# Mobile phones and water damage



## consumer (11 Sep 2004)

My new Nokia phone stopped working recently.  Took it back to the O2 shop and they sent it for repair.  Came back with the diagnosis of "water damage" and it was deemed unrepairable. Water damage is not covered under the warranty and I did not have insurance.

I protested that I had not knowingly exposed the phone to any liquid. The response I got was that mobiles are very sensitive to moisture damage and that this could be caused, amongst other things, by:-

a) having damp hands
b) leaving a phone by a window (condensation)
c) leaving the phone in a car overnight (condensation)

I further protested that these risks were never explained to me when purchasing the phone and that all it says in the Nokia handbook is "keep your phone dry".  The shop assistant insisted that this was just a matter of "common sense" and that they don't have the time to explain all these things to customers purchasing phones.

It is possible that I have been out in a rain shower with my phone in my pocket but I feel aggrieved that mobile phones are not more resistant to water or damp. In another shop I was advised that this is part of the manufacturers built in obselescence that it applies to all mobiles.

I lost another new phone a few months back when it failed to work after being dropped in a toilet.  I had no grievance about that but now I am shocked about the potential phone damage risks of living in the Irish damp climate.  Have any AAM posters had similar experiences and can anyone recommend a phone that is more water resistant than Nokia ones.


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## sueellen (11 Sep 2004)

Would these people be able to help www.comreg.ie with your complaint and query.

The 'damp hands' cop-out is disgraceful!


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## rainyday (12 Sep 2004)

*Post containing several obscenities deleted*

Please repost content without obscenities at your convenience.


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## skotchporridge (12 Sep 2004)

*.*

Unfortunately I missed the obscene post (would have enjoyed that).

Anyway, I don't think I've ever in my life got the benefit of a guarantee, insurance or warantee. I always suspect that I wont be covered. I've tried a couple of times to get money back, but they always wiggle out.

My phone is six months old, and has a buzzing sound every time I make a phone call. It's still under warrantee. I'm going to get it repaired at phone factory, but I already know in my heart that I'll be paying for it to be repaired.


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## db2admin (13 Sep 2004)

*Re: .*

This happened to me recently with a Seimens c60. It just stopped working and Carphone Warehouse said that it was moisture damage. It had never been wet, but they said it was irreparable and they would do nothing about it.


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## zag (13 Sep 2004)

*Re: .*

This sounds like such a cop out.

I don't know why people put up with it, but then I don't know why people put up with a lot of stuff about mobile phones - like the cost for one.

If I was in that situation I would ask for the reason to be put in writing if the phone is supposed to be under warranty.

As piggy said in another post - everything else electronic continues to get smaller and better and cheaper, but phones just seem to get smaller, less reliable and more expensive.

What is so special about mobile electronics that they are *so* sensitive to moisture or that prevents the handset from being sealed ?  Nothing.

A colleague in work had to go back to one of the shops 3 times when the first 2 handsets failed within a few days.  The 'excuse' given was that that particular model wasn't very reliable.  This begs the question - why are they selling them in the first place then ?

Definitely ask for the 'moisture' thing in writing and see what happens then.

z


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## zag (14 Sep 2004)

*A Crap editor you are Rainyday*

All you had to do was remove the word [deleted]  !

The rest of the post pointed out that Water Damage is a fairly  recent invention and what you should do about it. 

You could have left that in the post if you were a good editor ....but nooooooooo,  find it and paste it back in likea good little girl !

SpaHam


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## rainyday (14 Sep 2004)

*Re: A Crap editor you are Rainyday*

For the record, there were two obscenites and one other distasteful term in the original post. I'm not an editor - I'm a moderator. I don't have time to pick through your posts to take out the obscenities, and by doing so, I would be encouraging you to continue posting with obscenities. 

If you want to keep your posts on the record, use language that you'd be happy to use in front of your elderly aunt (who happens to be a nun).


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## Brendan Burgess (15 Sep 2004)

*Re: A Crap editor you are Rainyday*

I don't know anything about the technology of sealing mobile phones. But if it was that easy, surely there would be a marketing advantage to a manufacturer in producing them? 

People use mobile phones in the rain and in the bath. I don't think it's unreasonable to exclude damage from dampness. However, I do agree that this exclusion should be highlighted. 

Brendan


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## Brendan Burgess (15 Sep 2004)

*Re: A Crap editor you are Rainyday*

Water proof  phones are being marketed for people who drop their phones into pints and toilet bowls!

And from Nokia's [broken link removed]

I couldn't find anything on the Siemen's website.

Brendan


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## Shufty (17 Sep 2004)

*This was the deleted article if I recall correctly .*

Most claims of water damage from O2 shops are simply lies to avoid the cost and hassle of replacing a defective device .  If they do not immediately replace the defective phone in the shop then bring it to an authorised Nokia repair shop if it is a Nokia and pay them to fix it or to certify that the phone  that the <expletive> phone is <expletive>ed in writing . 

Then go straight back to the O2 shop with the bill for the repair (unlikely) or certifcation ....which will also state that there is no water in the <expletive> phone and there never was. 

Make a LOT of noise in the O2 shop if the <expletive>s wont replace it on the spot, the shops are   most amenable to reason when they are busy with customers . Tell them that you need a replacement NOW !

Shufty


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## egordon (9 Oct 2005)

I stupidly left my contract O2 Sony Ericsson QuickShare out in the rain yesterday, resulting in one very dead mobile. I'm only 4 months into an 18 month contract, so don't much relish paying some £35 per month for nothing for the next 14 months! As it won't be covered by the insurance I took out (innocently thinking it would cover all eventualities, including stupid mistakes!!), apart from hoping it dries out in the next few days, I'm at a loss as to what to do. I was wondering if getting it repaired by O2 would be an option??


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## zag (10 Oct 2005)

I was talking to someone from Motorola (handset manufacturers) the other day and he recommended baking the handset in a low (definitely not hot) oven for a few hours to dry off the internals.  He had done this for his wifes handset and it worked.

If your phone is otherwise dead it could be worth a shot.

z


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## CCOVICH (10 Oct 2005)

Or try leaving it in the hotpress-worked for my friend before.


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## penang (10 Oct 2005)

I have had moderate success with a hairdryer...

many phones in chez panang have suffered "water damage" over the years


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## DrMoriarty (10 Oct 2005)

For what it's worth - last time I purchased a (low-end) 'phone on Meteor Pay-as-you-go, the staff member presented me with a photocopied announcement about this water damage "exclusion" and launched into a clearly-rehearsed spiel about it that she'd obviously been instructed-from-above to deliver with every new sale. To be fair, the poor woman herself seemed awful uncomfortable about it...  

In fairness, too — when all these mobile operators are whacking out cheap 'phones at loss-leader prices, you have to ask what exactly you can reasonably expect, for €9 (or €0, or —€9...) For example — the "low-end" 'phone in question was a little Sagem My-something-or-other flip-phone. I handed over €79 for (a) the 'phone, (b) €80 worth of credit (subject to online registration) and (c) three DVDs of my choice from Xtravision's "3-for-€20" range. I'm not saying the freebie DVDs were actually "worth" €20, but if you allow that they were, then I got €100 worth of goods for €79, and a perfectly serviceable mobile 'phone thrown in for nowt. So if the thing "dies", for whatever reason, how much am I really out of pocket? (Incidentally, paying monthly insurance premiums is for the _birds_...!  )

All of this will be scant consolation to those who feel/once felt that they "must" have the latest, best, €400+ model — and paid for it accordingly, and then dropped it in their pint/put it in the washing machine/left it out in the rain, etc. No offence, guys 'n' gals, but jeez! — if you did the same with a camera or a laptop or a PDA, would you expect the warranty to cover it?


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## etel (10 Oct 2005)

A meteor shop tried to diddle my neighbour with "water damage" excuses re: a phone bought 3 months before and faulty . 

The phone had been in its box in a dry cupboard in yer mans house for all of those three months bar the day it was turned on in the morning and brought back to them in the afternoon because it was faulty . The following saturrday he went in to collect his repaired or replaced phone to hear this water damage crap. . 

No moisture ever ever ever came or went near it.  As it was a saturday he kicked up an unholy stink in their shop and they saw his point in the end and replaced it. 

Be prepared  to fight them, whichever operator and shop they are .


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## DrMoriarty (10 Oct 2005)

I won't argue against that, nor suggest that this "water damage" lark is not _also_ an easy let-out clause for companies operating in an ultra-thin-margins environment... (retail-wise, _not_ charge-structures-wise!)


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## legend99 (11 Oct 2005)

The O2 insurance covers accidental water damage AFAIK


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## etel (11 Oct 2005)

A phone that did not last a year (especially when left in a  dry box) is under a normal warranty .


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## dcrolls (23 Jan 2008)

I am probably on my 50th mobile by now, either through loss or accident, the best thing to do is buy a cheep phone and not get too attached to it


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