Mobile phone insurance Meteor vs Carphone Warehouse

Garth

Apologies if this has been done before.

I'm curious about this because I have to go to the meteor store to buy my upgrade as Carphone Warehouse don't have it (Samsung D900), and I've always bought my phones there.

I've always had carphone warehouse insurance and have never had any trouble really. I've had to claim twice -- one theft and one liquid damage and I was reasonably pleased both times.

I rang the meteor shop and they said they do insurance too, but it's far cheaper than carphone warehouses and I'm wondering is it any good?

Random

Carphone replace your phone in store while with Meteor they post it out to you, don't they?

PhilCurran

Stay away from carphone warehouse

I used to get the carphone warehouse's insurance until my phone was stolen & I had to claim. They gave me a replacement phone straight away but when I got my bill I found out that a load of international calls had been made (Romania, Turkey etc). This was covered too so I went back to CPW who told me since I was late with a payment (months ago) I wasn't actually covered by the insurance. They said the replaced my €300 phone as a courtesy.
The kicker is that I paid every month by direct debit & the bank told me I didn't miss a payment due to insufficiant funds etc, the company just didn't schedule a payment on time for one of the months and if you read the fine print of the contract it specifies that even if the late payment is due to error on their part, the policy is still void!

Blaster99

You should never insure something that you can afford to replace. There's massive margin on those insurance policies.

Sam Vimes

PhilCurran wrote:

Stay away from carphone warehouse

I used to get the carphone warehouse's insurance until my phone was stolen & I had to claim. They gave me a replacement phone straight away but when I got my bill I found out that a load of international calls had been made (Romania, Turkey etc). This was covered too so I went back to CPW who told me since I was late with a payment (months ago) I wasn't actually covered by the insurance. They said the replaced my €300 phone as a courtesy.
The kicker is that I paid every month by direct debit & the bank told me I didn't miss a payment due to insufficiant funds etc, the company just didn't schedule a payment on time for one of the months and if you read the fine print of the contract it specifies that even if the late payment is due to error on their part, the policy is still void!

after they took the payment late one month they knew the policy was invalid. i'd say you should go back and ask why the company kept taking your money even though they had no intention of providing you with insurance. theft imo

but ring customer care and ask. its not the fault of a random shop assistant

@op, as far as i know, you can put your phone on your home insurance for a few euro a year

Garth

we have a rather high excess so can't imagine insuring the phone on home ins would be worth it.

Thanks for the replies!

Dinarius

I've had my phone insured with Carphone Warehouse since I first bought a phone in 2000.

I made my first claim in December 2005. I made it at the Carphone Warehouse branch in Nutgrove Shopping Centre, Dublin. The service was superb. The guy took the sim card and extracted all the information he needed from it. Ten minutes later, I left with a new phone.

Today, I went back to the same branch to make my second claim in seven years.

This time, a different guy phoned the insurance company.

1. They want to try and repair it first. They've given me a replacement phone.

2. They want to charge me an excess of €35. This is almost 6 months premiums! I was charged NO excess in my 2005 claim.

I spoke with the insurance company rep on the phone and she says that I should have been charged an excess in 2005.

When I returned home, I checked the Phone Safe insurance policy document which I still have. There is no mention of an excess. I don't have a schedule though. I have no idea where it is. It may state that an excess is due on it.

Needless to say, I am not a happy camper.

Curiously, I can find no mention of phone insurance on Carphone Warehouse's awful website, but I may be missing it.

They have lost my business as of now.

D.

Sam Vimes

there is a €35 excess. all insurance companies charge excess on claims. the money doesn't go directly to cpw

the insurance is called lifeline. look for that on the site


from the booklet:

Will I have to pay anything
when I claim?


No, the only costs you will
incur if you have made a
successful claim is an excess
fee. The excess will depend
on what policy you have taken
and is printed on the proposal
form you signed in store at the
point of sale.