Have you had it for more then 3 months? If not, there's an additional $65 excess.

The markers are white before they turn red. Unless you have an incredibly thin white texta or one with a long nib on it I doubt you'd be able to change it.

All phones have them these days but some aren't easily visible. It's how people like me can tell a customer "You're phone's not covered under warranty as it's been exposed to liquid."

I've had a total of 3 phones over the past 12 years replaced under Optus' Insurance. They've been great to deal with. State the problem over the phone, do a voice recording, new phone in mail. Most of them have been a matter of a few days turnaround for me. There was one that was stolen and they did want a police report for that. Not sure why they wanted a report for that but were happy to take my word for accidental damage. This was also in the days before IMEI blocking on networks was common, so I could have been lying to sell the phone and get a new one (Which I wasn't, my phone were genuinely borked).

Just thought I'd share my experience. Dropped mine in the toilet when I was drunk. Came back to it the next day and it was acting a bit funny and the external speakers weren't working. Then later on that day it went back to normal and it's fine again. Luckily because I don't have insurance.

My disaster is, left iphone on top of car and drove off, I heard a couple of loud bangs on the way home but did not link it to the iphone until I could not find it when I got home I have searched up and down the stretch of road but no joy when I ring it it goes straight to voice mail,worse thing is no insurance so I am stuffed! I had the extended warranty but not insurance. At least I could transfer my $59.00 pay plan to my old handset so I am not paying $66.00 a month for nothing.