Barclays phone insurance and lost phone

Banners24b

Hi all, wondering if anyone else has been in this position?

Yesterday my girlfriend lost her phone whilst on the train into London Waterloo, She reported it lost to SouthWest Trains and Transport for London.

Upon getting home she reported it lost with Vodaphone and called up Barclays who she has insurance with for the phone. they said she needs a "crime reference number" so off we trot to our local police station who told us that "since 2005 they don't give crime refs out for lost items, as no crime was committed".

Phoned Barclays back who seemed shocked at this news, like it was the first time they have heard it. Knowing how slopey shoulders these insurance ppl are we are abit worried they will dismiss her claim due to no crime ref number, even though its not possible to get one for a lost item!

She has since been back to london and reported it lost with the Transport Police but again they just register it lost, and don't issue a crime ref for it.

Anyone else been through this world of pain?

OneADay

Barclays may be different but going by say Vodafone Insurance here

http://help.vodafone.co.uk/system/selfservice.controller?CONFIGURATION=1000&LEVEL_ID=0&PARTITION_ID=1&CMD=VIEW_ARTICLE&LANGUAGE=en&COUNTRY=us&FEATURE_TOP_ID=1205&PARENT_TOPIC_ID=1205&TOPIC_ID=1207&ARTICLE_ID=2224&DISPLAY=SUBTOPICARTICLES&HANDLERMODE=NOJSPAGE

You do not need a reference if its lost item and should not need to report it to police.

So maybe Barclays are treating it as a crime when they should see it as lost.

TopBloke

How very, very strange. I reported mine as lost to the police because on the off chance some nice person comes across it, they might hand it in to their local police station.

I'd ring 101 and find out what you can do.

Buzby

Does the policy actually cover loss? Many treat this as unsurable, and th insistence on a crime ref number usually indicates this is one of the downsides to the policy (in that it has to be forcibly taken from the owner). If this is not the case, no CRN should be required.

Banners24b

Hi, yep the policy clearly says "theft or loss"

http://www.lifestylegroup.co.uk/barclays/PDF/Mobile_Ins.pdf

OneADay

The Barclays insurance policy is asking for "incident reference number" and maybe the police are treating it as a crime.

They really should provide some reference - not a crime reference - do what other poster said, ring 101.

Tony5101

I think perhaps as you've asked for a crime number - they are correct - no crime has been committed.
There are major differences across police forces in the UK however - some will issue you with an "incident" number - and some won't. It really is up to each individual force's policy.
I believe that you've been given the best advice already though, to call 101.

Banners24b

Hi all,

Yes you were right the transport police have now issued her with a "Incident Ref Number" so hopefully this will surfice. Shame my local Police station didn't tell us the difference on Monday, but hey.

Cheers all