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water damage warranty policy question?

T

troy14

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 25, 2008
773
131
Las Vegas (Summerlin), NV
hi everyone,

what is apples policy on replacing phones with a water sensor tripped?? i never spilled anything on it, but my phone will not charge and it seems like the dock connector is broken (not physically, just doesnt work)

im not sure if sweat or rain got in there and i sometimes take my phone in the shower (leave it in a safe place, sometimes i wait for important phone calls)... but the sensor is tripped by the dock.

would they be able to open it up and check to see if anything else is tripped? someone told me that at least 2 sensors have to be tripped to void warranty, is this true?

please be advised that i'm not lying, i am not trying to say i didnt spill anything on it when i did and get a free phone...i have no reason to lie on the internet about this

thanks in advance
 
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Apple won't replace it free of charge, as any kind of moisture or water damage voids the warranty.
 
BBC Watchdog in the UK did a report on the iPhone water sensors and found that apple stores didn't bother checking the internal sensors and were voiding warranty based on 1 external sensor being triggered.

Apple issued a statement on BBC Watchdog in the UK following the report:

"If an iPhone has been damaged by liquid, the service or replacement is not covered by the Apple one year limited warranty or an AppleCare Protection Plan (APP). It would be eligible for Out Of Warranty Service. Currently, if a customer takes their iPhone to an Apple Retail Store, the warranty will only be void due to liquid damage if all indicators have been triggered."


So warranty is only void due to liquid damage if headphone, dock and the 2 internal sensors have all been triggered. If they have all been triggered you still qualify for the Out-of-Warranty Service Fee (£150) as long as you have not tried to take it apart yourself.
 
Take it in, you might get lucky and Apple will replace it. If not, they will charge you $199 to replace it. Although, at this point in time with a new iPhone presumably to be announced on Monday, if they wanted to charge you I would wait.
 
cw2k7 said:
BBC Watchdog in the UK did a report on the iPhone water sensors and found that apple stores didn't bother checking the internal sensors and were voiding warranty based on 1 external sensor being triggered.

Apple issued a statement on BBC Watchdog in the UK following the report:

"If an iPhone has been damaged by liquid, the service or replacement is not covered by the Apple one year limited warranty or an AppleCare Protection Plan (APP). It would be eligible for Out Of Warranty Service. Currently, if a customer takes their iPhone to an Apple Retail Store, the warranty will only be void due to liquid damage if all indicators have been triggered."


So warranty is only void due to liquid damage if headphone, dock and the 2 internal sensors have all been triggered. If they have all been triggered you still qualify for the Out-of-Warranty Service Fee (£150) as long as you have not tried to take it apart yourself.
Click to expand...

Do you have the link to this?? If I took this in with my phone i'm positive itll be covered.
 
i read on another forum (and this one too i think) that both need to be tripped to void warranty. if one is tripped, then they'll open it up and see if the internal one is tripped.

there's 3 sensors in total AFAIK.
 
elephunkman said:
Once the sensors are tripped, there's nothing you can do about it
Click to expand...
That's not always so. It may depend on who examines the phone.

I had a problem with the battery not holding charge on my iPhone. When I took it in they said the sensor in the dock connector was tripped. I insisted I never got it wet. They took it to the back where they opened it up and found that none of the other sensors were tripped. They returned with a replacement phone for me.
 
Take it in to the genius bar and the closest apple store. I had an issue about a year ago, water somehow got into my phone and I couldnt make or recieve calls. I took it in thinking maybe that could at least tell me what was wrong with it. My phone was jail broken at this point as well, so my warranty was already long gone. They looked at it and even told me that water damage was not covered by my warranty, and sent me off....with a brand new phone, I couldnt believe it, maybe I just got lucky, it's worth a try though...
 
If you call the apple 1800 and explain everything and are very nice sometimes they can overide the water sensor tripped.

i was having a problem with my phone. called apple tech explained everything i did to try to resolve my problem. i then told him water sensor had been tripped because i know it got wet. he said that was ok because he can overide it. he set me up with a appointment at my local apple store.

when i went in he told me he couldn't do anything because of the water damage. i told him i talked to tech and check to see if he put anything in the file. He then said he would exchange it because he had to from what the guy put in my file. you could see the apple genuis didn't want to.
 
Op your issue is the fact you have taken your iPhone into a very humid enviroment. The dock connector collects dust then you subject it to humidity and the dust soaks that up and kills the connector. Why should apple fix your mistake?
 
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