new MacBook after hers required like 4 separate repairs for manufacturer issues. That seemed more reasonable but it was still at least a year out of warranty so I was impressed.

Figure out where the dollar sign goes

Totally depends on the item, what warranty if any etc etc. It’s totally case by case basis. Friends of told me that they broke something and just got handed a brand new one in many cases yet I’ve been going in there for years for my clients if I can’t fix something and I’ve never gotten anything absolutely free ever.

I don’t get why more employees are like you. They’re acting like their paycheck is determined by getting people to pay for repairs.

Is that what happened to me?!

Went in for my ear speaker being so quiet I couldn’t hear a thing (old iPhone, but I have the same issue with my 11 pro max.)

I was with my two little girls, and had like an hour long wait. They were apologetic, because I had made an appointment. “No worries,” says I. I assumed I’d be waiting anyway. They got my number and I took my girls for a walk and to get some treats from the food court.

The text came in that I was ready to be seen. We go in, and they take my phone for a VERY long time. My girls were having fun playing around with the display iPads, and I was enjoying watching them. The guy helping me was so apologetic, but to be honest I was having a good day.

They eventually came out with a brand new phone for some kind of recall I never knew existed and couldn’t find online.

I know I know :( the amount of times I’d hear the other people I worked with get yelled at by angry customers was just absurd. I not once got yelled at in the 4 years I worked there. Like you said, it freaking Apple! Being nice to the customer and helping them as much as possible can only make your retail work/life easier.

Battery does not have to be under 80% for them to replace it (unless it’s warrantied under apple care). I just had my 13 mini battery replaced at 89% because I didn’t want to wait and pay more. Of course he tried to talk me out of it, but I got it done.

Warranty was out of the question. I was willing to pay as well. I even asked him to ask a manager because it didn't make sense to me especially if I'm paying.

This happened to me in January for a screen replacement at the Apple Store.

The technician stripped a screw so they gave me a brand new identical phone.

I once had the “No Service” bug on an iPhone 7 and had to have the logic board replaced for free under warranty. It also had a faulty charging port that moved around and a battery at 91% health. Apple sent it out for repair and it came back with a new screen, new logic board, new battery, and new charging port. All for free. Got a similar invoice to what you got.

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it happened to me a few years ago, the battery needed replacing, they came out an hour later and said the phone was shorted out and they were replacing it, but it still worked and they helped me move everything over and I left with a new phone for free.

I had multiple issues with multiple repairs of my G4 laptop forever ago. The genius finally said to me, “You’ve been really patient with this . How about a new laptop.” It was an upgrade due to the age so… thank you genius.

This was so far back we were the only ones in the store half the time. I miss those days.

Oh yeah, that definitely sounds like they wanted to give you the best they could :)

They had one of those Star Wars BB-8s (or whatever… the uniball with a “head) running around. It was pretty fun to watch.

Wow. Apple fixed something for free? And we’re complaining?

I’ve had this a couple of times, with an iPhone and an Apple Watch.

They’ve been great both times, but from the varied experiences I’ve heard, you may need to get the right person at the right time.

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When I worked as a tech specialist, I would bend over backward to make something work out in your favor if you weren’t an asshole to me. We were hardly discouraged from doing that so long as we communicated with the techs in back about it, and didn’t abuse it. Stuff is expensive. Things happen. We’re human, too.

Lisssstttteeeeen to meeeeee. Yesterday I had to tell a customer. You came in with a problem. I offered to fix your problem out of my own pocket (I’m not the boss) and you’re still not satisfied. What do you want? Customer: that’s a fair point. I’m done now. I’ll take that offer.

I was a Genius for many years. If we broke something during a repair that couldn’t be fixed (like one of the side buttons) we would replace it, but usually for the price of whatever the initial repair was. So if it was a battery replacement, you would get the whole phone for battery cost. I’m in the U.S. though. Australia has some pretty serious consumer protection laws in place, so I wouldn’t doubt if they have to replace it at no charge by law.

Yup. Not the same scenario, but I had hardware issues on my MacBook Pro twice. Went to the store when I had yet more issues and I walked out with a new MacBook Pro because that was the third time I would have had to ship it out.

Lot of Apple Store workers are actually anti-corporate and will do anything to help you out as opposed to making apple profit.

Genius bar has changed. The actual level of "genius" these retail store associates has greatly decreased, and they don't really go above and beyond like they used to with support and free replacements during the early iPhone days.

Yes apple is fantastic, as long as you’re not rude. My uncle jumped into a lake with his brand new phone, he was honest with the person at the Genius Bar, they had a good laugh, he got a new phone for $0.

My boyfriend shattered his screen, he had his wallet out to pay for a replacement and they didn’t charge him and also gave him a whole new phone.

My old iPhone went in for a new battery, then went back for a new side button, and they ended up just giving me a new phone “because of my inconvenience”

IMO apple makes great products, but their customer service is what wins me every single time.

I've sworn by Apple for this single reason. I've gone to android a bunch of times but always go back to apple for their support.. I'm only using a fold for now bc I love the folding aspect, but the fact that apple just has superior support is mind blowing.

I've had issues with a bunch of devices and they're always swift and fast in their repairs, there's been a few times in the past where they just came out with a new phone and took the old one back.

Keen to get my mini battery done before price hike, but mines at 88% health… does it need to be 85?

I basically got a new phone for £25 when my back glass broke. Only thing original is the screen, everything else was new

Yeah this happened to me as well, with both Watch and phone, both having really bad battery issues but battery health stuck just over 80% and no amount of persuading could get them to replace the battery because it was not clearing whatever threshold their diagnostics were showing them.

I hate how difficult they make it to actually pay to get it replaced. They ask you 10000 questions and fight against it. I don’t need 15 minutes of Q&A and them typing stuff into the iPad. I know what I want. Take my phone and money and let me leave. It should be a 2 minute interaction, not 15-20.

i had gotten a launch iPhoneX - 3 days later i'd left it on the roof of my car and it slid off and got run over. it was in a hard case so the bits were there but it was destroyed.

I made a genius bar appointment for that day and took the credit card to pay the OOW fee ($1000 AU) straight away as my wife was heavily preggers (was due in 3 weeks) and i could not be without a phone.

I go in and they gave me a brand new iPhone X with double the memory i had as thats all they had for no charge telling me to use the money for the baby.

That's cool and pretty much how my experiences with Apple's online support staff went, too.

Our local Apple Store staff, though, have apparently been trained to try and deflect as many customer claims as possible. So I, in turn, try to avoid dealing with them as much as possible.

That’s a small claims court in my country for breaching consumer protection law.

If it's fully functional when they open it, you will receive a fully functional phone on return. Essentially the button somehow broke during the repair, so they replaced it all.

Got a refurbished iPad Mini 5 last year and it made staticky sounds when playing games. I brought it in and they just straight up gave me a brand new one.

They're usually pretty good with this kinda stuff unless it was something you clearly did intentionally to the device.

A friend of mine got one of the early iPads on day 1 (2nd or 3rd gen I think). He was walking to work with it in his hands the next day, tripped over and smashed it on the pavement. Took it to the Genius Bar explained what happened and they just swapped it out for free. Pretty lucky/good service.

Son had a screen problem on 2 iPhones 12 both times I’m not sure what the guy did but my son got a new phone each time

Every time I have went to the Apple Store for a phone problem if it’s hardware they not all hand me a new phone

That iPod nano exchange program was the GOAT. The nano 6 was a great little device, the touch gestures were quite polished for the time.

Just over 2 year. Maybe there was some sort of consumer warranty I didn’t know.

No. Just book an appointment online. The app or whatever won’t let you if it scans above 80. I just told the guy I’m doing it before the price hike and he was like alright.

I had an iphone that I bought in Australia, went to apple in Amsterdam for a battery replacement, they screwed it up and gave me a complete replacement for free on the spot (new phone not a refurbished one), didn’t even have to pay for the battery change.

I write as a speak it in my mind. It is of little importance.

Ive walked out with multiple free upgrades over the years when my phone died. Once even after they told me that wasn’t possible. I keep it friendly even when I get the answer I don’t want, and I think that helps.

This past summer when I ordered my MBP I asked for it to be delivered early, was told it wasn’t possible after they reached out to FedEx. I did in fact get my delivery a few hours later tho! Idk if that was just coincidence or not but it wasn’t scheduled to be delivered for four days and it didn’t say “out for delivery” at any point.

I think back when it was I phone 3 4 5 era they used Apple Store as a big selling point they just swapped out phones for new, no drama. This was the beginning, and for a lot of people it was there first experience with apple products. They wanted to make a great impression. It’s not like that anymore but it’s still a very good experience going to the Apple Store and I still get bonus every now and then.

Sometimes, I remember something happening to my iPhone 6 during a repair and they just gave me a brand new phone free of charge.

Clearly not because you go back and forth

Because I used copy and paste

I received a brand new MBA M2 because they couldn't help with high RAM usage due to "windowserver" process. They tried for about 6 month.

did they actually give you a new MB because of a windows issue?

no, because of high RAM usage from the "window server" process. Not relayed to MS Windows.

https://imgur.com/UxSHpCZ

K

CS is how you build a winning company. Especially when selling premium products. Nobody's gonna be happy dropping $1k on a phone when something goes wrong and they get told to get fucked. But if you make a serious effort to take care of your customers, they'll keep being your customers.

I had the Apple Store in Brisbane say we had an unapproved battery in an iPhone 6s when we took it to them for a replacement. The Genius Bar guy was quite rude about it.

We had not ever replaced the battery ourselves and owned it since new.

I asked the see the manager, who I had previously passed my thanks to over an apple camp event our kids attended, he remembered me. He twigged that there were a couple of runs with iPhone 6s where some is identifier was missing from the battery’s and it was on the work order process to follow.

He apologised for the Genius Bar member and said he was issuing a new iPhone to us and would reinforce the process with the staff.

So we walked in thinking we were paying nearly $100 and walked out with a new iPhone for our child.

That is unheard of. A retail miracle lol. If you’re on that kind of a roll, could you please demand world peace? On the a chance it might happen?

I dropped off and paid for a out of warranty screen replacement on my 11 pro (also in Australia) a couple of years ago, maybe just over a year after it came out.

They said it would be about an hour to complete, and I was welcome to come back or book a return appointment, it was early on a Sunday, so I decided to hang around the shopping centre.

Go back after an hour, and they said they needed another 30 minutes as the new screen didn’t work.

Came back in 30… same thing. There was an issue trying to get it to start. Asked if I could return in another 30.

Final time, they gave me a refurb to replace it as they were unable to successfully complete the screen replacement.

Moral of the story - if they broke it, they would tell you. I reckon there was an issue with the power button and it was just hanging on before you dropped it off.

that was a repair program https://support.apple.com/iphone-7-no-service

Reading comments makes me wish we had Apple Stores here are my country. The local ‘Premium Reseller’ stores are not as nice with warranties and customer support. Sure, they have great coverage, the stores are beautiful, sellers are great and kind, but if they can charge you for support, they’ll find a way.

I went to apple store last week to get my battery replaced- it was out of warranty and never had apple care. Also did it now to avoid the price inflation. They said they will need to arrange a like for like model for me, in case something happens to my phone during the repair, we will give you the new device. Nothing happened to my device though. But that facility in itself is outta this world!

I live on a small island so it’s easy to become quite known you’re nice (or not nice) to people. I tell customers straight up. If you throw a tantrum I’m doing the bare minimum. If you’re understanding I attempt to get the earth to spin in the opposite direction for you. Over time with you being genuine you can get people (even the difficult ones) to see reason. Not everyone but most.

Apple cannot put a timeframe on it under the Australian Consumer Law. I just had my 2019 iPhone 11 replaced at the Apple Store because the Bluetooth module was intermittently dropping out.

I was polite with the person that I was dealing with at the Apple Store and they were able to replicate the issue and see history notes from when I’ve spoken with Apple Care.

I’ll tell you what happened

They use a special device that Apple designed themselves that’s used to heat and then remove the display from the frame enough to open the phone up, and someone probably forgot to take it off or just wasn’t paying attention, and it melted a component in the side button.

How do I know this? A mixture of having five+ years of phone experience, and I’ve also had this exact thing happen. They were supposed to replace the display on my 12 pro, but they broke the volume down button with the machine that’s supposed to open it up. They had to replace my entire phone for free. Good times.

Yeah… They sent back my phone for a screen replacement because of a chip or scratch on the back of the phone and quoted me like $400 to fix the whole thing..

Another time, they said my front facing camera wasn’t working when I took my phone in for a battery recall, I managed to be on vacation and have plenty of pictures taken with my front facing camera that day before I took it in. They actually replaced it that time for free with no Apple Care. They said they probably forgot to reconnect it and didn’t want to reopen it, so they just handed me a new phone.

Why would you send your phone back with her when it was out of warranty? Did you feel it was wrong of them to charge you only a month after expiring? Did you know they would charge her something different?

Sadly in my country, we are still waiting for the 1st official Apple store to open. Currently we are served by Apple Authorised Retailers and the service experience varies from one to another. Any warranty replacement, takes a long time since it has to be shipped to neighbouring country, which is the closest with Apple centre and wait around 10 days minimum before any updates are given.

Hope that once we have the official store here, things will be a lot better like what you experienced.

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Just had this today. My iPhone 12 pro max had condensation under the camera lenses. Went there and they said "$980 to swap for a new one". I came back the next day to do it, and the guy who served me said "this should be free due to Australian Consumer Law" and changed it to $0

I remember they replaced my battery too when I sent my 7 in for that repair.

When I was 13 I dropped my iPhone 7 at the gym and these colored bars came onto my screen. My mom and I went to apple and said it suddenly started acting like that in the morning, and they fixed it under the warranty.

Fast forward to 2020, my mom takes her 6S in for a battery replacement, they break it, and give her a brand new phone.

I was in middle school and got scammed into buying a water damaged iPhone 4(?) at the time online from eBay. Didn’t know why it wouldn’t charge or turn on, but brought it to an Apple Store and they gave me a refurbished one on the house. The employee even helped me identify all the signs that it was water damaged. Granted I think the next phone just came out, but the associate was definitely very nice for what he did in my opinion.

He probably knows how his wife looks

That’s why I had two products upgraded. Thank you peeps that helped me with my iPod touch and my iPhone 3GS. I am always patient when it comes to that stuff no point in yelling and getting mad. It doesn’t solve it faster

Koi pond perhaps?

About 3 months ago my right airpod(2ndgen) just decided to not work correctly and sounded like it was playing out the back and they were only about 6 months old, the warranty for whatever reason was a bit messed up so i had to get that sorted and once i did they were taken to my nearest apple store and apparently both AirPods "failed" whatever test they do to them and they just replaced both. I didn't notice anything wrong with the left but hey brand new ones and I haven't had any issues since