iPhone 5 "extensive water damage" but it's never been in water?

GlasweJen

would condensation cause this type of damage though? apparently there are tide marks and corrosion in there!

Lifeforms

Welcome to the world of water sensors.

Apparently phones shouldn't be used in pockets, with sweaty hands, in cold environments where condensation can occur, outside in damp or wet weather... It's a joke right?

Basically you want proof that your phone is water damaged, as they say it is.
If they can open it up fine, take it back to a genius bar and ask them to check the damage, and provide dated photos, or something identifiable that it is your phone.

Otherwise find a phone technician and ask for a report on damage with in the phone with provided photos. If it's not the sensors/aka water damage you need to go back to apple with the report/photos and ask for replacement per your warranty agreement. Letter before action after that, then a small claims court action after that, if nothing happens. You can also demand the cost back for the report if all sensors are fine, but if it comes back with water damage, then you need to argue the toss as to whether the water damage is responsible for the phone not working, however it happened, or if there is an obvious hardware fault which prevents the phone not working, and that the sensors are neither here nor there in regards to the fault.

Thing is it's a problem for most electronics now, not just apple. There are a lot of cases of no water damage, but the sensors being triggered, and they're highly sensitive things so the joke of having sweaty hands constantly isn't really a joke (IYSWIM).

Other steps would be to try your own house hold contents insurance if you have accidental damage on it, but naturally subject to loading fees and future higher premiums.

wiogs

ILW wrote: »

Don't buy Iphones. Nothing but trouble.

Oh dear.:cool:

Given that the phone was damaged when you got it then it is possible that there was further internal damage which has not caused you problems until now.

Might be helpful if Apple could give you any idea of when the damage may have occurred,

GlasweJen

My phone has decided to work again for a while - when it does work it's absolutely perfect which makes me wonder about this extensive corrosion inside the phone, if its that bad the thing should be dead right?

I've checked with my bank and the phone is covered by the policy on my bank account, the excess is £50 which is a lot more reasonable than £179!

Pikeyp

Forgive my ignorance here, but if you are on a contract with Orange (or EE?) then surely it is their responsibility to provide you with a replacement phone that works properly?

I remember a few years ago when I was using an Orange top-up (not a contract!!) they replaced my old phone (an LG Chocolate) with a brand new one (an LG Cookie) completely free of charge , admittedly these are nothing like as good as your IPhone but that's the sort of service you should be looking at ... just phone them up and tell them your phones packed up and you need a new one ... 450 I seem to recall was the number to ring.

Lifeforms

No it's not their responsibility, depending how you look at it/what comes up as to what damaged it. If you have a policy with them and it's accidental covered, different matter, however most wont cover water damage which is the issue here (rightly or wrongly; according to apple/genius bar). Also under a certain time limit ie 12 months, and frankly believed to be as long as the contract should last, so perhaps 2 years?

The difference here is that it did go in for a look but the consensus is water damage, which as I said before most wont cover as faulty from start, or faulty workmanship, ie components.

I guess it depends how much the OP wants to push this. I'm pedantic about things like this, so for a phone that arrived damaged already, and was presumably noted at the time of arrival, is under 12 months old, and is not working correctly I would be pursuing action to have it repaired/replaced by orange/EE myself, but again it's about the hassle. Just search for the sony/pc world water damage with a laptop on this techie section and see how well (!) it all works out (several months on with no real resolution still).

So for £50 it might be worth just saying screw you, getting it fixed/replaced and never use iphone/orange again IMO.

GlasweJen

Apparently as Apple are the manufacturer they inspect the goods and come to a verdict. If it is, in the opinion of their 'genius' they will repair/replace the unit up until 12 months after purchase. If it is accidental damage (in the opinion of the 'genius') or outwith 12 months then you go through orange as normal.

I'm arguing the toss with Apple because they are saying its water damage when their own water damage detector which happens to be right in the area they say is damaged is not indicating water and they are refusing to prove that these other sensors are indicating water.

EE/Orange won't touch it until the 12 months have elapsed unless I want to claim on my orange care. I've paid £6 per month for the last 7 years for various phones and usually pay a £15 excess for accidental damage but today I was told that iPhones are £75 plus my policy is no longer offered so I will be transferred to EEs policy which costs £14 per month! Not a step I want to take until I have proof that the unit was damaged by me and not due to a manufacturing fault.

I will pursue this because I'm very bloody minded but I will probably claim the banks insurance if the problem becomes a nuisance. The phone still seems fine just now *touch wood*

Ratboy

If you bought the phone with a credit card, then you could claim via them? There is a monetary limit though of what you bought? Worth checking if you did?

I had a recent fault with a strimmer, contacted the manufacturer, as it was out of the 1 year guarantee from the supplier, and got a bizarre email back 'I'm an ex employee of the company, there was a common fauly, there was a recall, take it back to where you bought it'..strange! no official communication, just like an email from a mate!

So I nipped into the store, told them the story, oohh we only cover 1 year contract, nothing to do with us upto 3 years, bring it in, and we will see. So did so a few days later, refunded no problem, no questions.

So Apple and others, are famous for using the 'wet' sensor for voiding claims, but I thought that was a different sensor, as shown? What they might refer to incorrectly is the g sensor, that checks to see if the phone has been dropped? I think they turn light pink under UV light, so appear white in normal light?

Personally, I'd be looking to the supplier (EE?), not fit for purpose, damaged on arrival (did you note that on delivery?), and £75 small claims, they won't contest, as it is a known fault, money back plus costs and damaged+interest, IF you didn't go down the credit card route.

wba31

you need to really kick off in store. They dont like it.

Last year my iphone 4 wouldnt charge so took it in, i didnt have applecare on it. They looked in the charging port bit and said there was water damage on the charge pins, they had gone green with rust. they wanted £150 for a replacement handset. I advised them that the phone had not been in water and any damage was wear and tear from being in my pocket when raining etc. in the end i got loud (but remained polite) and challenged them to open the phone up to show me the further water damage as a result. They didnt like the fact that the packed bullring store were all turning to watch this argument, put it down as a battery fault and changed it for £50...

Mista_C

GlasweJen wrote: »

I eventually phoned apple care who said that I should have been shown my phone if they wanted to charge me for a new one so I called the store and asked why this didn't happen and the manager of the genius bar said that it was impossible for them to arrange for me to see the phone as it had to be opened in a special environment with anti-static mats and things and it would put me and other customers at risk to open the phone and allow me to view the interior.

Tell them they're talking out of their backsides. The anti-static mats are used to protect the electro-sensitive components in the phone from getting damaged by static discharging from the engineer.

The only thing that is likely to present any risk to customers is the battery... if it spontaneously exploded. Unless they'd like to admit their phones have a problem with exploding batteries there's absolutely no reason they couldn't show you. The board doesn't even need to be taken out of the rear section of the handset.