Physical Damage vs Liquid Damage

[Gelatinez]

In late August-I phoned T-Mobile's cs about our SK3 not holding its charge. Initially the phone was brought to a dealer and they said I needed to phone SK3 team....the CSR at T-Mobile could not "validate" the warranty and I spent hours and numerous phone calls going from T-Mobile to the SK3 team to resolve this issue-once Chris found it..he transferred me to the SK3 team...then they told me they couldn't find it....to make a long story short...I finally went to the dealer and they resolved the issue in less than 1/2 hour.....I spoke to Danielle with T-mobile and she gave me the shipping info, and asked if there were any physical damage on the phone...i stated only the top piece of the phone was off and we still had this piece.....she said there would be a charge if there were physical damage to the phone and also if I didn't return the phone within 7 days of the exchange....Okay...the phone was not in my possession because I was told by T-Mobile to mail it to UTStarcomm for repairs....UT said they only do out of warranty repairs.....called in 3 days to have the phone sent back and after all the wait time in between the phone was received and sent to T-mobile who received it on September 5.....Now I am being charged $107.25 because there was 'liquid damage" that caused corrosion and that's why my battery didn't hold the charge......After, stating numerous times to the reps at T-mobile and SK3 team....nothing was ever mentioned about liquid damage and I reiterated in every phone conversation if there will be any out of pocket expense I will gladly purchase another phone....again..they stated physical damage and not returning the defective phone. SK3 team said the battery housing was a defect in the phone so it wouldn't be a problem...I spoke to Tim,
T-Mobile's rep last night and it was like talking to a wall!! He kept saying liquid damage caused corrosion...and after telling him the situation....he was speechless.. and I hung up...Reported this to the BBB the same night and am totally letting my contract expire in 4 months.....not giving them the satisfaction of getting even more money from me!!! Anyone have corporate's number...or just let the BBB handle this? By the way the phone was given back in excellent condition....no major flaws at all!!!

[andrewkeith5]

I would point out that pretty much every warranty out there will only cover the device if there is a fault which has not been caused by the user, whether accidentally or deliberately. If you damage the device, theres no way to tell at all whether the damage was done by you and your tying to rip them off or whether it is in fact a defect, and so the warranty is essentially void.

I'm not saying you were trying to rip anybody off, just merely stating what pretty much every warranty for anything you buy nowaways says. The best way to ensure that your device will always be fixed is to take out an independant insurance policy, which covers as many possible reasons for claiming as possible.

[buckie]

The first post relates to T-mobile USA