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I Just Did Something Stupid....

RBMaraman

RBMaraman

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 25, 2002
1,228
39
New Albany, IN
So I come home from work this afternoon and decide to do my laundry. I empty my pockets, change my jeans, and throw all my pants into the washer.

Thirty minutes later, as I empty the washer, I let out a loud, "Oh crap!" My 9 month old Motorola Razr (Which has a two year contract that's not eligible for an upgrade until March 21 of 2007!) is lying in the bottom of the washer. I guess I didn't empty those pockets.

I took out the battery and am leaving the phone out, open, and near an air vent hoping it'll come back to life. But, I highly doubt it. Some of my jeans had grease on them, so I made sure to use a good soak cycle. After thirty minutes submerged in water, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm going to have to fork out over $300 for a new phone.

I called Cingular to ask how much a new phone would be. I can get a new silver Razr for $300, but for just $20 more I can get the SLVR (the newest iTunes phone). My brother got one last night, and it's pretty nice.

So, anyone else have any "I accidently washed my cell phone" stories?
 
RBMaraman said:
So I come home from work this afternoon and decide to do my laundry. I empty my pockets, change my jeans, and throw all my pants into the washer.

Thirty minutes later, as I empty the washer, I let out a loud, "Oh crap!" My 9 month old Motorola Razr (Which has a two year contract that's not eligible for an upgrade until March 21 of 2007!) is lying in the bottom of the washer. I guess I didn't empty those pockets.

I took out the battery and am leaving the phone out, open, and near an air vent hoping it'll come back to life. But, I highly doubt it. Some of my jeans had grease on them, so I made sure to use a good soak cycle. After thirty minutes submerged in water, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm going to have to fork out over $300 for a new phone.

I called Cingular to ask how much a new phon would be. I can get a new silver Razr for $300, but for just $20 more I can get the SLVR (the newest iTunes phone). My brother got one last night, and it's pretty nice.

So, anyone else have any "I accidently washed my cell phone" stories?
Click to expand...

$5 a month is the best money you will ever spend (insurance).

I added a line for my significant other today and he got the RAZR - nice phone. I can't upgrade forever and I hate my Treo.
 
My parents are on their way down here to get my mother a new phone after the same thing happened to her.

She's a bit of a technophobe so it will be fun to see what the shop assistants try to push on her. It has to be a Nokia cause she won't be able to figure out anything else (most people have Nokias here) but I'll bet they'll try and flog a V3 or even the L7 onto her. Dad's pretty clueless too so I'll probably get dragged along.
 
Definately leave it with the battery out and in a place where it can dry thoroughly for a few days. After it is completely dry, you can then try to use it.

Obviously, water would cause a short circuit and that would cause the damage that you could not recover from. As long as the moisture is out, there is a chance that it will work. If it does, great, but add that accidental coverage in case it craps out later.
 
iGary said:
$5 a month is the best money you will ever spend (insurance).

I added a line for my significant other today and he got the RAZR - nice phone. I can't upgrade forever and I hate my Treo.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm definitely going to be getting insurance on my new phone. $60 a year is much better than the $300 I'm sure I'll be forking out later this week.
 
I dropped my phone in a glass of milk...while I was on the phone with Verizon customer support. Luckily the phone was still under warranty so I was able to get a replacement. But, my phone was 50 bucks, so I wasn't too worried about it anyway. ;)
 
One time I put my phone through the wash while off (Not a very nice phone) and it was fine. The second time it went through it went through the dryer too!!!! :eek: thats what fried it!

Luckly, my Razr has yet to have any experience with water.
 
A few years ago we had dropped one of our extra phones from the company plan into some water. Didn't work, we called them up to tell them to cancel that phone since we rarely used it anyawys. Once we said that they happily sent a new replacement phone to us. It's worth a shot.

jon
 
You could always buy an unlocked gsm phone/razr and not have to touch your contract or deal with cingular at all. You could buy the new Razr V3i which has iTunes for $300.
 
My phone almost died when I used it in the shower. Stupid? Yes. But my Nokia 5165 and Moto v60t colour always went in the shower without harm. Guess my new Nokia is not waterproof.
 
UPDATE:

The phone comes on, and the screen looks OK. I can see there is still some water trapped behind the screen, but the colors are still very bright and vibrant. Hopefully it'll dry out within a few days.

The bad news is that it appears my SIM card is dead, and I'm the one to blame for that. When I was removing it, I touched the metal connectors with my bare hands, which I'm sure was what killed it.

I plan on heading to a Cingular store later this week (once the phone has dried out completely) to have them check whether the SIM is damaged or the connectors in the phone that read the SIM are damaged.
 
Water damage is not covered by any of the major retailors' insurance plans. There is a water damage indicator behind the battery which will tell the service people it was your fault.

Not to sound cruel, but if you're the type who does this thing, why are you going to buy a $320 phone?
 
I hate cell phones, but I've finally been forced to buy one. I have the cheapest phone that T-Mobile would sell me, a $50 Nokia. I've actually have had cell phone snobs gag at the sight of my old-school cell phone like it was the original Motorola "brick". They only ever did that once though (cue the steely-eyed Clint Eastwood stare). :cool:

I've already lost one, but it was only $50 to replace, so whatever.
 
ChrisWB said:
Water damage is not covered by any of the major retailors' insurance plans. There is a water damage indicator behind the battery which will tell the service people it was your fault.
Click to expand...

Yes, I just checked if my phone had that white "button" (I saw it on Diggnation a little while ago) and just had to see if I could lick my finger, rub it on the "button," and see if it would turn red. The top side of it is now a little bit red, since that's where the saliva went. Lesson? The thing really does turn red—don't play with it. ;)

Benjamindaines said:
lol who would you possibly want to talk to in the shower ;)
Click to expand...

That's what I want to know too; or, who you'd need to talk to in the shower.

Although, I ate in the shower the other day. My peanut-butter and jelly sandwich was even better. :)
-Chasen
 
I've had two instances.

First one was with my first phone ever, a Nokia 6150. That plopped into the toilet upon hoisting my pants up. Luckily I had flushed already though! Phew!
Hairdryer and a couple of days lying around and it worked again. Only lost 2 pixel lines on the screen in the process.

Second time happened somethign like 3-4 years ago with my Ericsson T39. The phone went into the washing machine and came out dead. One again, I left it for a few days, popped the battery back in and it worked fine! Used it for another year after that!

Guess I must just be lucky, huh? :rolleyes:
 
just a tip cause i have a friend with the same experience, we were in a beach and she swam with the cellphone on her pocket...when this thing happen you should NOT turn on your phone let the circuits dry at least for a day let it stay or you can blow dry it ,make sure its really dry before turning it on...that way the chips inside wont be shorted...:)
 
ChrisWB said:
Not to sound cruel, but if you're the type who does this thing, why are you going to buy a $320 phone?
Click to expand...

I'm not "the type of person that does this thing." People make mistakes. That's hard for some people to believe.

I've been using a cell phone for seven years in this is the first time anything like this has ever happened. I've never damaged any phone, iPod, laptop, or any other electronic device i've ever owned.

Why buy an expensive phone? Because they work, and well. I know to many people who get cheap phones, and that's exactly what they get. Except for this one time, which I can assure you a learned a great lesson from, I've always taken care of my phones.

I'll post back after I get the phone checked out. Like I said in my update post, the phone turns on and looks great, but the SIM card is dead.
 
I don't own a RAZR, but I did send an iPod nano through the wash and dry cycle once, worked fine after the water under the screen dried.

That and a lot of money :p.
 
Benjamindaines said:
lol who would you possibly want to talk to in the shower ;)
Click to expand...

My girlfriend often gives me a ring from the shower - it is very irritating. The conversations tend to go along the lines of:

'Hello? Sorry, say that again - I can't hear you'
'Speak louder - I'm in the shower'
'What did you say - I can't hear you over the shower'
'I'm in the shower, can you hear me?'
etc.
 
I once put a phone through the washing machine.... doh! It never worked again.

Still, one washing machine incident in 10 years of owning a mobile phone isn't bad. My home insurance would have covered it but thankfully I did it just at 'upgrade' time so wasn't charged anyhow.
 
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