My iPhone dilemma

I must let potential Apple customers aware of the 'Dead On Arrival' policy that they have set in place for Australians (maybe the rest of the world too but I'm not sure). I have posted my little dilemma on Whirlpool.net.au but has since been been closed.

So this is my iPhone story.

I arrived to the Optus world in Hay Street, Perth at 5:10am. I was the 6th person in line. My deposit was paid for and I had all my ID documentation ready. There was going to be a 3 hour wait as the store opened at 8am. So finally after waiting the store opened and the first batch of people got signed (which included me) . I went to one of the staff members and signed up for an iPhone 3G 16Gb white. By the time the documentation was completed and processed it was about 8:30am.

I got back to work and opened the box. I noticed something straight away that I didn't notice in the shop, there was a large LCD stain under the glass screen (looked like a ripple) . I turned it off and on and it was still there. The stain was about .7cm in diameter.

I called the Optus World store about 2 hours later as I had work to do. They told me to come back to the store and they would resolve the problem there (I assumed they would of done just a straight replacement).

During my lunch break I went back to the store. I showed them my iPhone and they could clearly see that there was a problem. They said that they COULD NOT replace it but had to send it back to Apple for an approval. The phone hadn't even been used and they couldn't replace it! Apparently Apple doesn't do straight replacements if the phone is DOA (Dead On Arrival). This is probably the most preposterous thing I have ever heard. In my experience with both Nokia and Sony Ericsson this was never an issue. There was clearly stock in the store as one of the staff members was shouting it out to the people still waiting in the queue (non deposit people) – I think there were still 10 iPhone 16GB White and 40 iPhone 8GB White. I made a bit of a fuss and they said they still couldn't swap it over. I just left the phone with them. They said that it could take up to a month if a replacement was needed. So I went back to work.

Once I got back to work I called Apple and the Optus World main office, they said that it should of been swapped over. I called the Optus store again and I spoke with another staff member. This time around they said it should of been swapped over when I brought it in but now there was no more stock.

So after paying for a deposit, waking up at 4:30am in the morning, making many many phone calls I have nothing. I have to wait for Optus/Apple to analyse the phone and decide what to do with it. If a replacement was to be made I would have to wait about 2-4 weeks.

So there you have it folks that is my iPhone story.