Anyone have experience with water damage repair services?

[kepardue]

So yeah, the inevitable happened, I screwed up and didn't empty my pockets and the wife washed my iPhone 4. I pulled it out maybe 5 minutes into the cycle, and did the usual tricks that I've read about, let it sit in a container of white rice, etc. No dice, two days later it's still not turning on. :-(

I can get a refurbed model for $400 with yet-another extension to my AT&T contract, and I see that some people are selling water damaged iPhone 4's on eBay for a considerable price, even when they list that the iPhone will not turn on. I could go that route, OR

I've seen a number of services that claim a 90% repair rate on the iPhone. There's this one: http://www.ifixyouri.com/iphone-4-repair/150-iphone-4-water-damage-repair.html which will try to repair the phone and ship it back to you if it cannot be fixed, but there's also this service that's supposed to guarantee that if they can't fix it they'll ship you a functional unit of the same kind: http://cgi.ebay.com/APPLE-IPHONE-4G...ultDomain_0&hash=item1c167f1bdb#ht_500wt_1007

The latter just seems a bit too good to be true, especially since it's a cheesy eBay store. The seller gets a 99% positive feedback rating though, so can it be as bad as it seems?

Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful for my wife and kids, but man, what a Thanksgiving.

 

[lucifiel]

The ebay store person only has 725 feedback. I'm not sure I'd trust them.

The ifixyouri website looks a lot less shady if you ask me.

 

[chargit]

I have been fixing water damaged iPhones for some time now. its 50/50 at best now matter who tries it. you can send/take your iPhone back to Apple and get an "OUT OF WARRANTY REPAIR" for $199 without changing your contract.

if the iPhone is not completely taken apart the rice wont work. the phone needs to be completely dried and then everything cleaned with contact cleaner because you will start to see corrosion almost immediately. UBreak iFix in Florida uses a jewelry cleaner to repair their water damaged iPhones but since it has a liquid solution in it Im not sure how that will fix a water damaged phone but im told they have a very good success rate.

but for $199 you are guaranteed it will work!

if you want to try to fix it do not charge it or try to use it. make sure it is off!!!!! the water will fry the circuits. I have 3 in my office now that were overcharged and two burned the contact on the motherboard that controls the lcd and on the 4 it melted under where the battery connects.

 

[pras]

Iphone alive again

After being submerged in water for more than a week, the iphone was finally retrieved. The first thing I did was to take out the sim card and blow compressed air into each hole. Found the best one to use was the headphone jack. I then took the back off the phone and placed it open side down on a heat register for 24 hours. Just to be sure, I blew hot (not too hot) on it for approx 30 minutes prior to putting the back back on. I plugged in the charger and found that the display indicated the battery was completely dead. This was the first good sign. Once the battery was fully charged I started the phone and everything worked well except water marks under the screen. I again took the back off and placed the phone back on the heat register over night. With the exception of a couple of very small spots, everything now looks like it is back to normal. I am feeling very fortunate.