Unjustly charged for Droid replacement from corrosion at USB port

WARNING FOR VERIZON ANDROID USERS: My son's phone would not charge so he sent it back in on Verison's advice. When I inquired why I was charged $ 300 they said there was corrosion at the USB charging port - and had a picture of that sent to me. This phone never got wet or soaked and it was not abused in any way. I am a chemist with a Ph.D. and looking at these pictures shows me that the electrodes are copper because of the green patina that is present and the white oxidation product that goes with that, like CuO. This must be caused by oxidation due to electric current combined with ambient moisture. It is clear to me that this is a manufacturer's defect if the contacts corrode that easily. It is well known that copper or copper alloys corrode (oxidizes) quickly even in ambient humidity (any copper material will corrode if not sealed). My second complaint is this: we had purchased additional insurance - but apparently when you send it in under the manufacturer warranty you apparently sign a disclosure that voids the extended warranty that you pay for. If the "warehouse' detects "damage" then they send you a replacement and charge you $ 300 - just like what happened to you. At that point there is no way to use the warranty that is paid for. This is ON TOP of my main complaint: So two things are totally unfair: a. the port should not have corroded like this under normal usage. Verizon has no other proof that this phone got wet. I think there is a sensor inside behind the battery that would show if the phone got wet and they provided no proof that this phone got wet using that sensor - only a visual inspection of the corrosion of this port. b. I think it should be illegal to not be able to use the extra warranty that we pay for if you send it in to Verizon. This would require you to know whether the judgement on the part of the warehouse is going to be damage or defect. By sending it in you are completely at their mercy and have no choice but to pay the full fee of $ 300 for a replacement phone. We can't send back the new phone or get our old one back to send to the insurance company. This seems like it should be illegal and it is clearly unethical. For both of these reasons I am going to lodge an official complaint and would appreciate it if any of you could join me if this happened to you.

Corrosion at Droid USB port from normal usage.jpg

Accepted answers

HansyS

I forgot to mention that I spent about two hours with a customer service manager (second level) and he was very rude and kept insisting that this was damaged and that there was no action that he (they, Verizon) could take. His replies kept circling back to the decision made at the warehouse. I looked at the picture above with him and pointed out that the corrosion is only on the left two or three contacts. My guess is that this is where the charging electricity flows and the other contacts in the USB port might be for communications. I pointed out that they provided no additional proof that this phone got wet. I explained that copper oxidizes in the presence of an electric current, oxygen, any additional ions present in the air. These are what I call "ambient" or "normal wear and tear". If this was caused by getting wet all of the electrodes would have corroded in the same manner. The question is "was the phone damaged" instead of "what damaged the phone". The answer is oxidation that the phone is not designed to prevent. I looked at my computer and my iphone USB ports and the material appears to be different than the Android. So this is a caution on Androids and a caution on Verizon's way of responding to my ligitimate complaint. This whole thing is really unfair and makes no sense to me scientifically, and especially no sense when you consider the importance of customer satisfaction.

All comments

HansyS

unknown

Well let me play advocate here for you.

First the photo can be of anyones phone. photo is no proof in this case.

Secondly, go to small claims court and sue for that $300 plus your loss from work expense and the filing fee for the court and also send a certified return receipt letter disputing that $300 charge. Also add that cost to your court filing.

After they get that dispute form or letter they cannot shut you off, or harass you for that amount and you must pay all amounts not in dispute. That is very important still pay your regular balance minus the $300.

Verizon will contact you to settle. Do not arbitrate under any circumstances and if they say they will credit you back the money plus tax and any fees do not stop the court case until you have the settlement posted to your account

The address fkr the billing dispute is on your verizon invoice. The lawsuit papers have another address but its under the online contract. If you have to just serve verizon at a Corporate store and not a reseller.

Good luck

HansyS

Thank you. Your note is very helpful. I will look at the address. Even after two hours with customer service they did not tell me about the address for a billing dispute. I will try that first, follow your advice and stop my automatic payments and not pay the $ 300 first, and go from there.

Since your post others have contacted me as well and I have found other instances of this or very similar occurences including corrosion at the charging port with the same message below it "caused by water damage".

Your point about it being a picture of anyone's phone is a good point and I will ask my son about this again as he told me on the phone that he didn't remember seeing any corrosion in the charging point. He is a mechanical engineer and one would think that he would be smart enough to notice that. I think it is entirely possible there was a short in that charger piece and electricity plus oxygen plus ambient moisture can cause corrosion as I mentioned. This kind of un-even corrosion is clearly a manufactures defect.

Thanks again for the tips.

unknown

Your welcome I am glad I helped.

smart8935

I'm going through this very same issue right now with Verizon. Took the phone to an authorized Verizon dealer and they said to send the phone in because it was a manufacturer defect and would be replaced. The phone was still working at the time but the issue was the screen only lit up when there was an incoming call. I also pay for the insurance and on top of that I was due for an upgrade in June. Received the same photo in an email and the tech support said this could ONLY be caused by water damage. I was absolutely adamant that this phone has not been water damaged but they were not hearing it. Got the same "know it all attitude" from Verizon. Glad to see someone with some actual knowledge in this area dispute these claims. The photo I recieved was acually more corroded than yours was but the phone has never been exposed to water. I started researching online and found this to be a common problem. I'm disputing this right now but if they still insist this is water damage I will be taking the advice from Elector and filing a claim in court. I've been a good loyal Verizon customer for a long time and this is no way to be treated. Good luck with your situation.

phone pic.jpg