I am notorious for washing things that should not be washed. Daddio is always leaving things in his pants pockets and thus far the odd USB drive, sd card and work photo ID scan card have all survived, but not my cherished, beloved iPhone4. The same iPhone I stood in line for early in the morning the day it was launched.
I’ll fast forward the story a little bit here. We have been trying to get the C-Man to stay in his bed at night. At six he still needs a warm body to be close to him at night. This was also the same child that would cry until he vomited if you put him in a crib to sleep. We never really minded him climbing in with us, and when we got our King sized bed back in November it was great! So you ask what is the issue then? Well the C-man still wets at night, and leaks right through the training pants. We’ve tried every brand made, and even cloth to no avail. I think his little bladder just has not caught up with the rest of him yet. So 2 days ago after stripping the entire King size bed for about the 5th time in a week, I had had enough! Washing twin sheets is much simpler than ours, and once again he and his stealth-like ways slithered in without either of us waking, and again he leaked!
So as usual I woke up to my alarm on my phone, grabbed it and checked my email, and then headed to Facebook to browse around. I was greeted by a horrific image a “friend” had shared on her wall (this is worth a whole other blog post- some other day though) and then set my phone down on the bed. Then I realized that he had leaked, and put the bed-spread in first and left the sheets.
Fast forward 51 minutes later when the wash cycle finished I moved the bed-spread to the dryer and stripped the sheets and matress pad (I keep two waterproof ones on *just-in-case*) and threw it all on the 102 minute hot white wash cycle. I went back to work and then took a break for a phone call and went to grab my phone from the nightstand and pure horror ran though my veins as I immediately realized where the phone was. Yup raveled up in the sheets and mattress protector, in the washing machine after 102 minutes in there.
I immediately put it into a container of rice as I know this has worked for a couple of friends, but they had only quickly submersed their devices (iPod Nano and Touch). I then thought about all of the hockey videos and images I had not yet backed up and got sadder and sadder. I called my mobile provider as I remembered reading about a replacement handset program, I was told yes they have a great program, but no the iPhone is not one that’s covered! I could get another phone through this program and pay a fee for a smartphone, but if I wanted another iPhone it would cost me $750 +tax (that’s 13% here in NB).
I then scoured Kijiji and did find a 16 Gig for $500, this could be good, but I still needed to clarify that there wasn’t a contract that had to be taken over etc.
Then I decided to do what I do best and turn to Google! What a good friend you have been to me. What I determined is that Apple has a replacement program for water damaged iPhones! They have two options:
- they send you a box and you mail back your damaged phone they look it over and if it’s can’t be repaired will send you a replacement for $229. This takes a little longer and you have more down time with your phone.
- The second option for an extra $29 they will send you the replacement phone right away and they put a $ hold on your credit card until they receive the damaged one. If it can be fixed they will send the original back to you and take the $ hold off once the replacement is mailed back. If you happen to have Apple Care this extra $29 is waived. Apple Care gives you another extra year of warranty, so for the extra $50 I decided to buy it.
- One thing I was not aware of is that your warranty also covers headphones, chargers and cords. My USB charger cord is fraying badly, so they’re sending me a new one too!
One other thing is that the replacement phone still has the same warranty terms as the original phone. I bought mine July 30th so this replacement will have the original warranty until this July and then an extra year afterwards to take me to July 2012 almost to the time when I’ll most likely be eligible for another upgrade.
I’m really disappointed I was so careless, but pretty happy that I didn’t have to pay the full price for the replacement and the Apple rep was so nice last night. I’ve heard so many great things about Apple’s customer service and was happy I was on the receiving end this time. Although I did start my call with, “Now that I’ve stopped sobbing uncontrollably, I figured I’d give you a call!” It was a definitely a good ice breaker with Jon, my Apple Rep! Keep up the good work Apple!
