AppleCare to the rescue

So, the AppleCarePlus coverage paid for itself, this time. And last time. I'm feeling a little better about dropping the cash, after this disturbing trend. — at Apple Store, Aspen Grove.

Her iPhone 5 was working fine, even after it fell in a bowl of water. But then the "stick it in a bag of rice to dry it out" trick produced a phone with little bitty grains of rice jammed in the important openings. The charger cord wouldn't go in after that. Turns out, the contacts in the Lightning connector got wrecked somewhere along the way. The only fix was to replace the phone. I was pretty disappointed that I had to wait 24 hours to get an appointment at "The Genius Bar", but it appears to have been worth it, as we spent $49 to replace the phone under AppleCarePlus, instead of the $300+ it would have been, without it.