Tripped 3GS Water sensor last night

[samcraig]

I'd have to genuinely care to be annoyed or egged on. I'm don't LOL

 

[yg17]

It's more like a light rain shower hit your car and now your 2 year 60k mile warrantee is void.

A car is designed to get wet, an iPhone is not.

Not really, the amount of water the OP claims hit his phone is a negligible amount which is probably not enough to do any damage to the phone but enough to trip the sensor.

Electronics are extremely sensitive to moisture. It might not be enough to cause damage, but it might be. Especially if water got in the headphone jack to trip the sensor. It would be one thing if the water sensor was on the back of the phone, but it's at the bottom of the jack. Once water gets in there, even a drop, it's quite possible for it to get inside the phone. The iPhone is not a sealed device, there are tiny openings where the contacts for the headphone jack stick out of the plastic, water can easily get in there and get in the phone and damage it.

 

[ryan42]

So riddle me this. If the phone works perfectly NOW - why the need to exchange it NOW because of the tripped sensor. Could you not wait until something does go wrong (IF something goes wrong) and perpetuate your illicit behavior then? Same difference no?

*sigh* let me try this one more time.
My Phone is not damaged. I am not trying to get it replaced.

I simply was asking for input about how I might go about getting it replaced sometime in the future when something completely unrelated to water damage breaks on my phone, which will not be covered by Apple, because the warranty is voided if an ant spits down the headphone jack.

-----

If you were qualified to judge that, you would not need Apple's warranty as you could just fix any problems yourself.

What are your credentials that make you qualfied to make an assessment to know no damage is done? How do you even know when the sensor was tripped? Do you check your sensor 5 x a day to see if it goes off?

Actually, I can fix any problem myself.

I've repaired over ten iPhones that have broken front glass, and everyone I have done it for has found me by word of mouth from my first few happy customers. I've also replaced the logic board on an iPhone with a bricked baseband which is just about as involved a repair as you can get. The only reason I care about a warranty is you have the peace of mind of having a fresh device.

What makes me qualified to assess the damage? Common sense mainly.

Also, while I don't check the sensor five times a day, basic situation awareness allows me to know that the sensor wasn't tripped before the other day.


I don't know what I was expecting out of this thread, but all that it's produced are moral police, scam ideas, and really really bad analogies.

Can we put a padlock on this thing already?

 

[Interstella5555]

This is exactly what I'm talking about in the thread I started. Seriously? You kept persisting? You damaged your own phone and expect someone else to bail you out?

Encouraging this behaviour shouldn't be tolerated. If you dented your own car would you bring it back to the dealer?

What's more amazing is that, in my understanding, there's not actually anything wrong with the phone. The OP assuming that something will happen to the phone in the future that his/her mistake will prevent a replacement or repair. I mean, where I'm from there's this thing called personal responsibility. Like, I poured liquid on my phone. I need to assume the responsibility for this, not try and return a week old device that is functioning perfectly because of my mistake. See where I'm going with this?

 

[uberamd]

What's more amazing is that, in my understanding, there's not actually anything wrong with the phone. The OP assuming that something will happen to the phone in the future that his/her mistake will prevent a replacement or repair. I mean, where I'm from there's this thing called personal responsibility. Like, I poured liquid on my phone. I need to assume the responsibility for this, not try and return a week old device that is functioning perfectly because of my mistake. See where I'm going with this?

The sad thing is that personal responsibility isn't something many people here understand. They would rather complain about the policy, claim its bull, then try to scam a company. A lovely world we live in.

 

[swindmill]

The sad thing is that personal responsibility isn't something many people here understand. They would rather complain about the policy, claim its bull, then try to scam a company. A lovely world we live in.

The discussion in this thread has absolutely nothing to do with personal responsibility. It has somehow been morphed into a discussion about hypotheticals involving people pouring a bucket of water on their phone and devising ways to cheat Apple out of hundreds of dollars, which in turn means we have to pay more for them and also causes Apple to maintain the current policy with regards to the water sensors. All of this is off point and completely ridiculous.

This was simply about Apple's apparent policy of voiding warranties when the sensor was tripped, which leaves owners with no recourse for future problems that may go back to Apple and not the users accident, and whether that policy is reasonable. And finally, whether owners are justified in trying to somehow get around this policy in situations where it seems senseless and unfair. The moral police on this board have taken it way off course. I would also point out that the OP's post is hardly related to the discussion that followed his post, so stop attributing what amount to stupid hypotheticals to the first post.

 

[thirdeyeopen666]

This is fairly ignorant.

Water damage can impact electronics in a myriad of unpredictable ways. Issues may not be determined for minutes, hours, weeks, months or years. Many future issues could potentially stem from previous water exposure. That is why it is such a big deal and why it is not covered. There is no way for them to accurately determine, sometimes, if the water you spilled on your device 3 months ago is causing the sporadic issues you are having now. That is why it is essentially a zero tolerance policy.

Smartest post in this thread.

 

[uberamd]

The discussion in this thread has absolutely nothing to do with personal responsibility. It has somehow been morphed into a discussion about hypotheticals involving people pouring a bucket of water on their phone and devising ways to cheat Apple out of hundreds of dollars, which in turn means we have to pay more for them and also causes Apple to maintain the current policy with regards to the water sensors. All of this is off point and completely ridiculous.

This was simply about Apple's apparent policy of voiding warranties when the sensor was tripped, which leaves owners with no recourse for future problems that may go back to Apple and not the users accident, and whether that policy is reasonable. And finally, whether owners are justified in trying to somehow get around this policy in situations where it seems senseless and unfair. The moral police on this board have taken it way off course. I would also point out that the OP's post is hardly related to the discussion that followed his post, so stop attributing what amount to stupid hypotheticals to the first post.

Fine lets talk about the issue then. The water sensor is there to protect Apple from servicing devices that have water damage. Now, the question is whether the water damage would have anything to do with a broken volume rocker for example. Answer? No. The water damage wouldn't break the volume rocker, but that ISNT THE POINT. A voided warranty is a voided warranty no matter how you try to cut the cake. Please refer back to this example I used earlier

• If you are transporting your Playstation 2 while moving to college for example, and the Warranty Void If Removed sticker gets stuck on the corder of a table and ripped off, will Sony honor any warranty with that system?

Probably not. Why? The warranty seal was damaged. Whether it was intentional or not, and whether that lead to future damage or not is NOT the issue here. The issue at hand is the fact that the device used to indicate the voiding of the warranty was tripped, and thus voided.

And while it is up to the discretion of Apple to deal with this on a case by case basis, the policy is already in place. The owner purchased the device knowing full well what mechanical defects were possible with this device given past ownership. They knew about the water sensors, so it should come as no surprise that Apple might not service the device in the future. He screwed up. Fair or not, it is not Apples responsibility anymore. Life is tough, life isn't fair, deal with it.

 

[lavinci]

You could always stick a little circular sticker down in the headphone jack on top of the current sticker and see if that works. My friend tried it and it went fine without a hitch. Just make sure to do it before the genius examines your iPhone because if you come back again, it won't work since the iPhone has already been notated that it has water damage.

 

[-aggie-]

You could always stick a little circular sticker down in the headphone jack on top of the current sticker and see if that works. My friend tried it and it went fine without a hitch. Just make sure to do it before the genius examines your iPhone because if you come back again, it won't work since the iPhone has already been notated that it has water damage.

You describe a way to fool the genius, but then say the iPhone would be notated that it had water damage. How so?

 

[feelthefire]

Well, fundamentally, the OP had prior knowledge that dumping even "0.2 oz" of water down his headphone jack would void his warranty.

Thus, the OP is in the current situation of not being in a factory warranty any longer.

It follows that the OP has the following choices:

Purchase a new iPhone that is under factory warranty, and sell the old one to recoup some of the cost, thus passing the problem on to someone who may NOT have such extensive knowledge of the internal water sensors.

Obtain insurance from a third party carrier, being aware that not admitting the phone ALREADY HAS 'water damage' (they check for it the same way, so in the current situation, 'water damage' applies to the tripping of the indicators as well as any actual corrosion) is in fact insurance fraud as the underwriter is allowed to include policy exclusions for the condition of the phone prior to obtaining insurance.

We can argue until we're all blue in the face (fingers?) about fairness and liability and responsibility but the nitty gritty is REGARDLESS, his warranty is void and the answer to his question is to pursue third party insurance.

The rest of you are free to do whatever you'd like to attempt to mitigate whatever level of unfairness you feel exists, but there will always be people who feel that those attempts suffer from varying degrees of moral character.

 

[swindmill]

Fine lets talk about the issue then. The water sensor is there to protect Apple from servicing devices that have water damage. Now, the question is whether the water damage would have anything to do with a broken volume rocker for example. Answer? No. The water damage wouldn't break the volume rocker, but that ISNT THE POINT. A voided warranty is a voided warranty no matter how you try to cut the cake. Please refer back to this example I used earlier

• If you are transporting your Playstation 2 while moving to college for example, and the Warranty Void If Removed sticker gets stuck on the corder of a table and ripped off, will Sony honor any warranty with that system?

Probably not. Why? The warranty seal was damaged. Whether it was intentional or not, and whether that lead to future damage or not is NOT the issue here. The issue at hand is the fact that the device used to indicate the voiding of the warranty was tripped, and thus voided.

And while it is up to the discretion of Apple to deal with this on a case by case basis, the policy is already in place. The owner purchased the device knowing full well what mechanical defects were possible with this device given past ownership. They knew about the water sensors, so it should come as no surprise that Apple might not service the device in the future. He screwed up. Fair or not, it is not Apples responsibility anymore. Life is tough, life isn't fair, deal with it.

You've stated what the policy is and that's not disputed. It's the wisdom and fairness of this that is in dispute.

 

[dukebound85]

You describe a way to fool the genius, but then say the iPhone would be notated that it had water damage. How so?

in other words if you do this, do not bring your phone to the genious before you fraud apple as they will see its tripped and note it so if you try and exchange it somerwhere else it is seen its been voided alreadey, sticker or not

 

[Amuraivel]

What chemical is used for this sensor.

Does anyone know what chemical is used.

I agree that defrauding the company is wrong.

But I like experimentation, I would try to bleach the sensor with the following in this order:

H2O2, NaClO, HCl (last one might damage the phone, I would remove the sensor first)

Let us know how it goes.


Better living through modern chemistry!

 

[biker74]

This thread slightly concerns me. I had no idea there was a water sensor let alone sensors. What if its raining, or moisture in the air, that cant be your fault surely.

I'm off to look at my insurance policy.

Phew, just checked, covered against water damage.

 

[8CoreWhore]

Is the phone actually damaged or is the "indicator" simply triggered? If there is actually NO damage, and that can be determined, I would demonstrate that to Apple. Let them see that although "their" indicator changed color doesn't necessarily mean there is "water damage", thus you should not lose your warranty.

Again - a water damage indication is not necessarily proof of water damage, or any damage.

In that sense, they should "reset" your water damage indicator. (which means a new phone).

 

[marksman]

This thread slightly concerns me. I had no idea there was a water sensor let alone sensors. What if its raining, or moisture in the air, that cant be your fault surely.

I'm off to look at my insurance policy.

Phew, just checked, covered against water damage.

I will be honest, it concerns me a little bit that you did not know that water could potentially impact an electronics device like the iphone in a negative way. This means previously you may not have taken extra steps to make sure it was not getting rained on and unnecessarily exposed to moisture I assume?

I am glad your insurance covers it. Ignorance is ignorance, and I am not faulting you for that. There are lots of things I am ignorant about. I would say though, this seems that it would fall under the more common sense area than anything else. Although after reading this thread and seeing some people who don't understand why Apple would have a policy like this, I guess it is much further away from general common sense than I thought.

 

[marksman]

Here is a question for everyone here:

If you had a warranty issue with your phone and they swapped it out for you, would you be okay with them providing you a phone that had one or more water sensors tripped, but did not appear to have any issues at the time they are given it to you?

In other words, would you be okay with them giving you a phone that had a tripped water sensor, and a broken mute switch, and they replaced the switch, ran their basic diagnostics and then gave it to you to replace your phone?

 

[thor79]

Is the phone actually damaged or is the "indicator" simply triggered? If there is actually NO damage, and that can be determined, I would demonstrate that to Apple. Let them see that although "their" indicator changed color doesn't necessarily mean there is "water damage", thus you should not lose your warranty.

Again - a water damage indication is not necessarily proof of water damage, or any damage.

In that sense, they should "reset" your water damage indicator. (which means a new phone).

This is the route I would take...go to Apple tell them you accidentally tripped the water sensors. Be completely honest (tell them exactly what happened) about it and ask them to test out the phone (to confirm it is indeed perfectly functional) and reset the water sensors for you. Tell them you know that a tripped water sensor means the warranty is void and that you don't want to lose your warranty coverage over a simple accident that did no damage to the phone at all.

Seems reasonable enough to me to expect that kind of service in exchange for that kind of policy.

Much better route than the alternatives being discussed here (outright fraud).

 

[Adamation]

Hey guys,

I found this thread today unfortunately due to a search. Namely I was searching for water damaged iPhone 3GS's and came across it. Because as you might of guessed, my phone took a dip today. It was a very brief dip and I snatched it out FAST but the damage is done.

The phone has a little bit of issues this morning when it happened, for example it thought something was plugged into the dock when nothing was, and later developed a single diagonal streak across the screen, but after hours of drying it and leaving it alone the phone seems to be functioning 100% best I can tell. You can clearly see that the dock connector water sensor has been tripped though.

So I'm in the same exact boat now as the OP. My phone is fine, but has a water tripped sensor. Now if I ever have another problem with the phone, I can't return it. Since I replaced about 4 original iPhones due to various hardware problems, this kind of worried me.

I think the post right above me has a very good idea about going in and telling them the situation and seeing what happens. Far as I can gather, I'd be no worse off for trying. Maybe my phone will never have a problem, but who knows. I admit I do like the peace of mind.

If the OP does try the above, I'd love to know how it turns out.

 

[biker74]

I get that water and electrics don't mix - thanks for the headsup there....

However, I think it's piss poor that apple don't cover against it. Futhermore, I also think it's poor that a phone could be ****ed due to moisture in the air or a couple of rain drops here and there, or indeed warranty void. Folk have to use folk in the rain sometimes for whatever reason and such things as mobile phones are designed for a certain amount of moisture. Obviously apple have to be awkward as usual.

I will be honest, it concerns me a little bit that you did not know that water could potentially impact an electronics device like the iphone in a negative way. This means previously you may not have taken extra steps to make sure it was not getting rained on and unnecessarily exposed to moisture I assume?

I am glad your insurance covers it. Ignorance is ignorance, and I am not faulting you for that. There are lots of things I am ignorant about. I would say though, this seems that it would fall under the more common sense area than anything else. Although after reading this thread and seeing some people who don't understand why Apple would have a policy like this, I guess it is much further away from general common sense than I thought.

 

[ajnittoli]

that sucks!

 

[sixmac]

Well there are a few people here who are on the same page as I, and then the rest of those here are attacking me for trying to "scam the system" by trying to get my water damaged phone replaced. *sigh* let me try this one more time.
My Phone is not damaged. I am not trying to get it replaced.

I simply was asking for input about how I might go about getting it replaced sometime in the future when something completely unrelated to water damage breaks on my phone, which will not be covered by Apple, because the warranty is voided if an ant spits down the headphone jack.

I got my perfectly working iphone with "liquid damage" (total ******** never been dropped in toilet, pool ect..., but thats not the point) fixed for a cracked screen took a few phone calls but they did it. Search for liquid damage here and find the thread about liquid damaged iphones, but yeah even if the problem can't be related to water damage wouldn't count on it.

 

[LagunaSol]

Not trying to say anybody is lying but I doubt only 1 drop of water just happened to make it's way down the Earphone jack hole...

Agreed. I'm willing to bet there's just a bit of exaggeration going on here for dramatic effect.

And what's with the assumption that the phone is certain to fail (by causes other than the "drop" of water) within the warranty period anyway? This isn't the Xbox 360 we're talking about...

Sounds shifty to me.

 

[Roller]

I get that water and electrics don't mix - thanks for the headsup there....

However, I think it's piss poor that apple don't cover against it. Futhermore, I also think it's poor that a phone could be ****ed due to moisture in the air or a couple of rain drops here and there, or indeed warranty void. Folk have to use folk in the rain sometimes for whatever reason and such things as mobile phones are designed for a certain amount of moisture. Obviously apple have to be awkward as usual.

It would seem to me that the sensor that's most likely to be tripped during routine use is the one in the headphone jack, since it's at the top. It's easy to imaging a wayward drop of rain, say, finding its way into the jack, even with reasonable care. It's a shame that Apple doesn't include a plug or that someone doesn't sell one for those of us who rarely use earphones.