Carphone Warehouse claim water damaged iphone

Alun

Hi all,
Over Christmas, my iphone was plugged in to charge and started to get very hot - I removed the power straight away and let it cool down. The iphone [3GS 32gb] would not turn on. As I bought it from mobiles.co.uk, they said return it to the Carphone Warehouse [CPW] for replair.

This I did, and today I got a call saying that the Apple repair centre claim that it is water damaged and it will cost me £157 to fix it. I explained that I was always very careful with it as I know how much the phone costs.

They said I would have to take it up with Apple once the phone has been returned - I really had no option but to tell them to repair it.

I don't have mobile phone insurance, as I have never ever needed it, as I am careful - I have had about 10 phones and none have ever broken or I have ever dropped them in any water.

After a bit of reading, I have realised that the water damage indicator is a little dot on the inside of the headphone socket - so they have looked at that and probably seen some pink - I know that during the summer, I had it in my trouser pocket and I recall removing it as I was getting a little warm and there was some condensation on the screen - but you can't say that my problem is related to something that happened 4-5 months ago.

Similarly, when I got my phone, I returned it to the CPW within 28 days as it had suffered a similar battery failure...

Is there anything I can do - OK, I will have to pay the £157 but feel that they have got me on a technicality, and I really feel that the fault is not my fault [so to speak].

Cheers

Alun

Exemplar

I worked in mobile retail for many years and am still surprised at the amount of people that claim that their phone had never seen any water when they came in complaining that their phone had stopped working. Just look at any rainy day in a city and the amount of people on their phones.... Also Motorola (I believe) were the first to use the moisture dot in the Razr (please feel free to correct me). These dots do not normally lie......

gjchester

Alun wrote: »

Is there anything I can do - OK, I will have to pay the £157 but feel that they have got me on a technicality, and I really feel that the fault is not my fault [so to speak].

Unfortunatly not, once a indicator has gone pink then thats it, it's classed as water damage, and not covered by the warranty.

Sorry

Silk

Alun wrote: »

Is there anything I can do - OK, I will have to pay the £157 but feel that they have got me on a technicality, and I really feel that the fault is not my fault [so to speak].

Hi Alun,
Have just read your post.
This is only a suggestion and I don't have any knowledge of the iphone so this is only an idea which may be worth trying if you have little to lose ??????
A guy who worked for me last year had a very similar problem although it doesn't mean it's the same fault.
He was charging the phone which became very hot and went off.
The phone would not turn on so sent it back to whoever it was and they told him water damage etc etc
Somebody suggested it was the battery had shorted out.
He bought a new battery for about a tenner and bunged an electronics guy a bottle of scotch who soldered the new battery in and it was right as rain !

DarkConvict

The thing with the water indicators is that once they have changed, they will refuse to repair it under warrentry, even if the issue is not caused by water damage.

Many people on this forum have complained that they have not exposed it to water, but the sensors have changed due to nothing more than normal use of moving from hot to cold environments, so called climate change damage. Sadly once that sensor is gone they will not even investigate the cause of the problem but just state water damage, will not repair.

RevTheory

Silk wrote: »

Hi Alun,
Have just read your post.
This is only a suggestion and I don't have any knowledge of the iphone so this is only an idea which may be worth trying if you have little to lose ??????
A guy who worked for me last year had a very similar problem although it doesn't mean it's the same fault.
He was charging the phone which became very hot and went off.
The phone would not turn on so sent it back to whoever it was and they told him water damage etc etc
Somebody suggested it was the battery had shorted out.
He bought a new battery for about a tenner and bunged an electronics guy a bottle of scotch who soldered the new battery in and it was right as rain !

iphones have a complete seal around battery, cant remove it if you try too Apple will have a hissy fit if anything else goes wrong.

@OP - it was apple who stated Water Damage not CPW as our engineers cant touch the iphone (thank god) we just have to say what apple say.

try taking it to an apple store and speak to a genius there maybe they could try and do something

Alun

Hi all,
Thanks for the info. It's sort of what I had expected - it's almost as if they [Apple] have a get out clause...

OK, so now Apple are repairing it, will they give me a full run-down of what they have repaired, if so [or will I have to ask for this] - can I ask an "Independent expert" if water damage would actually cause the fault that they have repaired.

Regards

Alun

Silk

RevTheory wrote: »

iphones have a complete seal around battery, cant remove it if you try too Apple will have a hissy fit if anything else goes wrong.

Why would it bother Apple ?????????
It is no longer covered because of water damage

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=916210334108085595#

RevTheory

Silk wrote: »

Why would it bother Apple ?????????
It is no longer covered because of water damage

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=916210334108085595#

sorry... miss read there