apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'd love one of those! I guess the worst mishap I've had is that I dropped my beautiful new blackberry in a parking lot about three days after I got it. It scraped a lot of the silver off the sides. But thankfully it still worked.

I'd love one too! :)

My worst was taking a picture from the top of a parking garage and a friend slapping me on the back and making me drop my camera 3-4 stories.

It didn't live.

Free stuff!

My worst mishap was probably letting my son play with my cell phone a few times when he was very young. He didn't break it right away, but it had problems not long after and apparently his drool triggered the sneaky "I've got water damage" sticker that was under my phone's cover. I was then stuck with a broken phone and no warranty. Also, my son only found the phone interesting when he could press the buttons and make it beep, so it didn't even get to live on as a toy.

My biggest electronic mishap would have to be when my wife set her drink next to my laptop and the cat (he never did like me, but that's a longer story) instantly jumped up on her lap but purposefully knocked the glass over spilling scalding hot coffee into the keyboard and speakers. The speakers blew, the screen went haywire and the computer all but died. I got rid of the cat and kept the wife (she's cuter and doesn't leave drinks next to the laptop anymore).

Oh, where to start! There was the time my husband tripped on my power cord & sent my laptop flying (bricked the hard drive on that one), the time I accidentally sent a jump drive through the wash...

But my favorite has to be the time that my toddler teethed my cell phone to death. As it turns out, baby drool? Highly corrosive.

My wife is "not-so-gentle" with her cellphones. My favorite has to be her giving her cell to the baby as a pacifier. It pacified her until it would no longer turn on anymore.

I totally want this for my camera.

Orange juice and a laptop are a very bad combo, very bad especially around finals time in college.

I think my most exciting one would have to be the time I went long boarding and a wheel got caught on some debris and launched me off of the long board and on to the cement and I happened to land on the pocket that had my blackberry and it destroyed a bit of the screen from the impact.

I once had a 1st Gen iPod drop off the top of my car roof onto the cement. It still worked, but I couldn't write any new files to it.

I haven't had any bad electronic mishaps, but I know someone who put his cell phone through a wood chipper.

How about stepping on my then-boyfriend's laptop and cracking the screen a week after we'd met? Three weeks later I was carrying the laptop in my briefcase and left it at an ATM (went back and it was still there, unbelievably) and now that we're married - yes, he actually stuck with me, clumsiness and all - I have gone through three computers in 5 years. My current laptop has a huge black crack along the corner of the screen from picking up the computer by the screen, and our two kids and cat constantly pick off the type-pad keys. Also lost a cellphone to a drop in the toilet. Need I go on? I covet those industrial grade /construction site computers, and may just invest in one someday, but in the meantime, fingers crossed for this giveaway!

O wow - I was out and about one day during a rain storm and returned to find I had left my bedroom window open...with my laptop sitting on the desk under it! So there sat my computer in a puddle of water - my first thought, pick it up out of the puddle...bad idea! As it was still plugged into the wall, upon touching the computer I was shocked and was promptly sent flying backwards as a result....Fried the mother board and had to get a new one...moral of the story - close your windows!

I drove off with my cellphone sitting on top of my car.
Smashed it to tiny bits.
I think this act of supreme stupidity happened because I was juggling keys, coffee and phone and set the phone down so I could open the car door.
Stupid ,stupid, stupid.

I had my iphone on it's perfectly designed protective case. Took a picture and put it on my pocket. Jump on a RollerCoaster and my phone decided to take a pick at the ride and flew from my pocket to the floor on the first loop of the Hulk directly to the floor.
I didn't notice until the next day when once on the plane I had to turn it off and I realized the phone was gone. I got it back a week later from Universal Studios (great customers dept. by the way). Protective case perfect shape (some scratches only) phone didn't work anymore. At least I didn't have to pay for the new case when I bought the phone again.

my brother borrowed my brand new camera to go to France. He ended up taking video with it in an open cockpit plane, either the velocity or grit got into it and locked up the whole lens from coming in and out. It came back useless.

Luckily my worst mishap was dropping the phone in the toilet. I have, however lost several memory sticks over the past couple years.

About 3-4 months ago, I forgot to check pockets when doing laundry and I washed my son's cell phone. That was the end of that. Obviously I had to buy him a new one. I'm not making that mistake again.

i haven't really broken anything, but my aunt dropped her crackberry in the toilet...twice in one month!

hmmm. worst mishap...

On a road trip from San Diego to San Francisco, my daughter accidentally stepped on my ipod classic when getting some chips fron the back seat. That step broke the jack in half and left it permenantly stuck in the ipod. Needless to say, that was the most expensive chip I've ever seen.

I don't know if it counts as broken, but I used to monitor groundwater well levels and would keep my cell phone in my front pocket of my shirt. One day I leaned over too far, trying to read the tape reading and my phone dropped all the way into a 200-foot well! Luckily, I had insurance, but I had to assure the customer rep that my phone was definitely not recoverable.

As for broken-broken things, it was quite heartbreaking to find my new universal remote in the paws of our puppy, complete with tooth marks and chewed off corners. Wah!

My mom lent me her super-nice new camera for a couple months when mine broke while traveling (its never been the same since it got inundated with sand in the sahara and it finally broke down during a year abroad -eek) This would be perfect for her camera and a nice little thank you.

Does my husband leaving our camera in the seat of the stroller at the zoo while we walked away to look at animals, thereby allowing evildoers to steal it count as breaking?

my worst mishap was dropping the phone in the toilet.

I dropped my digital camera in its protective case from about waist level onto the sidewalk and it no longer worked.

dropping the cell phone in the toilet

While trying to maneuver my toddler, his lunchbox, my laptop, purse, and keys into the car one morning, I dropped my cell phone into a travel cup full of strawberry smoothie.

Ooooh a camera hoodie?! That's amazing!

My worst broken electronic mishap wasn't actually mine, but an acquaintance of mine in college who managed to trip over her powerbook power cable... while it was still attached to the powerbook... and thus flinging the powerbook off of the table... and crash landing on the cold, hard floor.


Oh yeah, she did this twice. Yup. Twice. :)
Luckily (and magically) it wasn't completely destroyed.

I was working at my laptop and my cell phone rang, I reached around to grab it and knocked over my new cup of coffee...it came through the back and the computer turned itself off...thankfully it was okay when it dried :)

I had a digital camera with a strap on it. I decided to take some pictures of our Rottweiler. Well, somehow she got the strap around her neck and took off! There went my camera bouncing along the deck and into the yard with her. She was in a panic! It never would come on after that!

I bought my daughter a cell phone and she spilled tomato juice on it. Hello another new cell phone.

I guess my worst was when lightening struck our house and our TV started smoking!

i had a shelf fall off my wall when i was in college that clobbered my laptop. these wouldn't have avoided that, but i could use a camera case.

I have very poor luck with camera's. The strap to my DSLR caught on my grill outdoors when I was picking it up and I broke the lens (but it still works). I also had a very limited jeweled Canon camera that belonged to my wife that I dropped when taking pictures of the children. Luckily, Canon repaired it completely at no charge since it was irreplaceable.

Last year when I went to Croatia, Tunisia, Italy and Austria I thought I had a curse put on me because 4so many different digital cameras broke and one was stolen. I couldn't believe it. I am a photo freak. I have to take pictures all the time, let alone if I went travelling.
The one I took with me broke in Austria. My son dropped it and my dad tried to fix it, even though it was fixable, he ruined it and broke it completely. That night I go and buy a new one, since my flight to Africa was the next early morning. Second day in Tunisia, the camera gets stolen right under my eyes. I was so sad and angry. 250 pictures just vanished. My parents had theirs, but it was old and the click didn't work always. We go to Sahara and it breaks. Too much sand in the lens. It then started to work on and off. We get to Croatia, then it really stops working completely. I am left without a camera to use, and I still had 25 days left on my vacation. I borrowed my cousin's one, joking how this one will get busted, too. And guess what? It did. My husband (who stayed in California) calls me and tells me that he lost the brand new one we bought before I took off (I didn't take the new one, fearing sth. might happen to it).
The strange part is that I am so careful with cameras, this never happens to me, I love cameras, I take care of them, and enjoy taking 1000s of pictures.
I have no explanation why it all happened, so I am being silly and saying that it must be the curse, it's just too unbelievable.

I still have nightmares of my camera not working, being lost, losing pictures, irreplacable memories...Ugh.

I have a new one now, and it took me a whole month to get a courage to buy one since I was fearing that sth. might happen to this one, too. :)

I drop everything. I have dropped memory sticks, cameras, cell phones, blackberrys, laptops... Sometimes they keep working, sometimes they don't.

well... drunk college friends and a new tv, it did not end well.

I was in Hawai'i having a great vacation and taking lots of pictures. Wanting to take a picture of both my friend and me, I set the timer on my camera and placed it on top of a surface. Just as the timer hit zero, a gust of wind came and blew it off it's perch and into the beach sand. I was only a day into my week-long vacation, and my camera had sand stuck in every crack and opening. Turning the camera on and off was fruitless, as the sand stuck inside made the lens grind to a crackling halt. It was pretty much ruined, along with my photographic memories of Hawai'i.

My dog knocked my video camera off the table with her tail and it never worked again. At the time it was the most expensive piece of electronics I'd ver bought and cost me 2 weeks of pay!! Bad doggie!!

My laptop-before-last: just from wear and tear, my 17" PowerBook's screen split!

My toddler took his plastic sword and poked a hole into are flat screen tv. My son also destroyed my expensive gaming keyboard with lemonade.

Mine is simple. I had just come home from a trip and had my laptop/ipod/phone charger/camera everything in my backback. We stopped for dinner on the way back from the airport and someone had broken into my car and took the backpack. They got everything in one swipe. Thankfully my insurance is good and paid for almost everything to be replaced.

cellphone toilet = no workie

Would love one of these. Worst I've had is: dropped my digital camera straight onto a rock, really dented up the case, but thankfully didn't damage any internals.

I was out gardening one day and I put my cell phone in my pocket because I was expecting my husband to call. Well I got pretty dirty, so when I came inside I stripped down and immediately put my clothes in the washing machine. About 2 hours later, my husband calls out from the laundry room..."Honey, did you mean to wash your cell phone?". Yep, killed it dead.

I was running around in France snapping pictures all over the place...and running across the street, I dropped my camera! This is when digital cameras weren't a big thing, and all my pictures were ruined! This bag would be great for my new digital camera!

Accidentally dropping the camera in a public toilet!

I accidentally tore the screen off my laptop.

My camera randomly just wont turn off and is stuck "take picture" mode with the lens out. Well i thought i had dealt with this problem and right before a very important picture- taking trip i charged and recharged and checked my camera a million times to make sure it worked..and what do you know..the day i left it wouldnt even turn on.

Unplugged the computer in panic when it froze. I thought all was lost but was able to restore almost everything at a cost.

Shooting pictures of my baby in the surf, when a wave got me from behind. The saltwater fried the motherboard on my Mamiya. Thank goodness for USAA personal items insurance. They totally reimbursed me.

I don't think I've ever broken any electronics, the biggest problem is just how I have so much loose junk in my purse that I would find crumbs and junk in nooks and crannies of my camera, ipod, thumbdrive, etc. It's rather annoying.

Before I knew about "backing up" one's files: Lost 2/3 of my 40 page senior thesis in college after my computer crashed. I learned my lesson.

I tried to move my tv stand over and knocked my tv to the floor.

i dropped my ipod the day of my first college radio show. no good.

just got my computer back from the shop after burning out the power supply

dropped my camera into the Vltava River in Prague on the first morning of my trip. luckily i hadn't taken many pics yet. had to borrow my brother's camera and use one of my extra cards. have a much better camera now...and no leaning over bridges anymore!

My worst mishap would be dropping my cell phone and the sound went on it. I had to get a new one!!

there was the time when my college dorm room flooded and my computer was on the floor....goodbye first semester of work (and lots of music). luckily the college paid for a replacement.

I ran my son to the store and all the windows were open in the house. Of course, a huge thunderstorm came up while we were out and soaked his entire stereo, never worked after that. Felt really bad about that one.

Thank you for the contest.

My 8-week old puppy got his hands (okay, teeth) onto my cell phone. Twice. *sigh*

Put my Mom's camera on the hood of the car while juggling other things to put in the car. As we drove away we heard a thud, and immediately knew it was the camera. For some strange reason we never found the camera.

Getting my elbow/arm hit hard from behind by some kids goofing off and watching my $1,500 digital camera fly through the air and take about 3-1/2 bounces on the concrete.

I dropped my ipod in the toilet. I think that's the worst.

A few years ago I was opening my computer to do some work inside. I was half asleep and slightly hung over and I wound up tripping on some computer part and fell, scraping my leg against the case anf getting a big gash. Ok, it was more of a big scratch. Also I wound up kicking the computer across the floor a bit in reaction. Anyway, it was bleeding a bit, but not terribly so I wiped off some of the blood and kept going. I wound up getting a decent bit on the inside of the machine. It still worked though, so not a total mishap.

I submerged a brand new camera and cell phone into a lunchbox full of spilled apple juice...it killed both.

My worst mishap happened last year. I let my 11-year-old son play a game on my computer. When he was done, he didn't tell me that a screen came up saying that my computer was getting ready for a crash dump. I found out the next morning when I signed on and had no operating system whatsoever. My ex-boyfriend had "helped" me by providing his Windows discs so I couldn't even try to get it up and running. I ended up having to get a new computer because my ex and his friend are completely out of the picture. We're doing much better now, though.

Thank you for the contest!

when i accidentally knocked over iced tea on my boyfriend's 2 week old macbook....then plugged it in, turned it on and watched the keyboard spark into a small flame and smoke....boy, did i learn my lesson!

My son snapped the dvd player off of my pc, just pushed right down on it.

I had a blonde moment when I tried to pull out my sons tiny toys from the tv with metal tweezers. That was a close one.

I had a brand new cordless phone that fell into the bathtub. I never talked on the phone while taking a bath again!

Puppy cell phone new, yummy-smelling leather case = not so happy cell phone. Still worked when he was through, but there certainly was a fair amount of damage.

no mishap
THANK YOU GOD BLESS

Dropped phone into the pool

i have three.

spilling orange juice in my purse with my PDA in it. spilling tea on my desktop keyboard. and my favorite, finding my ipod in the washing machine -- after a cycle.

funnily enough, only the last one found the item in complete working order!!

I recently dropped a vodka tonic on my work laptop (and no I was not drunk! :) Needless to say, the IT guy at my company was NOT pleased ...

I used to have a cell phone that would magically turn itself off every night around 10:00 pm. Not broken, perhaps, but close enough.

Tie:
1)- Roommate's cat chewed through my cell phone charger wire

2- cell phone in toilet (how cliche! :)

I am like the queen of laptop destruction. I mauled like 3 or 4 work laptops over the course of 2 yrs but the worst was probably with my first laptop.

I got my first laptop when I was 15 (so approximately 11 years ago) and I somehow managed to destroy it several times over. I think the worst was when I stood up with the power cord wrapped around my ankle and managed to send it flying to the floor and rip the battery connection completely out of the case. I then called Compaq and played innocent "I just unplugged it and somehow the whole connection came out with it. I have no idea how it happened... Can you fix it?" Amazingly enough, they did!

There is no one worse mishap! Let's just say if we buy it, my oldest will breaketh it!

When my then, toddler (now a teen), grabbed my new and expensive camera and dumped it in the toilet!!!!!!!!

Cooked oatmeal spread all over the keyboards of my Mac iBook (courtesy of my 3 year old son)... I think that's how the mobo died.

I leaned on my closed laptop and cracked the screen... just days after my initial warranty expired. And I dropped a new cellphone in the toilet. Not on the same day, mind you.

A cell phone broken in half!

In the middle of the night, I unknowingly (sleep with earplugs)knocked over the glass of water sitting on my nightstand. In the morning I discovered my new Razr cell phone had soaked up most of the liquid. Never worked again. I was not happy.

Oh, the worst would be when I made the mistake (this was in the bad old days) of buying a PC with a Cyrix chip. It overheated and cause a head crash of my hard drive WHICH DIED SCREAMING. I will never forget that terrible sound.

This sweepstakes has been featured on Sweepstakes Advantage, http://www.sweepsadvantage.com. The Web's Largest Directory of Free Online Sweepstakes. Good Luck to Everyone!

I once had a very exciting incident with a borrowed dog, a full glass of water, and a 17" Powerbook, which managed to get soaking wet and hit the ground hard on one corner at the same time (due to above-mentioned dog). Somehow, it did live through the ordeal...

Worst electronics mishap for me was forgetting my cell phone was in my jacket pocket and threw it in the washing machine. Came out in about 4 pieces. Hubby was less than thrilled but he did buy me a new one.

Very cool. I just got a new camera.

dropped laptop from my hand and spent 600$ in repair the new LCD screen..
herry123_us at live dot com

tripped over a usb extension cord that was connected to the front panel of my computer... practically tore out the entire port. surprisingly though the only damage done was to the one usb port, the rest survived... though it didn't look that way haha. i guess i consider myself pretty lucky.

I washed my beautiful slim digital camera which I left in my sweat shirt.

I was hitting the wrong keys for my password (caps / numerals) and totally locked my self out. The blackberry was reset but now it does not recognize me as a user.

I fell while getting off the VERY FIRST ride at Disneyland and cracked my camera down the middle. I didnt have a camera for the whole trip and broke my wrist!

I once tripped over my cat while going down the stairs with my laptop. It totally destroyed the screen. At least the cat wasn't hurt!

I had just gotten a very nice portable dvd player and was in our car with it plugged in, my husband shut off car and somehow it zapped the player screen.
Store or company would not replace said it was our fault so was out a lot of money and kids were bored the whole car trip. Thank you for a chance to win a great prize.

camper223@live.com

on the first day of my silk road trip, i dropped my camera, needless to say, it broke. had to rely on disposable cameras the entire trip!

I've lost two phones to waterlogging at the beach - first my beloved Sony Ericsson T610, and then my first Razr.. hopefully the same fate will not befall my iPhone.

The most annoying tale would be last summer when I was talking on my cell phone down by the pool at the apartment complex, and some friends of mine saw I was back in town and threw me in the pool to say hello, yeah cell phone, ipod, and watch, all kaput :/

I dropped a cellphone in the toilet in LasVegas and my wife dropped her phone in the toilet in Huntington Beach in the same week. On the flip side, we both went out and got new bluetooth phones that coincidentally the same model..spooky.

I left my phone on top of my truck. By the time I realized what I had done, it was gone. I called my cellphone company and someone had made a bunch of calls on it already. I was SOL!

The worst thing that ever happened to my electronics is when lightning ran in thru the electric lines...I lost my 2 tv's, my vcr, my stereo, my refrigerator, my washer & dryer, my hair dryer, AND my alarm clock!

had an online class with deadline the next day, of course our electric went out due to a storm - was out for three days - couldn't even call the school to explain. no more procrastination for me, lol.

had the first draft, 200 plus pages of a story I was working on and the computer crashed wipeing out everything

When I was six months pregnant with my middle child, I was talking on my cell phone, and walking in the parking lot at my doctor's office. I tripped over a curb, landed face first, sprained my ankle, scraped both knees and hands and shattered my cellphone into many pieces that then flew all over the parking lot. Luckily a couple of nice ladies helped me up, gathered the pieces of my phone and since I was already at the doctor, took me inside to get checked out.

I can't find BETA tapes anywhere.

Cell phone fell in the ocean!

When my brand new cell phone accidentally got thrown into the wash (I had put it into my jeans pocket quickly and forgotten). Needless to say, it was useless after that.

When I dropped my cell phone and I couldn't find it . My son found it ,but too late ,one of us ran it over with the car. That was only one ,my son is so bad with cell phones ,I now make sure he has the warranty to replace because he is always comming to me with a broken phone.

I had just bought a new flat screen tv a week before I moved into a new apartment. While going upstairs the movers dropped it downstairs. Not only did It get destroyed but I wasn't compensated for the full amount. garrettsambo@aol.com

Sisters stole my camera.

I dropped my laptop and messed it up a bit. I was glad I had bought the protection plan.

oh i know! i was on my laptop, and drinking some pink lemonade and sleepy (bad combo) as i was drifting asleep my lemonade was slowly emptying itself onto the keyboard of my laptop!!!

the keys became sticky and started malfunctioning and so did the mousepad, thank god i had a warranty that covered that very thing, they sent me a brand new computer, and thank god it was only like 2 months old and didn't have any pictures in it or anything!

I haven't had any bad electronic mishaps, but I have a friend whose son threw the Wii control (by accident) and it broke their new large screen plasma TV. Thank you for the opportunity to win!

my printer was connected to my laptop and i tripped over the wire and it yanked out the little ledge in the usb port rendering the port useless and cracking the plastic around it, thankfully i have 3 others on my computer so it's not so bad!

i dropped my cell phone in the toilet :(

My upstairs neighbor passed out from being drunk after starting to run a bath. Fast forward nine hours and his now flooded apartment was flowing into mine. Everything I had was soaked and destroyed from the warm water. Thank God for Renter's Insurance, but it was still a nightmare to deal with.

My worst is dropping and breaking the only camera I own, while at disneyland
cherylfrancisco@hotmail.com

My worst mishap was with my cell phone. I was in the middle of dialing when it just went dead. I know I was rough with it over time but I really needed to make that call. The worst thing was I couldn't retrieve my contact list and lost some important numbers.

I've never actually done anything that I can recall. However, my 14-year-son was bewildered why the overheard light in his walk-in closet flickered everytime he turned it on. So he took of the switch plate and in the process grab the housing inside the switch...got the jolt of his life that threw him into the back wall of the closet. He survived unscathed and a little bit wiser for the experience.

Probably when I stepped on and completely broke my boyfriend's brother-in-law's new camera while out on the boat. I wonder if he ever forgave me?

my worst is dropping my camerea twice i just bought it and it worked for a week now it wont work at all then something happened to the picture card and i am not able to get my pictures i had off the camerea so im really upset by this

my worst would be when I ran my cell phone through the washer and dryer!

I can't work my digital camera very well.

It took me three years to save up for a trip to Alaska. We took about 70 digital pictures. One the last day there the screen gave us an error report and all the pictures were erased. I have onlt a few pictures of my trip taken with a one time use camera. No glaciers or dog sled camp. But, I do have my memories.

I dropped my cell phone in a cup of coffee.Took it out,
cleaned it up with rubbing alcohol.Took the battery out,
cleaned it.Took a hair dryer,and dried it,this took awhile.
In 3 days it was working again and still working.It was
a miracle.

My old computer wouldn't boot up one day and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. :(