MSE Article discussion: Mobile Phone Insurance

nic507

I actually wrote this review elsewhere on trustpilot, but felt it was only fair that as I trusted and used MSE to choose my insurer, that I come back here and leave my feedback. My insurance was for an iPad, but the insurance is pretty much the same.

These guys are an absolute JOKE (I2G). I sent my iPad off for repair a few weeks ago, it was in perfect condition as I take very good care of my electronics, screen protectors, soft fabric carry case etc... After sending it off for repair due to a cracked screen (caused by a faulty misaligned home button) the iPad was returned to me with SCRATCHES all over the rear casing. After several emails to complain, [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] (Claims & Administration representative) insists that these scratches were not caused in their repair centre. Even though I provided photos (no timestamp on the photo, but lets be real, right click, get info etc... provides the date and time photo was taken, if not some basic photo editing software will provide that info) have timestamped photographic evidence and a report from Apple that the Ipad was in perfect condition a few weeks before sending off for repair. The repair centre made no notes of any marks on the ipad when they received it or when it left, but mysteriously when it arrived back in to my possession, scratches were found on the rear casing. Maybe [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] should give Sherlock Holmes a ring to solve this mystery? To me the answer seems Elementary my dear [Text removed by MSE Forum Team]. Your repair centre scratched my ipad. Simple, yet Insurance 2 go (Citymain and [Text removed by MSE Forum Team]) refuse to admit any fault, even though all the evidence is mounting up against them. Ridiculous tactics played by this company to deny any faults such as 'The repair centre noted no scratches' therefore we don't believe you (as if the repair centre would write 'yeah i scratched this guys ipad LOL') 'there's no time stamp, so we can't accept this as evidence' (we're no longer living in the ages of film photography, it's digitally timestamped, DUH!)

Even after all the evidence I have sent (photos without scratches to the ipad before the repair, photos of the scratches straight after the repair, the offer to show the letter from apple showing the ipad was in perfect condition, the fact that the centre made NO notes that when they received the item there were any scratches, the fact that when it left the centre there were no recorded scratches, and yet when i received the item, miraculously scratches on the ipad!!), this has been the most recent reply "Our repair centre has advised that they are not responsible for the damage caused to your iPad as the area where repairs take place is a highly controlled environment and damage to your ipad has not been reported by a technician. Therefore, we have no evidence that this damage has been caused by our repair centre." Oh [Text removed by MSE Forum Team], you're an excellent investigator, i'm surprised the Justice League hasn't snatched you up already! If the metropolitan police hired you, crime rate across the UK would be ZERO!!! What are they thinking hiring all those real investigators?! Let's all just trust the criminals and bad guys and forget the evidence people provide to us. I mean the people under Hitler clearly weren't guilty, I mean the evidence is there, the connections can be made, but they said they're not guilty guys, let's just trust them because they were in a "controlled environment" and that means we must trust them, not use our own initiative, just trust them. My god this company is infuriating dealing with this company.

Quality of the repair? Well I can Guarantee you this isn't a genuine Apple replacement for my cracked screen. Why can I guarantee you this? Well it could be the number of lines I can see under my screen. I mean, at first I couldn't put my finger on why my RETINA iPad looked grainy, until I turned the screen off and noticed these ridiculous lines across my screen. Way to ruin the experience for me. Thanks. Also, didn't use enough adhesive on the screen, so it's lifting away from the ipad, a shoddy job which i'm going to have to look at getting fixed elsewhere or buying a new ipad, thanks for nothing.

Overall? Joke of a company, if you send ANYTHING away, ENSURE you get a photo of the ITEM with a NEWSPAPER as a timestamp, right click > Properties is far too advanced for this bunch.

OH BTW, They're Insurance is TERRIBLE. They provide you with a REFURBISHED model, and then if they can't provide you with it, provide you money at market value (pretty sure that's what it says in the fine print) That's why I moved to ENDSLEIGH! They provide you with a NEW for OLD, If they can't replace your phone brand new, you get a cheque to buy a brand new shiny phone. Hello Endsleigh, Goodbye Rip off insurance from a joke company.

SQUARETRADE is also a good company to go with, they offer extended warranties, This includes drops and spills on your products. You can store your receipt online with them for faster processing should you ever need to. Also you can be sure you'll get GENUINE Apple parts as you can even take your ipad in to an apple store, pay for the repair yourself and get a reimbursement from Squaretrade.

STAY AWAY FROM CITYMAIN AND INSURANCE 2 GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THEY'RE TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!

Update: I did receive a message from Gary at Insurance2Go, he offered to pay for any repairs to my ipad wherever I took it and provided me with compensation for the poor service as a goodwill gesture. He is what every CSA should be like and had he handled my case from the beginning, I'm sure this review would be 5 stars. While Gary has done an amazing job in rectifying this issue and deserves 5 stars, insurance2go does not. The scratches still happened, I provided all the necessary evidence that suggested their repair centre lied about scratching my ipad and [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] still refused to believe me and provided terrible customer service. It would be unjust for me to remove my review or amend my star rating. Gary = 5 stars, Insurance2go = 0 stars

pdragon

My daughter, husband and I took out contracts in June 2013 with Virgin mobile. We compared tariffs and phones and Virgin won us over because of the included insurance they offered. It worked out the best value. At the time claims within 3 months had an excess of £70, after that £35. I made a point of checking because that's where you can get caught out.
In August the excess jumped up to £150 within 3 months of taking out the policy and £70 after.
My daughter claimed two weeks ago and after much wrangling (they still had £35 advertised on one page of their site which I called them on) they refunded her £35 of the £70 she'd had to pay but she still got a refubished phone not a new replacement.
Just a few weeks on they've changed it again. Hidden in the small print it's now banded. Phones in Band B have a £70 excess, phones in Band A have a £150 excess, no time limit now.

So from June when I got my S3 and my claim excess would have cost me £35 it's now going to cost £150 to replace the phone. Ridiculous and that leaves me stuck with the contracts and looking for a better deal on insurance to be sure we're all covered.

I put a note on VMs Facebook page, the reply I received was that all policies have an excess and I should shop around to be sure I'm happy with what I'm paying OR I can have the phone repaired elsewhere. I politely told the young lady I was aware of excesses (aren't we all) however I've never taken a home or car policy and had my excess jump up in the middle of the contract period.

Be warned....if you think you're covered by Virgin you're going to have a hefty price to pay now if you do have to claim!!

Pigeonp

After being with Tesco phone insurance a little under a year and I was forced to put in a claim after my phone was stolen one night. What followed was many weeks of calls, filling in forms and the general feeling of a wild goose chase. When I finally get an answer from them, it turns out that my claim has been denied.

According to the helpful company, if my phone was on a private table, attended by myself and friends for the whole stay and well within eye line and my person, it is classed as 'unattended' and therefore NOT covered by the insurance policy!

So if you're not physically touching your phone at the time, it's fair game for the thieves!

Their reasoning of an 'unattended' phone not being covered by the insurance policy is also baffling to me, as they are happy to state (when making a claim) that they cover lost phones too, which are, essentially, unattended phones!

They sure were happy to get me off of the line when they told me, ignoring any questions I was asking as to what I should do now. Very much a door shut in the face! :mad:

madmackem

LSG insurance through TSB Platinum account,
I had a Samsung Galaxy S2 repaired and returned 95 days ago, The phone stopped working yesterday so I rang to see if I could claim under warranty for the repair and was told no, the warranty is 90 days. After complaining they have agreed to repair the phone for no excess BUT it will count as a claim against the account. I am livid and have lodged a complaint as this means we cannot claim again for 12 months! I have read the small print on the policy and theres nothing regarding any 90 warranties on repairs or replacements. Any advice anyone before the manager rings back on Monday??

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi

Citymain has asked to provide a response. MSE doesn't endorse anything a company says on the forum.

On behalf of Citymain Administrators Ltd, who administers the insurance policies for Insurance2Go, we wanted to take this opportunity to reply to you personally. Having read your post, we can understand why this must have been very frustrating for you, and would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is not the standard of customer service we pride ourselves on, and for this we would like to apologise.

Your complaint should have been passed over to our Customer Relations
Team who has the experience to be able to fully investigate complaints
and react accordingly. However, in this particular instance, we have
identified that this process failed and so we have taken steps to ensure
this does not happen in future.

As a business, we understand and welcome any customer's right to express their views, both positively and negatively, as this allows us to build a good rapport with our customers, when positive, and can help us to continuously review and improve processes, when negative. Our aim is to deliver the highest level of customer service to all customers all of
the time and any feedback only helps us to further attain this goal.

It is unfortunate that, in your post, you chose to personally attack an
employee rather than the business. All employees are subject to the
processes and procedures laid down by our company and, although we
understand your frustration, we do not believe it is fair or appropriate
to direct the attack at any one individual in such a public way.

We see from your post and the notes on our system that your issue was
picked up and resolved by Gary at Insurance2Go. We would once again
like to apologise for not providing you with the level of service you
expected or indeed we expect to provide, and hope that you may
reconsider your decision to take your business elsewhere. Once again, we would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention so that we
have had the opportunity to review this and ensure that this does not
happen again

CNHE

We purchased mobile phone insurance, for all of our household mobile phones via MSE with Insure and Go. However, when we tried to make a claim for a broken mobile for our 13 year old daughter, we were told that the policy is for ages 16 and over. I checked the website and MSE advice page, at no point can we see that it highlights that there may be/are age restrictions. It is only in the fine print, which, if we are being honest, is rarely reviewed prior to purchase. We feel that we have been conned!

Classy12

Insure & Go - having insured my son's phone whilst at university, they paid out the first time but the 2nd time they refused despite it going through the police.

In my opinion and from experience and looking at other threads, all I can recommend is it is better value in the long run to pay the mobile phone provider's insurance. I know it is not cheap but they do at least honor the word 'insurance' as opposed to being 'scammed' as they seem to find the slightest excuse. I wouldn't go near another provider now and although it is dear, you get what you pay for.
There is nothing cheap about an iPhone and nor the insurance! That's life!

doveman

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Hi

Citymain has asked to provide a response. MSE doesn't endorse anything a company says on the forum.

On behalf of Citymain Administrators Ltd, who administers the insurance policies for Insurance2Go, we wanted to take this opportunity to reply to you personally. Having read your post, we can understand why this must have been very frustrating for you, and would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is not the standard of customer service we pride ourselves on, and for this we would like to apologise.

Your complaint should have been passed over to our Customer Relations
Team who has the experience to be able to fully investigate complaints
and react accordingly. However, in this particular instance, we have
identified that this process failed and so we have taken steps to ensure
this does not happen in future.

As a business, we understand and welcome any customer's right to express their views, both positively and negatively, as this allows us to build a good rapport with our customers, when positive, and can help us to continuously review and improve processes, when negative. Our aim is to deliver the highest level of customer service to all customers all of
the time and any feedback only helps us to further attain this goal.

It is unfortunate that, in your post, you chose to personally attack an
employee rather than the business. All employees are subject to the
processes and procedures laid down by our company and, although we
understand your frustration, we do not believe it is fair or appropriate
to direct the attack at any one individual in such a public way.

We see from your post and the notes on our system that your issue was
picked up and resolved by Gary at Insurance2Go. We would once again
like to apologise for not providing you with the level of service you
expected or indeed we expect to provide, and hope that you may
reconsider your decision to take your business elsewhere. Once again, we would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention so that we
have had the opportunity to review this and ensure that this does not
happen again

Well all that says to me is that it must be the company's "processes and procedures" to be deliberately unhelpful and obstructive and that the employee was just doing what he'd been told/trained to do and that "Gary" (funny how it's OK to name employees when their actions put the company in a good light) has only resolved the matter now due to the bad publicity.

Darsha

Hi

Can someone advise me about their experience in getting insurance for their mobile phone if the handset is purchased from outside of the UK?

I have contacted the main insurers (protect your bubble and Insure2Go) and both of them will not insure the handset is purchased from outside of the UK.

Thanks

Darsha

blammo

lisa_t wrote: »

Hi,you only mention insure2go,but they do not insure if your mobile is more than 6 months old,is there any other insurers other than banks or home insurance you can recommend please.Thanks

I'm in the same situation, can anyone help?