Electronics

Mobile phones and moisture damage

Updated: 07 Jul 2008
Mobile-phones-and-moisture-damage-hero

Introduction

Consumers are being held responsible if their mobile phone gets "water damage". But what if they never got it wet?

Every week our advisers receive calls from people who've had "difficulty" with their mobile retailer, manufacturer or repairer ... over water damage. And our callers are adamant their phone's never got wet.

What's the problem?

Water corrodes the metal in a phone. The corroding metal can't conduct an electrical current properly from one component to another - so the phone malfunctions, or dies.

All mobile phone manufacturers say the warranty is void if water damage is detected. And they reckon they can detect it - water damage leaves visible moisture or oxidisation on the circuit board or other components inside the phone. Most phones also have a number of moisture indicator stickers inside that change colour when they come in contact with water.

Former Consumer adviser Angus McLeod says repairers charge $50 to $70 or more just to inspect the phone - although they may refund this if the problem's not the customer's fault.

"In virtually every case we've seen the company or repairer always has the same line: 'no, you'll need to go and buy a new phone - and you still owe us the inspection fee.' They don't seem to care. These things are still within the warranty period or are less than two years old."

Case studies

Screen failure

Daniel Claus told us he bought a $300 Samsung W531 mobile phone from Nelson retailer Leading Edge on 10 March this year. Less than a month later, the LCD screen failed.

Daniel paid $55 to have the phone sent away to be checked for faults by Telegistics, a Telecom-owned mobile phone repairer. Two weeks later, Telegistics reported that the phone had water damage and wasn't repairable. As well, the warranty on Daniel's phone was void because of the water damage. So he'd have to pay the $55 inspection fee and replace a $300 phone that had lasted less than a month.

Daniel maintains he never took the phone out of his bag when it rained. He's also insistent the phone never got wet in any way. Daniel lodged a complaint with the Disputes Tribunal. Before a hearing date was set Telecom came to the party and offered to refund the phone's cost and the repair fee.

Crackling sounds

Anna Wilson's Motorola V3 mobile phone started playing up 15 months after she bought it. When the phone started making crackling sounds and giving a high-pitched tone, Anna took it back to the shop - Digital Mobile in Tauranga. According to Anna, the store opened up the phone and said there was no water damage: the moisture indicator under the battery was white (which means no moisture).

The phone was eventually sent to Mobilefone Repair in Auckland to be checked. Anna was astounded to find Mobilefone Repair had found water damage: "They read out the report over the phone and said the indicator had begun to turn pink" (indicating moisture).

Anna received a copy of the report and a photo of the indicator two weeks later. The indicator was now bright red. The report said: "Liquid damage found on pcb, the indicator shows red, and components already damaged on board. Warranty declined ... phone is not repairable." Anna is positive that she's never dropped the phone or had water on it.

Digital Mobile has now waived the inspection fee but Anna is still left with a damaged phone.

Why does it happen?

If you've never got the phone wet, how can you possibly have moisture damage in your mobile phone? The answer is condensation.

Here's a selection of explanations from manufacturers, sellers and repairers:

Telecom: "Some of the more common water damage we see is as a result of customers accidentally getting water in their device by answering a call with wet hands for example or taking their phone running and having it close to wet skin."

Vodafone: "Anything from being left in a bag with other liquids (for example, hand cream, drink, etc) to condensation from cold products if the two items are in close proximity. People tend to leave them in jacket or trouser pockets - unless you're wearing waterproof clothing, that can cause problems if you're out in the rain."

Telegistics: "The handset does not necessarily have to be splashed, soaked or immersed in liquid to be damaged ... Keep your handset away from anywhere wet or moist (kitchen windows, steamy bathrooms, sweaty pockets, wet hands, rainy days, near drinks/drink spills, bar/pub tops, tables are just some common areas)."

Nokia: "If the customer is living in a location where the environment is quite damp or the humidity is quite high, that can cause moisture to get into the internal components of the phone."

The user guide for one Nokia phone says to not only keep the phone dry, but to avoid storing the phone in hot and cold areas: "When the device returns to its normal temperature, moisture can form inside the device and damage electronic circuit boards."

Using this rationale, it seems impossible for a mobile phone to survive more than a few weeks in the humid equatorial regions of the earth - much less in areas that have extreme temperature changes (like Scandinavia, which just happens to produce many of the world's mobile phones).










Telecom appears not to be taking its own advice - stills are from the "Clever Toys" TV advertising campaign in 2007.

Your rights

Should a customer be financially responsible for condensation? While mobile phone manufacturers and sellers may say that any moisture damage to a mobile phone is the owner's fault, the law disagrees.

The Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) says that goods must be fit for their usual purpose. It also says that they must be of acceptable quality: they must do what they're meant to do, be free from minor defects, and be safe and durable.

The purpose of a mobile phone is to be mobile, to be carried in a pocket ... and to be used on a humid Northland beach or a frosty Southland farm, not in an air-tight container while standing next to a running dehumidifier.

Mobile phone manufacturers' claims that the warranty is void because of moisture damage doesn't automatically give them an escape clause from the CGA unless the water damage is obviously your fault.

What the industry says

We asked Vodafone and one of its repair agents, Mobilefone Repair, for answers. Mobilefone Repair declined to comment with an excuse of "strict confidentiality constraints". According to Vodafone, information on the number of phones claimed to have water damage or on the number of phones repaired at no cost to the customer was confidential to the manufacturer.

Telecom was more forthcoming. The Telecom-owned repairer Telegistics finds that about six percent of the phones it inspects have water damage. It also repairs about 80 percent of devices under warranty at no cost to the customer. Water damage isn't covered by manufacturers' warranties and so an assessment fee usually applies.

We asked Vodafone and Telecom whether water damage was always the fault of the owner.

Paul Brislen from Vodafone replied that phones weren't sealed and shouldn't be treated as water resistant: "Phones are delicate electronic devices. Some handsets are on a par with digital cameras for complexity (hard drives, slides, lenses) and should be treated as such." But that doesn't really answer the question.

Telecom deftly avoided the same question. Telecom spokeswoman Rebecca Earl told us that mobile phones are not designed to be exposed to moisture: "Water can enter through any opening in the device such as the charging socket, headset jack, keypad, etc." Once again, there's no indication of why this should be the user's fault when they haven't got the phone wet.

According to Telecom, there's no conspiracy between it and the manufacturers to deny warranty claims. "It's important to clarify here," Rebecca Earl said, "that there is no cost to Telecom or Telegistics if a repair is accepted under warranty, as the companies are reimbursed by the manufacturer. Given this, it is actually our preference and Telegistics' preference to accept a warranty claim."

A Nokia spokesperson says water damage is very difficult because some customers say they've never had the phone in contact with water. "But the moisture from the air or the way the customer has used the phone has allowed moisture into the phone and especially into the components." Nokia told us it wasn't able to confirm whether the customer was using the phone properly and it was not hard to assume they weren't.

It seems they want you to believe you're solely to blame for condensation. But you don't have to accept that. You've got rights under the CGA - and you can enforce them (see "Our advice").

Our advice

  • If your mobile phone stops working within its first five years, take it back to the store you bought it from and demand your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act - that the store repair or replace the phone, or refund you the purchase price.

  • If the store denies you your rights, lodge a complaint with the new Telecommunications Dispute Resolution service. This service is free. And it has already dealt with cases of mobile-phone water damage.

  • If you get no satisfaction from the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution service, lodge a complaint with the Disputes Tribunal.

  • It's not acceptable or reasonable to charge for having a phone inspected when a fault occurs within the phone's expected lifespan. According to our most recent appliance life-expectancy report, a reasonable life for a mobile phone is five years or more.

More information


More from consumer.org.nz

Report by Marc Wendelborn.