Samsung Galaxy S2 bricked after 30 days

Guys_Dad

bradfrankshaw wrote: »

In the end, I wouldn't mind being told Water damage, we can fix it for £100. But for carphone to just say Sorry its damaged, but you still have to pay £35 a month for 23 months and if you want a new SGS2, that'll be £500 please, its feels like an uncaring punch in the face and a kick in the balls.

As I have written on numerous other threads, I believe that "water damage" is used as a 100% get out for many faults that have nothing to do with a slight ingress of moisture that may have occurred some time before. But genuine water damage, I am informed by experts here and elsewhere, can and does have devastating results on handsets.

Rusty!

I completely agree with that, it's a get out clause.

Guys_Dad

Rusty! wrote: »

I completely agree with that, it's a get out clause.

It sure gets my claws out anyway. :rotfl:

bradfrankshaw_2

Yeah I've only got their engineers word for it that it was Water Damage. It sounds cynical, but it wouldn't surprise me if these "paper indicators" were tripped many times to get out of repairs. I mean, if printer cartridges can have "Used by dates" that stop it from working after X date even if it still had ink in it, then mobile companies can use "Water damage" to get out of repairing the phone.

I think my biggest beef is that we were given no option to repair the phone by CPW and still presented with the contract to pay. It was only when we phoned T Mobile that an option for repair was given - maybe they will fix, maybe they will say water damage and fix for a cost. It just seems daft that CPW seemed so unwilling to help.

"How does she use it during exercise? My O2X goes in a neoprene armband when I run/go to the gym, supplies music and GPS tracking. The armband gets night on soaked, but very little makes it to the back of the phone, might have been enough to trigged the internal moisture indicator. Not that that's difficult, moving from a cold area to a warm one can do that due to condensation."

I just txted my wife to ask this, assuming she held onto it or had it in her pocket. Our exercise bike is at home, so constant normal temperature in the house. She said she would set the music then put it on a mantelpiece in the bedroom where the bike is whilst listening with headphones. She said then she'd pick it up (it has a thick yellow bounce/drop grip) - hands clammy to check messages, switch off the music before leaving it and going for a shower.

So that's worse than I expected! I thought she had it in her hand for half an hour or in her pocket - but it was no where near her!! How does a minute or so holding the device with warm hands cause fundamental damage like this? Should it come with a clause "Do not hold if you have clammy hands?" - she only works off 500 calories a go on a bike, not jogging or whatever, strapped to her arm or in her pocket! That sounds mental!

bradfrankshaw_2

We collected the phone from CPW - they showed us the report from the engineers; nothing specific except Water Damage which could have come from many sources. There was a photo of the "damage" - although it could have been an oil painting of anything as far I could tell. For proof, it was pretty poor. Even the staff were a bit confused as to how the damage could have occurred. We were asked had we left it near a window, done this done that - sort of questions that made me think There are more things you can't or shouldn't do with it than you should!

Plus all of the environments you're not allowed to be in or circumstances - is it fair to constantly thinking "I'm moving from X to Y environment, is the temperature difference enough to damage my phone or cause water damage, if so, I'd better do .... what??? Stick it in a water decontamination rice/silica gel bag until properly adjusted?" That's not normal - but is just what is expected to occur if you do not want to be caught by the Water Damage trap.

The staff member said in their opinion, we should get a second opinion and not from their staff - they admitted it could be that they have mixed up the report or examined the wrong phone (!!) - so to send off to Samsung to get it from the horses mouth. A quick call to Samsung organised an email and a repair procedure. So, watch this space...

MissKeith

I used to work for CPW, very close to their central repair hub. The engineers there got paid commission, every handset they successfully repaired they got paid for, any that they couldn't repair didn't earn them a penny yet they still had to duo the same amount of work to attempt to fix it. They do not just go by the strip of paper inside the handset, I saw many phones indicators be tripped but still get repaired successfully. When a handset is found to have moisture damage, sometimesit can be repaired but it is B.E.R. or 'Beyond Economical Repair' which means it would cost more to repair than to replace.

Yes, sometimes it is worth a second opinion as engineers can make mistakes (even though your handset has probably been looked at by at least two engineers), however from experience I've never known a reason why water damage is a get out clause.

Techhead_2

As far as I know, all the repair companies work on the same basis No repair, No fee.

It simply isn't in their interest to invent an excuse not to repair. If they were that way inclined it would be better for them to pretend to repair the handset.

grumbler

Techhead wrote: »

As far as I know, all the repair companies work on the same basis No repair, No fee.

It simply isn't in their interest to invent an excuse not to repair.

If they have loads of phones waiting for repair it is in their interests to cherry-pick the easy jobs with obvious faults and to dismiss more complicated jobs that can require a lot of time without a guaranteed success. Too big proportion of phones that they fail to repair and return to the manufacturer can cause questions about their ability to do the job. It's much easier to blame the customer.

If they were that way inclined it would be better for them to pretend to repair the handset.

What about "No repair, No fee" if they 'pretend' and fail?

bradfrankshaw_2

The CPW peeps sais the SGS2 doesn't come with a moisture paper indicator - it was just obvious by the damage to the circuit boards. It just seems galling that the phone can be so easily damaged and yet we sign the contract not knowing HOW easily it can be damaged.

And who determines if the phone is 'Beyond Economical Repair'? I got no choice in the matter. Are you saying it will cost more for the engineer to replace the damaged circuit board than the cost of the phone as a whole? That sounds rubbish! And it can't be compared to say Car Insurance Write Offs as a circuit board is not like a damaged crumple zone or broken chassis.

I wouldn't mind paying out for a repair but no one at CPW gave me that choice.

MissKeith - out of interest - how many smartphones roughly would you say were being sent in damaged by Water Damage? Is this a problem that needs to be addressed? It's akin to people putting the wrong fuel in their car but without knowing WHY putting the wrong fuel in their car is wrong and being told Oh well tough, your fault, but you still owe us the insurance and repayments on it.

MissKeith

It didn't happen too often. They always came with a photo of the damage, there was only one occasion where I felt a mistake had been made because the photo wasn't clear at all. I've seen both cheap and expensive phones suffer from moisture damage, I've seen handsets which have clearly had a good dunk get repaired and I've seen handsets that may only have had a little condensation completely ruin the phone. It depends on where the moisture had settled.

I have also had customers SWEAR BLIND their phone has not been near any liquid... When all indicators have been tripped, the phone is sticky and smells of lemonade. I suppose it's easier to rely on an engineers report than it is to get into arguments with people clearly trying it on.