I bid and won a phone on ebay. Finally got it today and looked it over only to find that the water damage strip is showing it has water damage. I contacted the seller and received the following response, what would you do???
Hi,
Happy to hear you received the phone;
Regarding the water damage claim - the phone HAS NOT been touched by water at any point; I don't know where the indicator is, or how it should look like, but doing a Google search on it I can see tens of forums and posts with complaints against HTC for using the water damage strip as a means to deny warranty when something major breaks in the phone and needs to be replaced under warranty;
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/warranty--no-repair-or-replacement-on-failure-c50172.html
Here are two links - there are so many others saying the same thing - phone not touched by water and yet the strip shows water damage based either on regular usage, hand touch, vapors, or merely changing colors in time;
Again, the phone is as advertised - in great condition, working as expected, and has never been touched by water;
These being said, I hope you can enjoy the phone as expected and ignore the strip as it appears not to be working as expected...
Regards,
B.
Now this was my original email:
Hello. I received the phone today and would like to say that I am happy with it but I was looking the phone over and when I took the back off I saw something that is not good. There is normally a white rectangle with either light red or light purple x's in it, this one is completely bright red, which is indicative of water damage. Im sorry but I bid on the phone since it was advertised as being in great condition and water damage is not great condition. I am hoping you will let me send it back to you and you refund the purchase price. Please let me know and thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comin to you from 36401.
Always ISO NBPR/NWPR/NAPR mail in rebates or winetags.
My feedback link: http://www.refundsweepers.com/dcforum/feedback/288.html
Jen ~ Proud wife of Operation Iraqi Freedom Vet ~ Ron ** Now counting down to Tour #2 (01/07/10)
My Ebay Auctions ~ http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZjenayn 1|1|seller should have disclosed this in their auction" phone not touched by water and yet the strip shows water damage"|HONEY11|HONEY1@AMERITECH.NET|21:57:02|09/13/2010|
Sounds like she is not even thinking about giving you a refund on the phone, I would file with paypal to get your money back, and tell paypal you are even willing to send a pic with the back of the phone showing that the strip shows water damage.
o
o
@..@
(----)
( )--( )
o0..0o
Linda
2|2|I agree with you. I actually work at a cell phone store but my brother advised me to take it to another store and have them look it over and give their professional opinion so I guess I will be doin a road trip to Verizon.|jen_ron|bugsmamma@earthlink.net|22:29:56|09/13/2010|
I dont want to be mean or b!+chy or anything but I dont want to spend that much money for a damaged phone. Thanks for your input. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comin to you from 36401.
Always ISO NBPR/NWPR/NAPR mail in rebates or winetags.
My feedback link: http://www.refundsweepers.com/dcforum/feedback/288.html
Jen ~ Proud wife of Operation Iraqi Freedom Vet ~ Ron ** Now counting down to Tour #2 (01/07/10)
My Ebay Auctions ~ http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZjenayn 3|1|the|joseph|parkerjoe3@yahoo.com|22:30:21|09/13/2010|
more i hear about ebay the less i'm gonna buy expensive stuff and meg witman might be our next governor well does the phone work? hope it does 4|2|Do you think this would be an appropriat response??|jen_ron|bugsmamma@earthlink.net|23:00:57|09/13/2010|
Hello,
The indicator strip is inside the phone on the side where the stylus is. You have to remove the back to see it. The indicator is very bright red which generally indicates severe water damage. I can provide a picture.
I checked the links that you provided and I find several issues with them. For the first link, it is for the HTC Touch, not the Touch Pro 2 and the post are from 307 days old to 2+ years old so obviously those wouldnt apply to this phone as its only 4-5 monthes old. The second link is to a UK site where the first post is from nearly a year ago with the final being in Nov '09.
No where in the decription did it say "phone not touched by water and yet the strip shows water damage". This is a misrepresentation of the condition of the phone.
I do work for an independent cell phone store and know what to look for. I will take it to Verizon and get their professional opinion. If they determine it is water damaged, I will expect a full refund. Thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comin to you from 36401.
Always ISO NBPR/NWPR/NAPR mail in rebates or winetags.
My feedback link: http://www.refundsweepers.com/dcforum/feedback/288.html
Jen ~ Proud wife of Operation Iraqi Freedom Vet ~ Ron ** Now counting down to Tour #2 (01/07/10)
My Ebay Auctions ~ http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZjenayn 5|3|"Does the phone work?" Answer~|jen_ron|bugsmamma@earthlink.net|23:04:57|09/13/2010|
It powers on, I am able go thru a little of the phone. Beyond that, I dont know. The phone is not active and it needs to be to be able to test all the funtions properly. I cannot activate it till my husband comes home as I need to switch his number from his current phone to this one. To be able to do that I need his cell phone, which he has with him, to get the ESN number off the back, plus he needs it to be able to call me when he makes it back stateside. If the indicator had not been red then I would have no problem leaving a positive feedback and waiting for him to come home but generally that shows there is something wrong with the phone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comin to you from 36401.
Always ISO NBPR/NWPR/NAPR mail in rebates or winetags.
My feedback link: http://www.refundsweepers.com/dcforum/feedback/288.html
Jen ~ Proud wife of Operation Iraqi Freedom Vet ~ Ron ** Now counting down to Tour #2 (01/07/10)
My Ebay Auctions ~ http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZjenayn 6|4| jen_ron I think your response sounds great! |HONEY11|HONEY1@AMERITECH.NET|00:38:58|09/14/2010|
o
o
@..@
(----)
( )--( )
o0..0o
Linda
7|5|Hmm Just talked to verizon and they said..|jen_ron|bugsmamma@earthlink.net|15:26:05|09/14/2010|
That actually yea, alot of people have the strip go red on them even when it hasnt been in water due to high humidity, etc and that verizon nor htc will touch the phone once its turned red. He also said that a lot of them continue to work perfectly for a long time, maybe even years but eventually somthing will go wrong on it (dont they all??) LOL So, now I am unsure what to do. Do I take the chance or push it with the seller and may or may not get my money back and may or may not get a negative feedback. I know they cant actaully leave a negative feedback but they can leave negative remarks, I hate the process of goin thru gettin those removed. lol
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comin to you from 36401.
Always ISO NBPR/NWPR/NAPR mail in rebates or winetags.
My feedback link: http://www.refundsweepers.com/dcforum/feedback/288.html
Jen ~ Proud wife of Operation Iraqi Freedom Vet ~ Ron ** Now counting down to Tour #2 (01/07/10)
My Ebay Auctions ~ http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZjenayn 8|6|Jen....If you got the phone for a great price in comparison to its normal cost|BusterBrown|srfreezerqueen@hotmail.com|17:50:48|09/14/2010|
based upon what verizon said...I would take a chance....if it was not that great a deal...i would ask for a full refund, inc shipping back....that was something that was not mentioned...just my opinion...Jodie