Water Damage & Repair Process
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.