Water Damaged Phone in a contract

ellie123 · 16-08-2011, 20:33

Hi,

My boyfriend's Blackberry was damaged by water on holiday. It was repaired at a local mobile shop and fitted with a new battery- all working ok- until the keys on one side stopped working correctly and now several letters appear as well as the one pressed. We took it back to the mobile shop who said it could not be repaired. His phone is in a 24 month contract and we are unsure what to do next. Virgin Mobile will not replace the handset because it has been water damaged. The only part of the phone that doesn't work are the right sided keys but then they are quite important for texting/bbm etc.
As he is under contract does he have to replace the phone as it should be and carry on? Or could he buy a cheaper phone and carry on with the tarrif until it expires? Or is there a way to trade in the phone with VM and get a discount on the new phone handset? We haven't called up VM yet but went into the shop who were no use at all and just said phone customer services. We haven't called customer services yet because we don't want to pay a lot of money if we don't have to.
I hope someone has some ideas,
Thanks in advance!

haydnwalker · 16-08-2011, 22:53

You could buy a cheap phone (or replacement on ebay etc) and so long as they aren't network locked you should be able to use the virgin mobile sim and tariff until the contract ends...

Matth · 18-08-2011, 00:19

Check what the home insurance covers, in the way of portable devices

Ebay? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BlackBerry...item3f0cfcec6b - not sure how the 8700 compares
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLACKBERRY...item27bd869df1 - or an 8100

bandit2329 · 18-08-2011, 07:33

Hi blackberry on vm payg are Â£159.00. Did you not have mobile insurance also did you have holiday insurance . If the answer is no i would just get a unlocked blackberry and carry on with contract they wont know im on a sim only deal with them and use my own phone.

ellie123 · 19-08-2011, 17:12

Thanks for the advice

I think we'll probably buy a cheaper phone and continue with the current sim until the contract expires. We did have travel insurance but I don't know if it's too late now to contact them about it. I'll look into that.

Eleanor