Declined Mobile Phone Insurance claim by Natwest - Compensation rights?

Faith177

cathy04 wrote: »

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.

You could have used a cheap one for a couple of weeks and then upgraded

You choose to take the new contract that was your decision I don't see that Natwest should pay for that

InsideInsurance

cathy04 wrote: »

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?

Well this will presumably be your argument and time will see what the ombudsman comes back with. I just wouldnt be holding my breath if I was you.

The reality is you were paying £45 a month on your original contract and then agreed to pay an extra £25 a month with an overlap of almost 10 months. For almost £250 you can get a fairly decent phone. If you feel that you have a justified complaint that you will win then there'd be an argument to spend closer to the £400 of the original phone on credit with the hope/ expectation that the £150 shortfall would come from the complaint process.

gazfocus

I think Natwest are being fair in offering to cancel out your old contract but I wouldn't expect them to do both. In their eyes, you haven't paid for your new phone because it was free on contract, so why should they pay for it? (you will also be getting a call/text/internet allowance which Natwest shouldn't have to pay for), so their offer is fair IMO.

silvercar

The best thing to do, in order to retain use of a decent phone, would have been to buy a new phone with a credit card that you could have paid off at £25 a month and used it with your existing contract. At the end of the 9 months you could have gone on to a SIM only deal and kept the then 9 month old phone for another year.

[Deleted User]

The ombudsman is right, you have a duty to minimize your losses which you didn't do. The correct thing would have been to buy a new phone and wait for the compensation. I know it kind of sucks, but that's the law.

Having said that, £300 buys you a top notch Nexus 5, far equal to or better than any other phone on the market. Buying phones on contract is never a good idea any more.