Water damage - not covered by warranty

[harg7769]

I got caught in a bit of a down pour yesterday and ended up soaked, as did my phone unfortunately. When I tried to switch it on this morning, there was nothing. I phoned customer services who told me that I should take it into a Vodafone shop for return to be repaired as it was still under warranty.

When I took it into the shop, the sales assistant took one look at it and said as it was water damage, it wouldn't be repaired as this isn't included. The best thing to do is leave it in an airing cupboard for a few days and "hope it dries out". If it doesn't, I am basically stuck with 15 months left on a contract and no phone. That can't be right, can it?

I would understand if I had dropped the phone but it was in my pocket. Do I have any chance of getting this repaired under warranty? If not, is there a copy of the warranty that I can read through to see what the exclusions are?

Thanks for any help.

harg7769

[SynthFG]

Water damage is never covered under the warenty of an mobile phone,
Water damage causes corosion on the internal boards, the only cost effective solution is to throw the phone away for recycling and get a new one
By allowing your phone to get wet to the extent that it has ceased functioning you have damaged it beyond economical repair
It is not the fault of Nokia or Vodaphone that you allowed your phone to get wet so why should they have to cover the cost of repair,
At least you are being more honest than most that appear on the forums with water damaged phones, in that you admit that you allowed it to get wet
Your options now
1) Take the battery out, leave phone and battery in the airing cupboard or in a bowl of dry rice for a couple of days before trying again
if this doesn't work
2) Try claiming on your phone or household insurance,

if no insurance
3) Buy a new handset, a PAYG 5800 will have many of the same features and be relativly cheep (100 quid)
4) Buy out your reamining contract (Monthly Payment * remaining months) * 0.75

[harg7769]

Water damage is never covered under the warenty of an mobile phone,
Water damage causes corosion on the internal boards, the only cost effective solution is to throw the phone away for recycling and get a new one
By allowing your phone to get wet to the extent that it has ceased functioning you have damaged it beyond economical repair
It is not the fault of Nokia or Vodaphone that you allowed your phone to get wet so why should they have to cover the cost of repair,
At least you are being more honest than most that appear on the forums with water damaged phones, in that you admit that you allowed it to get wet
Your options now
1) Take the battery out, leave phone and battery in the airing cupboard or in a bowl of dry rice for a couple of days before trying again
if this doesn't work
2) Try claiming on your phone or household insurance,

if no insurance
3) Buy a new handset, a PAYG 5800 will have many of the same features and be relativly cheep (100 quid)
4) Buy out your reamining contract (Monthly Payment * remaining months) * 0.75

Thanks for the reply. I'm still not too happy that getting caught in a downpour means that I have to fork out for a new phone due to the phone's inability to deal with a 10 minute walk from the station to the house, especially as my iPod Touch was in the same pocket and is working absolutely perfectly.

Given the fragile nature of Nokia's phones in the rain, I'm more inclined towards something else more suited to living in a country that isn't known for its sunshine.

Harg7769

[Retired-Trev]

Hi Andrew H

I am sorry to hear about your handset.

Synth_FG is 100% correct, in that water damage is not covered under the manufacturers warranty. You would need to have insurance to cover water damage. It may be worth checking if your household policy does cover your mobile phone.

There are moisture indicators inside mobile phones, that are there to give an indication of the ingress of water. There's normally one found in the battery compartment, it may be worth checking this.

If you do have any further questions, then please let me know.

Regards

Trev
eForum Team

[georgebrisco]

Hi Andrew H

I am sorry to hear about your handset.

Synth_FG is 100% correct, in that water damage is not covered under the manufacturers warranty. You would need to have insurance to cover water damage. It may be worth checking if your household policy does cover your mobile phone.

There are moisture indicators inside mobile phones, that are there to give an indication of the ingress of water. There's normally one found in the battery compartment, it may be worth checking this.

If you do have any further questions, then please let me know.

Regards

Trev
eForum Team

"Water Damage" seems to be a weasel get-out clause for Vodafone on this. My N97 suffered from a detaching lock/unlock slider; a known design flaw. It went away for warranty repair and came back (in a worse condition I might add) saying "Will not repair. Water Ingress"

Shame on you Vodafone

[steflongstaff]

Water damage is a joke, my brand new mobile telephone had never been in any down pours of rain, or submerged in water or left in areas such as my bloody bathroom or kitchen for the mysterious water/moisture damage it had apparently had, when sent off for repair, it hadn't been working well from the day it was bought 18/04/2014 until the day it broke altogether 22/05/2014.  I know full well as I have no need to lie that it had not been left anywhere to come in contact with water or moisture.  Yet I am expected to pay £55 for a repair and the telephone itself was not worth that much itself.  I was left with no choice other than to contact the Ombudsman My Reference: WEBCOMM135615C and I will not let this matter go easily, as if I had accidentally damaged my mobile with water, which I did NOT I would have told them that when asking for it to be sent off for a repair and I would have been more than willing to pay for the repair if I had accidentally damaged it.  My new mobile was being treated like gold dust as it was a birthday present from my partner.  I was so shocked when I received the call stating I must pay for the repair, which took a while to get out of the person why it was chargeable and being far to forcefull for my liking as in it was obviously my own fault.  It was like pay or get lost, absolutely disgusting.  I am very sure as I was told the handset will be sent back to the store unrepaired and if I don not collect it, it will be recycled, that it will not be recycled it will most likely be repaired and sold on, whilst we are left out of pocket.  It seems from reading on here that it is very conveniently water damage in most cases and I disagree that everyone is apparently telling lies that there phone hasn't been accidentally damaged with water, some people such as myself have morals and would not make lies up.  I was not even aware of the accidental water damage loop hole before even reporting my telephone bring broken, not that it would of influenced me in anyway even if I had, as far as I was concerned it just went off through the night on my bedside cabinet, I just honestly though it would have been a general fault.  Myself and my partner will in the future be looking to move to a new provider and will be buying our handsets elsewhere.  I am absolutely disgusted the way I have been messed around even just to get to a shop that is actually open to get the phone sent off for repair and being spoken to be rubbish by the person who rang with the update about the handset.  I think it is also ridiculous that you cannot easily e-mail a complaint to Vodafone, obviously companies do not wish to hear/see our complaints.

[jeffkinn]

The question of water damage is a matter of fact and not opinion. Phones have moisture sensors in them that indicate whether the phone has been exposed to water or not. If they are activated then the phone has been in contact with water. If they aren't it hasn't. It doesn't matter how you have handled the phone, moisture sensors don't activate themselves. When you phone is back you need to check the moisture sensors.

Vodafone's warranty agreement with it's suppliers, the manufacturers, is quite simple. If moisture has been detected Vodafone will not get reimbursed for the repair and they won't bear the cost for something seen as user damage. That is why we, as fellow customers, always recommend people to go directly to the manufacturers rather than use Vodafone as they have more discretion.

As for complaints, there is a formal procedure and it isn't hidden at all. I don't know why people don't use Google more for things like this. Just Google Vodafone UK complaints and you'll find everything you need to lodge a formal complaint.

[Sukhi]

Hi steflongstaff

I'm disappointed to read about your experience. If you're not happy with the outcome of the repair you are entitled to take it to a third party for a second opinion. We're unable to override the decision made by our engineers. 

Thanks

Sukhi

[hrym]

It's always worth going direct to the manufacturer in a case like this, as they have more discretion.   There are two sets of moisture sensors on a mobile phone, one external (usually under tha battery) and one internal.  If the external one has been triggered, Vodafone are not allowed by any of the manufacturers to go any further and have to refuse a warranty repair.  The makers themselves, however, will take a pragmatic view and will open the case.  if there internal sensor hasn't gone off, or the fault clearly isn't moisture-related, they will normally do a warranty repair.

If you want your phone fixed, this is the best course of action.

[steflongstaff]

I am going to collect the handset and take it to an independent mobile repairer for a second opinion and I did initially take it direct to Vodafone as that is where I purchased the handset from a Vodafone store and the handset is also a Vodafone Smart Mini 875.