Iphone 3G nightmare Applecare experience- advice appreciated

To cut a long story short, I had an Iphone 3g. After buying it the case cracked and small microbubbles appears on the rear black plastic. Apple replaced the phone for me and after 4 months using the new phone i swopped the case for a new one when i noticed two small cracks int he corners of the plastic near the dock connector.

I contacted Apple again, and they made me pay £29 for a quick repsonse replacement. So my 3 Iphone arrives and UPS take the old one. This was about a week ago, UPS dropped a package off at my home and guess what...

It's my recently returned Iphone with a message saying that because the damage is classed as accidential I'm not covered and that because i had the rapid replacement they'll debit £370 from my account for the new phone.

To top it off my old iphone was not in the box but loose in the plastic UPS bag and was covered in scratches on both the plastic case and glass.

I was shocked, upset and angry so called Apple. I ended up being passed about from pillar to post before talking to someone in Cork who was the rudest person I've spoken to in some time. He told me my phone had water damage and thus it was not covered. He sent me an image of this pink moisture indicator and told me tough.

I explained that I'd never got it wet, not once and that regardless my issue was cosmetic. he refused to discuss the cracks, talked over me, raised his voice and blamed me. I told him about the additional damage, he laughed and told me to contact UPS. I told him i was disgusted by his attitude and wanted to escalate this. He refused and told me he was the most senior guy there, he emailed me the image of the moisture sensor and again told me it was tough.

I demanded to speak to someone senior, he told his boss was on holiday and his boss did not want to speak to me. I got there names and ended the call.

I've emailed Apple with my experience and included pictures, I'm also utter gutted in Apple. My one question is this, if they offered me the £29 quick rpelacment on the phone and never mentioned the potential additional cost, is this not miss-selling?

Any advice, support ideas would be massively appreciated.

They have removed the money out of your account without your consent so report it to your bank as unauthorised. Try calling them again (I know, but guess it's the only way to contact them unless you have a store near you).

Document everything that has happened and include any photos you had to prove the water damage was not caused by you and that this was not noted when they originally replaced the phone. Go through the entire history of events with an Apple employee and tell them that they have removed money from your account without permission, were unwilling to discuss the matters over the phone (a little suspect to me) and also you believe them to by lying about certain damage to you phone.

If you go at them with the story, plus evidence then they should back down.

This is really not on.

Update

After emailing much of Apple PR's team in Europe and the US I promptly recieved a call tail end of last week.

The lady, Peggy who is dealing with this has been very apologetic and has vowed to do a full investigation. I've not heard back from her yet but she was very apologetic and promised to get the situation sorted.

Look forward to seeing an update on this... I had an issue like this with my old Macbook. I ended up giving up and sold it off on Ebay because I was lazy...

I can relate.That Customer service guy in Cork needs to be taught a lesson!! If i was in your shoes i would have recorded the whole conversation and taken his name. Then i would have reported apple to the Trading Standards here in the UK, and made sure he gets the sack!! The member "true bassit" is correct about reporting the transaction as unauthorized. Overall hope it goes well for you:-}