Fonesafe Mobile Insurance

devil26

I have a contract, in my name , for my sons phone as he is not 18. I do not insure the handsets of my wife or my own. When I was negotiating the upgrade of my sons phone I was offered insurance, I quite clearly told the agent that the phone was for my son.

Yesterday my son lost his phone, when I phoned fonesafe this morning I was told the claim was being rejected because he wasn t a registered user. I have checked this in their t&c and it appears to be correct.

However when I was being sold this 'insurance' I clearly told the agent that the phone was for my son s use. Fonesafe say that T mobile didn t pass this information on to them and that it was my responsibility to do so. Surely T mobile operate as an ' agent' for fonesafe an as such fonesafe as 'principal are responsible for the actions of their ' agents'.

Anyway the outcome at the moment is, I have got a useless insurance policy for which I have lost all of the premiums and a contract with T mobile that is worthless unless I fork our more ££££s for a new phone.

I have complained to T mobile customer relations and to Trading Standards

I would have been better off saving the premiums in a high interest account to pay for this sort of mishap. I am sure that this is the case with a lot of these 'insurances'.Thinking about it if I had saved all of the premiums I had paid for various insurances over the years, that I have never claimed on, I would have a quite healthy bank balance

Oscar_The_Grouch

Hi there

If the cost to replace the mobile phone is more than your home insurance excess, you may want to consider checking whether you have "personal possessions" cover. This is also sometimes called "UPP" or "Valuables" or "Away from home" cover. Phone your insurers if you are not sure.

Turning to the question about the insurance for the handset, my personal opinion (and i stress, this is MY opinion only) is that they are not worth the money.

Finally, it looks like you have done everything correctly with regard to the complaint against T-mobile, but if I were you I would also register a complaint with the insurer. Tell them you feel that as you told T-mobile about the fact that it was to be your son's phone and that at the time of setting up the policy they were acting as the agent of the insurer rather than as your agent, they have bound the insurer to provide the cover. Whether T-mobile passed on the information to the insurer or not is not your concern; you gave a full and honest disclosure and feel that you are now not being treated fairly.

It's worth a try and as they will be a firm regulated by the FSA, you will have the right to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman if you do not get any joy from either party.

All the best.

devil26

Thank you,

I do have that cover on my house insurance but on principle I am not prepared for the phone insurers to shirk their responsibilities they quite happily took the premiums from my bank every month

Oscar_The_Grouch

Good for you!! I agree with your principle and hope you win in the end!!

devil26

I have today received a call from T mobile customer relations apologizing for the misunderstanding and offering to send a replacement handset, they have waived delivery charges and replacement sim card charges. I only have to pay them £25.00 the same as what my excess would have been under the insurance policy. They pointed out that it was a goodwill gesture by T mobile and not the insurers. They thanked me for the complaint and said that they would look at training issues re: the selling of insurance even though the registering of users was in their training manual it was obviously a point that needed highlighting. They have promised to deliver a new handset tomorrow.

A good result for me personally but its still T mobile paying instead of the insurer that happily took the premiums

Oscar_The_Grouch

Thanks for coming back and posting the outcome. Pleased it has worked out well for your son.

DONT FORGET TO CANCEL THE INSURANCE!!!!!

All the best

bladwin

My daughter phone is insured with fonesafe and has been for nearly 8 months monthly payments of £8.99. she lost her phone and followed all the rules in how to make a claim we heard nothing for many weeks so we called and was told that my daughter had to send a copy of her passport to prove who she was. i refused as that is a private document and also explained they quite happily take the insurance premiums from a bank account held in my daughters name and when my daughter opened the bank account she had to show proof of who she was and where she lived, if they required this information they should have requested it when the policy was taken out. ten weeks down the line we are still waiting for a replacement phone and fonesafe are still taking the premiums from her bank account despite not having a clue who she is. highly recommend that people should check out thier house insurance as some insurers cover the loss of mobile phones.

susieQt_3

I too have had problems i have been with tmobile and fone safe for over 5 years and paid my premiums. first time i have ever claimed and told that because my phone details were not updated and that it was a more costly premium then i would have to pay the 8.99 for the last 7 months even though i have been paying £5.99 for the last 7 months. I do not grudge paying an extra £3.00 but an extra 8.99 no way and the excess making it around £100.T mobile informed me that they would up date the information.going back to the shop tommorow.