How can we get Apple to address bent iPhone 5 problem?

Question

I have a bent iPhone 5. The device had gentle wear and was enclosed in protective case. AT&T told me the bending indicates a manufacturer's defect and I should get a replacement from Apple, but Apple's online and Apple Store representatives refuse to accept responsibility. They will not acknowledge that the alumiumum frame is inherently fragile, more so than previous iPhone frames, and the device requires a higher level of caution.
Consumers around the world report the same problem. See below.
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/12/is-the-iphone-5-prone-to-bending/
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1459792
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1459792
Apple promoted this device in part as a triumph of engineering. Thinner, yet very strong.
So what does it take to pressure Apple to acknolwedge this product defect? And make good with its customers?

Answer 1

Shame on you apple!  I have been an avid Apple fanboy for years.  I have owned all iterations of the iPhone except the iPhone 4.  I have always believed in your products.  I have sold five times as many of your products by word of mouth than I have bought, and believe me, I have owned pretty much anything with your logo on it that has been produced in the last eight years.  You were always a little bit behind the cutting edge, but I always bought your products because they simply worked.  Under the reign of Steve Jobs you did a superb job ensuring your products became extensions of the human body, synchronously living our day to day lives with us, device in hand. 
Then I bought the iPhone 5.  From the first second, I  was a proud owner of a new idevice.  It immediately was placed in an Otterbox, where is stayed between cleanings.  When in the car or at work, it sat in a dock.  When carrying it, it was religiously carried in my front pockets.  Then when I took it out to clean last week, I noted my phone was bent.  Everything works fine.  Except for the contour of my leg impressed into the phone.  It is immaculate. 
After a few minutes of searching the web, I was overcome by the numbers of blog posts, discussion board posts, and even youtube videos chronicling the woes of once happy iPhone 5 owners who are distraught about the conditions of their 200 to 400 dollar relatively new phones which are bent.  After visiting the apple store and being shunned by the manager, I was beginning to get the feeling that this was not the same apple company that would stand behind their product as they did in the past.  Apple's official response is that they do not cover physical damage resulting from abuse to the phone.  They do not consider their flubbed soft phone as a manufacturer's defect.  I was offered to repair my phone for 229 dollars.  It's not that I don't have the money.  I refuse to pay that on principle.  Again, shame on you apple!
After speaking with management in their technical support department, I was offered a 50 dollar credit to use at the apple store on a new product.  I was essentially told they apologized for my inconvenience, but there is nothing they can do.  And oh by the way, you can't use the certificate towards the repair. 
So at they point, I have lost all faith in Apple.  I have seen the gap between Apple and Android rapidly closing.  The apple ecosystem it seems has simply grown too large.  They have forgotten the roots laid by Steve Jobs in which the bottom line was user experience, not profit.  The adage, if you build it, they will come was what made you the juggernaut you have become.  
My stable of Apple products is getting old.  It is time to replace my original iPad and the seven year old iMac in the office isn't too far behind.  Unfortunately, the sour Apple which I have recently eaten has me looking towards Google and its products.  Their cloud based products are getting pretty cool and my 1000 plus employee company has just made that jump also.  Migration is making more and more sense.  It is no wonder your stock price has gone down around 400 dollars a share and your earnings remain flat. 
I am putting this out there in the hopes it is actually read and heard.  Leaving you, Apple, it one of the hardest breakups of my life.  I hope you change, I do!  I would still take you back if you got back on track, only I am skeptical that you won't be able to see past the arrogance you have developed now that you are too big for your britches.