Mobile stolen, help and advice needed!!

cool4kaz

We bought my son a new mobile contract for christmas and it came with a samsung tocco. Tonight he has had the phone stolen out of his hands whilst texting by a guy in a hoodie. He reported the theft straight away, but heres my dilemma, the phone is insured, but everything is in my name as my son is 15. Will the insurance still cover the theft eventhough It was not me using the phone at the time, should I have declared that the phone was a present and would be used by my son?

dacouch

Is it insured by the mobile phone company or your home insurers?

hieveryone

It wont matter I wouldn't think - it's the handset that is covered - not who's using it. What if your son had been standing next to you using it and it had been stolen? No difference... just say 'it was stolen'.

cool4kaz

dacouch wrote: »

Is it insured by the mobile phone company or your home insurers?

It is insured with fonesure.

cool4kaz

hieveryone wrote: »

It wont matter I wouldn't think - it's the handset that is covered - not who's using it. What if your son had been standing next to you using it and it had been stolen? No difference... just say 'it was stolen'.

I hope so but you you know what these insurance companies are like they will do anything not to pay out on a claim.

dacouch

If its your home insurance they will not mind as it covers your contents for your family living with you (Assuming you have cover for items away from home).

I would have thought you would be ok on the mobile phone insurance as well but could not guarantee it. If you know which network your on or who you bought the cover from I can read their policy and let you know.

Who ever you claim off will want you to report it to the police and get a crime reference number. They may also ask you for the name of the police station you reported it to and their telephone number.

cool4kaz

dacouch wrote: »

If its your home insurance they will not mind as it covers your contents for your family living with you (Assuming you have cover for items away from home).

I would have thought you would be ok on the mobile phone insurance as well but could not guarantee it. If you know which network your on or who you bought the cover from I can read their policy and let you know.

Who ever you claim off will want you to report it to the police and get a crime reference number. They may also ask you for the name of the police station you reported it to and their telephone number.

The Network provider is Orange and I phoned them as soon as I found out, they were great and the phone has been blocked. My son also reported the phone stolen straight away and got a crime ref no. The network provider didn't need it but I have tried to get in touch with fonesure and their offices are not open now until Monday even though their policy info states they have a message service to leave info to be called back. I have sent them an email to let them know the situation and that I will call them first thing on monday.

So I guess it is just a waiting game now until Monday

dacouch

Its underwritten by Axa who are ok.

I think you should be ok claiming on it, they may come back and say your son is not the policy holder but if they do it shoud be easy enough to explain you have it due to his age etc.

I assume you have the Standard Cover which covers claims up to £300, did you realise this is costing you £60 a year. You can get better cover from your home insurance which will cover all the phones in your home and all your personal effects away from the home including on holiday eg your clothing, jewellery and cameras etc etc for about £20 a year.

If you take it out on your home insurance you would probably have to pay a £50 excess and your premium would probably go up a little but for a couple of years (The cover you have with the phone company has a £25 or £40 excess). But if you have a few phones in the family and you each have taken the phone companies insurance think how much you could save by just adding it to your home cover for £20 a year. Like I said the home insurance cover on phones is normally better than you have with fonesure as well

Oscar_The_Grouch

One other thing to consider is the "dual insurance" aspect. What most people do not know is that when you have cover in 2 places for the same thing, the insurers will each pay up their proportion of the claim. This all happens in the background (you claim off the phone company, they ask you who your home insurers are and they then get on to the home insurers to claim back a proportion of the costs).

This is usual for travel insurance too; they know that in most cases you will have cover elsewhere for your belongings.

The result is that you end up paying twice for the same cover!!

My view: always say "No" to the mobile phone cover and add in "Personal Possessions" to your home insurance! It's cheaper, provides wider cover and you never have the problem over who was using the phone at the time of the loss!!

cool4kaz

Claiming on the house insurance isn't an option unfortunately, as of last year when they doubled our premiums I haven't renewed it, silly I know and something I am in the process of doing now (any recommendations for good home insurance welcome). We haven't made a claim in over 5 years so I don't know why it doubled, I think everything is just going up and up these days.

I know the mobile insurance is expensive but I do have the right to cancel if I want to, but I am glad of it now to be honest and it is the only one in the house that is insured. The excess is £25 but considering the phone was over £200 it will be worth it.