Phone Insurance Rip Off

nedoo

It goes without saying that this is done before but Jeasus am I mad. A dirty rotten bastard stole my phone, left it in a front seat of a taxi yesterday morning, noticed withing a few seconds it was gone, tried calling it and it was turned off. Tracked the driver down, he naturally knows nothing!!! Oh well, it happens, pissed off that I have lost all the numbers, email addresses etc on it, but life goes on.
I have paid insurance at the cost of E6 per month for the last five years to cover myself for this rainy day. I have just cancled the SIM and blacklisted the phone. Downloaded the forms to claim and I find that I have to pay E35 for my phone to be replaced. The handset only cost me E40 with an upgrade!
So thats E360 insurance + E35 for the fun. What the F*%k is the point in paying insurance then?
This is one angry chap here, thanks for listening.

The end.:mad:

the Guru

I know its a pain in the hole , it happened to me that last time I was home.... the lost numbers are the worst part

LegacyUser

ye it's $hit, i had to do it a couple of times, but hey, it's there in the contract, did you not read it?

my phone's worth around €450 sim free, so it's worth my while having it

nedoo

The handset was worth a few bob alright but I got it for nothing with an upgrade. If you car gets nicked you dont have to pay the insurance company to recieve a pay out. If they were to pay me in cheque for the phone at its face value that would be different but these bastards are getting them for nothing, I bet somewhere about the extra E35 that I have to spend!

You are right about the contract but when in the shop, buying my new toy, "DO you want insurance?" why yes, yes I do!!! I didnt read it, my bad!

Mossy Monk

its a pain in ther arse but as pointed out by stp it is in the contract

secret_squirrel

nedoo wrote:

If you car gets nicked you dont have to pay the insurance company to recieve a pay out.

Actually generally you have to pay your excess - they take it off the agreed value of the car.

Guy:Incognito

nedoo wrote:

The handset was worth a few bob alright but I got it for nothing with an upgrade. If you car gets nicked you dont have to pay the insurance company to recieve a pay out. If they were to pay me in cheque for the phone at its face value that would be different but these bastards are getting them for nothing, I bet somewhere about the extra E35 that I have to spend!!

How do you figure they are getting them for nothing? They buy them from the manufacturers just like any other company that sells goods. They then subsidise the cost as they have you on a years contract.Which phone was it? did you check how much it would cost to buy rtg or simfree? because if its more than €35 (which it will be) then you are still saving money with the insurance. It's like car insurance though, you pay it every year and might never need it. (I've paid around €7000 and never claimed, plus my car is only worth about €1000, so i'm not in line to make on it anytime soon. Car insurance has an excess too btw.)

Stark

I've never bothered with phone insurance.

JohnCleary

Ah I remember the days when phone insurance used to be £15 a year...

Umiq88

what i dont understand is why peeps dont just set up an "insurance account" in the bank and pay what they would noramlly pay out into that so then when you need it its there and if you dont you got a lot of money sitting there payin money to these companys for something that might happen is madness imo except for a car where its something you have to have but still id get the lowest you can get and again have a rainy day account where you put all the money you can into

Lump

Is it wrong that I laughed? That's how insurance companies make money.... shaft you on Insurance. Travel, Car, Boiler, house etc etc.... Did it say on the policy that you'd have to pay an Excess (I think that's what it's called) If it didn't argue the case.

John

Gary ITR

I just got my new phone today.. lost mine on monday.. Same thing 35 quid. I was so pissed off. Phone is only 29 on upgrade. Thing is though if I upgrade they tie ya in for another year. Either way you get shafted. If it's not the phone company it's the insurance company. Reminds me of the scene from lethal weapon 4

LovelyHurling

I think it used to be a much simpler straightforward system of just paid your insurance? heres a new phone, but what with people abusing the system just to get new phones, theyve had to disencourage them from that. According to my new flatmate who abuses the phone insurance system several times a year...

Freelancer

Stark wrote:

I've never bothered with phone insurance.

Ditto. Credit card sure, cause if you're card gets stolen it can cost you money. Okay you got the phone for two years? that what €144 for two years? Plus your excise? What €35? Now it's the better part of 200e for what, a new phone? Hey news flash, with your upgrade, over the two years, you pretty much should have got that for free.

It costs more? Gosh. Move networks, o2 meteor and vodaphone like to steal clients off each other, and they'd give you a new phone with your old number with a smile.

Whats the moral here kids. Don't buy phone insurance.

lucrecia

I don't have phone insurance Freelancer

Freelancer

lucrecia wrote:

I don't have phone insurance Freelancer

Thank you for your relevant contribution.

JohnCleary

LovelyHurling wrote:

I think it used to be a much simpler straightforward system of just paid your insurance? heres a new phone, but what with people abusing the system just to get new phones, theyve had to disencourage them from that. According to my new flatmate who abuses the phone insurance system several times a year...

Correct, it to be a flat rate of 15 pound a year. No excess. If you lost/stole your phone, you went to the Guards, filled out a form, went to the phone shop and BAM!, new phone. On my policy I could claim up to 3 times a year. So essentially thats 3 phones for 15 pounds...

Tomohawk

originally posted by nedoo
It goes without saying that this is done before but Jeasus am I mad. A dirty rotten bastard stole my phone, left it in a front seat of a taxi yesterday morning, noticed withing a few seconds it was gone, tried calling it and it was turned off.

Was there drink taken by any chance on your part when this happened?

Phone insurance is a scam. Try cancelling it and see what happens then. You'll probably have to write and then post a letter to the UK for the privilege of cancelling this service. AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

V1llianous

I bought an expensive phone (€300+) a few months ago and O2 wouldn't insure it as it wasn't on their list of phones.

As a result I contacted my home insurance (Allianz) and they said they would cover both mobiles for €600 without an excess (ie no cough up to get cash) and all risks (so covered when out of the house) for €4 a year. I nearly fainted as I too had being paying €6 a month for years.

I said great to Allianz customer service rep and whipped out the credit card only for her to say that they would cover the first year free as a goodwill gesture. Very impressed with that - so a few weeks later rang up and got my golf clubs and photography equipment done too. It might cost me an extra €30 on my premium next year but so happy with service probably won't move policy for a good while.

Also enjoyed ringing O2 up and telling them where to put their insurance

skywalker

psittacosis wrote:

what i dont understand is why peeps dont just set up an "insurance account" in the bank and pay what they would noramlly pay out into that so then when you need it its there and if you dont you got a lot of money sitting there payin money to these companys for something that might happen is madness imo except for a car where its something you have to have but still id get the lowest you can get and again have a rainy day account where you put all the money you can into

In an ideal world thats what everyone would do. But people wont ever do this.

I had phone insurance for a 2 years (about 5 years back) Till I had to make a claim on it. Got rid of it soon after. That €5 a month just isnt worth it, unless your loosing an expensive phone every year or 2.

TheBigLebowski

If it's only 30 quid or whatever for an upgrade, why would anyone bother with insurance? I hate insurance companies.

cooperguy

V1llianous wrote:

I bought an expensive phone (€300+) a few months ago and O2 wouldn't insure it as it wasn't on their list of phones.

As a result I contacted my home insurance (Allianz) and they said they would cover both mobiles for €600 without an excess (ie no cough up to get cash) and all risks (so covered when out of the house) for €4 a year. I nearly fainted as I too had being paying €6 a month for years.

I said great to Allianz customer service rep and whipped out the credit card only for her to say that they would cover the first year free as a goodwill gesture. Very impressed with that - so a few weeks later rang up and got my golf clubs and photography equipment done too. It might cost me an extra €30 on my premium next year but so happy with service probably won't move policy for a good while.

Also enjoyed ringing O2 up and telling them where to put their insurance

After hearing that im NEVER buying phone insurance off the phone shops and im going to make sure that anyone else that mentions going to buy insurance off a phone company hears the story aswell. Talk about being ripped off

Lump

I'd put €5 into a savings account every month, if you lose the phone, then you have the cash.... if not then you have the cash. You should back you sim up with a sim reader. I've never lost a phone, so it's obvious that it'd be better if you didn't lose/break the phone.

John

Mr Magnolia

I cancelled my insurance ages ago, it's useless. I'm intitled to an up-grade now, so i'll wait and use it when my phone is lost/stolen/smashed etc..

If it was lost/stolen/smashed before my up-grade intitlement I'd buy a crap one to tide me over.

kwinabeeste

Got a new phone a while ago and it had to be sent away for a software upgrade or something cos it wasn't pickin up a 3g network. I got the same phone from the shop while mine was away. Anyway, I dropped the phone and made bits of it, the 1st time I'd broken a phone. So I rang Vodafone and they said that it was covered. I went into the shop and they said that I owe them €100 as the shop phone isn't insured only my phone was! I argued with them and they weren't budging. I was supposed to pay the €100 when i got my phone back, but the guy in the shop was a bit of a tard and didn't notice the note on the box so I got off.

Point is why was I payin phone insurance, when it didn't cover the shop phone!! think i will cancel the insurance after readin some of the posts as I am usually careful with phones...well my phones in any case!!!