insurance deductable

Engadget - Comments for Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
Engadget Comments for Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff

• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  I pay $60 a year to Asurion for insurance, and when I dropped my Qualcomm smartphone 40 feet and destroyed it, it cost me $50 to replace it. Not bad.
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  my insurance through cellphone companies weren't through the cellphone company at all.. it was through a third-party called LOCK-LINE, or something. it was actually great. they took the phone back for just about any reason (which i've tested, trust me), and had one 2nd day aired to you with the return label for the old phone. if you're smart enough to keep your numbers on your sim card (rather than phone memory), issues are slim to none. you might get a refurb, but hey, $5 a month for a few months is a lot better than $300 out of your pocket all at once.
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  Normally I would say it's a rip-off too, but after my son dropped my month-old Treo 650 a while back and cracked the screen, I decided to insure it for $3.99 a month. They called me on the phone to verify it worked and I had it, and they were happy. A couple weeks later I called it in as broken, and they happily replaced it with a new one.
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  i bought it from Sprint for a Treo 600 and used it 3 times to replace the Treo:
  
  1. washed the treo in my ski jacket. doh!
  2. dropped the treo from my lap getting out of the car.
  3. replacement (refurbished) treo was a piece of crap and stopped working by itself this time.
  
  at $3/month over 16 months, I'd say it was worth it. But the treo 600 is a costly, delicate exception.
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  what's funny is the fact that most cell phone companies wont even let you put expensive phones on insurance (like any smartphone, a pda phone, or even the razr), so you're assed out $500+ if anything happens to it.
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  If you lose/break your phone and you can stand to be without a phone for a bit, then the insurance is a good thing to get at the time of the phone loss. After a couple of weeks have gone by, you can report the phone missing and get a replacement, and then after a month or so you can cancel the insurance.
  
  You still have to pay the deductible (about $50), but it's a better alternative than resigning a 1-2 year contract in order to buy the phone cheaply, and a cheaper alternative than buying the phone wholesale.
  
  Note: Of course I say this not from experience, but from what I've heard other people doing.
  ;-)
  
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  It's a waste for most people, except those who use it as a cheap way to get a second (or third) cell phone.
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  Yes, it may work with Treos, but I can't see someone paying 3.99$ a month for a RAZR. I paid 50EUR for my RAZR, if I put a year of insurance fees on it it would double the prize.
  
  So, I agree: expensive smartphones, yes - normal cellphones, no
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  I had the LCD on a SprintPCS Treo 650 crack. I tried to go to the store to get a replacement. Unfortunately, they force you to deal with this quiet dreadful company called "Lockline."
  
  So I called lockline, let them know the situation. They charged me a $50 deductible for phone replacement and sent me out a phone. This was a thursday before labor day weekend. Wednesday the next week the phone arrives. Unfortunately, this phone is broken worse than my phone!
  
  While the LCD on my phone was broken at least I could use the phone since I knew my way around using key presses. But on this phone the microphone and speaker were broken. So I call Lockline and beg them to expediate me a new phone. They don't do expedition. At all. They also won't guarantee you a new phone. So fine. So now its Tuesday nearly two weeks after my phone broke and another package arrives.
  
  Lo and behold! It's some $25 LG Flip-phone. The inside packaging is addressed to someone else. They put the wrong label on the wrong box. At this point, I call lockline and again push very hard for some sort of expediation. They refuse. I'm starting to get agravated enough to switch carriers.
  
  So I call SprintPCS customer solutions and explain my problem. They find a store (the very store I tried to get to replace it to begin with) that has a refurb replacement phone. They exchange it with my phone with the broken LCD screen. SprintPCS Customer solutions saves the day.
  
  The moral of the story: when the insurance company gets completely out of line, push your case with the carrier.
  
  Ian
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  i have a friend who gets a little too drunk, a little too often. he broke/lost 6 phones on a insurance contract. he received a letter after #6 telling him they were dropping him from the insurance.
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  I hate when they ask u to get the damn insurence!
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  Some credit cards include insurance for cell phones. Some cell phones can also be replaced under warranty (depending on the problem) which may negate the need for insurance in some cases (this is assuming that people are not aware of the factory warranty when filing their claim).
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  Cingular offers insurance, but it doesn't cover any PDA phones - but they're happy to bill $3.99/mo. for the insurance without telling you that it doesn't cover your Treo.
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  I like nice phones + the fact that I get drunk and break them = a damn good use of insurance thus far for me.
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  i had sprint for the past 2 years and i bought insurance on the phone. Good thing was that i did use my inssurance on the phone quite a bit i lost or broke a total of 8 phones in that period of time and Sprint did cover it with a 35 copay for each phone and a 5 a month added to my bill total costs of phones around 1600.00 and i only had the sayno 8100 and 8200 but would have costed me 300 each time i lost or broke. so i think insurance is a must or get stuck paying for full price
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  We have had insurance on our phones for several years and have not yet spent more than we have gotten back. Between lost, stolen and broken phones, I can't figure out why they still insure us!
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  Depends where you get your insurance, I insure my 6600 (replacement is $800cdn) through my home insurance, it cost me $20/y and has a $100cdn deductible. well worth it imho.
• Comments on Economic breakthrough: Cellphone insurance is a ripoff
  Insurance on lower end cell phones just isn't worth it. I definitely get it on TVs/car audio/etc. mainly because I will milk the policy right as it's about to