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I dropped my iPhone... Going to Apple tomorrow so what should I expect?

J

jkimbro0316

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2008
201
2
Central Florida
Hey everybody,

I obviously ran into a big problem. I was sitting down in my third block class at school in the middle of the day when my iPhone just basically fell out of my jacket pocket. It was in it's case and everything but yet it fell down and onto the screen side, so when I picked it up, the entire bottom half of the screen was cracked and completely covered in scratches and cracks. Now, I understand that if this has occurred, this is considered "accidental damage" and should not be covered by Apple/AT&T and I'm fine with that I guess, but what I don't get is how certain people have actually gone into an Apple store with the same predicament and walked out with a brand new iPhone for free!?!? What I'm asking for is for your experiences at the Apple store if you had the same problem as I do right now. Did they charge you 200-250 bucks or did they give you a brand new phone free of charge? I really would like to know this information by tomorrow afternoon so I can know what to expect when I go for my appointment. Also, I did a search on this forum but nothing of real use came up so don't worry, I'm not one of those people who don't even bother to search! lol
 
I would say $399/$499 depending on which one you have.
Or I read your post wrong...
 
I'd expect to pay full price. Somewhere around $500, if it is only $200, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
 
my story may give you hope.

i dropped my iphone in the toilet 2 days ago, and it completely submerged in water. i grabbed it out, washed it off, and everything was working... except for the screen. (i could put my headphones in and use the button to stop/play, use the volume rocker, sleep button, etc etc) anyways, did a little research here and by calling apple... i had the 16GB, one person told me $299, but another told me $499 bc it was water damage.

blah blah, went to apple store soho in nyc around 830. told them i dropped it in water, guy said uh oh and that he'd check to see how much water damage there was inside. he comes back out three minutes later and says "welp, i dont see anything! you lucked out." and im like... really? he's like "yep, i dont see anything." he proceeds to process everything, gets me a brand new iphone, hands me the paper, to sign, bam, $0.00. absolutely free. i have no idea if the water sensors really didn't go off or if he was just doing me a HUGE favor, but i walked out of there w/ a brand new iphone for FREE. i was ecstatic and thanked him a billion times, because the thing was fully submerged for a good few seconds.

good luck!
 
I may be mistaken but wasn't there a thread on here a week or two ago where someone dropped their iPhone and broke the screen. They took it to the apple store and the Genius gave them a free replacement. Lots of people were complaining on here because they'd had to pay for replacements. Anyone else remember this thread? It was definately on here recently.

There were lots of people calling for the head of the apple employee on a spike as I recall.
 
hey man i recently ran into the exact! same problem and i have an appointment sunday hopefully apple will be nice and replace but were just gnna have to wait and see btw honesty is the best to go with them they dont like bs stories and etc (did my research haha ) alright good luck man
 
manhattanmania said:
my story may give you hope.

i dropped my iphone in the toilet 2 days ago, and it completely submerged in water. i grabbed it out, washed it off, and everything was working... except for the screen. (i could put my headphones in and use the button to stop/play, use the volume rocker, sleep button, etc etc) anyways, did a little research here and by calling apple... i had the 16GB, one person told me $299, but another told me $499 bc it was water damage.

blah blah, went to apple store soho in nyc around 830. told them i dropped it in water, guy said uh oh and that he'd check to see how much water damage there was inside. he comes back out three minutes later and says "welp, i dont see anything! you lucked out." and im like... really? he's like "yep, i dont see anything." he proceeds to process everything, gets me a brand new iphone, hands me the paper, to sign, bam, $0.00. absolutely free. i have no idea if the water sensors really didn't go off or if he was just doing me a HUGE favor, but i walked out of there w/ a brand new iphone for FREE. i was ecstatic and thanked him a billion times, because the thing was fully submerged for a good few seconds.

good luck!
Click to expand...

The reason you got a new phone was because there was nothing VISUALLY wrong with your phone, and he couldn't PROVE that it had water damager or any other damage.

A cracked screen is a bit different unfortunately, so this won't be the case.
 
nimda0 said:
He'll have to pay 200.....
Click to expand...
How so? Unless he's upgrade eligible (or has an original iPhone, are they still doing that?) isn't it the "early upgrade price?" Or is that for repair?

---

nimda0 said:
The reason you got a new phone was because there was nothing VISUALLY wrong with your phone, and he couldn't PROVE that it had water damager or any other damage.

A cracked screen is a bit different unfortunately, so this won't be the case.
Click to expand...
There are two water detectors on the iPhone 3G.
 
manhattanmania said:
my story may give you hope.

i dropped my iphone in the toilet 2 days ago, and it completely submerged in water. i grabbed it out, washed it off, and everything was working... except for the screen. (i could put my headphones in and use the button to stop/play, use the volume rocker, sleep button, etc etc) anyways, did a little research here and by calling apple... i had the 16GB, one person told me $299, but another told me $499 bc it was water damage.

blah blah, went to apple store soho in nyc around 830. told them i dropped it in water, guy said uh oh and that he'd check to see how much water damage there was inside. he comes back out three minutes later and says "welp, i dont see anything! you lucked out." and im like... really? he's like "yep, i dont see anything." he proceeds to process everything, gets me a brand new iphone, hands me the paper, to sign, bam, $0.00. absolutely free. i have no idea if the water sensors really didn't go off or if he was just doing me a HUGE favor, but i walked out of there w/ a brand new iphone for FREE. i was ecstatic and thanked him a billion times, because the thing was fully submerged for a good few seconds.

good luck!
Click to expand...

Wow you sir are really lucky then.

On my previous visit at my local Apple store, I did overhear while I was patiently waiting for my appointment, the guy who brought in his cracked glass on white iPhone had to pay $200 to get it replaced. That's how I knew that $200 was really the "price tag" but it may depend on the circumstances as what others are saying.

But then again, you can't complain if it's free.
 
TheMBC said:
How so? Unless he's upgrade eligible (or has an original iPhone, are they still doing that?) isn't it the "early upgrade price?" Or is that for repair?

---


There are two water detectors on the iPhone 3G.
Click to expand...

That's the price they charge for repair. Typically they will give you a refurbished phone and send that one out for repair, and charge you $200.

You're right about the water detectors. They're on the bottom of the iphone near the charging port. The guy above got lucky, and for whatever reason they obviously didn't show RED and were still WHITE. So, without any visible damage... he got his returned. This guy will not.
 
nimda0 said:
The reason you got a new phone was because there was nothing VISUALLY wrong with your phone, and he couldn't PROVE that it had water damager or any other damage.

A cracked screen is a bit different unfortunately, so this won't be the case.
Click to expand...

water sensors inside the iphone.
 
nimda0 said:
The reason you got a new phone was because there was nothing VISUALLY wrong with your phone, and he couldn't PROVE that it had water damager or any other damage.

A cracked screen is a bit different unfortunately, so this won't be the case.
Click to expand...

There is a water sensor inside the headphone jack, turns pink as soon as it's in contact with water.

I think there's also a few inside the iPhone that you can't see.
 
acfusion29 said:
There is a water sensor inside the headphone jack, turns pink as soon as it's in contact with water.

I think there's also a few inside the iPhone that you can't see.
Click to expand...

There's another in the doc connector port. It's crescent shaped and on the back side of the doc port. I'm almost sure there are additional sensor's inside of the iPhone as well.

As for the OP, you may luck out. Some Genius' are nice and will give a replace free of charge as I've heard stories on these forums and you may not be so lucky and have to pay for a replacement. Good Luck.
 
Well, I got mine replaced for free because of a tiny ding in the corner...obviously something had to come into play like that certain Genius got lucky the night before ;)

I mean I had a problem with it not responding, when free or connected to power, but the Genius got it to turn on, but gave me a new one anyway, hence getting rid of the scratch.

That was at the Apple Store in Danbury, Connecticut.

EDIT: This was without AppleCare too. :]
 
Auzburner said:
There's another in the doc connector port. It's crescent shaped and on the back side of the doc port. I'm almost sure there are additional sensor's inside of the iPhone as well.

As for the OP, you may luck out. Some Genius' are nice and will give a replace free of charge as I've heard stories on these forums and you may not be so lucky and have to pay for a replacement. Good Luck.
Click to expand...

Nice. I can't find it on my phone lol..

O well, good to know however.
 
i cracked my screen too. but i found a local repair store called Dr. Cell Phone. they did the repair in under an hour for $99. very professional. i was satisfied. i think they do a mail-in service as well. here's their website just in case you guys were wondering: www.drcellphone.com
 
nimda0 said:
The reason you got a new phone was because there was nothing VISUALLY wrong with your phone, and he couldn't PROVE that it had water damager or any other damage.

A cracked screen is a bit different unfortunately, so this won't be the case.
Click to expand...

When you tell them you dropped it in water they can accept that as proof without having to use the sensors.
 
Aurial said:
I may be mistaken but wasn't there a thread on here a week or two ago where someone dropped their iPhone and broke the screen. They took it to the apple store and the Genius gave them a free replacement. Lots of people were complaining on here because they'd had to pay for replacements. Anyone else remember this thread? It was definately on here recently.

There were lots of people calling for the head of the apple employee on a spike as I recall.
Click to expand...

Yes I remember the thread you speak of.

Ibjr said:
When you tell them you dropped it in water they can accept that as proof without having to use the sensors.
Click to expand...

I think he was just being a nice guy because the he (the one who posted about it) was honest.
 
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