Protect Your Bubble - Warning - Worst Insurance Provider in the UK

neildee250 · 25 June 2014 at 1:57PM

I was attacked on fathers day and whilst unconscious a girl stole my phone which had slid from my pocket. As I have never lost or broken a phone since mobiles existed, I had no insurance on the 4 week old Galaxy S5 and was devastated when I saw it was £550 to replace.

I went to my buildings and contents insurer Swinton and after getting 2 emails printed from the closest EE shop to prove it was imei blocked etc and a screenshot of the PAYG cost at a local retailer emailed across they agreed to pay the full amount minus £50 excess. It took approx a week to process in full and it was sent via cheque (which slows things down) but that has allowed us to use other funds which will be replaced upon cheque clearance and 10 days later I got a replacement phone and paid EE £10 for a replacement sim in store which was credited back off my next bill as the sim sent out wasn't ever processed.

Try Swinton guys I have made 3 claims in 10 years yet it's never hit my premium once in fact it came down a little so they remain competitive. They seem to have a very good egg running this companies policies from my first hand experiences plus my other items are insured in the same way so it works out cheaper without this 12 month old crap some of you have gone through.

tom2205 · 2 August 2014 at 8:49AM

I lost my phone in Ibiza (day 1, gutted) and blocked it the next day. Didn't bother contacting PYB until I got back from holiday as I assumed there would be certain things I would have to do only at home.

Once home I contacted them to get the ball rolling for a claim. My excess was £50 but due to loss went up to £75 (don't know why but still cheaper than a new iphone). They wanted proof of purchase, proof of blacklist and proof of why my IMEI number was different on these (my lock button broke whilst under warranty so Apple did a straight swap instore). After I provided them with all of this they took my excess and requested a replacement.

I was told 48 hours until I got my replacement. It got to 72 and then I rang them (best to do so as their customer service phone team is actually quite helpful) where I was told the initial request hadn't been put through as they were waiting on me to call back to let them know what colour I wanted (this wasn't the case, I said send whatever colour is in stock as I just need a phone). She then passed it across and within about 4 days I had my phone, which seemed like just a brand new iPhone 5 and not a refurbished model.

From the claim POV it was pretty easy to make as I had all my information from purchase and history of the phone so was able to provide that quite easily (proof of purchase and proof of blacklist seems much easier to obtain through Vodafone than any other provider by the looks of things), the only hiccup seems to be between PYB and the company they use that sources replacements.

Other than that I was fairly happy with the service and would continue my policy with them, but would just remember to keep all my information in the event that this was to happen again down the line.

HKE85 · 29 October 2014 at 11:28AM

:mad:I have had insurance with protect your bubble for a couple of years for my iphone, only ever had to make 1 claim with £50 excess, with the comfort of knowing there was 180 days guarantee on the repair. It took 10 days not 3 to get fixed, and within 2 weeks the whole iphone screen started to come loose and pop out of the phone which caused it to crack again. Because there is now another crack they are refusing to re-fix it as they say i have to make another claim and pay another £50 excess - more money for their poor/shoddy repair work. Customer services were rude and unhelpful and when i said i wanted to cancel my policy they didnt even care. I am now left with a phone in worse condition that it was before the repair. Cheap insurance for a reason!

luagraf · 12 November 2014 at 10:26PM

Once I finally got the Ok from this lovely insurance, I got given two phones that didnt work, (one by one obviously) and finally one which was chipped (this took all of four months and millions of phone calls and delivery men going to the wrong places to sort out so I kept the chipped one out of desperation to at least own a phone.) I then realise It's a completely dodgy phone, apple wont fix it and I can no longer insure it with anyone but them but no longer in their country... After a year my phone gets found by a git from the Met Police (Andrew Miller) who hands it back to them I would really like to know if its in good conditions to swap it so I can at least have a legal apple phone again.

EmsTems · 14 November 2014 at 3:24PM

I also had an awful experience with protect your bubble.
I now insure my iPhone and iPad through insuremyhandbag.com for £9.99 a month it also covers my bag and everything else in it as well for that price.

Fayth234 · 18 November 2014 at 1:15PM

I took out a protect your bubble insurance for my white iphone 5s before I went on holiday, my phone unluckily got stolen and so when i got back I rang protect your bubble to make a claim. My claim was approved and I have paid the excess for the phone to be delivered.

However, I rang them on the 12th November on wednesday morning and they said it would be delivered to my home address in two working days, it has now been 6 days and still no phone. I have rang them and they told me DPD couldn't find my address and the delivery failed and that the phone is now on the way back to the company and they do not know if i will now get the phone even though they have took payment for it. They have told me a manager may ring me back later today but cannot give me a definite answer on the outcome of the phone or that it will be here by next week.

I'm only 22 and I don't have a lot of money and I'm really worried I wont get the phone or above all, the money I paid for the phone in the first place. Can anyone give me advice?

Mazzablue · 24 November 2014 at 4:42PM

I went with PYB to insure my brand new iPhone 6 Plus. I went to Majorca in October and had the misfortune to loose my phone. I left it in a bar in Palma.
I sent them all the documents they requested, but a week after someone called my boyfriend claiming to have the phone. I called PYB for help and they told me I had to give this total stranger my details as I had to get the phone back.
They then came up with other random bits of information that they needed from me to delay sorting my claim out - ie holiday booking information, plane boarding passes etc. The long and the short of it is 5 weeks after submitting my claim, I called them to tell them to cancel the claim as I have been reunited with my phone (my caller was the one in a million who was genuine and really did have my phone)!! I submitted a complaint, pointing out that they make me answer data protection questions but told me point blank to tell this unknown person my home address etc. Surely they should have contacted this person and resolved this situation for me? They have taken on board my comments but feel that seeing as I lost the phone the onus is on me to recover it and that they feel they did the best for me in this situation. They did point out that at least this way I haven't paid the £50 excess. Mmmm no I didn't I paid £70 FedEx Collection charge, £25 for a thank you gift and £15 postage to send said thank you gift!! Not everything is about money. I paid my monthly DD for peace of mind. This company just want the money. They couldn't even be bothered to email me weekly to see if I have heard anything or to offer any help. Total waste of time and money. I have cancelled my cover with them and gone back to my network provider.

rs65 · 24 November 2014 at 8:11PM

Mazzablue wrote: »

Surely they should have contacted this person and resolved this situation for me?

I am no fan of PYB or any type of gadget insurance but I think your expectations are off the mark. Any insurance policy is to do what it says, such as repair or replace the damaged or lost item. It is not their responsibility to resolve the situation for you as you suggest.

If you have the option to recover your phone then I think it is perfectly reasonable to expect you to do so. In fact most people would want to do this themselves.

I doubt your network provider would have treated this any differently.

James_B. · 24 November 2014 at 10:56PM

I've a Natwest Private Black account. If you lose or break your phone they courier a new one over. I don't think that the account costs much more than a normal mobile insurance policy.

megs20134 · 4 December 2014 at 7:27PM

AGREED!!! I dropped my phone down the toilet on saturday, and then was left by protectyourbubble for 2 days until they responded. When they did they said they had tried to PHONE me but no answer to which I reminded them I had no phone! Then 24 hours later they asked for a proof of purchase (could have done this at the start). 24 hours later they emailed to phone them (with no phone) to pay excess. When I finally got a phone I called them and wanted to know the process... they would post me a claim form and prepaid envelope. Then I was to post the phone, they would then forward this to the workshop (it is completely dead), then they would within 4-5 working days let me know if it could be fixed and THEN arrange for a replacement phone to be sent to me! I worked this out and basically I was looking at around 3 week wait from when I put the claim in. Due to needing the phone for work, banking and general life I told them not to do it and had to pay at apple for a replacement phone. The policy is a complete waste of money!!! Don't do it, it would be better and cheaper and less time consuming to not be insured at all!!!I now want to cancel my insurance but even that is a long winded process so need to get round to doing it!

Protect Your Bubble - Warning - Worst Insurance Provider in the UK

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