So just ordered an iPhone 12 from Amazon as renewed in excellent condition (I know it's not actually sold by Amazon, but it should've followed their terms in grading a phone as excellent/good/acceptable). This is what I received for an "excellent condition" phone. As stated by Amazon, excellent condition should not have any scratches on the screen, and any damages to side panels and such should not be visible more than 12inches away. All I can say is that none of these boxes are checked. Screen clearly has multiple scratches on it which can be seen when the screen is on, unless the background is literally white or a super bright color. Originally I thought it was some fluff or something on the screen, but wiping them doesnt make them dissapear and you can kinda feel the grooves of them. Secondly the denting in the corner can legit be seen more than 12inches away. Say you could see them even beyond 2ft away. Makes me somewhat anxious if there may be other problems about the phone that I don't know about because they may not be cosmetic damages. So I'm just curious if any of you guys have had experience with buying anything renewed on Amazon, and if this would be "excellent" or if I'm just too nitpicky. The phone did cost $330 for excellent condition, whereas good is usually only about $270, and acceptable is near $250 which is the condition in which scratches on screen would be present.

A couple of months ago, I decided to buy a refurbished "excellent quality" Iphone 12 from Amazon renewed with their "guarantee" that the phone would be in perfect order. This is my personal horrible experience with buying refurbished Apple phones from Amazon.

Even before I had opened the package, I was greeted with my first red flag of the entire Amazon renewed experience. The box looked shady, was beat up, and was shipped from a very far away warehouse. It was not well packed and contained the phone and several accessories. At first glance, the phone looked great and seemed to have no defects. This is where the first in a long string of issues came in. As I went to power on the phone, all the buttons were mushy and unresponsive, as if someone had coated them in honey. Upon further inspection, they were filled with dirt and sand and looked as if they had been stuffed full of mud. I spent over an hour cleaning and recleaning the phone's buttons with rubbing alcohol and a swab and managed to get the buttons unstuck enough so that I could use the phone. I sent a very angry message to the seller and posted a 1-star review. A few days later I received a reply from them essentially "buying me off", telling me to delete the review and that I would receive 20$. As the phone seemed in good condition otherwise, and I really just wanted the whole ordeal out of the way, I accepted. They proceeded to send me message after message reminding me to delete the review and pestering me day and night (they were sending me these messages on my personal Whatsapp). After deleting the review I figured I was done with the ordeal and vowed to not buy another renewed phone as long as I lived (After deleting a seller review you cannot post another one FYI). Now we get to another big red flag. The first day I unlocked the phone the battery health stood at a great 95%. I was ecstatic at receiving such great battery health. I would continue to check the battery health every few days to satisfy my OCD and did not like what I saw. The battery health dropped several percent in a single week. I read up on Apple's blogs that it was meant to lose a few percent per year, and here I was losing 4% in just 3 weeks. Again, I sent a message to the seller, questioning about the battery health and they assured me that it was "simply readjusting to the proper reading" and to "not worry about it". I nearly returned the phone right then and there but decided against it because "hey, 91% battery health is almost as good as 95% right?". Now comes the final issue and the reason I am making this post. As I was sitting in bed on my phone, I noticed that the screen kept changing brightness and tone. I hoped that it was a software bug and restarted my phone. I was greeted with the "green screen of death" and immediately knew the phone was toast. Try as I would with changing the brightness, restarting the phone, etc. The screen would not go back to functioning. I immediately contacted the seller and requested a refund and here we are. Needed to vent some repressed frustration so I decided to make this post. Will update based on what they say.

TL;DRBought a renewed phone from Amazon that had many red flags and issues and ultimately broke after only a few months. The Seller was shady and "bought me off" essentially paying me to remove my negative review before the phone stopped working.

This may not be accurate to or represent everyone's experience with it (hopefully not). I only wanted to vent and give a word of warning to potential Amazon renewed buyers.

Edit:
YES I know this was all my fault. If you're wondering what the seller said after I contacted them, apperantly the damage is "my fault" because of "damage to the retina display". Total BS. I never dropped the phone or damaged it in the slightest. They are trying to bullshit me into thinking the phone magically broke from my own doing.

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