Cell Phone Mishap Stories

[jdub]

i've been without my cell phone for 3 days and it's driving me nuts...it's my own fault, as i accidentally dropped it down the toilet...second time, too...seeing as how i don't have a land line, i've been out of touch each day until i get to my office, where i can at least check my messages...

anyone have any embarassing stories about destroying their cell phones?

[adrian]

i've been without my cell phone for 3 days and it's driving me nuts...it's my own fault, as i accidentally dropped it down the toilet...second time, too...seeing as how i don't have a land line, i've been out of touch each day until i get to my office, where i can at least check my messages...

Did you try to air it out for a few days?


The only mishap (or horror story) I have is that my younger sister (spoiled 11 year old) who left her camera phone in her pocket while she went to the beach. If I remember correctly, the front display was ruined, so we asked tmobile to ship another one, but they shipped the wrong part. After some long waits, I decided to lend her one of my phones (one without any camera nor color display) From then on, she was stubborn in everything she did. Recently, I lent my Samsung e715 phone to a friend (color display, camera, flip phone, etc) and she got a hold of it and got the nerve to ask for the charger because the batter was low. So I just took the phone back and now no one has a phone because of her.

[Tiabla]

I've ruined 2 phones. A few years ago I dropped my cell phone and digital camera into the ocean. I recovered both right away but they were already totally destroyed.

The other phone was destroyed when I was in college. I was in class taking a final exam and I took a sip of water from a water bottle and when I returned the bottle to my (leather) backpack, the lid wasn't on all the way. The entire bottle drained into my backpack, immersing my cell phone, wallet, and $200 worth of textbooks in 1.5 liters of water. The class was held in an unheated building in the dead of winter (it was an observatory) so by the time I discovered it ice had already started forming on everything!

[MadAzza]

anyone have any embarassing stories about destroying their cell phones?

I got really mad at my boyfriend a couple of years ago and hurled the phone as hard as I could at the sofa cushion so it wouldn't break. (I was mad, but not stupid.)

Unfortunately, I missed the cushion and hit the solid wooden leg of the sofa. The phone flew apart into several pieces. They got a kick out of that story at the phone store the next day ... especially because my bf was there with me, laughing about it.

[adrian]

I bet no one can beat this guy (http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=713245): he tore apart his Motorola e398 with a knife!
(if you love cell phones like me, then don't click on the link, as it has pictures of the damage)

[craigwatanabe]

Back when Cell phones were kinda new. I had a Motorola Sensar pager (looks like a square pen) and one of the first handheld pocket cell phones called Diamond Tel 99X. The cell phone cost me $1300 and the pager $300 (no calling plans back then).

One night my girlfriend (now my wife) and I were walking thru Waikiki along Kalakaua Blvd when she decided to jump on my back. Somewhere along Kalakaua I lost my pager so we were walking along the beach area where I thought I lost it while calling it with my cell phone.

Now back then hand held cell phones weren't that common so here I was looking thru bushes, rubbish cans and along the curb looking as if I were playing with a TV remote control yelling at my wife(girlfriend) if she could hear the pager.

Not knowing how it sounded I told her it makes a beep beep beep sound. So while she's looking around I'm asking people if they heard any beeping. I frantically tell them I'm trying to call my pager with my phone!

Right...back then seeing a guy running around Waikiki pressing his TV remote control while asking strangers if they heard any beeping sounds would have landed me in the mental hospital!

I never found that pager so I had to buy another one (at $300) then I broke that one when I had it in my shirt breast pocket and was leaning over a railing and snapped the pager in half. After that I just went with a cell phone as prices began to fall and calling plans materialized.

Then I broke my $1300 Diamond Tel 99X when I was running across the street next to Daie and it hopped out of my shirt pocket and landed on the asphalt. Before I could run back to pick it up...yeah good old MTL made sure it was never going to take a call again.

Back in the early 80's cell service was $1.50 peak and 75-cents off peak, no free nights and weekends, no calling plans, no free phones. You bought your phone outright.

[jdub]

thanks guys...it's good to know that even smart people do dumb things when it comes to personal communcation devices!

[pzarquon]

I've lost two very nice phones to swimming pools. I learned the hard way that Sprint (and likely other providers) have dastardly ways of telling when the device you bring in was exposed to moisture.

My current phone is the fanciest one I've owned yet, so I'm carrying the $5/mo. replacement plan. This of course means that it'll probably live a long and uneventful life.

Knock on wood...

[craigwatanabe]

When one of my boys wanted a camera phone (21-years old now) I bought him one that cost about $250 and I also opted for the $5 damage plan. The guy at Radio Shack said that this plan covers everything from accidents to abuse.

About a year later the phone was pretty much trashed (broken antenna, scratched display, flip lid spring weak. So I told him to bring it back to Radio Shack and no problem...new phone, no cost. Amazing. :)

[jdub]

i'll attest to the fact that the insurance is a good idea...i'm on my 3rd phone now...only this time they're zapping me with a $50 deductible...my own fault...

[craigwatanabe]

i'll attest to the fact that the insurance is a good idea...i'm on my 3rd phone now...only this time they're zapping me with a $50 deductible...my own fault...


Kinda like car insurance. Make one claim and your insurance rate goes up 20%. Sometimes its better to pay for the damage and not make the claim. :mad: