Tagged With "iPhone"

Hello HistoryDigger, I have some friends in Cologne who might be able to give you some on the ground advice. I'll send you their contact info via dialog. Check for the top right corner for a message.

I'd be inclined to contact the original source of the phone and see if they can Fedex a replacement.

UPDATE: We went to GRAVIS on Ehrensrasse 2 : http://www.gravis.de/filialen/koeln/koeln/ They told us that nobody will repair a wet a iPhone. So, upon their advice, we booked a genius appointment at the Apple Store in the suburbs of Cologne: https://www.apple.com/de/retail/rheincenter/ There, we can exchange our wet phone with a refurbished iPhone 5 for 250 euros. Not cheap, but we can put my husband's SIM card into the refurbished phone, and he'll be on his way. We're trying not to think...

Originally Posted by PortMoresby: I'd be inclined to contact the original source of the phone and see if they can Fedex a replacement. Be careful with that. There might be a huge duty/tariff you'd have to pay to do so. Check this out with your concierge before you take this route. But if no customs fee, I'd probably get a new phone from back home, too.

"Be careful with that. There might be a huge duty/tariff..." VAT may, of course, be imposed but then most likely refunded when you take it home again. It's certainly worth checking out if all else fails. Then there's the dreaded "do without" option, if imagination allows.

I don't know much about Germany's import taxes, but there may be taxes on certain classes of merchandise beyond and in addition to VAT. For example, in one country I know of, importing a car is associated with a tax of 100% of the value of the car. And after that, you also pay VAT.

To me, VAT means any tax added onto the price, but I'll defer to the doctor in his quest for exactitude, while also mentioning, neither of us really knows, do we?

I do expect a tax. If it's terrible, my husband will do without a phone. I remember we had to pay a big tax even when bringing in our own (used) car from the USA to use during the two years we lived in Germany. It was cheaper to ship our own car to Germany than to buy or rent one for two years. But, back to to phone...We will update this post with relevant news.

While I know iPhone users can be very brand-loyal, if the price is too high, consider buying a cheap Android phone and using it with your SIM. At the end of the trip, you can put it back in a new iPhone, or (dare I say?) change sides... The iPhone 5 uses yet another made-for-Apple incompatible SIM size, but phone stores will have a small plastic holder to retrofit it to the sizes used by others.

My husband would never switch phone allegiances! So, he'd still have to buy a new iPhone at home. Right now he's using his laptop to iMessage from the hotel wifi. But it's a good idea, and one that other travelers may want to try.

UPDATE ON REPLACING AN iPHONE 5 IN EUROPE: Cologne's Apple store didn't have a US iPhone 5 in stock and the technician offered to order one for us. However, the phone would not arrive for a week, and we would be in London by then. So we made an Apple store genius bar appointment at London's Stratford City-Westfield location near the Olympic Park. WARNING: we made this appointment a week in advance, which is standard for Genius Bar schedules in Europe. (For laptop appointments, the wait is...

Moral of the story: don't flush your iPhone down the john! What a saga! I'm curious to see how it all plays out.

Is there enough cooperation among Apple stores that if the phone arrives in London after you've left that they could express-ship it to Apple at your next stop?

NO cooperation between Apple stores in different countries. We made FOUR visits to Apple stores—Cologne, London, and twice to the Paris Louvre store—before my husband was finally able to exchange his water-damaged iPhone 5 with a replacement. He bought his replacement for 249 euros, only 1 1/2 days before he finished his three-week Europe vacation. The Louvre Apple store (which is underground in the Carousel shopping mall) was packed with confused and anxious Apple product users. Some...

My husband dropped his iPhone 5 into the toilet on Day One of his 3 weeks in Europe. We checked at Frankfurt airport phone stores, and they will only sell an iPhone with a phone contract. In Cologne on Day Two, we discovered that Kaufhof will sell...

Almost anywhere you travel in the world these days—especially to any First World country or popular tourist destination—a strong cellular signal and Wi-Fi hotspots in hotels, restaurants, Internet cafes, shopping centers, and airports are readily available. So even though you may be on the opposite side of the world from where you live, your iPhone or iPad can still serve as a powerful communication, organization, and productivity tool, as well as an interactive entertainment device. The...

Everyone is leading a stressful life, their work life demands a lot from them. A peaceful and happy life has become days of past. Most of us are living mechanical and sedentary lives. Once in a while, we feel like taking a break and go on a vacation. A long trip within India or foreign countries will help us to let loose and become stress free. Traveling and exploring is always an adventurous task. Going on trips with our family or friends is completely a different kind of experience. It is...