Ok, need to make one thing clear first, I purchased my iPhone in Columbus, Ohio but am now studying abroad in Wiesbaden, Germany until January, so I definitely need some help with this issue.

I was in Munich this past weekend for Oktoberfest. Mother nature decided to let loose the heaviest rain I’ve ever been in my entire life. I have my iPhone with me but am only using it as an mp3 player for my time here and it’s been in Airplane mode since I left the country a month ago. It rained so hard that water soaked my jeans and my iPhone inside my pocket.

The water mark never showed up. What I’ve noticed is corrosion in my iPhone dock. This was not noticed until Saturday evening. I’ll try and be quick with this description of everything. So, after going out to a bar to get out of the rain on Friday night, I never really used my iPhone other than to check the time. Yea the back of my case on my iPhone was a little wet, but the screen and everything else seemed perfectly fine until I started to head back to the hotel. The first problem that arose was my screen would automatically turn on (even if I turned off my iPhone) and this message would show up on the screen:

This accessory is not optimized for this iPhone
You may experience noise caused by cellular interference and a decrease in cellular signal strength.

Obviously, I became worried. Especially since the phone is in Airport mode and isn’t able to receive any cellular signal. I don’t even have my microSIM in the iPhone because I don’t want to risk picking up any roaming charges. I’m just trying to be safe about that. So since the iPhone wouldn’t turn off w/o it turning back on and this message popping up, I simply plugged it in to my laptop I had with me to charge it for the night, figuring that maybe having it plugged in and charging would possibly solve any problem.

When I plugged my iPhone into my laptop later on Saturday to try and load some photos up online from the day, it wouldn’t connect. I have tried multiple times to connect the iPhone to my laptop and it won’t work. When I got back in Wiesbaden on Monday, I tried plugging into my roommates laptop and it wouldn’t connect. It’s not an issue with my Macbook Pro or the cord, the problem is definitely with the iPhone. I have noticed corrosion in the iPhone dock and I’m certain that’s definitely a major issue.

I can’t contact Apple Support back in the States (they only accept calls from North American numbers). If I want to contact Apple Support here, an entire phone call describing my problem and figuring out a solution would cost a fortune on my prepaid phone (Apple Care here in Germany charges me 42 Euro cents per minute, and then I’m charged 15 Euro cents each minute by my carrier O2). So, I can’t (won’t) call them here. I went to a Apple retailer store here in my city and I was told if I wanted to repair anything, I’d have to pay 235+ EUR to fix the problem (my iPhone cost just over $200 back home, I’m not paying the equivalent of $300 for repairing the phone). There isn’t an official Apple store anywhere near me from my understanding so I can’t go and actually speak to someone.

Basically, I’m in a bit of a pickle and I need some help/advice/guidance/whatever. I personally can’t live w/o music when I’m traveling on weekends here and I love using my iPhone as an mp3 player, especially since WIFI seems to be pretty prevalent wherever I have been. I don’t see the wise decision in purchasing an mp3 player here if I can get this repaired/replaced for a reasonable price.

I know Apple doesn’t support water damage (be it accidental, on purpose, or by force of mother nature) and I’m still under factory warranty, so please, I just need some help trying to get this taken care of. If any one has any advice on what I should do, I would greatly appreciate it. Could I just pay $200 again for an out of warranty replacement (due to water damage)? Is that replacement a new iPhone? Am I able to keep my same phone number? Do I have to pay any kind of penalty fee to AT&T/Apple? I just really need to know what I can do because I haven’t voided any part of my contract with AT&T. I’m just worried/curious. Thank you for anything. I apologize for the long post but I needed to explain everything clearly. Thanks.