Work colleague + Coffee = My iPhone4 in a bowl of rice :(

w3dal

Prominent Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2002
Messages
5,087
Reaction score
580
Points
826
Location
Chelmsford, Essex
Hi All,

Just after some advice really yesterday a work mate accidentally spilt a whole cup of coffee over my desk and covered my iPhone and laptop in coffee whilst it was charging.

It's now switched off, in a bowl of rice in my draw at work.

So my question is will the apple store replace it for a fee- the moisture tag is red so I'm going to be totally honest about what happened its out of warranty in 3 weeks so will that help against my cause that it has soe left?

at this time of year I don't have £429 to buy a new handset but I'm happy to spend a couple of hundred for a replacement.

Any advice would be much appreciated :(

Dal
 
There's obviously no guarantees they will replace it for free, although they might (pot luck).

Also, you won't have to fork out £429 as they offer an exchange program where they take your handset and give you a refurb in return, for (I think) £140 or so.

You then get it home, connect it to iTunes and restore it from your last sync (you do have a last sync don't you?).

Also, what about getting your work mate to cover the cost of this? That would seem to be the decent thing to do.

HTH.
 
You still have warranty left. Allow the iPhone to dry, take it to Apple Store and tell them it's fault. Don't mention the spill.

And you'll get a replacement :thumbsup:
 
You still have warranty left. Allow the iPhone to dry, take it to Apple Store and tell them it's fault. Don't mention the spill.

And you'll get a replacement :thumbsup:

Don't be silly dude, the first thing they check is the water sensors and the OP has already said that they have triggered and turned red, so trying to pull the wool over Apple's eye's isn't the way to start.
 
You still have warranty left. Allow the iPhone to dry, take it to Apple Store and tell them it's fault. Don't mention the spill.

And you'll get a replacement :thumbsup:

+1

Just say that its faulty...nothing more, nothing less. If they mention the moisture sensor turning red, just act surprised and say you weren't aware of this. Chances are you'll walk out with a free replacement handset :smashin: (this is highly unlikely to work if your phone is out of warranty though)
 
Azzin said:
There's obviously no guarantees they will replace it for free, although they might (pot luck).

Also, you won't have to fork out £429 as they offer an exchange program where they take your handset and give you a refurb in return, for (I think) £140 or so.

You then get it home, connect it to iTunes and restore it from your last sync (you do have a last sync don't you?).

Also, what about getting your work mate to cover the cost of this? That would seem to be the decent thing to do.

HTH.

Totally agree mate - if I had done it to someone's phone I would pay no questions asked - but not all are like me and others unfortunately :(

I need to try and restore the phone before I go into the apple store as its currently jailbroken. Last sync was over a week ago so No worrys there.

Def don't intend trying to get it replaced for free, the sensor is red and is smells of Starbucks lol

If they do an exchange for £140 then that is great news - just don't know how to address getting my work chum to cough up - something I'll worry about once I get a working phone again.

The screen appeared to be working before I shut it down so hopefully it will work tomorrow when I get back into the office...

Dal
 
If only one red tab ha been triggered it doesnt class as water damage.
 
I would agree with Azzin, and be honest about what happened.

Is it covered on your home contents cover?

It maybe worth asking your mobile carrier to replace the sim, as when I did exactly the same thing to my 3GS, O2 insurance sent out a new sim, saying that if the sim had got wet, it could start to corrode and spread to the rest of the phone.
 
ROBIN50N said:
If only one red tab ha been triggered it doesnt class as water damage.

It's the bottom tab that's gone red - the one inside the headphone socket is ok
 
ferret1979 said:
I would agree with Azzin, and be honest about what happened.

Is it covered on your home contents cover?

It maybe worth asking your mobile carrier to replace the sim, as when I did exactly the same thing to my 3GS, O2 insurance sent out a new sim, saying that if the sim had got wet, it could start to corrode and spread to the rest of the phone.

I don't really wanna claim on contents purely for the fact of the excess and then hike in premium next year.

Good shout about the sim - it looked ok when I took it out yesterday but will check tomorrow.

Sounds like for a sensible fee I can get a replacement which is a result - I'm not trying to get round the system of a free replacement I'm happy to be pay I just wanted to know the options available to me.

Thanks to all who have posted, it's mucho appreciated :)

Dal
 
The replacement fee for the iPhone 4 is actually £119, not £140.
 
was it his coffee or yours? PLace i work at you are supposedly not allowed to drink or eat at a desk, so if it was your coffee could he possibly say its your fault as you should not be drinking at your desk :rolleyes:
 
njdbaxter said:
was it his coffee or yours? PLace i work at you are supposedly not allowed to drink or eat at a desk, so if it was your coffee could he possibly say its your fault as you should not be drinking at your desk :rolleyes:

My coffee he - knocked it over. We all drink coffee in our office and infact we all usually eat lunch at our desks also.

Dal
 
gkpm said:
The replacement fee for the iPhone 4 is actually £119, not £140.

Thats even better - many thanks

Dal
 
You still have warranty left. Allow the iPhone to dry, take it to Apple Store and tell them it's fault. Don't mention the spill.

And you'll get a replacement :thumbsup:
This forum does not promote or condone dishonesty. Not open for discussion. Thanks! :hiya:
 
Well - just booted it up and everything is working.

Very lucky I would say. Thanks for all the replys

Merry Christmas

Dal
 
Azzin said:
I had an iPhone VS kitchen sink once.

Did the same as you and all seemed well, then I noticed battery only lasted a couple of hours and other little niggles and it soon became clear that all was not well and the sink had won.

I went to Apple, paid for a swap and all was good again.

I'm charging it now and will be keeping an eye on it over the next few days. Now I know my options I feel much better about the whole thing.

Dal
 
I was at the Apple store on Saturday with a friend who had dropped their phone and cracked the bottom of the front screen a bit. She is under warranty, but Apple said they can't replace broken front screens and any companies claiming to do it were liars and would basically destroy your phone doing so. He did offer her a replacement handset for £119 though and said that if most things happen to an iPhone out of warranty, they still offer the replacement handset for £119 regardless. They are "service" handsets or something like that, they don't come in Apple boxes but apparently have never been used before and are in all regards, 'new'. Could be complete rubbish, but that's what he told us. Maybe they'll offer you that, so £119 seems a lot easier than £429, and I agree with an earlier poster, if a colleague spilled your coffee and broke your phone, he should be paying for the damage, not you, it was his fault, but if the phone seems to be working fine now, maybe you were very, very lucky!
 
Last edited:
I suspect the "service handsets" are just like the refurbished ones that they give out on warranty swaps which, if the two i've had are anything to go by, look practically brand new!! I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between one of them and a brand new phone.
 
well it seems to be holding a charge - it was always pretty good TBH so i will spot it quickly if it does seem togo down quicker than usual.

will keep an eye on it over the next few days - im still a bit dubious about it because of the amount of coffee that went over it - maybe having it connected to the PC at the time stopped the liquid getting into the connector.

Dal
 
well it seems to be holding a charge - it was always pretty good TBH so i will spot it quickly if it does seem togo down quicker than usual.

will keep an eye on it over the next few days - im still a bit dubious about it because of the amount of coffee that went over it - maybe having it connected to the PC at the time stopped the liquid getting into the connector.

Dal

depending on how well you can raise the issue of your colleague paying for a replacement, I'd try and get a replacement from Apple , pay the £110/£140 and ask your mate to cough up.

I'd have difficulty asking a 'mate' to do that too, so it all depends on how comnfortable you are with this.

Good luck.
 
Professor Chaos said:
depending on how well you can raise the issue of your colleague paying for a replacement, I'd try and get a replacement from Apple , pay the £110/£140 and ask your mate to cough up.

I'd have difficulty asking a 'mate' to do that too, so it all depends on how comnfortable you are with this.

Good luck.

Just get it sorted, as doing so anyway, and then drop into conversation what you had to pay. You will soon know how much of a mate they are by their response. If they say nothing, then that says it all, but if they offer to chip in then it becomes a question of how you feel at the time. Even if they went half way your in good territory?
 
bpsmith said:
Just get it sorted, as doing so anyway, and then drop into conversation what you had to pay. You will soon know how much of a mate they are by their response. If they say nothing, then that says it all, but if they offer to chip in then it becomes a question of how you feel at the time. Even if they went half way your in good territory?

Well it's been running fine for two days with no issues. Thanks to all for replying - but looks like I have managed to save my iPhone and my wallet

Dal
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom