Declined Mobile Phone Insurance claim by Natwest - Compensation rights?

cathy04

Hi,



I was hoping someone may be able to offer me some guidance…



In October 2012, I tried to claim for a lost mobile phonethrough my Natwest Advantage Gold account. However, when I tried to claim, myclaim was rejected because I hadn’t registered my mobile phone prior to losingit.

I argued I hadn’t been aware of the need to register mymobile phone and unfortunately, Natwest still denied my claim.



I went on to purchase a new mobile phone contract so that Icould receive a phone and pay monthly for it (I did not have the money to buy anew phone outright). However, I did not accept Natwests response to my complaintand took it to the financial ombudsman. The financial ombudsman agreed thatNatwest hadn’t made it completely clear to me that there was a requirement toregister my mobile phone to be eligible to claim and so Natwest have been toldto offer me compensation for the value of my phone (£400.00).



This is great but the problem is, when Natwest declined myclaim, I still had 9 and a half months remaining on my contract and as I didn’thave a phone I could use for the contract, I took out a brand new contract. My9 and a half months remaining on my first contract was wasted BECAUSE Natwestdeclined my claim. I still had to pay the remaining months on the contract.



I have tried to explain my side of the argument to an adjudicatorbut she does not agree with me. She says I should’ve purchased a cheap phone touse with my old contract until it ended (9 ½ months).

I wasn’t rude enough to say ‘why should I use a crap phonefor 9 and a half months because Natwest made an error?!’. She seems hell-benton not letting me have compensation for the contract.



As we couldn’t come to an agreement, my case is now beingreferred to an ombudsman.

I was just hoping that perhaps somebody could help me toword my argument in a way where I will be able to get compensation for thewasted contract as well as my mobile phone.

Natwest has offered either the wasted contract (amounting to£432.00) or the mobile phone (amounting to £400.00). They will not let me haveboth.



Any help you could offer would be appreciated.



Please let me know if I haven’t given you enoughinformation.
Thanks
Cathy

nomoneytoday

You won't get both IMHO

InsideInsurance

The ombudsman will ultimately decide. I think you are being optimistic to think that you will get both though.

As they have said, you could have made use of the contract by getting another phone. You appear to have been able to afford ~£45 a month on a new contract so why couldnt you buy either a basic phone for under £45 or a more advanced phone on credit and use the ~£45 saved from running two contracts to repaying the debt. As you say, you paid more than the total value of the phone in additional contract payments.

cathy04

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The ombudsman will ultimately decide. I think you are being optimistic to think that you will get both though.

As they have said, you could have made use of the contract by getting another phone. You appear to have been able to afford ~£45 a month on a new contract so why couldnt you buy either a basic phone for under £45 or a more advanced phone on credit and use the ~£45 saved from running two contracts to repaying the debt. As you say, you paid more than the total value of the phone in additional contract payments.

It was £25 a month for my new contract.
I would be interested to know, what sort of phone I could've gotten for £25??
Without knowing my financial situation, how can you assume I would be able to buy a new phone? I already mentioned I couldn't afford a new phone.
And surely 'a more advanced phone on credit' is a pay monthly contract? I took out a new pay monthly contract but that's completely irrelevant anyway.
Regardless of whether I took out a new contract or not, I didn't have a phone to use my contract because Natwest declined my claim.
Thanks

Faith177

Why didn't you ask if you could buy a phone on your existing contract and just paid for that rather than a new contract?

If I had been in your position I would have spoken to my existing contract supplier to see what my options had been first befor signing up for something new

InsideInsurance

cathy04 wrote: »

It was £25 a month for my new contract.
I would be interested to know, what sort of phone I could've gotten for £25??
Without knowing my financial situation, how can you assume I would be able to buy a new phone? I already mentioned I couldn't afford a new phone.
And surely 'a more advanced phone on credit' is a pay monthly contract? I took out a new pay monthly contract but that's completely irrelevant anyway.
Regardless of whether I took out a new contract or not, I didn't have a phone to use my contract because Natwest declined my claim.
Thanks

When the Mrs lost her phone O2 gave her a phone on loan for free whilst the insurance went through. Yes it was just a Nokia 105 which you can buy for £11 but it makes calls, sends texts etc and battery lasted 2 weeks rather than 2 days. :beer:

No, signing a new contract isnt just getting a new phone on credit as the devils share of the price goes towards the line rental etc and not servicing the debt on the phone.

DCFC79

You didnt register the phone so NW didnt pay out.

£28 from amazon

£22 from amazon

I was in a position where I lost my phone ad I bought a cheap phone to use until the contract ran out.

I agree with the others, Natwest have given you 2 good options there, cant expect them to give you both options.

cathy04

Faith177 wrote: »

Why didn't you ask if you could buy a phone on your existing contract and just paid for that rather than a new contract?

If I had been in your position I would have spoken to my existing contract supplier to see what my options had been first befor signing up for something new

I did. They wouldn't do anything to help me.

Faith177

cathy04 wrote: »

I did. They wouldn't do anything to help me.

Would they not let you buy a new phone to put the sim card in?

cathy04

InsideInsurance wrote: »

When the Mrs lost her phone O2 gave her a phone on loan for free whilst the insurance went through. Yes it was just a Nokia 105 which you can buy for £11 but it makes calls, sends texts etc and battery lasted 2 weeks rather than 2 days. :beer:

No, signing a new contract isnt just getting a new phone on credit as the devils share of the price goes towards the line rental etc and not servicing the debt on the phone.

I appreciate what you are saying completely but why should I have had to get a cheap rubbish phone for 9 and a half months just because Natwest didn't do their jobs properly.

The thing is my claim was declined by Natwest so as far as I knew, I couldn't get a new phone and so I decided I needed to buy a new one rather than put up with a rubbish one for 9 months.
If the Ombudsman adjudicator hadn't sided with me then I would've let it go there but surely if they are saying that I should've been able to claim then Natwest should be held responsible for the consequences of not allowing me to claim .i.e. my wasted contract?

cathy04

Faith177 wrote: »

Would they not let you buy a new phone to put the sim card in?

They would've let me buy a new phone yes. Anyone will let you buy a new phone but I couldn't afford to buy a new phone.