Cell phone insurance problem

[potsnpea]

What is the name of your state?California

Now my next problem. As I stated in my earlier post. My car was stolen as well as my cell phone and my ID. I have been a customer of T-mobile for over a year now and in February I upgraded my phone which is something you can do after a year. I bought a camera flip phone which was quite pricey and even more pricey if you aren't upgrading which I won't be able to do for another year. So of course I purchased cell phoe insurance through T-mobile. Since my phone is missing I need to replace it. I called T-mobiles customer service and they said I needed to call Assurian the insurance carrier they work with. When I asked to make my claim they said I had to produce proof of purchase, and a photo ID. Fax it they said. I told them the phone was purchased through T-mobile so they should have the documentation. They had only my original phone down in there records. I straightened this matter out with T-mobile and they said they would send the information of my ownership to the insurance company no problem. But now the insurance agency still wants me to fax a copy of my ID. I don't really see how this fax of my photo ID is important to getting a new phone. They insist it is and I will not get a new phone until it is done. I have had a cell phone with surewest in the past and I never had to fax my ID. Is this an unnessarry measure? Also assurian states they are not part of T-mobile. Why is it that I am paying T-mobile for insurance and yet assurian claims they are not with T-mobile? That seems highly frustrating. Am I being sent on an unnessary run around. My ID was in the car that was stolen which is why I am trying to get around this loop because I want a replacement sooner than 2-3 weeks or however long it takes to get the photo ID. Can there be any other way of verifying who I am. I have a pass code that I am supposed to use when I deal with T-mobile. Why isn't that sufficient in identifying myself?

 

[ALawyer]

You are dealing with a bureaucracy -- this is what they do. Somewhere in the past there may have been a small problem when someone who was not who they said they were made a claim, so someone in the organization came up with a fix. That "fix" was enshrined in a procedure manual. So now they demand identification from everyone. It may make no sense to you, and the guy who wrote the rule may never have imagined it would be applied in a case like yours, but there it is in black and white. Compliance with stupid demands often is FAR easier than fighting the insurance company or City Hall. Deal with it.

 

[ropnwidow]

phone insurance problem

I also had my phone stolen and have Assurian Insurance through -mobile. I hate to say it , but they were absolutely fabulous with me. I just got off the phone with them quite pleased. I had to file a police report witht he locals and get all the information for them; report number, badge number, office name and office address, then they did the rest over the phone in about 10 minutes. No hassles at all. I was surprized it was so easy. Ive only been with them 6 months, maybe you should try a different approach.

Ropnwidow

 

[cmorris]

Did you see how old this post is?

 

[kugarand]

Assurian Insurance on Cell Phones is a RIPOFF

Unless you have the fortitude to pursue relentlessly through their bureaucracy, the insurance is not worth the paper it is printed on. Possibly if your phone is within warranty it is worthwhile because they might replace it with a new phone. In my case, after paying for insurance for a year, I needed to have it replaced. It was out of warranty by 3 weeks, but I was willing to pay the $95 replacement cost since it was less than half of what the same phone cost new. (Nokia 6255i). Then my nightmare really began. I paid for the phone to be overnighted. It did not get delivered until 5:00 that afternoon and only after I called DHL repeatedly to make sure it would get to me in time. Yet, Assurian cut my service off at 10:00 that morning because I was supposed to have the new phone to activate. So my business was on hold while I frantically tried to locate my new phone. I thought they would send me a new working phone...to my surprise they sent me a used phone. I paid to have the phone numbers from my old phone transferred over and returned the original damaged phone as directed. This "new" Assurian certified phone would drop calls in the middle of a call, regardless of signal strength. Turn off and on spontaneously. I called and spent hours on hold and being transferred....3 times they had me "reprogram" it so it would work because that of course was all that was wrong with it. 30 days later and completely frustrated and my clients and colleagues frustrated that I couldn't maintain a call, I called and ranted and raved and finally spoke to a supervisor that agreed to send me a new phone. He originally wanted me to send him my phone with all my phone number in it and then he would send me a new phone. He actually, wanted me to write down my numbers then rekey them all in when I got the new phone. I explained how ludicrous that was and that the only reason I am in this boat is because they sent me a used, non-functioning phone that I paid $95 dollars for. He agreed to send me out the phone in advance for me to send back my replacement phone. Once again, my service on phone a is shut off before the phone b has had a chance to charge or anything. I call to get the phone b programmed to work. The technical support person at Assurian says it isn't a problem and I can use the phone (I kept it plugged in). The phone immediately has problems and spontaneously shuts off and on. Sometimes I can get ten minutes in on a call and sometimes only a minute. Later that night, I spend another hour on the phone with them as their technical support person completely botches the reprogramming. I had been through this enough that I knew you don't put your phones number in on the MIN field, only the MDN field. So now phone b isn't working. Her solution though is to send an email to my carrier's headquarter for them to release the ESN number which could take 24 to 48 hours. I tell her it is unacceptable and I want to speak to a supervisor. She connects me and this person actually seems to understand and try to help. She is willing to reset my old phone and send out a new one, we agree to let the system charge for 12 hours and see it improves. It does not. So I call back in, and try to bypass the technical people to go to a supervisor. This one is not as understanding as the one the day before. After many threats of reporting to the BB, Insurance Commissioner of GA, etc, I'm connected to a customer service rep in the CEO's office of Assurian. She is very understanding. Agrees to reset my phone a and send me a new working phone. Maybe, 45 days later, much wasted time on the phone and many annoyed colleagues, clients, and family, I might have a phone that works. So you be the judge.... Maybe I would have been better off spending that time and money ($140 counting the insurance cost) and just bought a new phone that would have a regular warranty on it.

 

[moburkes]

Okay. California is NOT in Australia, and you've just responded to a thread that is almost 3 years old.