iPhone insurance claim - Problem

[GaryJ8]

Right, my brother's bank offered phone insurance, so he took it out for his original 2G iPhone. He then upgraded his phone to a 3G and managed to smash the screen on it when he dropped it.

He sent the phone away to the insurers to be looked at, they sent it back refusing the claim as he didn't notify them he had upgraded to a 3G, which is fair enough.

He's then given it to me to have a look at to see if i can fix it (I've fixed a few before) and tells me before he sent it off the phone would atleast turn on. The state it was sent back in was pretty poor to be honest, they have lost the sim card tray and snapped the thin plastic bit surrounding the hole for the charger.

The biggest problem though, the phone no longer turns on. So I've opened up the phone, took the screen and motherboard out to find the connection from the wiring harness to the power button has been snapped, like it's been yanked and the button on the end has been pulled away. Now my question is where do I stand on this? As they have already refused the claim they could just say I broke the power button, do I have a case to get them to replace or repair his phone as it would atleast turn on before he sent it away?

Cheers

[Blue Meanie]

I would say the fact you've opened it up means you probably don't have a leg to stand on. How are you going to prove you didn't break it, rather than they? How long ago was this?

[GaryJ8]

He received the phone back from them late last week and I have opened it up only about an hour ago.

The thing is though, without opening it up we wouldn't have known why it would no longer turn on?
I have some pictures of the break in the connection too if they would help?