What is the definition of water damaged?

Question

Level 1

4 points

What is the definition of water damaged?

My iPhone X got wet, the camera is blur and face id stopped working. Didn't know if the quality of the phones are not equally the same, while mine has problem but others which I observed they put the phone into water but still works perfectly fine. The thing is when I read this article: Liquid damage to iPhone or iPod isn't covered by warranty - Apple Support, I couldn't find the red indicator as described, which I think it's not being water damaged and thus eligible for warranty.

However, Apple Authorized Service in Vietnam are really unprofessional. They don't know what LCI is, just looked at the phone and rejected the warranty. Not only that, I chat with an Apple advisor, he suggested me to come to VStore, which turned out to be a Reseller and don't have functions to repair or check hardware issue. It's very unprofessional for Apple to point me to a place that redirected me to another place then, such a waste of time.

Now my phone is still unrepaired, authorized services here insist that the phone is water damaged without checking the LCI, could someone please confirm if the LCI is the valid check for water damaged condition? This issue also raised a concern about build quality of Apple's products.

Posted on May 5, 2018 2:50 AM

Reply

Answer 1

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

May 5, 2018 8:03 AM in response to khailq

LCIs triggered aren't the only means of determining liquid damage. One is if the customer verifies that it was exposed to water and there are symptoms of liquid damaged parts. It's possible for a small leak to result in obvious corrosion damage even if it manages to completely avoid the LCIs.

Intentionally using an iPhone in water is risky. Sometimes it shows no damage. Sometimes they completely fail. You're really taking a risk by doing so, and Apple makes it clear that they don't recommend taking one underwater and that liquid damage isn't covered by the warranty.

Reply

Answer 2

May 5, 2018 7:41 AM in response to khailq

My question is did you dunk it in the drink or get it wet? If you did one or the other and told them this, they are in the right. That's a flat out admission. Forget what you've seen on the Internet about this.

As for the LCI, you may need a lamp and a magnifying glass to see it. If it's been tripped, then you're out of luck. Only way to know is to do it via that method or take the phone apart. The LCI is used to check to see if it's water damaged, but if you can't see it, you might need to look a bit harder. But from your post you're basically admitting that you got it wet.

Not the build quality, and I'll say this very harshly as well. Just because you see one nutcase dunk their phone into the water and have it come out okay, doesn't mean that you have to do it or get your phone wet. If you see it and decide to do it, well that's your problem if the phone develops problems later on. Do you know how many people come in here and complain about this subject? Wet or dunking? You aren't the first and I'm sure you're not going to be the last.

If that happened to me and I went to Apple about it, one way or the other they will know I'm lying. If I dunked my phone in water, told them no and the LCI is tripped, I lied to them. If it were up to me, one way or the other I would deny the warranty either by admission (you saying it got "wet"), or the LCI. Or both.

You're still not eligible for the warranty in either case. You're admitting that you got it wet. We just basically solved your "build quality" problem as well.

You can get an "out of warranty" replacement, but be prepared to have the scratch for that. It's not free. Take this as a sobering lesson of what NOT to do next time.

(Edited to add the last sentence in and a minor correction).

Reply

What is the definition of water damaged?

Similar questions