[HellsPlumber]

I've always loved phones with Physical Keyboards.
I've owned a Priv, KeyOne, KeyOne Black edition and most recently, a Key2.

I was there for the Key2 reveal livestream, I pre-ordered instantly and patiently waited through several delays until finally it was in my hands.

I refused to take it outside for the first week as there were no cases available, so it stayed at home and my trusty KeyOne came to work with me.
Needless to say, I'm overprotective of my phones.

So needless to say, I was devastated when it died only 3 weeks after I'd got my hands on it.

I'd taken my Key2 to work and it was in my pocket while I did some work outside.
It had rained the previous day so everything was damp outside.
At some point I must have leaned against a wall or something else wet, as some of the water had soaked through into my coat pocket and got onto my Key2.

About 1 hour after I'd last used it, I pulled my Key2 from my pocket to check the time only to find the screen wouldn't turn on. I noticed the keyboard was slightly wet, so I initially thought the fingerprint sensor was having issues reading my print and gave it a quick wipe and tried again.
Nothing.

After trying to power button to wake it up and getting no results, my only clue as to what could have happened is the water on the keyboard.

I try it off with paper towels, hit it with a hair drier to be sure and race home to put it in a sealed bag with some silica packets. It remained in there for 2 weeks without success.

I contacted Blackberrry Support, explaining exactly what happened, and they booked my Key2 into their Repair Centre. I packaged it up, said goodbye and sent it on it's way.

I was told the Repair Centre would be in touch with me once it arrived, so I waited.

Today my phone was returned to me by the Repair Center.
There was ZERO communication from them, and packaged with my still broken Key2 was an "Unable To Repair Return Form", which states information such as;

• "From: Unknown Manufacturer Repair Centre"
• "Type of Unit: PRODUCT INDETERMINE"
• "Please find enclosed your Unknown Manufacturer Cellular Equipment"
• "...your Unknown Manufacturer cellular phone is not covered by Unknown Manufacturers's product warranty"

As you can imagine, I'm pretty mad.
I'd never had a Blackberry fail previously, and I'd hoped that when I eventually needed them, Blackberry Support would be there for me.

Yet after I take the time to package and post my device for repair, it's simply returned with NO communication, and a piece of paper that implies they've never even HEARD of a Blackberry device. Nor does the device seem to have been examined in any way.

I'm still in communication with Blackberry Support in hopes of a discounted replacement, or even a refurb unit, but my hopes aren't high.

I've lost £560 on a phone that lasted me 3 weeks before failing from moisture absorbed through my pocket. For a phone that's designed for "work" I didn't expect it to be so fragile.

If you own a Key2, treat it like it's made of paper.
If you don't, stick to a KeyOne for now.

[HellsPlumber]

In case you wanted to see, here's the form they sent to CUSTOMER about my UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER CELLULAR EQUIPMENT. Thankyou, UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER REPAIR CENTRE.

[Laramie50]

Sorry about what happened to your KEY². Reading the story, what strikes me is that it would react so quickly to what doesn't sound like much. We're not talking about getting splashed with water here or jumping into a pool. Or else you may be underestimating how wet your pants pocket got, hard to tell from our end of course.
When dealing with the repair center, what you should probably have done is not tell them about what you essentially *think* happened and let them actually take a good look at the device and figure out what caused your phone to black out instead of them being just happy with your version.
The 'unknown" manufacturer thing is indeed maddening.

[HellsPlumber]

Sorry about what happened to your KEY². Reading the story, what strikes me is that it would react so quickly to what doesn't sound like much. We're not talking about getting splashed with water here or jumping into a pool. Or else you may be underestimating how wet your pants pocket got, hard to tell from our end of course.
When dealing with the repair center, what you should probably have done is not tell them about what you essentially *think* happened and let them actually take a good look at the device and figure out what caused your phone to black out instead of them being just happy with your version.
The 'unknown" manufacturer thing is indeed maddening.

Thanks for the sympathy~

I'd had my hands in my pockets several times and admittedly I'd noticed it felt slightly damp, but only slightly. It wasn't even enough for me to remove my hands from my pockets, so I certainly wouldn't have thought it enough to damage a phone (in a case too).

I'd considered doing as you said, but I figured that honesty was the best policy and offering the additional info may have helped repair my device.
Looking back, it seems they just used it as an excuse to throw me under the bus.

[o4liberty]

That's wrong this is where Apple shines in my opinion just go to a store and walk out with a repaired phone or a refurbished one no questions asked. I guess they don't sell enough to treat their customers like Apple does.

[Chuck Finley69]

When I’ve mentioned on here the benefits of carrier devices and the ancillary benefits like carrier insurance, this kind of situation is why I’m wed to my carrier and not my device ultimately. It’s not just BBMo/TCL either. Other than Apple or Google proprietary hardware, most OEMs just don’t have the same level of infrastructure for device support as carriers.

[RLeeSimon]

wait a little... buy one off'a swappa cheap

[the_boon]

That's wrong this is where Apple shines in my opinion just go to a store and walk out with a repaired phone or a refurbished one no questions asked after having paid a hefty price tag for non-covered damages such as water. I guess they don't sell enough to treat their customers like Apple does.

Fixed it for you. Let's not pretend that they're gonna just swap out a damaged phone "no questions asked" and "for free". The only real advantage is that Apple stores are everywhere, and they always have stock of every model in every color and storage option. That's it. To continue my mini-rant, guess how much they charge to fix a shattered glass back for iPhone X? About $500. The price of a brand new KEY2 LE lol.

[HellsPlumber]

When I’ve mentioned on here the benefits of carrier devices and the ancillary benefits like carrier insurance, this kind of situation is why I’m wed to my carrier and not my device ultimately. It’s not just BBMo/TCL either. Other than Apple or Google proprietary hardware, most OEMs just don’t have the same level of infrastructure for device support as carriers.

I've luckily never had to deal with anything like this before so I'm unaware of how different companies compare, nice to hear Apple and Google have more supportive warranties.

I don't use any services other than data, so personally it would have been a lot more expensive for me to purchase it on a carrier contract, so I'd opted to buy the phone outright unlocked and use a cheap Monthly SIM with it for data.

[the_boon]

Thanks for the sympathy~

I'd had my hands in my pockets several times and admittedly I'd noticed it felt slightly damp, but only slightly. It wasn't even enough for me to remove my hands from my pockets, so I certainly wouldn't have thought it enough to damage a phone (in a case too).

I'd considered doing as you said, but I figured that honesty was the best policy and offering the additional info may have helped repair my device.
Looking back, it seems they just used it as an excuse to throw me under the bus.

Please do try to get it repaired anywhere and report back. Would really like to know if this phone can be salvaged from such damage. It really sucks this happened from a bit of moisture. I guess whatever little water there was really got into the worst possible hole.

[HellsPlumber]

Please do try to get it repaired anywhere and report back. Would really like to know if this phone can be salvaged from such damage. It really sucks this happened from a bit of moisture. I guess whatever little water there was really got into the worst possible hole.

The only sign on moisture was on the keyboard, so I'm assuming it got in there.
Looking at the recent Key2 teardown, the keys are attached to a rubber piece but the rubber has a few small holes for alignment.
My thinking is that it got into the phone through the small holes in the keyboard's rubber sheet.

I'll have to take another look at that thread, but I THINK there's some metal shielding separating the back compartment from the main board. So due to the amount of water that could have entered being so small, it's possible the damage is isolated to that area which would hopefully be easier to repair than a fried main board.


Support have emailed me back saying they "completely understand the frustration" and have escalated my case, so I'll keep this thread updated on the situation.
Hopefully they can come through for me.

But if it ends up that there's nothing they can do, I'm probably going to open it up and do some diagnostics to at least find what damage has been done.
If I can fix it, great.
If it's beyond my know-how, I'll have a look for some decent repair places.

[the_boon]

The only sign on moisture was on the keyboard, so I'm assuming it got in there.
Looking at the recent Key2 teardown, the keys are attached to a rubber piece but the rubber has a few small holes for alignment.
My thinking is that it got into the phone through the small holes in the keyboard's rubber sheet.

I'll have to take another look at that thread, but I THINK there's some metal shielding separating the back compartment from the main board. So due to the amount of water that could have entered being so small, it's possible the damage is isolated to that area which would hopefully be easier to repair than a fried main board.


Support have emailed me back saying they "completely understand the frustration" and have escalated my case, so I'll keep this thread updated on the situation.
Hopefully they can come through for me.

But if it ends up that there's nothing they can do, I'm probably going to open it up and do some diagnostics to at least find what damage has been done.
If I can fix it, great.
If it's beyond my know-how, I'll have a look for some decent repair places.

Some moisture/water getting behind the keyboard or in spacebar area should not prevent the phone from booting up though. Not sure how the water made its way up to a critical component.

[Laramie50]

Some moisture/water getting behind the keyboard or in spacebar area should not prevent the phone from booting up though. Not sure how the water made its way up to a critical copmponent.

My thinking exactly. And talking about water damage (which understandably was the most reasonable explanation at the time) may not have spurred them to really investigate the issue.

[the_boon]

My thinking exactly. And talking about water damage (which understandably was the most reasonable explanation at the time) may not have spurred them to really investigate the issue.

You deserved better support. I mean the device was in their hands, they might as well open it up a bit and investigate. Then get back to you with a quote for the repair cost. I'm sure it could have been a reasonable 100-150 repair or something like that. It's terrible to just throw the phone back at you like that. The device just freaking launched.

Again, hope you can find some way to bring it back to life.

[HellsPlumber]

You deserved better support. I mean the device was in their hands, they might as well open it up a bit and investigate. Then get back to you with a quote for the repair cost. I'm sure it could have been a reasonable 100-150 repair or something like that. It's terrible to just throw the phone back at you like that. The device just freaking launched.

Again, hope you can find some way to bring it back to life.

Exactly!
If it was a few years old I'd understand, but it was less than a month after release.

The note they sent back with the phone was the biggest slap in the face.
Not only didn't they open the phone to inspect it, they couldn't even be bothered entering it's details on the returned form.

They literally printed the reply template, threw it in the box and sent it back.

[HellsPlumber]

Some moisture/water getting behind the keyboard or in spacebar area should not prevent the phone from booting up though. Not sure how the water made its way up to a critical component.

The charging port board is in the same section of the phone which will also connect to the battery. I may be wrong, but my thinking is if it's got wet and shorted out then a component on that board may have fried, stopping any power at all from passing through.

Even if so I doubt replacement parts are available...anywhere.

[Troy Tiscareno]

The repair center is going to be a third-party facility (TCL doesn't have any first-party infrastructure in North America), and as new as the K2 is, they likely have no training or parts for it yet - their "unknown manufacturer" placeholder says as much. A month or two from now, they'll probably know what to do, but they likely had never seen a K2 before. Not really the fault of the repair center, though - that's on TCL/BBMo.

[Chuck Finley69]

The repair center is going to be a third-party facility (TCL doesn't have any first-party infrastructure in North America), and as new as the K2 is, they likely have no training or parts for it yet - their "unknown manufacturer" placeholder says as much. A month or two from now, they'll probably know what to do, but they likely had never seen a K2 before. Not really the fault of the repair center, though - that's on TCL/BBMo.

Confirms some of my fears buying factory unlocked. I’ve never felt confident going around the carrier, even in the early days, since BB never seemed to handle consumer issues well compared to carriers. I’ve been lucky with factory unlocked Z3, Q5, Z30 and Leap but the DTEK left me sour quality wise, both hardware and software. As much as I get irritated with AT&T, somebody in your corner is better than nobody.

Have you dealt with TCL support in regards to general electronics such as TVs?

[MaDLiVe]

This water story worries me slightly. I know our phone doesn't have an official rating, but a damp environment common. I am currently even afraid to use it during a mild rain.

[o4liberty]

Looking at the tear down photos I don't see a small amount of moisture affecting the Key2 in my opinion. From the photos the Key2 looked very well built and the keyboard looked even better built.

[HellsPlumber]

All I can offer up is my story.
I remember seeing the KeyOne teardown and thinking the keyboard looked pretty water resistant. I assumed the Key2 would be a similar build, so I wasn't all that concerned about water with my Key2 until this happened.

Maybe I just got super unlucky, who knows!

[Chuck Finley69]

All I can offer up is my story.
I remember seeing the KeyOne teardown and thinking the keyboard looked pretty water resistant. I assumed the Key2 would be a similar build, so I wasn't all that concerned about water with my Key2 until this happened.

Maybe I just got super unlucky, who knows!

Seriously, not poking fun, this falls under the category of unknowns being an early adopter. You'll know better in another 90-120 days if other reports appear or not.

[HellsPlumber]

Small update:

I sent the Key2 in for repair for a 2nd time as requested.
This time they actually tested the device, and their final verdict "software issue/charging fault" and they sent me a replacement Key2!

Sadly the replacement Key2 arrived today and, once I finished setting it up, I noticed a line down the right of the screen. After trying to display a few different colors it seems one row of red pixels are dead. Other colors just appear duller as they're missing the red, but displaying anything red results in a black line.






I've contacted support yet again, and I have to send my Key2 for repair yet again.

I was expecting the verdict to be water damage, so I'm extremely happy they attempted to replace it. Hopefully the third time is the charm!

[rjedge54]

That's wrong this is where Apple shines in my opinion just go to a store and walk out with a repaired phone or a refurbished one no questions asked. I guess they don't sell enough to treat their customers like Apple does.

Not if the iPhone has water damage. The standard smartphone warranty for any smartphone does not cover water ingress to the device, even iP rated devices. You have to purchased special extend warranties or in the case of Apple you need Apple Care+, even the standard Apple care does not cover water/liquid damage. Even with the extended warranties there are limitations such as only one claim per year wetter water damage or being dropped.

Richard

Sent from my BlackBerry Key² (BBF100-2) | Android 8.1.0

[HellsPlumber]

For anyone following this, the Key2 was sent in for repair a 3rd time.
This time I received ANOTHER replacement which seemed to work well.

When I first received the 3rd replacement, all seemed well except that I couldn't type very well and kept missing spaces in my sentences. I put this down to being without a physical keyboard for over a month, and thought I just needed more practice.

However, over the following few weeks I've come to realise that the left side of the spacebar often doesn't register a press, or will register a double-press, adding a period to the middle of sentences.
It's been slowly driving me crazy and makes typing extremely frustrating, which isn't ideal when I purchased the Key2 for it's typing experience.

I'm in touch with support once again, looking like it's going to have to go in for repair a 4th time.