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robd
28th-July-2010, 10:07 AM
I finally joined the 21st century and got a new phone yesterday. I declined Vodafone's insurance offer as £12.99 per month seemed pretty damn exorbitant to me.

I need to check my contents insurance but am pretty sure mob phone not covered there so wondered if anyone knew and could recommend a source of insurance against theft and possibly accidental damage for a mobile?

philsmove
28th-July-2010, 11:00 AM
If you bank with first direct


first directory (http://www1.firstdirect.com/1/2/travel/first-directory/overview;jsessionid=0000IHn_P8jmUShPPHiawduR0Kk:11 jkc751v)

Phil_dB
28th-July-2010, 11:09 AM
Yeah, quite a few banks offer mobile insurance

Home insurance is a common route for mobiles. You generally get what you pay for so read the policy carefully - ie, does it cover theft, accidently loss, accidently damage, etc, - also does it cover theft from both the inside and outside of your home.
Check your excess also.

You could have a look at http://www.protectyourbubble.com./ but i've no experience with them

Miguel
28th-July-2010, 11:27 AM
Mobile Phone Insurance (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-mobile-phone-insurance)

Dottie
28th-July-2010, 11:32 AM
When I purchased my phone from Phones4U they advised me to take out their insurance (which at the time was pretty expensive) as you automatically get a 7 or 14 day cooling off period. The sales assistant obviously gets some sort of bonus. They told me to phone up and cancel when I got home as they would offer to reduce the cost. You then phone up to cancel the policy and as if by magic they slash the premium by about 50%.

I did this and was surprised by the degree of flexibility in their prices.

I would definitely check accidental damage is included though.

I presume a lot of companies work in a similar way.

Rocky
28th-July-2010, 11:56 AM
When I purchased my phone from Phones4U they advised me to take out their insurance (which at the time was pretty expensive) as you automatically get a 7 or 14 day cooling off period. The sales assistant obviously gets some sort of bonus. They told me to phone up and cancel when I got home as they would offer to reduce the cost. You then phone up to cancel the policy and as if by magic they slash the premium by about 50%.

I did this and was surprised by the degree of flexibility in their prices.

I would definitely check accidental damage is included though.

I presume a lot of companies work in a similar way.

The same thing happened to me - you're right and it appears that the sales team do get a commission for selling the insurance regardless of whether it is then subsequently cancelled - although you would have thought that the insurance company would get wise to that if large numbers of people did cancel or phone up for reductions shortly after starting their contract.

I think the truth of it is that most people take the insurance out and then just forget about it or can't be bothered to make the call. Classic case of decision inertia..

Simon r
28th-July-2010, 04:23 PM
When I purchased my phone from Phones4U they advised me to take out their insurance (which at the time was pretty expensive) as you automatically get a 7 or 14 day cooling off period. The sales assistant obviously gets some sort of bonus. They told me to phone up and cancel when I got home as they would offer to reduce the cost. You then phone up to cancel the policy and as if by magic they slash the premium by about 50%.

I did this and was surprised by the degree of flexibility in their prices.

I would definitely check accidental damage is included though.

I presume a lot of companies work in a similar way.



The underwriting emphasis of mobile telephone insurance differs from other types of policy
In essence, mobile telephone insurance policies are contracts which can protect owners of mobile telephone handsets from some or all of the main associated risks. Namely, these risks are accidental damage, airtime abuse (i.e. fraudulent usage), loss, technical breakdown and theft.

Clearly, the precise scope of coverage is defined within the actual policy documentation and there are invariably limits placed upon the circumstances in which claims may or may not be submitted for any of these risks.

Moreover, in contrast to extended warranties and insurance sold with other mobile consumer products, such as laptop computers, the underwriting emphasis of mobile telephone insurance tends to lie on the risks of accidental damage, theft and, sometimes, loss and / or airtime abuse rather than technical breakdown.

That this is the case is a result of the fact that many consumers upgrade their mobile handset for a new model quite frequently which means that an extended warranty by itself is of limited use.

Depending upon their coverage, mobile telephone insurance policies can be configured either as insured or service-backed contracts with the latter offering tax benefits in some jurisdictions. Indeed, it is commonplace for these types of contract to be offered to consumers under titles other than ‘mobile telephone insurance’ such as ‘customer care contracts’ or ‘product protection policies’.

Nevertheless, for both insured and service-backed insurance policies, and regardless of the precise description applied to the contract for the purposes of marketing it to consumers, the provider of the insurance policy may elect to insure or reinsure itself against its liabilities albeit a substantial proportion of the risk may reside with a captive entity.

Several parties may be involved in the management of mobile insurance schemes
Therefore, several parties may be involved in the provision of mobile telephone insurance policy to consumers: there may be a network operator, a distributor, an insurer, a reinsurer and one or more service providers, such as a repair or claims administration company, in different combinations.However, this underlying complexity of mobile telephone insurance schemes is unlikely to be obvious from the point of view of the final consumer.

Dreadful Scathe
28th-July-2010, 09:10 PM
I never buy mobile insurance now - waste of time. My wife had it, had the phone stolen when we were out one day (we were in a cafe) , reported it, but the police said it wasn't policy to give out crime reference numbers, which the insurance company said they needed - accidental loss was not covered. So that was that, no phone, no point in having insurance. :(

David Bailey
29th-July-2010, 01:34 PM
, but the police said it wasn't policy to give out crime reference numbers

I had a similar thing when my passport got stolen in the post. The police said I'd need to prove it was a crime before it could be treated as a crime. This, depite receiving the actual envelope with a tear in it.

So, the police were acting to keep recorded crime figures down, because that's easier than keeping actual crime down. It's a classic example of unintended consequences arising from a target-driven culture.

philsmove
29th-July-2010, 01:53 PM
the police were acting to keep recorded crime figures down

and their policy is working exceeding well

Crime in England and Wales at its lowest since 1981 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/15/crime-figures-fall-bcs-survey)

Dreadful Scathe
30th-July-2010, 09:38 AM
next time you get mugged the police will suggest you "shake hands" with the mugger, and that you should both "just get along" - no more paperwork :)

David Bailey
30th-July-2010, 10:44 AM
next time you get mugged the police will suggest you "shake hands" with the mugger, and that you should both "just get along" - no more paperwork :)

I think, based on my passport experience, they'd ask me to prove that I was mugged, including providing CCTV evidence and the name and address of my assailant, before deigning to provide a crime reference number. Possibly they'd also want me to prosecute the case also.