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BSE - Water damaged Iphone 4 - Apple replaced my phone!!!

M

mackoroni

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
12
0
After installing my "Best Skins Ever" screen protector my worst nightmare ever began. I thought the install went well. I followed the directions perfectly and everything looked great. After allowing it to dry properly I turned the phone back on and I saw what appeared to be dark blotches on the screen. I thought maybe it was an illusion so I immediately tore off the screen protector and my heart sank. Water had leaked inside the retina display. It covered a large portion of the screen and was all around the edges. I was in shock.

After I cooled off I came to terms with the fact that I would have to pony up $200 to have my phone replaced. I went to the genius bar and told them what happened. I said that I knew water damage was not covered under my warranty and that I just wanted to pay to have the phone repaired or replaced. The guy told me to sit tight and he would see what he could do. He went in the back room for what seemed like ages. When he finally returned he handed me a brand new phone and said "Your all set".

I was ecstatic! I could not believe how he went above and beyond to satisfy a customer like that. This kind of customer service is rare these days. The AT&T store wouldn't even look at my mom's Pantech phone problem because her "water sensor" had changed colors. It turned out that all I had to do to to fix her issue was a simple power on and off.

In the end I have to say my hat is off to Apple. They have earned another customer for life. As far as Best Skins Ever is concerned. They may just receive an email from an angry customer asking them to revise the FAQ on their website. :D Peace out!


Q: Do I really have to use water to apply Best Skins Ever?

A: An iPod Nano can survive a trip through a washing machine and a dunk in a toilet. So don’t let this part scare you.

P.S. Here are some pics for the non-believers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48775611@N02/
 
M

mackoroni

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
12
0
Well obviously I used to much water if other people have not had a problem. I sprayed the skins with a spray bottle on mist setting as the instructions show. My problem I think came during the squeegee process. The screens on the iPhone 4 are not sealed as good as the 3g. Some of the water went in the phone when going over the edges. Again the top and bottom screen just snap on the phone with NO glue or sealant. Regardless the amount: water + iPhone 4 = danger. :eek:
 
J

Jayman34187

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2010
133
0
mackoroni said:
After installing my "Best Skins Ever" screen protector my worst nightmare ever began. I thought the install went well. I followed the directions perfectly and everything looked great. After allowing it to dry properly I turned the phone back on and I saw what appeared to be dark blotches on the screen. I thought maybe it was an illusion so I immediately tore off the screen protector and my heart sank. Water had leaked inside the retina display. It covered a large portion of the screen and was all around the edges. I was in shock.

After I cooled off I came to terms with the fact that I would have to pony up $200 to have my phone replaced. I went to the genius bar and told them what happened. I said that I knew water damage was not covered under my warranty and that I just wanted to pay to have the phone repaired or replaced. The guy told me to sit tight and he would see what he could do. He went in the back room for what seemed like ages. When he finally returned he handed me a brand new phone and said "Your all set".

I was ecstatic! I could not believe how he went above and beyond to satisfy a customer like that. This kind of customer service is rare these days. The AT&T store wouldn't even look at my mom's Pantech phone problem because her "water sensor" had changed colors. It turned out that all I had to do to to fix her issue was a simple power on and off.

In the end I have to say my hat is off to Apple. They have earned another customer for life. As far as Best Skins Ever is concerned. They may just receive an email from an angry customer asking them to revise the FAQ on their website. :D Peace out!


Q: Do I really have to use water to apply Best Skins Ever?

A: An iPod Nano can survive a trip through a washing machine and a dunk in a toilet. So don’t let this part scare you.
Click to expand...

proof?????
 
xraydoc

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,790
5,246
192.168.1.1
ItsJustafnPhone said:
your suppose to mist the phone with water... what the hell did you do, dunk the phone :confused:
Click to expand...

You should mist the plastic protector itself, not the phone.

There are screen protectors that don't require water. They're not as thick, but the stick via static cling. Best Buy sells some for the iPhone 4 (I've seen them carry mirrored, anti-glare and privacy; haven't seen any plain clear. Quality of the anti-glare isn't bad, actually). Also check out Power Support USA. Been using them for years going back to the original iPhone.
 
B

Bathplug

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2010
886
229
I had water leak into the screen on my ipod touch 2g 2 years ago. I believe it was the squeegee process that caused it also. I managed to get a replacement from the store I got it from saying it was like that when I got it lol.

I successfully put a protector on my iphone 4 just fine though but I was extra cautious with the squeegee and put sticky tape around the phone and on any open areas to prevent water leaking inside.
 
B

barkomatic

macrumors 601
Aug 8, 2008
4,521
2,826
Manhattan
That's awesome you got that replacement. I hope you don't go back to using screen protectors that require any type of liquid to apply. I'll second Powersupport protectors. They look and feel just like the glass and go on using static cling--yet they are very stable and "stick" to the glass just as securely as something glued on. Radtech is a little cheaper and also makes a decent static cling protector.

I honestly don't know how anyone thought it would be a good idea to market a product that requires an electronic device to come into contact with liquid. (This isn't a criticism of you OP, but the companies that make these things)
 
T

TBONE72

macrumors regular
Sep 25, 2007
188
11
mackoroni said:
After installing my "Best Skins Ever" screen protector my worst nightmare ever began. I thought the install went well. I followed the directions perfectly and everything looked great. After allowing it to dry properly I turned the phone back on and I saw what appeared to be dark blotches on the screen. I thought maybe it was an illusion so I immediately tore off the screen protector and my heart sank. Water had leaked inside the retina display. It covered a large portion of the screen and was all around the edges. I was in shock.

After I cooled off I came to terms with the fact that I would have to pony up $200 to have my phone replaced. I went to the genius bar and told them what happened. I said that I knew water damage was not covered under my warranty and that I just wanted to pay to have the phone repaired or replaced. The guy told me to sit tight and he would see what he could do. He went in the back room for what seemed like ages. When he finally returned he handed me a brand new phone and said "Your all set".

I was ecstatic! I could not believe how he went above and beyond to satisfy a customer like that. This kind of customer service is rare these days. The AT&T store wouldn't even look at my mom's Pantech phone problem because her "water sensor" had changed colors. It turned out that all I had to do to to fix her issue was a simple power on and off.

In the end I have to say my hat is off to Apple. They have earned another customer for life. As far as Best Skins Ever is concerned. They may just receive an email from an angry customer asking them to revise the FAQ on their website. :D Peace out!


Q: Do I really have to use water to apply Best Skins Ever?

A: An iPod Nano can survive a trip through a washing machine and a dunk in a toilet. So don’t let this part scare you.
Click to expand...

I love hearing stories like this! It seems if you're cool headed and honest about what happened to your product, Apple just may surprise you. My best friend's son dropped his iPod touch in a creek. He and his son brought to the Genius Bar, told them exactly what happened and asked how much it would be to repair it. The employee came back with a new iPod Touch and said 'promise not to do it again? Here you go. Enjoy.' Very cool.
 
I

Irish Rose

macrumors 65816
May 29, 2010
1,068
1
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A400 Safari/6531.22.7)

Good to hear that the Apple rep did this for you.
 
M

mackoroni

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
12
0
barkomatic said:
That's awesome you got that replacement. I hope you don't go back to using screen protectors that require any type of liquid to apply. I'll second Powersupport protectors. They look and feel just like the glass and go on using static cling--yet they are very stable and "stick" to the glass just as securely as something glued on. Radtech is a little cheaper and also makes a decent static cling protector.

I honestly don't know how anyone thought it would be a good idea to market a product that requires an electronic device to come into contact with liquid. (This isn't a criticism of you OP, but the companies that make these things)
Click to expand...

They use static cling? That sounds like it would be easier to deal with. I am going to stay away from water for good. I didn't want dust or bubbles so I thought BSE was my best option.
 
M

mackoroni

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
12
0
Bathplug said:
I had water leak into the screen on my ipod touch 2g 2 years ago. I believe it was the squeegee process that caused it also. I managed to get a replacement from the store I got it from saying it was like that when I got it lol.

I successfully put a protector on my iphone 4 just fine though but I was extra cautious with the squeegee and put sticky tape around the phone and on any open areas to prevent water leaking inside.
Click to expand...

Wow you went back for a second round with the water? Brave man. As you can see from my pics the water mostly got in from the top of the phone between the metal and the screen. It was the Squeegee process for sure.
 
ntrigue

ntrigue

macrumors 68040
Jul 30, 2007
3,805
4
I think more and more owners are seeing outstanding service from the Genius Bar.
 
labman

labman

macrumors 604
Jun 9, 2009
7,786
2
Mich near Detroit
Nice goes to show sometimes honesty is best. they see enough people lie to them. So I think honestly goes along way. may I suggest sending a thank you card to the store. or dropping off a nice treat and a card. people rarely do extra and it goes along way. the guy saved you $200 bucks! I will just chalk the rest under experience btw a few good youtube video's how to put it on ya might want to watch before trying again.
 
M

mackoroni

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
12
0
labman said:
Nice goes to show sometimes honesty is best. they see enough people lie to them. So I think honestly goes along way. may I suggest sending a thank you card to the store. or dropping off a nice treat and a card. people rarely do extra and it goes along way. the guy saved you $200 bucks! I will just chalk the rest under experience btw a few good youtube video's how to put it on ya might want to watch before trying again.
Click to expand...

Yeah I made sure that employee knew how thankful I was. I think the fact that I went in there ready to shell out $200 bucks helped me out. Initially he was going to charge me as I was almost insisting it. But I think he figured that he could make my day by using his power to help me out. I also think that apple is replacing some of these phones so they can study the effects of common user problems. They don't even sell invisible shield or BSE style protectors at the apple store. They will probably use my phone as an example why. I am proud to donate my IP4 to science. ;)

And yeah I should of watched some installation videos first. Hindsight is 20/20.
 
M

mackoroni

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
12
0
barkomatic said:
That's awesome you got that replacement. I hope you don't go back to using screen protectors that require any type of liquid to apply. I'll second Powersupport protectors. They look and feel just like the glass and go on using static cling--yet they are very stable and "stick" to the glass just as securely as something glued on. Radtech is a little cheaper and also makes a decent static cling protector.

I honestly don't know how anyone thought it would be a good idea to market a product that requires an electronic device to come into contact with liquid. (This isn't a criticism of you OP, but the companies that make these things)
Click to expand...

The more I read water damage posts on this forum the more wet install problems I am finding. Heck I even found an install video on you tube and the guy recommends using allot of fluid. It was about the same amount I used. I don't think people realize that this phone is just metal sandwiched between two screens. There is no sealant at all. Any amount of water near this device is a BAD idea. Maybe thats why invisible shield released a "dry" install product recently. Too bad they made it an ATT exclusive. I have a feeling we will see these companies go to a dry install as more and more people mess up their phones.
 
WeegieMac

WeegieMac

Guest
Jan 29, 2008
3,274
1
Glasgow, UK
I actually think it's disgustingly arrogant to ask for "proof" from the OP.

These stories of Genius Bar generosity are commonplace, and asking for a scan or photo of his receipt is taking the piss.
 
rockyroad55

rockyroad55

macrumors 601
Jul 14, 2010
4,152
59
Phila, PA
I agree with one of the posters here. Definitely stop by soon with some sort of thank you or some cakes/desserts for the store.
 
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