Bringing a working water-damaged phone to a store?

[pmal19]

I am curious as to the possible outcomes to this situation

I am one of the fortunate who got a really good working TP which I have had for over a year with no problems, most of the time being flashed with MightyRom.

Finally, my car door got the best of my phone, but even a full powered closing of a car door, with my phone sustaining the entire force near the foot guard, only poped out the volume up and down tab and produced a 1 cm chip right above the tab. (as a side note, I have always been impressed with the durability of this phone)

I have since thought about brining my phone into a store (I have insurance) because with the small chip and tab out it looks damaged, even though functionally its fine (I suppose having open areas on your phone is just asking for trouble though, right?)

I have noticed that the red sticker on the back panel of my phone is fully red (water damaged) but the sticker on my battery is fine. Obviously I have no recollection of dropping it in a toilet or whatever, im assuming humidification did the trick. The thing is if I re-flash it to stock sprint, relock it, and bring it in (becuase of the missing volume tab and chip exposing the inside), can they still feed me the line that i'm SOL because its water damaged, even if the phone runs like a champ and the battery shows no damage?

[Carla]

Yes, they can and honestly they probably will. Even if they don't, I am assuming you have TEP, they will attribute the problems to physical damage which was caused by you. You can always try, you may prove me wrong, but I don't think you will. I know it's not what you wanted to hear. I am thinking you are looking at $100 to replace through insurance if you really want it replaced. In that case there is some nice phones out and even more coming, I would put my $100 towards one of those. Just my .02

[pmal19]

Originally Posted by CarlaDarla

Yes, they can and honestly they probably will. Even if they don't, I am assuming you have TEP, they will attribute the problems to physical damage which was caused by you. You can always try, you may prove me wrong, but I don't think you will. I know it's not what you wanted to hear. I am thinking you are looking at $100 to replace through insurance if you really want it replaced. In that case there is some nice phones out and even more coming, I would put my $100 towards one of those. Just my .02

I somewhat expected that, one of my friends is one of those guys who has been through 7 or so phones, and as soon as he saw the red water damage he mentioned the $100 deductible and told me I was screwed. I figured I would just go over there and be honest with them, ask them if they can replace it, but if it would cost me anything I would just want to hang on to the one I have now (if apparently a water damaged working phone is the same value to them as a water damaged fried phone) because I am still happy with the way my phone works.

I don't really feel like BSing my way to a TP2 like alot of people I have seen on this forum. To be honest I'm fine with the TP (well, my working problem-free TP), but then again I wouldn't mind paying the $100 deductible if it gets me a TP2 as a replacement by some act of a higher power

[Vassago]

Mine showed the signs of "water damage" even though I also never dropped it in either. They still replaced it without even mentioning it. The worst you can do is try and see what they say. It's also worth going to multiple stores over. If one gives you a hard time, try another.

[MrFordihus]

When I had my HTC Excalibur, I broke the screen by kneeling on it. I took it back to the store and convinced them that the screen had suddenly broken after being left out in the sun.

Lesson to be learnt is that most shop-people don't care what happened to your phone, just tell them a *convincing* story to look good on paper and 9/10 times they will just take it back

[arrrghhh]

Originally Posted by MrFordihus

When I had my HTC Excalibur, I broke the screen by kneeling on it. I took it back to the store and convinced them that the screen had suddenly broken after being left out in the sun.

Lesson to be learnt is that most shop-people don't care what happened to your phone, just tell them a *convincing* story to look good on paper and 9/10 times they will just take it back

Pretty much. It really depends on the rep you get, and how much of a d!ck they feel like being. Some are really nice, and will just replace it no questions asked. Others, for whatever reason, will press and press and usually not budge. If you hit a wall, just kindly tell them thank you and go elsewhere, or just deal with the phone until you upgrade.

[mcw]

Remember - not all phones come with the sticker, and they do fall off.. I had a refurb not come with one, and a friend just brought me a refurb he picked up yesterday so we could flash it up. No stickers covering the antenna slots on the back (completely bare), which was a first that I've seen.

If you REALLY did not drop your phone in water, you have two choices:
1 - Completely remove the sticker from the phone, and if they question it, tell them there wasn't one that you ever saw.
2 - Use the sticker that's on your battery (cut it down a bit to match the one on the phone) and use that.

On one refurb, all the stickers on the back of my phone were worn down completely because unless I placed it on a laptop cooler, the phone would lock up... Well, I have an Antec one, which is aluminum, and because of all the holes, can scratch things if dragged across it... It's not my fault that they have a phone which overheats... But I told them - I could never, ever plug the phone in with the back cover on.

Of course - this all depends on the store/rep that helps you.

[Deadpool14]

In my opinion it all depends on if you have insurance or not through your carrier. I've got friends who have insurance and they have gotten phones replaced through that since they often cover accidental damage.

[AndroidTroll]

what counts is the water sticker on the phone since u can get another battery with a fresh sticker. If I was you I would claim it lost and pay asurion for a replacement and hope u get a tp2. Keep your old for experikmental use.