Half Of All Water Damaged Mobile Phones Have Been Dropped In The Loo

This is a strange little survey that has popped up just a few days after Martin Lewis (aka money saving expert) was on Radio 2’s Jeremy Vines show talking about which insurance policies you should keep paying for and which you could knock on the head to save money.

Martin was heard saying that he thinks mobile phone insurance is a good policy for those who frequently lose their handsets and then the conversation swiftly changed to water damage caused by the owner dropping their beloved mobile down the toilet.

Having been involved with mobile phone insurance for many years now, we can contradict the daily mail who reports in the article below that “hundreds of mobile phones are damaged or destroyed by water in the UK each year”.

Lets edit that statement a little bit. We are not talking ‘hundreds’ per year, we are talking ‘hundreds of thousands’ per year!

The pecking order for water damage was along the right lines though, with the loo in the lead, followed by our drinks, with the washing machine not too far behind.

You can compare mobile phone insurance here if this has made you think twice!

It comes as no surprise that hundreds of mobile phones are damaged or destroyed by water in the UK each year.

But a new survey has revealed Britain’s embarrassing secret – that almost half of all water-damaged phones have ended up in the toilet bowl.

New research from a UK mobile phone comparison website has revealed that the loo is the most ‘popular’ location to drop a handset. And men are three times more likely to damage their phone than women.

The study quizzed 1,937 mobile users over the age of 18 across the country, asking questions ranging from phone security and insurance to how careful people are with their must-have devices.

Conducted by GoodMobilePhones.co.uk, the study found 31 per cent of Britons claimed to have damaged a handset with water or another liquid substance in the past.
Of that 31 per cent, 73 per cent were male and 27 per cent were female.

The toilet bowl was the tragic destination for an alarming 47 per cent of all water-damaged phones.

With the latest iPhone4S costing more than £400, that’s a lot of money to be throwing down the pan (unless you’re flush with cash).

Coming in a distant second was the dreaded drink, with 21 per cent of those surveyed saying they had spilled a drink or dropped their handset into one.

Incredibly, 12 per cent of people admitted they had dropped their phone in the bath or shower – proving that there is nowhere these days where poepl won’t take or make a call.
The kitchen sink came in at number four, with seven per cent say they had accidentally added their handset to the dirty dishes, while three per cent admitted to leaving a phone in their pocket and sending through a washing machine cycle.

The study also showed that the vast majority of Britons, 86 per cent to be precise, had not insured their mobile phone prior to sending it to its watery grave.

Mark Owen, founder of GoodMobilePhones.co.uk, said: ‘As somebody who has nearly dropped his phone into all manner of liquids, these results really make me thankful that this is something I haven’t done as yet.
‘I can’t imagine how galling it must be to retrieve a mobile phone from a toilet bowl, so my sympathies go out to anyone who has.’

He said mobile users should be insuring their handsets, as a potential accident was never far away.

He said: ‘I know mobile phone insurance can seem like an expensive addition to a monthly phone bill, but often it can be something really worth thinking about, especially if you are prone to being a bit clumsy… smartphones can be expensive to replace.’

The UK is placed 14th in the world for mobile use, with more than 75 million handsets spread among its 61 million citizens.

China leads the world for mobile use, with more than 950 million phones among its one-billion-plus citizens.

Story from and credit to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2060321/Almost-half-water-damaged-mobile-phones-UK-dropped-toilet-study-finds.html