John Lewis home insurance

Bellabella_2

My two month old iphone was playing up and then stopped working, so I returned it to Carphone Warehouse, who sent it for repair. The report came back stating that it had water damage (which can even be caused by using your phone in the rain, by coming from a cold to a hot environment or even by sweaty hands!) and was not repairable. I have since learned that water damage is sometimes repairable but isn't cost effective if it's done properly and that Apple do not cover water damage in the guarantee, no matter what may have caused it.

So, I have made a claim through my home insurance with John Lewis, who got the company that they use to deal with broken/faulty mobile phones, Bevalued, to call me on Thursday 31st March. They arranged for my phone to be collected by DPD the following day. Bevalued told me that they expected to either repair and return the phone or send a new one by the end of the following week. When I had not received my old or a new phone or had any update on the situation by Friday 8th April, I called JL. They called Bevalued, who said they were repairing it and waiting for a part. JL told me that Bevalued would call me later yesterday to give me an update. They didn't.

As it is not cost effective to repair a water damaged iphone properly and a repair that is cost effective isn't reliable, I am concerned that JL have opted to repair the phone rather than replace it. It is their prerogative to do so under the terms of my contract with them, so I cannot argue with that, but I would like some kind of assurance that the repair will be sustainable. I don't want to find that my phone fails in a few weeks or months because of this and have to go through this process again or pay out again. So, I asked JL what my guarantee was. I was told I would have to ask Bevalued about this.

I also said to JL that I wanted to complain about the service I have received so far from Belvalued on behalf of JL, and I was told to complain to Belvalued.

I feel that as my home insurance policy is with JL, as it is them I have a contract with and pay a monthly premium to, rather than Bevalued, it is JL that should be offering me assurances re the repair and that any complaint I make should be to them. Surely, I should be dealing with the company I have a contract with and not the company they sub contract? I feel that whilst JL are happy to refer to their contractual obligations on repairing or replacing my phone, they are not willing to acknowledge that the contract is between myself and them rather than Bevalued.

I hope that's clear!!! I would appreciate any advice.

huckster

This is an Insurance repair and nothing to do with any warranty with Apple. All the Insurers are responsible for is repairing it back to working order and if when you get it back it stops working again, you go back to JL under the same claim.

Best to wait for the phone to come back. I have read of several similar situations, where these phones have come back and stopped working after a few weeks. The Insurers have had to replace them. I think the problem with some phones is that they replace one part, it works again, but there are other parts which fail due to original water damage

Do some searching around online and i am sure you will find other IPhone water damage cases, which might help you.

Bellabella_2

Thank for the reply, but...

I do know the current insurance repair has nothing to do with the warranty. I wrote about the warranty, etc. in the first para as background.

The problem is that JL are not telling me what happens if it comes back working then fails soon after. They have referred me to their sub contractor on that. My point is that I don't think I should be dealing with the sub contractor as I do not have a contract with them.

From what I've read, I don't think the repair will last, so I need to know what happens if it doesn't, and JL won't say. I specifically asked JL how long the repair was guaranteed for and what happened if the phone stopped working again, and they told me to ask Bevalued.

huckster

All Insurers use these outside companies to assess claims for things like mobiles.

I have told you what happens. If the repair fails, go back to JL under the same claim and they have a responsibility to resolve. It is always the responsibility of Insurers to ensure that they honour the Insurance contract. I would expect a replacement phone, if the phone fails again. If they fail to do that, enter into a complaint and if necessary go to the FOS.