What good timing. I just got my refurb iPhone 5 from the last sale. Also scratch and dent.
The earpiece with mine had crud in it. It’s disgusting. Also the camera was scratched up, so it’s not very useful for that, either. I deeply regret buying refurb, and wish I could return it. It wasn’t worth the savings. Scratches can be covered with a case. Scratches on the camera make the camera worthless, and I can’t very well wash out the filth in the earpiece without damaging the phone.
Buyer beware.
90 warranty? So it isn’t Apple refurbished? Wouldn’t touch it for $10.
Sorry to hear about your phone…I bought 2 and these are good…WOOT should be more helpful to you…it’s a hard company to deal with at times…
They do mention this…I would call them.
Scratch & Dent: These units have been restored to full working order. They may have minor cosmetic blemishes to the body of the unit and surface scratches on the screen. This will not impair use of the device.
$400 for an 18mo used cellphone with only 16GB of storage and no expandability? Even if I liked iPhones I wouldn’t touch this, especially after noticing it only has a 90 day warranty.
Keep in mind, that on average, an 18mo cellphone battery is about to crap itself, and if this wasn’t refurb’d by Apple (90 days? not Apple), chances are very good they didn’t replace it during the “refurb” process.
Chances are actually extremely good the “refurb” process consisted of a quick outside wipedown (if you’re lucky), clearing of user data and powering down the device before slapping a scratch protector on the front and back (again, if you’re lucky) and packing it in a flimsy cardboard box. Good luck.
No promises about item condition and a defect-only return policy? Forget it. This is why I’ll never buy refurb anything from Woot.
For comparison, there’s a well-known seller of used iPhones that has this same phone for only $20 more, 30-day unconditional returns, and specific terms stating no scratches on the glass.
I bought the 5s in the last sale as well and except for a couple nearly invisible wear marks on the back (presumably from a case), it arrived in pristine condition.
I’ve ordered a few different refurbs from woot! over the years and the only way I could distinguish them from new was the word “Refurbished” on the box. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I’ve never been disappointed with the refurbs here.
Can confirm. I bought 3 iPhone 5’s last week here on woot that were refurbs, and they definitely came in better conditional than I expected considering they were “Scratch and Dent” refurbs. I was happy with the quality and price of all 3 at $109 a pop.
With that being said, I wouldn’t consider spending this much on a phone this old, that’s refurbished, and labeled “Scratch and Dent”, without a better warranty than what is on this product. Not worth the gamble. As someone else mentioned, you have the age of the battery and many other things to consider. Too risky in this case in my opinion.
That’s been my experience also. I’ve bought a few things marked as ‘refurbished’ from Woot and they have all arrived looking and performing as brand new.
In general refurbished handsets, if refurbed by a reputable vendor, are good bets. Reputable includes “factory refurbished” by the phone vendor, refurbed by vendors like Gazelle, and refurbs by other name refurbishing companies. It would be nice to know who refurbished these phones.
At 18 months age the battery should not be in imminent danger of dying, though phone batteries do have a limited useful life-spans, typically several years (at least ~4), but gradually lose capacity over those years.
The price for this refurb is OK - but keep in mind that Apple does operate on a tick-tock upgrade cadence and the next “tick” will come in 6 months or so, meaning these will become relatively obsolete and will see a bigger price drop. If having a reasonable modern iPhone is important to you, this may not be the one you should buy.
The Iphone 5 I received from Woot last week says it was refurbished by Asurion. It’s stamped in very small letters on the back of the case.
You mean stamped as in a sticker? or like permanent stamp?
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I bought the 5s in the last sale as well and except for a couple nearly invisible wear marks on the back (presumably from a case), it arrived in pristine condition.
I’ve ordered a few different refurbs from woot! over the years and the only way I could distinguish them from new was the word “Refurbished” on the box. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I’ve never been disappointed with the refurbs here.
[/quote]
I have had the same luck here..bought 5s phones on the last sale..each phone looked great..my wife got the gold one and it looked mint…mine had a small wear line where the screen saver was added…my new one coved it..I guess it is a game of chance on the condition…
You can find this much cheaper if you look around…