Help - advice please - carphone warehouse 'liquid damage' excuse

chocolatelover40

I bought a Blackberry Bold from E2save in late December 2010 on a 2 year contract with Orange. The phone would not power on In April 2011 so i rang E2save who advised to take phone into my local cpw for repair which I did on April 19th 2011. We received a call from cpw who advised the phone could not be repaired as it had suffered liquid damage! This I completely refute, the phone has never come into any contact with any liquid or condensation whatsoever whilst in our possession, in fact the phone is always used in an office environment only. As I was so shocked by this information I began to do some research into cpw and on my rights. It appears there are many instances of complaints re cpw and its 'liquid damage' diagnosis, with consumers also adamant that their phones have never been in contact with liquid. It appears from the comments made that this is too often used as an excuse by cpw in not replacing or repairing phones. I also note my consumer rights under The Sale of Goods Act, whereby this phone is obviously not fit for purpose in only lasting 3 months of light use.
Can anyone advise if they have been through similar or give me some advice?
I have emailed the CEO of the above facts they are not really interested so before I go down the letter before claim and small claims court can anyone advise if cpw actually send the phones to blackberry or is in an 'inhouse' repair service, can i get a copy of their engineers report, is it worth contacting Blackberry first?
Any help or advice would be appreciated, sorry for the long text but it is so frustrating knowing i am being given an excuse for something i know in not a fact...

[Deleted User]

Look at the sticker on the end of the battery with the gold contacts on. What colour is it? White or red?

Wintermute

The SOGA is irrelevant if the phone has come in contact with liquid. CPW have their own repair centre while you're unlikely to be able to get a full engineers report (normally it's a case of seeing water damage on the motherboard then a quick note saying that) they should be able to provide you with some sort of evidence and if they can't I'd sent it off to RIM for a second opinion.
Believe it or not liquid damage isn't just an excuse they make up to get out of repairing phones, in my experience the vast majority of people who's phones come back as being damaged either by liquid or physical trauma claim to have no knowledge of how they damaged the handset and there's any number of ways liquid damage can occur.

My best advice would be send the phone off to RIM and see what they come back with, as far as I know nobody says the phone's liquid damage just by going by the LDI, even Apple stopped doing that about a year ago now.

chocolatelover40

I don't understand how a phone of only 3 months which is kept in an office environment can have liquid damaged? the phone has never been taken out of the office, or taken into a bathroom etc, surely it is not fit for purpose. I have not got the phone back from cpw yet as I wanted to been informed re the engineers report if i am allowed a copy of it when I collect my phone - How to I contact RIM? Many thanks for your responses.

grumbler

chocolatelover40 wrote: »

I don't understand how a phone of only 3 months which is kept in an office environment can have liquid damaged? the phone has never been taken out of the office, or taken into a bathroom etc, surely it is not fit for purpose.

I have no reasons not to believe you, but surely anyone can say the same regardless of what actually happened. Hence the indicator. Many times I took my phone to the bath (not just the bathroom) and my indicator is perfectly white.
It is always worth checking it and taking a photo of it before sending it anywhere as I can easily imagine 'engineers' deliberately wetting the indicator to save on repair/replacement.

cjewitt

I have had a success in arguing over liquid damage indicators.

The phone has NEVER been near liquid but the touchscreen ceased to function.

CPW refused to honour an HTC warranty, twice telling me the red LDI invalidated the warranty. I pointed out that the second LDI, inside the phone was white. No progress.

I did live chat with HTC directly, and submitted the phone direct to them. I noted 1) only one of the two LDI was red, and it was the one exposed to atmospheric moisture 2)Apple only invalidate their warranty if all LDIs are red; 3) I did not accept that the red LDI meant the fault was caused by liquid and told them I would pay for an independent lab to investigate, and then sue them for the cost when they found in my favour.

Result: phone returned fixed in 2 days.

FIGHT THEM ALL THE WAY: the LDI is a scam.

viddy

My Galaxy s3 died suddenly 2 weeks ago. I am generally very careful with my stuff and this phone never had any liquid damage. I see so many reports of s3s dying suddenly without any warning. CPW after 2 weeks are telling me the damage cannot be repaired by them and there is no liquid damage which is a bunch of lies. Will contact Samsung and if necessary go to court one thing I haste most is liars and cheats.

matttye

viddy wrote: »

My Galaxy s3 died suddenly 2 weeks ago. I am generally very careful with my stuff and this phone never had any liquid damage. I see so many reports of s3s dying suddenly without any warning. CPW after 2 weeks are telling me the damage cannot be repaired by them and there is no liquid damage which is a bunch of lies. Will contact Samsung and if necessary go to court one thing I haste most is liars and cheats.

Before you go to court check the water indicators.

They're usually in the headphone jack, dock/charger connector and there's sometimes one hidden inside.

If they're pink/red that means they've been in contact with water. They can be triggered by simple condensation, they don't have to be completely submerged.

Richard_T_

If they're pink/red that means they've been in contact with water. They can be triggered by simple condensation, they don't have to be completely submerged.

A mobile phone is mobile, and it should be able to function when out and about, that means you should be able to use it out side if its cold, if its hot, if its humid, if its raining and so on, as well as being able to use it when going from somewhere hot, to somewhere cold, or the other way round.

Admitidly leaving it in your pocket and putting it in the wash, or dropping it in water would be a step too far, the above examples should be seen as something a mobile phone shouyld eb able to cope with, otherwise it is not fit for purpose.

mattyprice4004

Richard_T_ wrote: »

A mobile phone is mobile, and it should be able to function when out and about, that means you should be able to use it out side if its cold, if its hot, if its humid, if its raining and so on, as well as being able to use it when going from somewhere hot, to somewhere cold, or the other way round.

Admitidly leaving it in your pocket and putting it in the wash, or dropping it in water would be a step too far, the above examples should be seen as something a mobile phone shouyld eb able to cope with, otherwise it is not fit for purpose.

Rubbish. So because a portable radio is mobile, or a hairdryer is mobile, you'd expect to be able to use that in the rain too?

You'd have to be an idiot to use a phone in the rain and expect it to be covered under warranty when it breaks. Common sense dictates electricity and water don't mix.

You're on the phone and it starts raining? Seek cover, or tell the person you're speaking to that it's raining and you will call them back later.

I used to work in the Repairs team for a major UK mobile retailer.

Richard_T_

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

Rubbish. So because a portable radio is mobile, or a hairdryer is mobile, you'd expect to be able to use that in the rain too?

You'd have to be an idiot to use a phone in the rain and expect it to be covered under warranty when it breaks. Common sense dictates electricity and water don't mix.

You're on the phone and it starts raining? Seek cover, or tell the person you're speaking to that it's raining and you will call them back later.

I used to work in the Repairs team for a major UK mobile retailer.

I have yet to see a\ battery powered 'portable' hair dryer, in my opinion a phone that dies/suffers water damage from being used in a humid environment, or by being taken from cold to warm - for example outside on a cold day to a heated building, or even just taken out of a pocket in a rain shower is not fit for purpose.
If mobile phone retailers are using these as excuses not to honour warranties, or respect consumers right then mobile phone retailers should be investigated for selling shoddy products that are not fit for purpose.