4th generation--totally dies, Apple says "water damage"

Question

I've had Shuffle 3rd generation shuffle for forever and never had a problem with it working while i exercise....I run a lot at a time (10+ miles).  I started buying 4th generation shuffle and have had trouble with it once temperatures rise....winter is no problem running with it but now that it's hot, i've run and it dies (totally dead and will not work)....i took it into Apple store and the Genius bar guys shine a flashlight in the charger/earphone hole and says, "there's water damage."  The first one they replaced (2 weeks ago), then i ran the very next day with it, and within a short 3-mile run, this one dies also...i brought it in and they said same thing "water damage" and didn't give me a replacement.  I had to buy a new one.  Litterally, i ran the next day for only 4 miles, and even wrapped it in plastic this time, but at the very end of run, it died totally...dead.
There must be a flaw with this generation shuffle....i still am able to use my 3rd generation (now going on 3-4 years) without a problem while running, but the 4th generation is better with the voiceover and playlist ability but i've now bought 3 and they've all died....ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS OR SIMILAR ISSUES?????

Answer 1

Don't take offense.  Believe it or not, there are people out there who seem to have nothing better to do than making up and posting fake stories on the Internet.    Pathetic, right...?
Since the indicator indicates water damage, it is probably actually related to moisture.  It had happened only once, I could believe it was a manufacturing defect, but not three times in a row.  It's probably NOT related to heat, because any temperature where running "10+" miles didn't cause heat stroke would not cause a shuffle to fail, only due to heat.
But if you actually "wrapped it in plastic" and the problem still occurred, I don't see that it could be have been moisture.  Also, even in winter when the temperatures are lower, I run the same distances as you, and I still sweat a lot.  So, if moisture was getting into the iPod to cause this problem, it should also have happened during all the months of winter, at least once.  So moisture from sweat causing this problem doesn't make sense either.
If this was a general problem, and the majority of iPod shuffles (three in a row for you) are just failing for no apparent reason, with the indicator showing water damage when there was no water damage, then there would be line going out all the Apple Stores of people returning broken shuffles.  And this forum category would be filled to server overload point with similar posts.
So, I have no answers, and it doesn't make sense...  You should contact Apple directly and talk to Apple customer support.  Use the Contact Us link at the bottom right corner of this web page.