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Tripped 3GS Water sensor last night

I am shocked that someone who treats his phone as carefully as the OP does had this problem along with a history of having his phones fall apart over and over again.

Certainly it is the bad build and not operator error. No chance you are an Inspector Clouseau starter kit wrecking havoc wherever you go, scaring bulls from china shops and tantrum throwing two year olds into adult maturity.
 
ryan42 said:
No it's not insuring a device after the fact. I'm not trying to get water damage covered. Again, no damage has taken place.
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LOL.

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?
 
swindmill said:
Comments like this completely miss the point. Apple voids the warranty on the phone regardless of whether the small amount of water has anything to do with what future problems the phone may have. This is not a fair practice and if the OP or anyone else can avoid this unfair practice, they are perfectly justified in doing so. Please get off your moral high horse long enough to consider what's actually going on.
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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.
 
And let's say someone is seeking a replacement for a cosmetic issue, like cracks in the casing? Does water damage have something to do with that as well?

No. It does not.
 
shvartsies said:
And let's say someone is seeking a replacement for a cosmetic issue, like cracks in the casing? Does water damage have something to do with that as well?

No. It does not.
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Well, if you want to get technical about it, no manufacturer has a return/exchange policy for cosmetic defects. People are lucky that Apple does it at all.

The amazing thing with the iPhone is that people act like it's some kind of damn jesus phone that simply must be perfect.

The reality is that it's just a *gasp* PHONE people. If it has a real defect Apple takes care of it. Apple is not here to boost your ego about breaking your piggy bank to get an iphone and then going through a freak out over the tiniest inconsequential defect. I've purchased $600 pocket PCs 10 years ago which is like $800 in today's dollars and they had soft plastic screens and cases that got the crap beat out of them even if you put them in a case. Do you think those manufacturers swapped them out over little screen scrapes or a hairline crack in the casing? Hell no. Most manufacturers simply don't warranty for that stuff.

Bottom line is, if you break it (or drool on it, or drop it, or take it in the shower with you and ruin it), buy another one. It might shock you, but those of us with real jobs simply go in and buy another one if we do something to the first one.
 
uberamd said:
From what I understand, thats a widespread thing. Mine does it also.


Oh my god. Way to justify your actions. If that makes your conscious rest easy then so be it, thank god there are some honest people in this world still. The reason companies are so strict is because when they are flexible people just take advantage of them. People like you. Which brings me to my next point: people like you make me sick. And that coming from a 21 year old really says something about the kind of person you are.
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or it says that you're a self-righteous 21-year-old.
 
OP, did you charge it to a personal (non-business) AmEx card, or another credit card with similar benefits?

I'm amazed at the number of people who don't do such a thing, instead charging it to a debit card or other means of payments that offer absolutely no protection.
 
I see the real issue here being someone who wants to exchange their phone because something MIGHT happen to it in the future.

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?

My negative attitude about the situation is that while the situation sucks, the OP wants to return something for his own piece of mind after damaging the phone himself (vs product defect) when there is nothing wrong with the phone. Why should Apple pay for this accident?

And for those saying what's the difference.. there's a huge one. The major one being that it's entirely possible that the OP will go the lifetime of the phone without any incident.

Now - if there was indeed damage caused by the water, then Apple is legitimate in NOT replacing the phone. But I'll give the OP the benefit of the doubt that his phone is working just as well as it was before the accident.
 
uberamd said:
Um, no? A car is designed to handle rain, the iPhone? Not so much. Horrible example, but good try.
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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. My brothers tripped from condensation when he had it on the bathroom counter while he was taking a shower. I'm pretty sure that if the iPhone could only be used in a vacuum no one would buy it. Anyway, idk why everyone is jumping on his case because im sure another thread will pop up that is similar to this one, but started by someone who had sided with apple and pretty much said screw the consumer.
 
marksman said:
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.
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You've made a point that is 'fairly' obvious and assumes knowledge you don't have. It is also not adequate to address the issue raised in this thread. I appreciate your attempt to bolster it by claiming that my position is 'fairly' ignorant. I suppose I'm somewhat flattered that you don't consider it 'entirely' ignorant or even just 'plain' ignorant.

Allow me to suggest that your position is no different than the one raised by many others here, and I'll say it again, it misses the point. Apple should fully investigate the problem a phone (or any other hardware) may be having and determine the likelihood that the apparent contact with moisture could have been the cause. The fact that water could have been the cause is not an adequate reason to turn down warranties when the problem very well could stem from Apple's manufacturing process or parts used by Apple in that process. It is not fair to the owner and owners are justified in trying to skirt that policy.
 
jmpage2 said:
It comes down to what you define as "small drop of water". Others here have said "an ant spitting down the headphone jack".

The reality is that it's a large enough quantity of water to trip the sensor. Whether that's a "splash" or some rain, or in the case of the OP, dribbling water from a cup all over it, you still got it WET!

I know of few phones that tolerate even small amount of water very well. They might work for a while and then stop working.

I once washed a $300 Nokia handset. I called AT&T and they were nice enough to offer to sell me a replacement at contract price. That's what you get when you are a long time business customer, they cut you a break.

Maybe instead I should have tried to lie my way into a free one? :rolleyes:
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My position really isn't concerned with how much moisture the phone came into contact with. The issue is whether that moisture caused the problem the phone may have a later time. Apple should look into that and at least consider the fact that there may be a different cause for a given problem. They apparently don't, and that's not right.
 
"It is not fair to the owner and owners are justified in trying to skirt that policy. "

No. The owner(s) are entirely justified to FIGHT the policy, not skirt it. If there were petitions and outcry over the policy and a true campaign to get it changed, then perhaps that change could occur.

But skirting the policy and cheating/stealing only further validates Apple's decision to keep the policy intact to protect themselves as much as they can.
 
samcraig said:
"It is not fair to the owner and owners are justified in trying to skirt that policy. "

No. The owner(s) are entirely justified to FIGHT the policy, not skirt it. If there were petitions and outcry over the policy and a true campaign to get it changed, then perhaps that change could occur.

But skirting the policy and cheating/stealing only further validates Apple's decision to keep the policy intact to protect themselves as much as they can.
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I would agree with this premise in theory, but practically speaking it's unrealistic. Your statement even implicitly acknowledges that this would take time and quite possibly go no where. We are talking about people with real and immediate problems with the policy.

I see no reason to think that people getting around this has any effect whatsoever on Apple's inclination to keep the policy in effect. The number of such incidents wouldn't be large enough to be noticed by Apple even if they were somehow aware of each incident, which we're acknowledging only works when it goes unnoticed by an Apple employee. And to refer to this as stealing is going a bit overboard. Theft is a specifically defined crime and what we're talking about doesn't fit within it.
 
xerenthar said:
or it says that you're a self-righteous 21-year-old.
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Its called having morals (defined as: concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character). I have purchased everything I own for many years now, even when I was living at home. My family didn't have a lot of money. So I worked hard to get what I have today, and the value of those items means more to me than probably anyone else here. But if I were to trip a sensor voiding my warranty by accident, I wouldn't try to scam the system to have it replaced. Yeah, I did work my butt off to get the phone but I screwed up and thats nobodies fault but my own and I will not try to get anyone else to pay for my mistake. Its called being an adult.

What other company lets you void the warranty and still replace it if there is a defect later on down the road? Please, tell me this? The OP screwed up, and he wants to pass the expense onto someone else.

Example 1: If I accidentally ripped the "Warranty void if seal is broken" sticker on the back of my PS2, I wouldn't be able to get it fixed.

Example 2: If I poked a hole in the "warranty void if seal is broken" sticker on the top of a hard drive while installing it in a computer, I wouldn't be able to get it replaced if it dies.

So WHY should this be any different? Sure, I didn't damage the hard drive or PS2, but thats not the point! The point is you voided the warranty, damage or not!

Be an adult and deal with it the right way!
 
uberamd

I'll add to your scenarios by saying that in them, it would be up to the company to decide whether or not to fix the problem under warranty or not. Just because the tab is broken or sticker removed doesn't mean they wouldn't. It means they have set a threshold. If they are broken, THEY are no longer liable. They could very well fix things (and I know plenty of people who have been able to legitimately get things fixed even though they broke warranty).

Morals come into play when it's how you proceed.

Scamming to get what you what is not MORAL.

(not to be sexist here, but ) Manning up and stating "I was installing this device and the sticker broke. I know that probably voids the warranty, but I'm hoping that you'll help out here because the device is less than a week old and is having an issue completely unrelated to a broken sticker.

And then dealing with the fact you might just be SOL instead of blaming evil corporations...
 
samcraig said:
uberamd

I'll add to your scenarios by saying that in them, it would be up to the company to decide whether or not to fix the problem under warranty or not. Just because the tab is broken or sticker removed doesn't mean they wouldn't. It means they have set a threshold. If they are broken, THEY are no longer liable. They could very well fix things (and I know plenty of people who have been able to legitimately get things fixed even though they broke warranty).

Morals come into play when it's how you proceed.

Scamming to get what you what is not MORAL.

(not to be sexist here, but ) Manning up and stating "I was installing this device and the sticker broke. I know that probably voids the warranty, but I'm hoping that you'll help out here because the device is less than a week old and is having an issue completely unrelated to a broken sticker.

And then dealing with the fact you might just be SOL instead of blaming evil corporations...
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Bingo. Thats exactly it. In some cases, its worth an effort to do an honest thing and call them letting them know that it was an accident, no damage was likely done, but the hard drive died (for example). They might say "sorry, warranty is void", and if they do they have the right. The key is to simply try to avoid those situations, and if they do happen, try to do the right thing. All of this fraud/scamming talk is not doing the right thing.
 
xerenthar said:
this is shorter
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Well a person with your attitude will get what you have coming. I don't know where you live or what kind of family brought you up, but your attitude towards this situation is wrong on many levels. If everyone in the world was like you, it would be a horrible place.
 
I think my first and only iphone app I will design and sell is the iRattle.
oh darn - someone already made a baby application like it
 
uberamd said:
Bingo. Thats exactly it. In some cases, its worth an effort to do an honest thing and call them letting them know that it was an accident, no damage was likely done, but the hard drive died (for example). They might say "sorry, warranty is void", and if they do they have the right. The key is to simply try to avoid those situations, and if they do happen, try to do the right thing. All of this fraud/scamming talk is not doing the right thing.
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calling apple up and saying the water damage sensor was red is a great idea. /eyeroll

uberamd said:
Well a person with your attitude will get what you have coming. I don't know where you live or what kind of family brought you up, but your attitude towards this situation is wrong on many levels. If everyone in the world was like you, it would be a horrible place.
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sorry i don't believe in karma but at least i'm not self-righteous about it
 
xerenthar said:
calling apple up and saying the water damage sensor was red is a great idea. /eyeroll



sorry i don't believe in karma but at least i'm not self-righteous about it
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So how would the world be then if everyone tried to scam and game the system for their own personal gain? I am still flabbergasted that you think what you are saying is right.
 
uberamd said:
So how would the world be then if everyone tried to scam and game the system for their own personal gain? I am still flabbergasted that you think what you are saying is right.
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i'm not making any judgments about the world or morality or any of that crap. i only said your screed was self-righteous.
 
" i only said your screed was self-righteous. "

So?

What's you're point. Your opinion is that the poster is self righteous. Doesn't make the comments any less valid.

Do you have anything to actually add to the conversation instead of throwing those words around?
 
samcraig said:
" i only said your screed was self-righteous. "

So?

What's you're point. Your opinion is that the poster is self righteous. Doesn't make the comments any less valid.

Do you have anything to actually add to the conversation instead of throwing those words around?
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You do realize he's just egging you on, right?
 
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