iPhone 15 Pro Max 512GB

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is hands down the best phone I’ve ever owned! The design is sleek and lightweight, and the titanium build feels premium. The camera quality is incredible—photos and videos come out crystal clear, even in low light. Performance-wise, it’s lightning-fast, and apps run seamlessly without a hitch. Battery life is impressive, lasting me all day with heavy use. I love how immersive the display is, perfect for streaming and gaming. If you’re on the fence, go for it—this phone is worth every penny!

In a nutshell, only buy a “Renewed Premium” phone through Amazon if you are absolutely sure that you will keep the phone, and if you are prepared to make multiple phone calls and spend hours on the phone in the event that there is something wrong with the phone that does require you to return it. And be warned that even then you are not guaranteed to be able to return it.

As regards the phone itself, “salvage” would be the more accurate description of the condition of the phone that I received. Yes, it is renewed. The battery health was at 100%, for which I was pleased. The packaging is subpar, an Amazon renewed box which could be worse, but does little to inspire confidence in their handling of a $1k phone. The ill-fitted plastic film “protecting” the phone was what really pushed it into subpar territory. The phone I received was apparently previously damaged, based on notifications found within the iOS settings. I am going to assume that the damage was repaired by Apple or an Apple authorized repair service. However, unlike an Apple refurbished item, where you are receiving a previously used, possibly damaged, item, but one that has been fully refurbished and can be considered as new, these Amazon “Renewed Premium,” phones have been essentially rendered as “salvage title.” As far as I could tell the Apple warranty, which should still be active on an item less than a year old, was voided when the repair was made, presumably because it was made under a warranty or insurance claim. That is fine, just be aware of it. I was prompted to “Finish Repairing Your Back Glass” when I accessed iOS for the first time.

Ultimately I decided to return the phone based on the “Max” size. I ordered it because of the increased battery life of the Max model, but I did not realize that it would be too large to fit into most of my cell phone pockets. An entirely new wardrobe (with custom pockets?) was out of the question, and frankly I was dissatisfied with the overall quality of what I received for the price that I paid, so I “used” the phone all of 10-15 minutes before factory resetting it and packaging it back up to be returned.

This is where things get “interesting.” Because the item was valued at over $1,000, Amazon only gives one return option: a UPS pickup. Not only that, but they decide when UPS will pick it up, you have no control over that. I don’t know how many people have the flexibility of taking a day off of work in order to be home when they decide to pick it up. There is no time window given, and I wasn’t even given the day, instead discovering that my UPS pickup attempts had begun when I found UPS “sorry we missed you” labels attached to my parcel box. Luckily for me I was working at home, but we’re a farm and I was in the back with a crew and using loud power tools. There was no way I could know when UPS arrived unless they called or honked. Though I did have my eyes and ears peeled all day, hoping to catch them. I do know that UPS was provided with my phone number, as Amazon stated in the return instructions that they had provided UPS with it and that I could expect them to contact me to arrange the pickup. In addition I have a large 12×16 sign at the front gate with my phone # displayed in large print. UPS never called. Apparently it is UPS policy in my area to make no attempt to contact the residents regarding a package pickup, that includes knocking on the front door. From what I can surmise from my communication with them, they expect packages to be left at the street where they can pick them up at their convenience. That is certainly what they requested me to do.

That left me in the position of leaving a package valued at over $1,000 at the road, where stolen packages are not an entirely uncommon threat (a neighbor has installed security cameras for the sole purpose of addressing this). So I called Amazon and asked for written permission to leave the package at the road, acknowledging that I would have no liability for the package once I left it there. Of course they could not comply, and further I was instructed -NOT- to leave the package at the road. This began a back and forth, because apparently UPS and Amazon do not communicate with each other, where I made a total of 6 phone calls and spent well over an hour on the phone trying to sort the whole mess out. With absolutely no positive result. Neither Amazon nor UPS would budge, Amazon Could not allow me any other method of return (I asked to deliver the package to the UPS store myself), and UPS offered nothing at all, not even any information about when or how to effect the pickup.

At that point, realizing that the phone would not be picked up, and being told by Amazon that there was no other way to return the phone, I called my credit card company and disputed the charge. The thought process that I had was that neither Amazon nor UPS cared about the return, as they already had my money and they had nothing to lose. But, if they didn’t have the money, they would be motivated to ensure that the phone did get returned. I believe that I was correct in my judgement. I called Amazon after disputing the charge and the Amazon representative that I spoke with did seem far more motivated. He instructed me to get the UPS driver to leave the shipping label, so that I could attach it to the package and carry the package into a UPS store. At first it seemed even this wouldn’t work, as I found a response to my written note stating they could not leave the shipping label. I believe that Amazon contacted them, because I did find the shipping label in my parcel box the next day. And it would seem that the whole affair was wrapped up, after many hours, phone calls, and much frustration.

But that wasn’t the end. I called Amazon to follow up on the experience, and suggest that they amend their returns policy for these types of returns and I was rudely accused of having “stolen” the item. That was rich, as I had already returned the phone, and it was very likely already in the possession of Amazon when their representative made this offensive comment. Then, almost two weeks after I returned the item I receive an e-mail from Amazon saying that they’ve seen the disputed charge and that I should have contacted Amazon Customer Service instead of disputing the charge. Further, they have the right to charge any card, account, or use any Amazon gift card balance, that I have associated with the account in order to recover the amount of the chargeback. They have asked for my response, which I will be giving them. And if I have to I will take the matter to small claims court.

In a nutshell, just as I opened this story, I would strongly advise against, or at the very least advise great caution, before ordering an Amazon renewed iPhone.

So I had left a 20 foot extension ladder leaning against the gutter due to putting up some Christmas lights but I hadn’t finished the job. The wind blew up and made the ladder fall on the box that this iPhone was delivered in. I was quite pleased that the packaging took the hit and didn’t damage the phone. The phone I received was in true renewed premium condition, with the battery life meter still showing 100% capacity and no notable blemishes on the phone. Mine came with a USB A to C charger cable but no block.

Got this yesterday. Spotless, battery life at 100%. The one I got is US version with eSim only, no slot for actual physical SIM.
I am in Canada with Telus and eSim works perfectly so far, no issues.

I thought when buying this phone that I would be scammed or that there would be a hidden “what if” with the purchase. I was going to go buy the phone at apple, but it turns out that they don’t sell this version anymore despite being less than a year old. The only other option was to go to my service provider, but they end taking too much of my time and they normally sell locked phones. However, I took the chance and decided to buy it, and I was proven wrong. There was not a single scratch nor dent on the phone, and it was brand new. I did check the battery health and it was at 92% and the iPhone was actually unlocked when I looked at the settings. No stolen records were found when I searched for it with IMEI and other resources. Definitely worth it!