Vent. What is the point of having insurance on your cell phone?

[SUSIEQ]

My daughter dropped her brand new smart phone last fall. We called Asurion, I paid the $99 deductible and she had her new phone the next day.

Not a hassle at all.. And $99 was cheaper than buying a new phone.

This is the exact same experience I had. No complaints from me.

 

[tvguy]

I have to admit I have heard a lot of people with issues with cell phone insurance.

I guess one of the advantages to getting the basic free phones and keeping them longer than 2 years is, if the cell phone company doesn't come up with a replacement free phone, they lose you as a customer. DD lost hers, and Verizon gave us a new one for free.

 

[mymeme]

I've had SquareTrade on several phones and no problems at all. I have also had Apple Care+ on several phones with no problems at all when there was a problem. Maybe I have been lucky??

 

[disneymom2003]

I have n I phone 5. I bought AppleCare for $99. That is for 2 Yeats and covers 2 incidents. If you have a problem the deductable is $50 for a brand new phone. I bought my phone from Best Buy then went to the Apple ntore any bought it. Best insurance for an IPhone.

 

[Shmily1]

Another issue that I've just overed is that when you mail back the broken phone, get a receipt from the post office. I was just charged $649.99 for a phone that they say they didn't get.

 

[ZoeBell]

That's exactly why I dropped insurance on our phones. I was paying $10 or more for insurance per month then having to pay $150 or more for a used phone. My son cracked his screen and walked into Apple and they sold him one for $150. He didn't have to claim it under insurance,he wasn't eligible for an upgrade from Verizon and it was well paid the year Apple's warranty limit.

 

[OklahomaTourist]

My cell phone broke on Friday. And the insurance company wants to charge me $199.99 as my so-called deductible for a refurbished phone. They do not have my phone, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and have to give me the Samsung Galazy S4. And I have to pay $200 for it and it's not even brand new!

Not to mention the hassle they put me through to file the damn claim........

Reason # 6,948,331 to avoid ALL these scams, whether in the form of "insurance" or "replacement warranty" or "extended warranty" or whatever name du jour is plastered all over them.

The people that sell these insidious beasts rely on one thing: fear. And they hope against hope they can sell the fear of the one person out of 1,000 or 10,000 or 1,000,000 that actually got one to pay off that it might happen to you!!!

I remember the salesman trying to push a no-name, knock-off warranty on my then-new Buick several years ago. He started off with the typical pitch, and I just told him, "Look, I realize you've got a job to do, you've got to pitch these worthless warranties to me, but understand there are a dozen people on that sales floor right now who are going to buy everything you're selling them, while you're sitting here wasting time with me and I'm not buying a single thing." He clammed up, angriliy punched a few buttons into his calculator, and I was out of his office in five minutes. No more sales pitch.

The point is don't just walk away from these warranty charades - run from them. Run fast. Don't look back.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Another shout-out for SquareTrade. My son has broken the screen on his iPod Touch twice and they've replaced it with no charge at all. As soon as my husband and I bought iPhones, I got warranties through SquareTrade for about $120 each. Their website says they will overnight you a replacement. Worth it!

 

[Golf4food]

It's not. You buy a used one from eBay and sell the old one for parts to recoup some of the up-front cost and hold on until your next upgrade date.

Just did this rather than pay Apple $199 for an old Iphone 4s.

Replacement on eBay - $260
Sell old one (WiFi not working) - around $200
Net cost $60 to "rent" the new one until March 2014 when we can upgrade to the 5s.

 

[GagesMama]

My husband went to Best Buy last night to warranty his phone (that he bought a month and a week ago). They told him it's a good thing he bought his new phone (including their Black Tie insurance) before September 9. Apparently on that date they changed their plan. There is now a $150 deductible for the first replacement. Then you get 3 free replacements before having to pay again. Still a decent plan, I guess, but it's nowhere near the bargain it used to be (and still is for those who bought previously and get to keep their plan). Just thought I'd update you on that since I suggested it earlier...