My iPhone 17 Pro Max appears to be bent, and I have AppleCare coverage. For an Express Replacement, Apple is asking me to pay a service fee and placing a temporary authorization hold on my payment method. Has anyone gone through this process? I want to understand whether the service fee is the only expected charge and what circumstances could cause Apple to charge the held amount.
2 Answers
The fee is much less than replacing the phone without coverage. The temporary hold is mainly protection in case you don’t send the original device back, send back a modified phone, or return it with severe damage that prevents Apple from treating it as a standard replacement. A bent phone by itself generally wouldn’t fall into that category.
The service fee is a normal part of an AppleCare replacement for accidental physical damage. You should not be charged extra as long as you return the original phone within the required timeframe and it isn’t missing or altered.
If Apple finds another problem when they inspect it, could that lead to an additional charge?