o2 increase iphone insurance by 117%

Kaskade

RANT.....

I am absolutely disgusted with o2 and their decision to increase insurance.

I was with them on a contract with an iphone 3G and paying insurance of €6 a month for the last 2 years. I then upgraded to the 3gs and continued paying €6 a month.

I left o2 2 months ago but I have now returned. I was told by the business sales rep that the insurance for the iphone was now €9. I thought this was a bit steep but accepted it anyway. Now that I am signed up and I have my phone and contract I am being told that €6 was only for the 3G but the didn't increase it for existing customers who got the 3GS. €9 is now the price for the 3GS and it is now €12.99 for the iPhone 4. I am being told the excuse is that is is a more expensive phone. Now correct me if I am wrong but the iphone 4 is no more expensive than the 3 was when it was new or the 3GS was when it was new.

I have told them I am extremely unhappy with this and I will cancel my contract in the cooling off period if they do not sort it out for me. Anybody else really annoyed about this or get told something different. Talk about a scam.

Even on the website it says that the €9 covers phones up to €1500 so what is this extra iphone premium about. Of course o2 are blaming Zurich and it has nothing to do with them. Even their website lets on that it is €9 to cover the iphone - see screenshot.

Anybody else have any experience of this....

Kaskade

also just noticed the excess is €65 compared to €35 for every other phone. Robbin ba****ds

JDxtra

Can you get an independent insurance quote for the handset, or bump it into your house insurance as a specified all risks item?

Kaskade

JDxtra wrote: »

Can you get an independent insurance quote for the handset, or bump it into your house insurance as a specified all risks item?

house insurance is generally not a good idea for mobiles, the excess is high, you loose your no claims if you have a claim and sometimes there are issues in terms of what you paid for the handset which is obviously much less than the replacement cost since it was subsidised by the network. When I worked in a phone shop lots of people came in after getting stung with house insurance.

I am so angry at o2, I think this is seriously taking advantage and bordering on discrimination. How come other customers with more expensive phones can insure them for less?

JDxtra

Good points. Maybe the risk of an iPhone being stolen is much higher than that of a Blackberry etc. as they are much easier for a thief to shift? Just a guess.

At €12.99/month on top of your monthly package it is a rip off as you say.

JDxtra

Here's another reason for an increase in the price of insurance:

"While most customers take out insurance because they value their iPhone, we started to notice increases in claims as new and upgraded iPhones were launched," said Supercover director Carmi Korine.

"For short periods around new model or upgrade launches, claims for lost, stolen or damaged iPhones go through the roof.

"The issue appears to be that most iPhone owners can only go for so long realising that they're a generation behind the latest must-have spec before they resort to extreme measures."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/15/iphone_insurance_claims/

JohnC.

JDxtra wrote: »

Here's another reason for an increase in the price of insurance:



http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/15/iphone_insurance_claims/

Yes, I was going to say this too. It's all too common for peoples iPhones to "break" just when a new one comes along. Break with a lot of help, that is. As usual, people taking the piss ruin it for others.

Kaskade

Surely the model for mobile phone insurance should be rethought if this is the case. There could be a no claims discount for people like us who have had insurance for 2+ years and upgraded and paid for our the latest iphone each time rather than claim.

This sort of increase in price would nearly drive you towards being dishonest and claiming just to get value.

Now that I think about it it would actually not even be worth while "breaking" your phone to claim. I sold me 3gs 2nd hand for €350 and got an iphone 4 for free. If I broke it and claimed I wouldn't have gotten the €350 and I would have had to pay the excess and even at that there is no guarantee of getting a 4, in fact I would nearly put money on it that they will still give out the 3gs for along time for insurance claims.