iPhone 13 Pro Max. Second genuine battery replacement at an Apple store last October, paid out of pocket.

A month later, debris started collecting behind the front camera glass. Four years before that, nothing. I let it go at first, but it kept getting worse. These are rated dust-tight, and resealing the phone is part of what the battery service costs you, so I figured they’d just clean it out.

That’s all I asked for. A cleaning. The store specialist told me it can’t be cleaned, the whole module has to be replaced, and quoted me $199. Same guy said “I don’t want to say your phone is a dinosaur, but” and sent me off to call Apple Support.

Over the next few days:

Senior advisor #1 approved an exception and booked me an appointment for 5:45 PM. I showed up on time. They said there wasn’t enough time left in the day.  
Then they told me the appointment was only to look at the issue anyway, and I’d need to come back again for the replacement. The store had already looked at it days earlier. That’s why I called Apple Support in the first place. Parts were in stock.

Senior advisor #2 set up a mail-in so I wouldn’t have to go back there. 

The repair center had it one day and denied it. Senior advisor #3 told me why: third-party service or parts?

Apple opened this phone in 2023 and again in 2025. Nobody else, ever. Both repairs are in their own system.

The repair status screenshot is what their page shows right now. “Ineligible for repair.” “Your repair is completed.” Same screen, same repair ID.  
I shipped it to them overnight. It’s coming back UPS ground, unrepaired.

Nobody at Apple can tell me what they found.  
If you’ve mailed a device in to Apple and had it come back denied, I want to know what reason they gave you and whether anyone ever showed you the actual finding.

Apple’s repair center denied my mail-in as “third-party service or parts.” Apple is the only one who has ever opened it. Has this happened to anyone else?