They will even refuse to install a new battery if you pay them.
The laptop has never gotten wet, and everything apart from the M key was working perfectly.
Whenever there is a 'detection' method it's almost never foolproof and usually pretty junk.
For me at least, add it to the list of reasons why "never Apple", dirty broken process by another corrupt tech company.
While it COULD mean you used the device out of spec, it could just as easily mean THEY MESSED UP when manufacturing your device.
On the whole, its more likely that your phone had a pinhole defect from the factory than you ran into 3+ feet of water and threw your phone in.
If they can't prove they did waterproof compliance testing my specific device before they shipped it, then they should be assumed to be responsible.
On a phone with triggered water detector stickers? Yeah. Common sense. Why the hell would I work a device that might be damaged already? If something goes wrong after the repair due to the pre-existing damage it becomes a finger pointing game. Fuck that
I know this because I had an iPhone display start acting odd shortly after a battery replacement. They opened it up and reported water damage, but the pictures they take before every repair showed that the same indicators were not triggered two days before, and I ended up getting a replacement phone because the water seal was probably effective for 5 years prior to the battery replacement.
I once went in for an out of warranty replacement where I said it was water damage and my phone was in the washing machine. The guy still went back to check the stickers and said "It must really been wet because it triggered all of the stickers" I pointed out it literally had water pouring out of it when I got it out of the washing machine. Fun fact, it was still powered on and operating when it came out of the washing machine for a few minutes then it went dead.