Vodafone water damage scam - so angry?!

prowla

JethroUK wrote: »

I seen on Gadget Show some special bag you can buy for wet phones - they dunked a mobile in the sea and then put it in one these bags and next day it was fine - they rated it

But that won't help if the problem is moisture in general, as opposed to immersing it in water.

Silk

JethroUK wrote: »

I seen on Gadget Show some special bag you can buy for wet phones - they dunked a mobile in the sea and then put it in one these bags and next day it was fine - they rated it

The only problem is that once the indicators have changed colour they don't change back

Vodafone

Hi bootsdingo77,

I can certainly appreciate your frustrations with this.

Water damage can be caused by various different factors including condensation, as you have been advised. I appreciate that this may seem unlikely but it can happen, even through the handset being in a steamy bathroom.

All handsets have moisture indicators inside them which will change colour as soon as they come into contact with any sort of moisture. If these confirm that the handset has come into contact with water, it will void the warranty.

As grumbler has mentioned, we can request a report from our repair centre to confirm the decision.

If you would like me to look into this for you further, you can contact me via the details here, including WRT135 FAO Heidi in the subject.

Many thanks,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

Mrs_Arcanum

Dave101t wrote: »

so its in a (possibly) plastic cover with few vents, it is on all the time with a nice warm battery, and this heat is further insulated by being trapped in a handbag? i dont need a ladybird book on thermodynamics to tell me there could be a problem.

Regardless a phone "should" be able to withstand such storage. It is quite ridiculous that a phone could be so sensitive that it cannot survive general, expected and perfectly normal handling. :mad:

taylor11_2

Moisture damage will always be a grey area, however, the likelihoodis that your phone has been in contact with some sort of moisture and as aresult the indicators have turned red or the Vodafone repair centre hasidentified corrosion or there is some other indicator that the handset has beenin contact with moisture.

:mad: Why do people always suspect that large organisations have avendetta against customers – they don’t. Without customers they wouldn’t exist. It is unfortunate that your handset is damaged, however, I believe thatVodafone are being fair in offering to replace the handset for £100 which issuspect is a lot less than what it would cost to purchase a new handset.

Guys_Dad

taylor11 wrote: »

Why do people always suspect that large organisations have avendetta against customers – they don’t. Without customers they wouldn’t exist. It is unfortunate that your handset is damaged, however, I believe thatVodafone are being fair in offering to replace the handset for £100 which issuspect is a lot less than what it would cost to purchase a new handset

Why? Because of a number of threads on here were the fault has been found subsequently not to be water damage or corrosion. When obvious things like a broken off on/off switch has been refused repair because of "water damage" and because it's just too easy to blame any/all fault on water damage if the indicator is tripped.

And because the vendor is hardly impartial, are they? In any trial, you have independent juries and it's not the prosecution who decides guilt or innocence.

WestonDave

If its possible to make a £10 watch water tight to 50m, it is entirely reasonable to expect a £300 mobile phone to be able to survive all but total immersion in water! If manufacturers stopped messing around with gimmicks and remembered that the primary purpose of a mobile phone is to be used away from home - i.e. often outside in less than ideal weather, we might avoid this problem. No-one expects a phone soaked in beer to be repaired for free, but a phone which cannot survive a bit of atmospheric humidity cannot be fit for purpose!

chanz4

I have a bb, my indicator has not turned red. Think maybe the way op uses it, eg texting in the bath?

JJ_Egan

I take my phone out of my pocket and at times its noticeably warm .
Now my little bit of schooling that's left tells me if its colder outside the phone will cool outside whilst still warm inside leading to possible condensation .

jje

bootsdingo77

Thanks for everyones advice - and to answer the sarcastic comments...no I dont go out drinking and leave it on the table (I am a mum of 2 year old twin boys- no pub drinking for me these days!) and not a lot of time for texting in the bath either!

My main grievance is the phone has not been wet, has not been exposed to the rain , and is kept in ecellent conditon, so I feel after just 4 months it shouldnt devlop a fault due to me breathing!!! Also I am furious that Vodafone are not dealing with this whole situation in a good way - I have been emailing them for the last 4 days and keep getting robotic template emails back stating they will send me a repair enevelope - they arent even reading the complaint! I shall contact the Vodafone rep on here and see if that gets me anywhere.