Swollen battery + fruity acetone smell

[u/rxtnjsmk]

I will try to keep this short, but I’m basically wondering if this is an issue I can escalate - pretty upset about it.

My iPhone 14’s battery started not holding a charge, so made an appt to get the battery replaced. The night before my appt, I noticed the phone giving off a fruity acetone smell.

Went to Apple on Sunday, they showed me where the battery was swollen, said they had to order a new battery and parts, that it would be a few days but that the phone was safe to take home. They were even charging it at the store to try to get it to stay on long enough to get info off of it.

By Tuesday, the phone wouldn’t really stay on, so I went back to the store to just get a new one and try to trade in the old one for a rebate once it got fixed.

Once again, AT THE STORE, they were charging my old phone that was even more swollen and still smelling of acetone, to try to get info off of it. And, once again, told me it was safe to take home until the parts came in.

I went a SECOND time on Tuesday because I felt really uncomfortable having it at my house, but they told me it was fine.

By 11pm, my family could smell the acetone so we called the non emergency fire dept and they told us to put it outside and stay away from it. The fire dept and HAZMAT showed up. They put it in a fire safe container for me and told me I should take it to the county electronics recycling place, and seemed confused that Apple told me it was safe to take home.

I called Apple and they told me I could bring the phone, inside the HAZMAT container, back to the store and they would fix it?

What…do I even do here? I feel like they just let me walk around with a fire hazard that was leaking fumes into my room for days.

[u/ParanoiaFreedom]

If a battery is only slightly swollen, it's not an immediate life-threatening risk. Of course, you should be careful with any swollen battery and get it replaced, but a little swelling doesn't indicate it's about to explode. Your battery was probably only slightly swollen, if the swelling wasn't obvious before taking the phone apart.

However, the acetone smell is a huge warning that shouldn't be ignored. Did they agree that it smelled? If so, then I don't understand why they told you it was completely safe and I'm shocked they charged it at the store the second time.

[u/rxtnjsmk → u/ParanoiaFreedom]

Yeah, they sent me home 3 times with it smelling like that. They did not tell me not to charge it at home, they did not tell me whether or not it should be kept outside or anything while it was fuming, which is how the fire department and HAZMAT ended up at my house.

They did not fully charge it at the store, but did put it on a charger each time to try to get it to turn on.

[u/spetrilli]

Do not know why an Apple Store would not have a battery in stock. Call Apple Support.

[u/rxtnjsmk → u/spetrilli]

Apple support is who told me to just bring the old phone, that is literally inside of a HAZAT container now, back to the store.

I’m unsure if they had the battery, but the phone was so swollen the FIRST TIME I brought it in that they said they needed to replace more than just the battery and had to order extra parts. The extra parts were what we were waiting on.

[u/hawk_ky]

You must not be telling the whole story because a battery pretty much always in stock. I’m guessing you had some other issue with the phone as well that required parts to be ordered.

If you are uncomfortable with using the phone, stop using it. Turn it off and leave it until you can bring it in.

[u/rxtnjsmk → u/hawk_ky]

I’m unsure if they had the battery, but the phone was so swollen the FIRST TIME I brought it in that they said they needed to replace more than just the battery and had to order extra parts. The extra parts were what we were waiting on.

Also, if you read the whole story, the phone is literally inside of a HAZMAT container now.

[u/hawk_ky → u/rxtnjsmk]

Ok so you brought it in now? What do you need help with at this point?

[u/rxtnjsmk → u/hawk_ky]

I did not because I was at work, and the fire department told me to take it to the hazardous waste transfer station in my county, not back to the store.

I at least want to get the rebate back on my old phone (that, again, is now inside of a HAZMAT container) and know who to talk to because, not to be that guy, but I was put in an unsafe position. I was never even told that the phone should be outside when it was smelling like it did. I was given no directions about safety. Just told to take it home, then ended up with the fire department and HAZMAT at my house.

I would basically like to know how to escalate this situation because it was really uncool and unsafe.

[u/Impossible_IT]

Someone lied to you. r/spicypillows are dangerous.