READ SMALL PRINT in mobile phone insurance contracts

Gandalf692

I bought my 14 year old a daughter a phone for her birthday 3 weeks ago. She has had one befroe with no problems. I bought it from affordable mobiles and it came with free insurance for the first month, although I was not told who with or any contact details. She had it stolen in a restaurant with some friends (chapperoned by my wife) at the weekend and I was put through to A1 comms who have said that the policy covers immediately family residing with you OVER the age of 18 and although they say how sorry they are they won't pay up. I accused them of misselling the policy (as they had not asked me if it was for my use or not and had not supplied proper details) as it would have cost me £6.99 from the second month. I also pointed out that most 14 year olds have mobile phones and how are they meant to use them safely if companies exclude them from policies.
I cancelled the policy so i would not have to pay for it, but I now have to pay £10 for a new SIM from t-mobile and find another phone to benefit to at least get the benefit of the minutes, text and data.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated.:mad:

tyllwyd

I've been thinking about the same problem - I have just bought a phone for my 14 year old daughter and I would like to buy insurance but since she is under 18, and they all seem to exclude theft or loss in a public place or when unattended, and since the most likely problem is that she would lose it or have it taken from her bag at school, I'm not convinced they would pay up.

Gandalf692

It is a real problem this as my daughter's friends have generally got iphones and blackberrys which cost more than her HTC. I can't think why they went for my daughter's phone, but teenagers must be easy pickings for mobile phone thieves and are a vulnerable group if they cannot get insurance.

DUTR

Gandalf692 wrote: »

It is a real problem this as my daughter's friends have generally got iphones and blackberrys which cost more than her HTC. I can't think why they went for my daughter's phone, but teenagers must be easy pickings for mobile phone thieves and are a vulnerable group if they cannot get insurance.

It is obvious why there is no cover for teenagers, the companies would be running at a loss.
As for why they went for the the HTC? Well the others perhaps don't need to 'upgrade'

Buzby

14 yo are not deemed responsible. To be fair, many do not appreciate the value of their assets and many assume that insurance = replacement without question. The implications of excesses, refurb replacements, and unattended loss/theft are unknown to them.

It's a shame - but a valuable learning curve.

macman

If it was taken from a restaurant table, or from a bag unattended at a restaurant, then the policy wouldn't pay out anyway, even if she were an adult.
It's not her phone, it's yours, and you are allowing her to use it: the contract remains in your name and your responsibility. Accordingly it certainly won't pay out if lost by a minor.
As far as the insurers are concerned, it was purchased by you and for use on your own contract, unless you told them otherwise.
But I think you've answered your own question: always read the small print.

easy

TBH I looked at insurance for my mobile (a Samsung Galaxy S2) as well for my son's phone (HTC Wildfire S) just after Christmas, and realised that the chances of getting them to payout for anything were pretty slim (even to a responsible adult like me ) , insurance for mobile phones is pretty much a waste of time and MONEY.

I've managed to keep my phone safe for a year, and intend to continue to do so. I' have also talked to my son about the value of his phone, and explained to him that he needs to take care of it. His school hold all mobiles in the office during the school day, so changing rooms and empty classrooms aren't a threat there.

I'm also self-insuring. I have a building society account into which I put an initial £100, and I'm paying £10 a month into it. So if the worst happens I can replace sons phone - with a contribution from him as an 'excess' - and I would be able to put some money towards replacing my S2 if necessary.
And if we manage to keep both phones safe for a year, I'll have £220 saved up !!

pullenuk

You should be putting security pins on the sim and the phone to prevent and especially if its a smartphone put tracking security such as lookout on it.

Herongull

If you care about your children, don't make them a magnet for thieves and muggers by giving them a ridiculously expensive "must have" phone.

You can get pretty good PAYG or sim only android phones for a song these days and it isn't difficult to upgrade the operating system if you want an even faster phone.

PAYG saves you from huge bills if the phone is lost or stolen.

Don't even think of "giving" a child a contract phone - the risks to them and to you are just too great.

tyllwyd

My daughter had a PAYG phone, but as she got older and started using it a bit more, it got very expensive (texts went up to 14p each, so even 100 texts over a month was £14, which is way more than a cheap contract). We've gone to a capped Tesco contract which fingers crossed will keep costs under control.

macman

That's not a PAYG issue, it's an issue of being on the wrong PAYG tariff. Plenty of PAYG tariffs offer texts for around 6p.