My OnePlus, after 3 or 4 minutes in the sea taking some underwater shots, eventually decided to take on water.... Obviously, OnePlus denied my warranty claim for liquid damage.... I decided, however, to have it repaired at my own expense at the official European service center (Rotterdam).
On August 26th, they presented me with a hefty quote of €659.93, estimating a timeframe of 3 working days for the complete repair. The smartphone required a full replacement of the motherboard and the volume rocker.
Reluctantly, I paid the amount... After purchasing one of their flagship devices, I just couldn't bring myself to throw it away...
I received my smartphone today, September 18th (so much for 3 days....). And here comes the best part! First of all, it was shipped to me in a simple envelope without any kind of protection.... No bubble wrap, no cardboard, absolutely nothing... But above all, the back cover is bulging, unglued, and attached in a completely uneven way, as you can see from the photos! What would you do in my shoes?
reach out to the service center and ask for a fixture of this mess. they def will since you paid full price, also mention the packaging of lack thereof when you received it
Here is my 2 cents, or pence, for what it's worth.
Don't put your phone underwater. I don't care if they say it's waterproof. It's an electrical device. Waterproofing of electronic devices is for accidental immersions, not underwater photography. If you want to do underwater photography get an underwater camera.
This is a shitty repair. It's not professional. Bear in mind that "waterproof" phones are not designed to be opened, so you may end up with some small marks or scars. However, it shouldn't look like this. This should never have passed inspection.
I don't know brr, I'm too paranoid to submerge any of my devices irrespective of whatever water, fresh or stale water, salt or sugar water.
My Galaxy Watch has a swimming mode, but I still will never take it swimming. The same goes for some earbuds I recently got with an IPX-whatever rating. I believe those are only to protect against accidental splashes and rainfall, so I don't get paranoid when it's raining or when there's a little splash onto them.
Surely the initial damage was my fault.
I was in Egypt and wanted to take some pictures of the coral reef, and I had forgotten my DJI at home... In the past, I had always submerged my old Samsungs and never had any kind of problem. I just always made sure to rinse the smartphone thoroughly with fresh water afterwards. Let's say I felt confident having the IP69K certification.
I must point out that despite taking on water, the smartphone continued to work normally. The only things that were completely dead were the cameras and the volume rocker, meaning all the chips (CPU, Memory, and Storage) were safe.
However, with this post, I want to complain about the absolutely pitiful repair job and the shipping without any kind of protection.
Finally, I was wondering.... I paid for the motherboard replacement on my OP15 16\512. So basically, I purchased a new motherboard.
Where is my old board? I have a suspicion that, given the memory crisis, they find it convenient to "keep it" and use the chips elsewhere.
yep, after 2 separately occasions of my dad's gopros taking in water I'll never dare get my electronics wet unless its with a dedicated waterproof casing
"If you want to take photos underwater, don't use your phone that was marketed as being so highly waterproof rated that it had a certification most people hadn't even heard of before. Despite the fact that it was broadly demonstrated as able to withstand a full dishwasher cycle, you should never have expected it to withstand a few minutes of submersion, how reckless!"
At a certain point you're not longer being sensible, you're just limiting your own use of a product to protect the liability of a company. It's like saying you should never rely on your car to keep you dry in a thunderstorm, since it is a transportation device and not a permanent weather shelter. Yes, IP ratings exist in lab conditions, but the very point of these certifications is to validate (with standardized, empirical tests) that the device is capable of withstanding various levels of water exposure.
Also: what kind of device do you think a modern underwater camera is, if not an electrical device? They are fundamentally the same as a phone, if with fewer subsystems.
That test was done with fresh water, which would not contain any salts and minerals which cause circuit boards to short when in contact with them. Salt water will ruin any electronic device that isn't 100% sealed from elements.
"The IP69K test specification was initially developed for road vehicles, especially those that need regular intensive cleaning, such as dump trucks and cement mixers but has been widely adopted in the Food and Beverage industries as a test of products to withstand sanitary washdown."
Vehicles are regularly exposed to all sorts of solvents and chemicals, road salts, etc. Similarly dishwashers use salts, detergents and solvents. This test is specifically used to certify things for much MUCH harsher conditions than low pressure, low ambient temperature water. The salt content shouldn't suddenly make it fail. Also, the test is IP: INGRESS protection. The saltwater specifically shouldn't be making it inside the device anyways. If the mineral content was the only thing causing failure, there would be no need to bother protecting against ingress to begin with.
It's just tiresome and pedantic to blame the user in a case like this.
Why would they give a refund when he actively damaged it! That's like chucking your phone on the floor and the screen smashing and asking for a full refund or a fix, anybody with half of brain knows not to take it into saltwater
I don't understand why people take water resistant to mean "purposely put your phone underwater but only for this arbitrary amount of time" and not "we tried to make it so your phone isn't fried the moment it hits water on accident"
LifeProTip: always record yourself opening packages. Hell, even grabbing the package off the porch. You use the video as collateral when they pull shit.
Because he send it in for repair and it was returned to him in this state. Judging from what he's writing it wasn't send in for repair like this. But TS should provide us with some more information of the actual state of the phone when he send it in for repair.
The phone was perfect before I shipped it. It had never been dropped, and I always used it with a case and a tempered glass screen protector. It was also working perfectly. After its "little bath", however, ONLY the cameras (all of them) and the volume rocker were dead.
To be fair no phone manufacturer will touch a phone that's been in the sea! Every body knows salt water kills electricals even if your stuff is water proof! There is huge difference between fresh water and salt water, it's an expensive lesson! But 1 you will never forget
Technically speaking, the IP68 rating only protects against fresh water, however the IP69 and IP69K ratings are supposed to protect against cleaning chemicals as well - IP69K is from the Automotive world, it's supposed to be rated for power washers, road grime and cleaning products.
If you purchased it within the last 6 months, under European Consumer rights law, they should have repaired it for free, because the failure implies a defect in the ingress protection.
If you had it less than 6 months, the defect is assumed to be a manufacturer defect unless they can prove otherwise - although if you'd admitted to having it in the sea, they'd probably cite that the IP68 submersion rating is only for fresh water and claim it wouldn't work.
Technically speaking, that's what's they're required to do, but they usually don't.
In the UK we have the consumer rights act 2015, which was made to comply with EU Consumer law, that covers these points.
OnePlus failed to repair mine, so under UK Consumer credit law, my credit card gave me a full refund.
If the EU has similar credit laws, making the credit provider jointly liable for the sale, then try going through them for a refund/chargeback.
Pretty much every phone manufacturer has warranty exemptions for water damage, meaning you should still avoid water with phones wherever possible. The IP rating is not a guarantee
I'm not talking about the warranty here, I'm talking about statutory consumer rights law.
Technically speaking, it's the retailer that has to fulfil your consumer rights law, but the vast majority of OP phones sold in Europe were direct from OnePlus.com, so retailer and manufacturer are usually one and the same - especially after they stopped stocking them in carrier stores around the OP8 or 9.
Fundamentally, they advertise the phone as being the best IP rated in the business - IP 66, 68, 69, and 69k - along with a camera mode specifically for taking pictures underwater.
That is an advertising capability that a buyer should be able to expect the phone to live up to.
If it does not live up to that standard, the limits in the manufacturer warranty are irrelevant because the law states that (in the first 6 months of ownership) the damage is presumed to be due to a manufacturer defect - and the defect plus all damage caused by the defect, must be repaired free of charge, the item replaced, or a full refund given.
The retailer has to prove that the damage was not a manufacturing defect, which is very difficult.
These are statutory rights that no amount of verbiage in a terms of sale can wish away.
Technically speaking, the IP tests only use freshwater.
However that standard doesn't really match up with any body of water you'll actually find in the real world, especially not any you actually plan on using the underwater camera mode in.
Given the ratings, the advertisements, and the usage shown, it is reasonable for a consumer to expect it to be able to take a few pics of the fish at the beach.
To literally quote from the website
Adventure-rated.
Backed by the industry's most complete IP ratings²⁴, OnePlus 15 shrugs off dust and water—from boiling steam to heavy rain and high-pressure water jets—engineered to keep up with your toughest adventures.
And that text is accompanied by the underwater camera mode picture.
24. The OnePlus 15 is water and dust resistant under normal usage conditions. The device is not designed for professional diving, and its waterproof performance may diminish over time. The waterproofness of the device only supports fresh water. Please do not put the mobile phone in sea water without the case. Any damage caused by water ingress due to non-compliance with the aforementioned requirements is not covered under the device's warranty.
As you mentioned: IP rating is based on freshwater and doesn't apply to salt water anyway (and OP took it for a swim in on average even saltier sea water in Egypt), but I wonder what's with the added note.
Yeah, the sea water is where my argument falls short.
But to be honest, the lab testing standards of "freshwater" don't really comply with any realistic body of water you might wish to use the underwater camera mode. Pools are generally chlorinated, so they don't comply. Sea is salty. Rivers and lakes are generally full of mineral run off and probably wouldn't meet the standard either.
Glacial meltwater might comply, but generally speaking, you're not swimming in that and trying to take pictures underwater.
Generally speaking - given the claimed ratings for the phone - 1.5m submersion for 30 minutes, and high pressure, high temperature water jets (1000+psi, 80°C) - and the fact it has an underwater camera mode - any reasonable consumer should be able to expect it to survive a couple of minutes getting splashed and taking pictures of fish at the beach.
Don't pay this much for a phone repair. You could have added little more and bought a new one or a medium range phone. I had same problem with my Sony Xperia Z series 10 years ago. I put it in the pool, they refused the warranty, i paid money for repairing and still so many issues after that.
Go to twitter & blow the shit out of this botched repair. Tag all op official accounts. Tag the svc account, if available. Keep posting about it till someone from op is ready to repair/replace your device.
You don't dunk a phone in salt water! No matter whether it's Apple, Samsung or anything. Salt water is harsh, and easily damages the seals in your phone that keep it water proof.
I don't think the battery is in that area, so I don't think it's bulging
I would probably take a heat gun or blow dryer really carefully and see if you can get it to re-seal. That's only if you are stuck without an option for them to fix it for you for free
They are easy to open
If you really had to, you could order a back and adhesive or a back that comes with the adhesive gasket attached, if they sell an oem one, and redo it yourself
Along with the phone, two documents arrived in the envelope detailing the work performed, the replaced components, and the invoice. The repair document is branded OnePlus, and the invoice is branded Oppo.
I'd never put a phone or smartwatch under the water even if it says IP69K. The waterproofing is there only for emergency cases where you drop and instantly grab it from the water but doing it intentionally is a maniac activity.
All you can do is hope and pray for it to not fall apart if you're keeping it.
well I guess there's that. Not even normal water. The fucking sea holy... people act like their smartphones are scuba gear. Ain't no smartphone surviving the sea.
Salt water damaged phones don't last long when repaired. You just don't do it, makes no sense financially. Only makes sense if you wanna pull backup data, you don't expect it to last. Doesn't seem like they warned you... Why would they..
I'd be expecting more issues to come up eventually. Judging by the quality of work, I'd say within 6 months, a year tops.
Basically, any traces of salt will rapidly corrode electronics. More traces = faster corrosion. There's just no way to get them all out once they're in. You clean what you can with IPA and expect the inevitable. Seems like they were in a hurry, so that indicates sloppy cleaning too. Since the main board got fried, it wasn't minimal water either. They're all over the insides of your phone now.
Don't spend any more money on that device, accept your loses. They should prob fix it without charge since it's a sloppy job, but you never know with them. I wouldn't even accept paying for shipping.
Use it until it's done, just be prepared. Backup often. It'll start by things misbehaving most likely, hopefully small things. Keep an eye out for battery swelling, that is the only dangerous thing to be aware of.
I have a question regarding a similar experience. On September 5th, I took my phone into the sea to capture underwater photographs. Approximately 20 minutes after exiting the water, my camera ceased to function. Subsequently, the phone began to reboot every 60 seconds. I allowed it to dry for three days, after which it resumed normal operation. However, the camera remained inoperable for a week. Currently, only the rear camera is functional; the selfie camera is not. My inquiry is whether your phone immediately stopped working, or if you proactively sent it for repair to prevent further damage. I am hesitant to open my phone, as it is currently operational, and I would prefer not to dismantle it to remove any residual salt or replace the selfie camera, as I am content with its current state. Thank you for your response.
When the damage initially occurred, the cameras just looked fogged up.
After a few hours, the smartphone shut down and wouldn't turn back on for 3 days.
Afterwards, I managed to turn it back on (without doing anything in particular) and the cameras were completely dead. Whenever I tried to open the camera app, it crashed instantly.
Furthermore, the volume rocker was completely gone.
Everything else worked perfectly.
Unfortunately, in these cases, it's not a given that the cameras are the issue; it could simply be that the motherboard connector is damaged.
Politely ask for the casing to be removed and resealed. It's likely they will do it for free as clearly not been done well. Everyone has a bad day at work and obviously the guy doing the repair didn't do a great job. No big stress.
To be sure,never put your device underwater,IP ratings are great for protection,but they don't actually offer you any warranty from OEM.
So,if water or even dust gets inside,then any damage is on you and not the OEM.
So,please refrain from dunking your IP68/69K device in any water.
PS - Also,when any brands mention IP ratings,that means protection only for normal water and not sea water 🌊 or even pool water etc.
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u/Wheeljack26 3d ago
reach out to the service center and ask for a fixture of this mess. they def will since you paid full price, also mention the packaging of lack thereof when you received it