MSE Article discussion: Mobile Phone Insurance

Sheppard_23

I took out a policy for 3 phones with this company last month. My phone was knocked out of my hand whilst Christmas Shopping 2 days later. I breathed a big sigh of relief that i had taken out insurance. The screen was damaged on the phone so I contacted Switched On and found out that the policy was underwritten by none other than Citymain. I was asked to send off the receipt along with a claim form, and was told a "decision would be made within 2 days of receiving the phone, and a repair would be made if the claim was accepted 3-5 days after receiving the phone. All good I thought.
A few days later I was surprised to say the least to be asked for "proof of usage" which I was supposed to obtain from my provider T-Mobile. After half an hour on the phone to their overseas call centre, I thought I was getting somewhere, but was then told that they had to refer the request to another department. I started to think something was not quite right, and by googling "T-Mobile Proof of usage" found out that it is easier to get blood from a stone than to get T-mobile to provide proof of usage. As expected T-mobile failed to provide "proof of usage", and I realised, that with the amount of complaints about this on the web, that Citymain were more then likely well aware that T-mobile would fail to provide this and that was the reason they were asking for it, so they could stall the claim. I phoned Citymain, and discussed this with them, but all they would say was that without "proof of usage" the claim could not continue. I told them that the phone itself was ok, it was just that the screen was damaged, they could find proof of usage on the phone, but they refused.
I ended up telling them to cancel all 3 policies, as they were completely worthless if they were going to insist o information that they knew the mobile provider would not hand over.
They even asked for feedback, and how they could do things differently, as well as ringing me up to see why I had cancelled the policy.
Luckily I managed to cancel the direct debit before they got their hands on the first premium, but I was pretty annoyed that I could have had the phones all insured for years and paid them loads then realised the policy was completely worthless.
It was not my fault that T-Mobile do not send out "proof of usage", and they could have had the proof of usage from the actual phone, so I can only assume that their only reason was to stall, or stop the claim completely.
Another rip off Insurance company that are only interested in taking your money, and make you feel like a criminal if you have the audacity to actually claim, and expect them to provide the cover you are paying for.

rs65

Sheppard_23 wrote: »

As expected T-mobile failed to provide "proof of usage", and I realised, that with the amount of complaints about this on the web, that Citymain were more then likely well aware that T-mobile would fail to provide this and that was the reason they were asking for it, so they could stall the claim.

I think they would ask for it to prove the phone was in use between the policy being taken out and the phone being damaged.

I'll bet people damage a phone then take a policy out and then claim.

Do you not have a bill you can send them or an online account you can get details of use from?

Sheppard_23

No, they said I had to obtain proof usage on either an email or letter from T-Mobile. The woman said a bill was not acceptable. That's why I am pretty sure it was a get out clause, and that they were well aware that T-Mobile would not provide the document they wanted.
They could have had the same information from the actual phone, as soon as the screen was replaced, but refused that also.

So if I had phone insurance and my phone was damaged without being used for a day or two (which often happens) and something was to happen an insurance company could refuse to pay out? Seems like there is absolutely no point in taking out a policy at all if that is the case

KiwiBird_2

All,

I'm really struggling with this but apologies if there's a clear answer out there somewhere that I've missed. The small print in policy documents all state that my phone must be bought (and used) in the UK. I'm a UK resident etc and it will be used here but recently bought a brand new iphone 5s in NZ. Can't find anyone here to insure it. Does anyone have anyone they know will insure it for me? Thank you!

clarecurtis

I feel I need to make people aware of the absolute sham the Phones 4 U insurance policy is. I recently renewed an O2 contract for my daughters mobile. She chose a Samsung Galaxy S3 and we took the advised insurance from Phones 4 U at £4.99 per month. We also got a screen protector and a phone case. We had the phone for 10 weeks when my daughter was watching tv, not even touching the phone, its screen shattered (thankfully the screen protector stopped it going everywhere). I thought no worries its a fault. I contacted them and they said that's fine your insured so you can have a new handset when you pay £50 excess. They state that this is damage, even though it is not our fault damage, it is classed as damage and therefore warrants an excess. The calls to sort this out cost £12.09 and I was on the phone for over an hour. I have persued this complaint in writing so as to not incur further call charges. I forgot to mention that they hadn't activated my insurance policy so I had to pay three payments and they would honor the original price of £4.99 per month. I did this but still had to pay £50 excess to get phone replaced. I was not allowed to send to manufacturer for inspection as this would void insurance. I then received a letter informing me that they were putting the insurance up to £5.99 per month. I have since been refunded the call charges out of good will and cancelled the policy. They are not prepared to refund the excess as they say its damage. I feel the phone was not fit for purpose but was not allowed to prove our innocence. People need to know what an absolute waste of good money this is, don't take it out.
I will add that last year my daughter lost her blackberry in a strawberry field and O2 insurance were brilliant.

Somebody

I would like to share my recent claim experience. I have the phone insurance on a Co-Operative bank joint bank account which provides cover for 4 phones (2 for each named account holder). The Premier Account benefits are no longer available to new customers.

In January a 2 year old iPhone 4S on Tescomobile suffered the dreaded greyed out wifi button fault which the Apple shore wanted £159 to replace as it was well out of warranty. I got a written fault diagnosis from the Apple store and as the phone insurance covers mechanical breakdown I sent it in for the claim, along with proof of purchase and a cheque for the £50 excess.

In less than a week I was sent a like for like replacement (not sure whether it was new or refurbished), but the insurance company offers its own 12 month warranty on it.

So overall, I had a very good claim experience.

moocoo

In the middle of 2013 I took out contracts for two Samsung Galaxy S4s with T-Mobile. I also took out Carphone Warehouse insurance for the first month because it was free, otherwise £14.99 for each phone ... My plan was to look around and cancel within the first month.
Coincidentally, within a week of buying the phones I got a call from American Express (I have one of their credit cards, little used) asking if I would be interested in their 'gadget' insurance. For £9.99/month billed via the card it would cover all my family's mobile gadgets up to £1500 in value. There is no excess and I am limited to 3 claims in a rolling year. There are some other rules about registering items over a certain value and covering items less than three years old. For my family, and compared to £14.99/phone it was a bargain. BTW a gadget covers just about anything 'mobile'; laptops, tablets, phones, ipods, headphones ...
Just before Christmas my son lost his S4 so I made a claim. To be fair, you got shuffled from agent to agent a little by Amex but it was done well and efficiently. The amex/insurance process was easy enough. I needed to report the phone loss to the police, provide proof of purchase (not value) and provide proof that the IMEI had been blocked. That is when the fun stopped.
It wasn't helped by Xmas and New year, but T-Mobile phone support were absolutely awful. They stopped the phone but absolutely failed to get proof of barring to me for over 4 weeks. In the end a helpful supervisor wrote a personal email confirming it. BTW the in-store staff were really helpful but couldn't resolve the problem.
Once the e-mail had been sent and they confirmed where it came from Amex had a replacement phone in 2 days. ... no excess.
If everything had gone smoothly then I reckon it would have taken 1-2 weeks to get the replacement phone. This is the price you pay compared the instant replacement if you take your provider's insurance.
I've have had a good experience here (not too happy about my son losing the phone in the first place ...). Amex even allowed him to change the colour from his original white to black - far more practical an laddish.

nmjams

i have a question, i don't know if anyone has been through a similar experiance but, here goes.
I have a contract with orange which runs out in Aug. i have a bog basic android fone which is slow, so i just ordered a samsung s3 sim free. i wont be renewing my contract in Aug, i'm going to get a sim only deal from 3 instead.
i'm going to get insurance for the new fone but, what if lose/damage it?
would they need details of my contract with orange which would show a samsung ace as my fone or should i just say that i have a pay as you go fone?

jonnibgood

I see that Insure2Go doesnt offer via the website coverage for handsets >6m old?
Where would moneysavers recommend going where you wish to insure a phone >12m old? Given most contracts are >12m, this would seem fairly common.
Many thanks

Pinkylouloubell

Hi,

Have just tried to use the MSESAM code for £7.50 off of mobile phone insurance for a year with insurance to go, but it won't let me use it and says this code does not work with this payment type.
I hadn't even got to the payments page.