The $200 iPhone "water penalty" (do NOT get it wet!)

[SqB]

On the hardware side of things, the single board construction may make it a bit more resistant to water damage. Most of the water damage I've seen occurs at the connectors and the ribbon cables that hook the boards/lcd's together. Since these are minimal in the 3g, it seems like it should be a bit more resistant to that type of damage. I think a nice disassemble and a bit of warm air for a few days would probably get it back to working condition.

For the uninitiated, if your phone gets wet, take the battery out right away. DC voltage is a humidity magnet and if you can keep it powered down and then dry it out well, you might be ok. I've spared several devices that way (some after a second dunking in bleach water, don't ask why :-O.)

Somebody earlier mentioned that they might not catch the water damage...that's next to impossible. That's usually the first item on the repair checklist for the techs. If they see red tabs, they stop right there and go to the next one.

 

[markym07931]

Not that this will help you at this point, but if anyone else runs into a similar water-damage problem, you can try putting your iPhone in uncooked white rice and leave it for a day or two. Like silica packets, white rice will absorb moisture well. I've read of people doing this with other cell phones and it worked in some cases.

Never tried it myself, but if you're phone is already dead it can't hurt to give it a shot.

i tried that with my iphone bluetooth headset when that went in the wash (much smaller and easier to wash than an iphone itself) and it did work!!!

 

[MacMaad]

This morning, I did something incredibly moronic: I left my iPhone 3G in my pants pocket and washed my clothes.

As someone who could definitely make that same mistake, I just wanted to say I'm sorry that happened to you. And it WOULD be frustrating for someone to tell you the repair is $299 and then turn around and say that they won't fix it for you.

If you had to find a bright side, you now probably have the lowest risk in the universe of ever washing your iPhone.

 

[neiltc13]

Ignoring the reason for the damage to the phone, if you need a replacement iPhone and it's not covered by the warranty, of course it's going to cost you more. The lower price is subsidised, meaning that the phone itself costs less because the carrier is going to make back some money on your contract. If they give you a new one for the subsidised price again, they're effectively losing all of the money they would make on that unit if they sold it to a new customer.

 

[MathiasMag]

If an employee A at circuit city verbally told you a computer would cost X...then later you found out it was more than what employee A told you, circuit city is not obligated to uphold employee A's statement.

If he had it in writing it would be different.

Really? I thought verbal and written was treated the same way by the law and the only difference is how easy it is to prove that the promise was actually made.

 

[Type121]

I
And in all honesty, I don't believe 1 week off of the contract necessarily justifies $200. Considering the parts to put the thing together were probably under $150 to start with anyway...

That doesn't make any sense. Consider that they gave you $200 up front to sign a contract based on their belief that they'll earn it back from you in the long run. A week later, you come back because things didn't work out w/r/t you and the laundry, and you want them to give you another $200. If they thought that worked financially, they'd have sold the phone for $99 in the first place.

Doesn't matter what the parts cost, 'cause they also have to recoup all their costs like engineering, software, shipping, advertising, store, support and etc.

 

[iphonequestion]

Airing it out won't work. The indicator turns red and stays red.

@OP I'm saying you'd be full of it if, as in your "irony" section you said it was something other than water damage.

And it's fair because you got it wet - it's electronic.

You can buy those nifty indicators on ebay for a couple bucks. Peel off the red sticker, put a new one on (assuming its the same dot one that everyone uses) and voila

 

[ScottSFA]

How can you forget to take your iPhone out is what I wanna know...