MSE Article discussion: Mobile Phone Insurance

A question about : MSE Article discussion: Mobile Phone Insurance

Hi folks, we've just fully revamped and rewritten the

Mobile Phone Insurance guide

We'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences, particularly on how you have found dealing with companies, and if we've missed any of the goodies

Thank you,

MSE Sally

Best answers:

• many thanks im off for a good read of that, its only peoples bad experiences you seem to read about on here so hard to find anyone who vouches for certain companies ie we know what ones are bad but not what ones are good or the best.
• This is a very depressing thread (the thread I refer to has moved to here I recommend reading it. Here's the link-https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...d.php?t=950155).
  This whole business seems to be a con and really needs looking into.
  My daughter lost a 3 month old iPhone but Protect My Bubble used EVERY excuse not to pay - they didn't! Add them to the 'don't touch with a bargepole' list!
  The key escape routes seem to be:
• The time taken to report the loss/theft - sometimes very restrictive and of course you haven't got a phone to call them.
• Robbery without violence. Should I resist handing my phone over until I get assaulted?
• Lack of a crime number (how enthusiastic do you think the police are to increase their workload by issuing these for lost mobiles?)

These companies must be making a fortune out of this - and remember, we are generally only hearing from people who actually claim. There must be thousands who just pay up.
HELP!

• I had previously reported my poor experience with Supercover. I had 2 phones insured both were stolen in 2 weeks of each other, both were new upgrades. Nothing ever happened before, no previous claims so had been paying for a long time with no claims.
  Eventually after using the complaints and appeals procedure one phone was replaced after 9 weeks and this when their advertising says within 24 hours!
  The second phone - the saga continued - and I was piggy in the middle - O2 producing evidence the phone was blocked, the insurers saying it was not blocked on national data base. So stalemate. more than 4 months have gone by. In the end I submitted a complaint to O2 and they responded with excellent customer service - a repalcement phone, Ј50 credit for my inconvenience as a good will gesture as I have been a long standing cusotmer of O2. But they had blocked the phone! So many thanks to O2 otherwise I was in despair. Next would have been IFA. But given I was paying for this insurance appalling cusotmer treatment.
• You recommend Insure & Go in your mobile phone insurance guide but then later in the guide mention this horror story "One shocking example we've heard is an insurer refusing to pay out for theft as a phone was taken out of someone's pocket while at a busy gig - saying that this didn't count as robbery as no force was used..."
  However under the Insure & Go terms and conditions, as has been mentioned previously, it states " Please note that theft from any property, place or premises is not covered unless there is evidence of forced and violent entry or exit. Theft from the person is not covered unless force or threat of violence is used. Theft whilst in any form of public transport or public place is not covered unless force or threatened force is used. You are required to take all reasonable precautions to protect the product against theft, loss or damage."
  How can any sort of pickpocketing claim (surely the most common form of theft) ever not be excluded by the insurers if they are requiring "force or threatened force" to be part of the theft?
  This is exclusion seems to me to make the insurnance policy worthless.
  They are pretty much saying a phone stolen from anywhere at all can only be stolen if there was violence involved - how often does this really happen?
• While I agree that pickpocketing is the most common form of theft, how can they prove that it wasn't simply lost? They probably had to exclude that because people abused it. My friend was one of them who left her phone on a caf! table then just filed a police report saying it was stolen and got a brand new phone that wouldn't have been covered otherwise.
  Either way, I've sent an email over to Insure and Go for clarification and I'll post the response. Since it is pretty poor if theft isn't always theft according to them.
• is there anyone who will ensure a phone if you are living abroad? One phone already pick-pocketed - would prefer to insure its replacement but cannot seem to find an insurance policy
• Any recommendations for a phone that costs Ј700? The insure-and-go upto Ј1k value is much more expensive than the Ј500 limit one. I've got a 64GB iPhone (and I'm afraid to say that I have been careless in the past, so really want to insure it).
• A friend bought me a new iphone from apple in the States and I need to find insurance but all the insurance companies I have found require the phone to be purchased in the UK.
  I can't be the first person to have tried to do this - has anyone managed to find an insurer in this situation?
• It's been mentioned in the article but it's worth checking with your bank to see if it's included with your bank account if you pay a monthly fee.
  It might even be worth upgrading your bank account to take advantage of offers such as breakdown cover and gadget insurance as to be honest i've found it works out cheaper than taking out a separate insurance policy.
  I pay Ј6.50 a month for my current account which includes gadget insurance, mobile insurance, an extended warranty on new household purchases such as TV's and kitchen equipment + an interest free overdraft up to a certain amount.
  You may find that you actually save yourself some money this way too :-)
• My son broke the screen on his iPhone4. We emailed the required documents and were then told they needed the exact receipt with proof of IMEI number from the Apple shop. The phone had been replaced as faulty at 4 months old so had a different IMEI number to the purchase receipt. I had sent them an email confirming this from the Apple shop - of course this was not good enough for them. They kept asking for different details on about 4 occasions, it was like an obstacle race. Eventually the phone was repaired and sent back - this took about a month.
  We had only had the phone back 2 weeks when he lost it. We pay the extra premium for loss and did have it blocked with O2 within a few hours and reported to the police within 24 hours and also blocked on "find my iphone". Eventually they sent a letter by post saying because the phone was replaced by Apple we would not be requiring their services! The phone was replaced at 4 months old as faulty and that wasn't a problem when the screen was repaired.
  I have now appealed and have been told that takes 10 working days, which are up tomorrow and it has been 3 weeks since I first contacted them. I have also told them that if the iPhone was not covered as it had been exchanged as faulty (I saw online that was the excuse given to someone else) I would require the premium to be repaid on 2 policies as they had both been replaced by Apple.
  I agree that upon reading the small print the phone is not covered for loss anywhere which I am sure cannot be legal or the policy should not state that you can pay extra for loss but "you can pay extra for loss of phone by violence"!
  So watch this space. I am thinking of trying Barclays Bank cover now - any good or bad experience with them please?
• One other piece of information - the email on the Protectyourbubble appeal is from Supercover Insurance, therefore they are one and the same insurance.
• I have a handset that I own outright, but I have a SIM only contract. I'm happy and able to self-insure on the handset (it's really not worth that much!), but I'm worried about calls, texts and data charges if my phone was stolen, which I'm not insured for. Does anybody know of an insurance policy that ONLY protects against unauthorised usage, not the handset?
• Has anyone had any experience with Geek Squad insurance through the Car Phone Warehouse? I took out their policy with my 4S upgrade last week?!
  Thanks
• I'm looking at Insure & Go as well. Apparently even if you get the Platinum option which covers loss, you're still not covered for "theft or loss whilst in any form of public transport or public place other than when the Product is taken from You by actual or threatened force".
  So basically it only covers loss if you're in a private residence? This makes no sense.
• I renewed my 15 yr old sons mobile phone in Nov 2011. Because it was the cheapest deal around, I used Buymobilephones.net to take out a 24 month contract with a new Blackberry phone. I explained that it was for my son and they advised the best options and package. We also took out thier insurance policy - it may have been a free insurance for 2 months and then you cancel it, but, we decided to keep it as my 15 yr old son is....a 15 yr old boy (!) and who knows what could happen. We have had cause to claim on the insurance and we are now told that because he is under 18yrs of age they cannot cover the claim. They actually advised that I should have told the insurance company that it was mine and that he wasn't the main user...i.e lie to them. Am I the only parent to take out a contract phone for their children and take the insurance only to find out its useless?
  Beware, an 18 yr old cannot legally take out the contract, so, the insurance is invalid. The advice from the phone supplier? Lie.
• Has anyone used 'covermygadget'? seems a fairly decent deal, for several gadgets for up to Ј500 of cover, for Ј90 ish (including loss cover).
  there is a similar thing in their T&C's about public places but seems to only relate to 'unattended items'.
  be interesting if anyone has had a similar experience to some other companies mentioned above!