CUSC Foneguard - Cover for Lost Phone

RudeYute

Hi,

In 2010 I took out phone insurance with CUSC Foneguard based on a recommendation here on MSE. At the time CUSC had two options for insurance - iPhone Insurance and Non-iPhone insurance. There were no separate policies covering loss and no-loss - I remember this, as it was an important factor in the decision.

Since then, I have happily let my insurance policy auto-renew, as I had not used it, and had no reason to change it. About a month ago I lost my phone and tried to make a claim. After a lot of messing around and CUSC (aka Pier Insurance) deciding to switch from email to snail mail communications for no apparent reason, they rejected my claim saying that my policy does not cover me for losses - this was news to me!

Looking at their website now, it appears they still offer two policies - but now, instead of one covering iPhone and one for other phones, they have changed it to one which covers loss, and one which doesn't. According to the CUSC mine does not (yet I was not aware of this).

A history of their website from Feb 2010 from archive.org (http://web.archive.org/web/20100212233931/http://www.cusc.co.uk/?) shows "loss, theft, accidental damage, water damage".

Having tried to explain this to Pier Insurance, I was told that I would need a copy of my original policy to prove this, in order to appeal. Unfortunately, a regular clear up of paperwork has meant this is no longer available - I only have my most recent policy details.

Has anyone else had a similar problem, or able to advise?

Apologies if this should be in the insurance forum - I felt it would be more suitable in the mobile forum.

Thanks

DUTR

RudeYute wrote: »

Hi,

In 2010 I took out phone insurance with CUSC Foneguard based on a recommendation here on MSE. At the time CUSC had two options for insurance - iPhone Insurance and Non-iPhone insurance. There were no separate policies covering loss and no-loss - I remember this, as it was an important factor in the decision.

Since then, I have happily let my insurance policy auto-renew, as I had not used it, and had no reason to change it. About a month ago I lost my phone and tried to make a claim. After a lot of messing around and CUSC (aka Pier Insurance) deciding to switch from email to snail mail communications for no apparent reason, they rejected my claim saying that my policy does not cover me for losses - this was news to me!

Looking at their website now, it appears they still offer two policies - but now, instead of one covering iPhone and one for other phones, they have changed it to one which covers loss, and one which doesn't. According to the CUSC mine does not (yet I was not aware of this).

A history of their website from Feb 2010 from archive.org (http://web.archive.org/web/20100212233931/http://www.cusc.co.uk/?) shows "loss, theft, accidental damage, water damage".

Having tried to explain this to Pier Insurance, I was told that I would need a copy of my original policy to prove this, in order to appeal. Unfortunately, a regular clear up of paperwork has meant this is no longer available - I only have my most recent policy details.

Has anyone else had a similar problem, or able to advise?

Apologies if this should be in the insurance forum - I felt it would be more suitable in the mobile forum.

Thanks

You may get a refund of the premium at best, but I guess you will get nothing as per policy.

Herongull

Looking at the old website (using the link you posted), it seems that even the original insurance didn't cover the situation of the person losing the phone.:eek:

The front page of the website does say "loss, theft, accidental damage, water damage". But when you look at the actual wording of the insurance policies, subject to various exclusions (listed) the insurance provides cover for "accidental damage, liquid damage or theft".

Actually there are two policies to choose from Standard Insurance and Executive Insurance. They have different excesses (and possibly other differences as well), but both of them only cover "accidental damage, liquid damage or theft". I didn't see any obvious mention of iphone versus non-iphone, but I've not checked all of the fine print.

Based on this, you were never covered for losing the phone although I agree that the front page of the website is a little confusing/misleading, but the policy docs seem very clear about what is covered.

So even if you still had your old policy docs they wouldn't have helped you in this case.

RudeYute

Hmm, Looking at the website from 2009 the FAQ says that loss was covered:
http://web.archive.org/web/20090227025709/http://www.cusc.co.uk/phones/faq

I am sure, as this site was recommending CUSC there will be other members who also took the cover out at the time and someone will remember.

Herongull

Interesting...

Yes you are right the 2009 website does seem to cover people losing the phone. It is mentioned in several places although I haven't been able to access the policy docs

The 2010 website is different and only mentions loss on the front page. Nowhere else . Its policy docs (links below) make it clear that only covers "accidental damage, liquid damage or theft".

http://web.archive.org/web/20100704143724/http://www.cusc.co.uk/pdf/cusc_standard_insurance.pdf and

http://web.archive.org/web/20100705100015/http://www.cusc.co.uk/pdf/cusc_executive_insurance.pdf

If you compare the two versions of the website you can see where mentions of the loss cover has been removed eg in the FAQs.

It appears there were significant changes between 2009 and 2010 in the cover.

Compare faqs for 2009 with those for 2010
http://web.archive.org/web/20090227025709/http://www.cusc.co.uk/phones/faq
http://web.archive.org/web/20100212210408/http://www.cusc.co.uk/phones/faq

So when did the OP take the policy out?

If they are auto-renewing the policy, the insurer ought to bring significant changes to the attention of the policy-holder when it is renewed.