Verizon Phone Warranty - Default to Moisture Damage

[Hard Charger]

Wondering if anyone has had this experience with Verizon. My wife and I live in Las Vegas, needless to say a fairly arid place. My wife went to San Diego and was out to dinner with some friends. She used her phone that night when she got home, then went to bed.

The next morning the phone could not get service...but everything else worked, camera, music player, etc. She called customer service and they tried to reset the phone to no avail...eventually the rep offered to send out a new one. Since she was out of town and needed a phone, she went to a Verizon Store for a replacement (Samsung Charge). The clerk there also tried to get the phone to work, and replaced her sim card. When she couldn't get it to work, she told my wife it must have water damage.

My wife returned to Las Vegas and went to another store, where she was also told the phone had "moisture" damage and she would have to pay $300. This clerk actually pulled out her battery and showed her a "moisture" tape which, when if pink in color, apparently indicates the phone has moisture damage. So I checked my phone, which works perfectly, and it too was the same pink color. I then called a friend who had just got a new phone within the past month and sure enough...his too was pink.

Has anyone else had this issue with Verizon? It seems Verizon has found a sure fire way to get customers to buy insurance, or not honor phone warranties. The worst part is you are at their discretion once you send in your phone. They will charge you (in her case) $300 if they determine there is "moisture" damage.

[ShinyTop]

I have two Galaxy Nexuses. After reading your post I took the battery out of each. The moisture indicator is a pink and white pattern. Neither has been exposed to water. I think that is the default pattern and it is supposed to turn red when exposed to moisture. Have the man at the Verizon store show the pattern on a couple of the phones in the store, preferably the same model as your wife's.

[johnhere]

Yeah I would take them back to the store for someone else to look at them. Mine are always pink with stripes if i remember correctly and when moisture hits they turned red.

Every phone ive taken to Verizon they always claimed water damage which was bs.

[ShortSxit]

The stickers can be different, but usually the standard it something like white with pink "X's" or something similar. When the sticker is activated, it should turn completely pink.

[Extraordinary]

A LDI will turn completely pink / red when its wet. See this picture:



Moisture for a prolonged period of time can set off an LDI but its not very likely, it may be light pink from high levels of moisture, which is also not good for electronics. Taking a phone into the same room as a shower... the steam can set off an LDI.

[vzwinagent]

Just do it over the phone. I've never seen anyone charged especially if there really is no true water damage.

[Morphling27]

Wondering if anyone has had this experience with Verizon. My wife and I live in Las Vegas, needless to say a fairly arid place. My wife went to San Diego and was out to dinner with some friends. She used her phone that night when she got home, then went to bed.

The next morning the phone could not get service...but everything else worked, camera, music player, etc. She called customer service and they tried to reset the phone to no avail...eventually the rep offered to send out a new one. Since she was out of town and needed a phone, she went to a Verizon Store for a replacement (Samsung Charge). The clerk there also tried to get the phone to work, and replaced her sim card. When she couldn't get it to work, she told my wife it must have water damage.

My wife returned to Las Vegas and went to another store, where she was also told the phone had "moisture" damage and she would have to pay $300. This clerk actually pulled out her battery and showed her a "moisture" tape which, when if pink in color, apparently indicates the phone has moisture damage. So I checked my phone, which works perfectly, and it too was the same pink color. I then called a friend who had just got a new phone within the past month and sure enough...his too was pink.

Has anyone else had this issue with Verizon? It seems Verizon has found a sure fire way to get customers to buy insurance, or not honor phone warranties. The worst part is you are at their discretion once you send in your phone. They will charge you (in her case) $300 if they determine there is "moisture" damage.

If your water sensor is on the battery a simple solution is to just buy a cheapo one off of amazon/ebay and put that in. Hopefully you aren't blackballed in the computer system or something. Go back and get your replacement.

I never got how it was remotely ok for them to think that a water sensor on a user replaceable part was acceptable at all. I could pull my batter and go diving with it, let it completely dry out and then stick it back in the phone and it may or may not work, but the phone isn't damaged. A new battery would fix my problem. Sensors on the inside of the phone or such are a much better solution all around and yes, I'm aware many phones have internal ones.

[UrbanBounca]

It takes more than just moisture to turn it red/pink. I was a certified technician for nearly five years, and we did numerous tests regarding the mythical "moisture damage."

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

[ben7337]

If your water sensor is on the battery a simple solution is to just buy a cheapo one off of amazon/ebay and put that in. Hopefully you aren't blackballed in the computer system or something. Go back and get your replacement.

I never got how it was remotely ok for them to think that a water sensor on a user replaceable part was acceptable at all. I could pull my batter and go diving with it, let it completely dry out and then stick it back in the phone and it may or may not work, but the phone isn't damaged. A new battery would fix my problem. Sensors on the inside of the phone or such are a much better solution all around and yes, I'm aware many phones have internal ones.

Both the phone and the battery have the sensor, and I'm pretty sure a water damaged battery can do quite a few bad things. It might have issues with keeping the chemicals in their cells and cause a super hot reaction making the battery burst into flame, or perhaps it could send a very unstable current to the electronics in the phone and damage them, or it could just send a huge burst of electricity and completely ruin the phone. Not saying this is guaranteed to happen, or even likely, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is possible, so if the battery shows water damage signs, it is a liability and possible explanation for phone issues. Not that you can't just replace the battery if you want, but most people wouldn't know to do that if the phone suddenly stops working, and so the indicator on the battery can be useful for service techs. Yes it is an excuse to deny a warranty, but it isn't entirely meant to screw over the consumer. It's meant to protect the manufacturer from warranty replacing or repairing a phone that was damaged by a damaged battery, or to avoid just offering a free replacement battery for someone who damaged their original one.

[WaltA]

A LDI will turn completely pink / red when its wet. See this picture:



Moisture for a prolonged period of time can set off an LDI but its not very likely, it may be light pink from high levels of moisture, which is also not good for electronics. Taking a phone into the same room as a shower... the steam can set off an LDI.

The LDI in my old RAZR, is bright red, as yours is, in your picture.

However, it has never been in water. It has never been in a shower, nor in a steam room. It has never been in a puddle, nor in a toilet.

The only moisture that it has ever been exposed to, is the normal moisture in the air.

The LDI's are not fool proof. They are not exact. They are far, far, from being reliable.

[Extraordinary]

The LDI in my old RAZR, is bright red, as yours is, in your picture.

However, it has never been in water. It has never been in a shower, nor in a steam room. It has never been in a puddle, nor in a toilet.

The only moisture that it has ever been exposed to, is the normal moisture in the air.

The LDI's are not fool proof. They are not exact. They are far, far, from being reliable.

Do you watch your phone 24/7? Ever let someone else use it? Leave it on a table or by itself? Rain exposure?

Things can happen. People spill things, animals can knock things over, kids pee on things too. I worked in cellular for many years and have heard every story from "in the kids mouth" to "peed on when changing a diaper" to "dropped it in my beer" or my favorite "I never got it wet, but I found it in the snow" ... 99% of the time they tell me where its been AFTER I look at it and tell them its been wet. Very rare to have someone admit right away to "I broke it and need a new one." Oh well.

I have also seen enough red LDI's with white out on them, replacement LDI's, or missing LDI's "my phone didn't have a sticker there" lol

While they are not fool proof and exact they are still pretty good to see if any moisture has been in THAT SPOT. It doesnt mean the whole phone took a drink, but the LDI sure did in one way or another.

Many devices have more than one LDI, I believe the iPhone has 3? One is even in the headset jack, so technically its always exposed. If it started to rain and the first tiny drop made it's way into the headset port while you were talking, then you're SOL.

[TC_Mits]

. . .
The LDI's are not fool proof. They are not exact. They are far, far, from being reliable.

Well, I think they are very reliable, at least in the sense that they reliably save vzw from having to replace a lot of customer devices.

[Extraordinary]

Well, I think they are very reliable, at least in the sense that they reliably save vzw from having to replace a lot of customer devices.

Verizon doesnt cover the cost of defective/broken/warranty/insurance phones per say, most of it goes through the manufacturer, the rest is asurion, an independent insurance company. Of course every company wants to keep costs to a minimum, and easiest way to void a warranty of an electronic device is to get it wet...

[WaltA]

Do you watch your phone 24/7? Ever let someone else use it? Leave it on a table or by itself? Rain exposure?

Things can happen. People spill things, animals can knock things over, kids pee on things too. I worked in cellular for many years and have heard every story from "in the kids mouth" to "peed on when changing a diaper" to "dropped it in my beer" or my favorite "I never got it wet, but I found it in the snow" ... 99% of the time they tell me where its been AFTER I look at it and tell them its been wet. Very rare to have someone admit right away to "I broke it and need a new one." Oh well.

Well, all of those are quite a stretch. IMHO, pretty ridiculous attempts to defend, the undefendable.

For example, my kid is 35 yo. So, no, he didn't pee on it, nor am I still changing this diapers.

You'll just have to accept the truth. It never was in any water, liquid or solid, or gotten otherwise wet. But the dot is a bright red. Only a fool would think that the LDI's are infallible.

[kupe]

I see a lot of folks talking on their phone in the rain (running to their car, running into the store, etc) - but I'm sure their phones never got wet.