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It seems like one thing people just love to do to try and keep me from finding liquid damage in their phones is removing the liquid indicators from the batteries or the battery compartments. Yes... that will fool me for sure.
I've had to tell customers all the time that the only reason I was really suspicious about their phone is because the indicators were tampered with. If they'd just left them alone, I probably would have let some of them slide. I also have people removing indicators that aren't even set off all the time.
Background: A phone comes to the tech room with an intermittently white screen. It was in pretty good condition, so I thought I'd just give it a quick once over to decide whether I needed to open it up to check it before exchanging it. When I took the battery out, both the liquid indicators on the battery and back housing had been removed. Obviously red flags went up, so I opened it to find a considerable amount of liquid damage.
CS = Customer
Me = Me
Me: Ma'am, it seems that at some point this phone was exposed to some sort of liquid that has caused considerable damage to your phone. [I show the customer the liquid still physically present inside the housing].
CS: What does that mean?
Me: Well it means that I'll need to refer you to the insurance company for a replacement.
CS: Why?
Me: Because the phone is wet, once it's wet there isn't anything I can do for it and we'll need to get it replaced through insurance.
CS: It's not wet. I want to see the little on the battery that say whether it got wet.
Me: Well that's another point. The stickers have been tampered with and are removed. But, I don't need them when I've got water still dripping around inside the phone.
CS: You can't prove it without the stickers.
Me: Actually, I can. I'll get this back together for you and get you the phone number for insurance.
[I throw the phone back together and get the business card for the insurance provider. I head back out to see the customer off.]
CS: I'm going to be calling your corporate office. You can't say its wet without the stickers.
Me: You're welcome to do what you feel you need to ma'am. I went ahead and noted it appears that the phone was tampered with and the indicators were missing. Just for reference, tampering with those indicators by itself is enough for me to void your phone and send you to insurance. You have a wonderful day.
I've had to tell customers all the time that the only reason I was really suspicious about their phone is because the indicators were tampered with. If they'd just left them alone, I probably would have let some of them slide. I also have people removing indicators that aren't even set off all the time.
Background: A phone comes to the tech room with an intermittently white screen. It was in pretty good condition, so I thought I'd just give it a quick once over to decide whether I needed to open it up to check it before exchanging it. When I took the battery out, both the liquid indicators on the battery and back housing had been removed. Obviously red flags went up, so I opened it to find a considerable amount of liquid damage.
CS = Customer
Me = Me
Me: Ma'am, it seems that at some point this phone was exposed to some sort of liquid that has caused considerable damage to your phone. [I show the customer the liquid still physically present inside the housing].
CS: What does that mean?
Me: Well it means that I'll need to refer you to the insurance company for a replacement.
CS: Why?
Me: Because the phone is wet, once it's wet there isn't anything I can do for it and we'll need to get it replaced through insurance.
CS: It's not wet. I want to see the little on the battery that say whether it got wet.
Me: Well that's another point. The stickers have been tampered with and are removed. But, I don't need them when I've got water still dripping around inside the phone.
CS: You can't prove it without the stickers.
Me: Actually, I can. I'll get this back together for you and get you the phone number for insurance.
[I throw the phone back together and get the business card for the insurance provider. I head back out to see the customer off.]
CS: I'm going to be calling your corporate office. You can't say its wet without the stickers.
Me: You're welcome to do what you feel you need to ma'am. I went ahead and noted it appears that the phone was tampered with and the indicators were missing. Just for reference, tampering with those indicators by itself is enough for me to void your phone and send you to insurance. You have a wonderful day.
Eric the Grey
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