I have a FP 2 which has water damage - having run some tests with other FP2 parts I’ve isolated the problem to the core module. I contacted FP support and received the following:
I am very sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I believe the water damage has put your Fairphone beyond repair. Although the modules seem fine, if the core module is failing we do not have this as a spare part on our website.
In this situation, I would recommend consulting the forum to see if there are any community members who may have a spare core module or are willing to have a crack fixing your phone, but if I am honest, repairing this phone is extremely unlikely.
This seems at odds with their whole ethos of repair? I really don’t want to ditch the whole core module if it might be possible to fix and re-use. I guess at worst I could offer for spares or recycle it - but this seems a bit lame before knowing what the actual issue is. Does anyone know of a specialist/tech repair service that might be able to look at the module/phone? I’m based in the UK.
I have done a search for repair shops in the UK once not too long ago; maybe you will find something. I saw a report in German tv just yesterday about smartphone repairs, water damage etc. The guy from the repair shop said, that there is a 50/50 chance to rescue the phone from a water damage. Here’s my search result; keeping my fingers crossed for you:
This seems badly worded.
They don’t have it in the shop as a spare part for everybody to buy, but of course they can exchange it as part of a repair job … and of course it is on the website this way …
I think you can hardly blame a small company like Fairphone for not having the equipment and expertise available to deal with individual chips on a smartphone mainboard.
They stock the part and offer to exchange it for a repair … tinkering around with individual chips and parts on it is a specialist’s job.
If they knew such a specialist, preferably close by their HQ, they could perhaps try to start an official partnership in case somebody really wants to pay the necessary amount of money for this kind of service/repair.
I really hope you are right, but the quote in the original message indeed sounds different: “beyond repair”. Frankly it worries me because I also still expected that core module replacements (via repair service, not shop) would stay available not just for warranty cases.
Quite correct.
But you can blame them for their answer that @ORB cited in his posting.
It was a very kind and nice wording with lots of sympathy, that’s true.
Still, given the content of that answer, i.e. referring him to the forum, I can understand his annoyance.
They did not offer to do the repair, so maybe, they really do not have any core-modules left?
If so, they should have a text block with some explanation. And that would be really easy to explain: When they produced that spare part, they only could estimate demand. That was unfortunately higher than expected, so they are out of stock. And now there is hardly enough of a market for this core module, that would make it feasible to produce a new batch of them. Even more so, since producing just a small quantity would mean a higher price (maybe even more than a new FP3).
That would have been something, I - and I guess most users - could understand and live with.
Ok, they are busy now with the FP3 …
I think we need some clarification as to whether the core module is not included in what was said in March:
We’ve stockpiled spare parts with the purpose of having them available for a minimum of three years after the last Fairphone 2 is sold
From the support response quoted in the original post, it seems that this might have only meant the spare parts directly “buy-able” in the shop. However, I do not agree that this means that Fairphone was altogether out of core modules. My guess would be that they are reserving them for warranty repairs.
Quite possible.
But we can only speculate.
Maybe @Monica.Ciovica can at least help @ORB with his initial question, if a repair by FP is in fact impossible.
(If the core-module is out of stock, maybe in a warranty case the user will get a FP3 for replacement. )
So @BertG to answer your question I got in touch with FP because my phone had been working fine for the last 8 months since the water damage, but recently stopped working. I did not know at first it was the core module - but figured this out through their help and my testing. Having found it was the module I sent them the questions below:
My tests lead me to believe the problem is with my core module. I cant see this module on your website - do you sell replacements? Or maybe better do you test/repair those modules if I send the phone back to you?
If not, I’m guessing the other option might be to try and pick one up on ebay?
I’d really like to fix this if I can, my last phone lasted almost 10 years and I’d like to keep this one alive as long as possible!
@AnotherElk - I hadnt realised they had that repair costs/compenents page - thanks! I’ll get back to them and ask why they cannot offer a replacement core module. Thanks!
Don’t get the page wrong, though … they don’t offer the module, they offer a repair job, during which they might exchange the core module for the price given on that page.
So you would have to send them the phone if they accept the repair job request.
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