Recent Success with Phones4U Care

JVSavage

Hi, I'm new to this forum but have recently been successful in claiming against Phones4U Care (insurance) and thought it might be worth posting here to help others.

I had a Samsung Galaxy Note II on contract and was about 11 months in. At the beginning of December there was a system update and I noticed the phone started to drastically overheat whilst charging and suddenly my battery would last 4 hours max.

I went into store and they explained this was a common issue, due to the recent update. They removed some apps and changed some settings (I couldn't tell you which) and it seemed to improve. However, I would still experience occasional overheating. On one occasion, my phone overheated and I was able to measure the temperature with the stick on glass thermometer used for fish tanks- the phone was at 47degrees.

Last week, the phone had been on charge for about 5 minutes when it overheated and the screen cracked. I immediately called P4U Care to be told to speak to TechSupport (annoying as they promise to handle the issue on your behalf). Tech Support confirmed the overheating issue and gave me a Technical Fault number, told me to phone Care back and I was be issued with a replacement phone free of charge.

However when I called back they told me that the physical damage to the screen overrides the technical issue and I had to pay the £50 excess. They would not budge on this matter.

After 5 days of lots of phone calls, Samsung were able to confirm in writing that the fault was a technical one and the cracked screen was a byproduct of the overheating. I presented this to P4U care along with my submission to the financial ombudsman and the threat to take them to small claims court.

They would not concede on me making the £50 excess payment, but instead arranged for an upgrade on my contract and compensated me with £75, so not only have they covered the excess but also gave me an extra £25.

I do consider this only a minor victory as the insurance claim still went through as "damage" as opposed to a breakdown and I am still liable, but at least I am not out of pocket.

I just wanted to share this in case anybody else is having similar problems. I think it's terrible that insurance companies can have a very narrow boundary regarding what is broke and what is damaged and refuse to budge if there is a grey area. P4U didn't even ask to see or test my phone before declining to help!

sillygoose

I read with interest as I have a Note II, don't have anything to do with phones4U but since mine recently got the Jelly Bean update the battery runs down a lot quicker.. uses over 50% in a day when it used to only go down to about 75% (I am light user)

Just goes to show with updates, newer is often not better.

robbies_gal

thanks for the post

i wont update my phone as ive heard hrror stories since people have updated will wait till they sort issues out

JVSavage

sillygoose wrote: »

I read with interest as I have a Note II, don't have anything to do with phones4U but since mine recently got the Jelly Bean update the battery runs down a lot quicker.. uses over 50% in a day when it used to only go down to about 75% (I am light user)

Just goes to show with updates, newer is often not better.

When I went for the in store advice it was implied that this is due to applications running whilst you are charging, so shut everything down before you plug the phone in.

The update also caused my phone to not switch the screen off when it was locked, I had to press the lock button twice to manually turn off the screen whereas before it went off automatically after so many seconds, so make sure your screen is off.

If the charge issues continue Samsung should repair it under the warranty, but be warned this can take up to 4 weeks and you aren't entitled to a stand in phone in the mean time

sillygoose

JVSavage wrote: »

When I went for the in store advice it was implied that this is due to applications running whilst you are charging, so shut everything down before you plug the phone in.

The update also caused my phone to not switch the screen off when it was locked, I had to press the lock button twice to manually turn off the screen whereas before it went off automatically after so many seconds, so make sure your screen is off.

If the charge issues continue Samsung should repair it under the warranty, but be warned this can take up to 4 weeks and you aren't entitled to a stand in phone in the mean time

I am not convinced Jelly Bean is was a very good job. Google are rolling out the next one Kitkat now to their own phones (such as Motorola they now own) suggests they know this too!