Anova water damage

[Anonymous]

Hi all
Just had to take my Iphone 3gs into the store as the home key would not work, first they tell me they cant do anything with it as i didn't buy it from store, I got it of O2 on the phone. soafter 40 minutes on the phone in store waiting for O2 to answer they finally spoke to the assistant and said repair the phone. Phoned to find out about my phone to be told water damage £139. this is the second Iphone i have had to have repaired would you believe both to Anova both came back with water damage faults!!!.

I told the O2 operator that i do think its all to easy to say "water damage" and then expect people to pay for the repair. neither phones were in contact with water but as its been said in previous posts "my word against there's". The operater said you can get your phone back and get a second opinion, to this i said whats to stop them putting it into a cup of coffee to cause the water damage.

If seems strange that all the iphones faults seem to go back to water damage, they have even said dont clean you Iphone as this can turn the sensors pink. If all electronics are this sensitive i'm suprised we have got past the abacus.

but aleast they got me to pay for the repair

[Anonymous]

Good afternoon Spudly
Sheepdog is correct about the liquid damage issue, it is an industry term but doesnt mean that the handset has been immersed in liquid, merely that the unit has come into contact with moisture. Contrary to popular belief an iPhone indicator is not that easy to trip, whilst the indicator can be seen in the headphone jack and the connector port the reverse of the indicator is the sensitive side so the moisture can only turn the indicator pink from the inside of the unit NOT by touching the outward facing side. One of the key things to bear in mind about an iPhone is that it is handled significantly more than a standard phone, Apple have studied usage and have come up with a figure of 19xs more handling than most other units, this will take its toll.
Something important to note is that iPhones are not repaired, the £139 is for a replacement unit (heavily subsidised by Apple), no other OEM offers this, if any other unit is liquid damaged this is classified as BER (beyond economical repair) through customer damage and you would have to claim on your insurance or buy another handset.
In terms of putting your handset in a cup of cofee......... no liquids are allowed into the plant and to be brutally honest there would be no benefit in doing so, financially or otherwise liquid damage is probably the most emotive subject I have to deal with!
Again being honest, you may need to look at how you use your handset, if this is the 2nd instance of liquid damage there may be something you are doing that inadvertantly exposes your phone to excessive moisture.

I hope this helps

KR

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies.
JK surely if this "water damage" is such an issue, and i'm sure you tech guys do there job why do they not say what the fault is rather than water damage? or do you throw the phone away and send out a new one?
It was not the cost of the repair to APPLE but how does the failure figures show up for the iphone. ie 99% of all faulty phones are water damaged then it makes the phone itself look very reliable thus making the product seem very good.

I was told in the store that Anova would send out a new iphone when i paid for the repair, customer services said they would send out a reconditioned phone not a new one is this true?

I also paid for the repair on Thursday, obviosly waited Friday Sat/Sun, Monday came and went so i phoned the shop on tuesday who phoned yourselves to be told it had just been dispatched and it would be with me within 72 hours. Do you not think this is a bit excessive for a replacement product. And apparently its sent out via Royal mail so there are no tracking facilities.

Just hope that when the postie puts it through the letter box it doesnt hit the tiled floor and suffer more water damage.

Spudly

[Anonymous]

Have a look at this one. It appears someone is suing Apple in the US http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/20 ... r_lawsuit/

[Anonymous]

Sums it up really.
I sub contract to sky and wish they had sensors on skt boxes, i could just walk say water damage you have to pay £139 quid or it wont work (obviously it would be smoke sensors). the biggest problem i have with it is the repair centre doesn't repair they just look and say water damage. if they put out a report saying this chip or that chip had been shorted then thats fine but it appears they only have to look at it and see pink/red. surely the sensor could of got damp and moisture got no where near the circuit components.
My problem with my iphone was the home wouldn't work unless you want to hard reset it. so obviously it did work.
Apple could have all sorts of issues that never get addressed due to water damage.
I know nothing will change Anova do what they are asked so basically dont send it to Anova as thet can't do anything.

[Anonymous]

Again I appreciate your frustration Spudly but we have to follow the guidelines set out by Apple and unfortuanately the fact that you have inadvertantly exposed your handset to sufficient moisture to trip an indicator puts your handst OOW for customer damage, so regardless of what the reported fault is your handset will be liable for a quote, this will be consistent whether you send the unit to us or take it to an Apple store. The units are not opened in the UK so there is no way of telling you what the actual damage the liquid ingress caused, it is the fact that your actions have tripped the indicators that have voided your warranty, this is the point that is key here.
In terms of your other comments; iPhones have an incredibly low return rate, pyhsical damage (cracked screens, impact damage from dropping etc) accounts for more of the units we see than liquid damage, all handsets can be affected by liquid damage this is not an issue for iPhones alone but as I have said there is probably a higher rate of liquid damage purely due to the fact that an iPhone is handled significantly more than a normal mobile, this will enevitably expose the unit to many times the risk than other products.

Once we have recieved notification from the store that your quote has been accepted and payment recieved we immediately send your handset to Apple and they send us the replacement by return, which we immediately ship to you or store, again this is the established procedure and is all done as quickly as possible.

To finish i would just re-iterate my earlier advice, if this is the 2nd unit you have liquid damaged then there may be something you are doing that exposes the handsets to excessive moisture.

KR

J

[Anonymous]

Interesting - Apple not only keep a tight control on developers and software but also servicing.