Water Damage Exchange

[fleshman03]

So according to TUAW, Apple is now going to allow water damage swaps for refurb units. $299 gets you a newish iPhone for your damaged unit. The problem is that they will make you sign with ATT for another 2 years...

TUAW:

ifoAppleStore is reporting that Apple has instituted a new policy that will let iPhone owners swap their liquid-damaged iPhones for replacements. For $199US, customers can swap their defunct phones for a refurb unit, provided that it succumbed to an out-of-warranty encounter with liquid. Here's the catch: Said swap renews your 2-year contract with AT&T -- so it's pretty much like buying a new phone, except if you were to do that out of contract it would cost you $499 for a 16GB unit.

Of course, this could also be another way to clear current iPhone inventory in preparation for a new model.

We couldn't determine if sweat-induced failures are covered by this program, but we'll let you know if we find out.

 

[John T]

$299 gets you a newish iPhone for your damaged unit.

No - not really "newish" but "As new". A refurbished 'phone is, to all intents and purposes, a new 'phone - complete with a new warranty.

 

[Surely]

So I guess this means that if you have a broken iPhone that has an issue (e.g. cracked screen) that is not covered by the iPhone warranty (you've brought it to the Apple Store for a replacement and you were shot down and told you need to pay $499 for a new one), all you need to do is dump water all over it and you can swap it for a new iPhone that costs $199/299 instead.

 

[britboyj]

So I guess this means that if you have a broken iPhone that has an issue (e.g. cracked screen) that is not covered by the iPhone warranty (you've brought it to the Apple Store for a replacement and you were shot down and told you need to pay $499 for a new one), all you need to do is dump water all over it and you can swap it for a new iPhone that costs $199/299 instead.

No, if you go through the Geniuses it's $199 for a replacement for a cracked screen too. Same for water damage.

I JUST paid $399 for a replacement after my 3G got wet a couple of months ago. QUIT CHANGING YOUR MINDS!!!

 

[WildCowboy]

Please continue the discussion in the thread associated with the iPhone Blog article.

(Note that there was some initial confusion on TUAW's part about whether trading in your phone would add another two years to your contract (it won't), so rather than reintroduce the confusion into the discussion, I'm going to close this one rather than merge it into the other thread.)