Comments on: The great iPhone insurance swindle

By: Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:40:21 +0000

OK guys (and girls) – thanks for all the contributions to this discussion. As previously notified I’m now closing comments on this blog post.

By: Nick H

Nick H — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:22:57 +0000

An update on my earlier post…

…just to say that after being invited to contact Rob Malvisi (Talkcover) over my ordeal, I dully did.
Rob was actually very helpful and looked into my circumstances.
Whilst the person who originally dealt with my claim had moved on – he accepted that I had been unfairly dealt with and went about repairing the damage that had been done by recompensing me.

I can only say that the guy was genuine and very helpful. Maybe Talkcover aren’t that bad after all. Maybe I just got unlucky with a certain operative.

My feelings have changed.

By: Mark Roberts

Mark Roberts — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:22:34 +0000

@Duncan Ritson-Elliott. They have and thanks for help sorting this out. Cheers!

By: Duncan Ritson-Elliott

Duncan Ritson-Elliott — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:24:44 +0000

@ MarkRoberts
Apologies for the confusion. A colleague has emailed you directly with more specific details than I will not publish here for your own privacy. Suffice to say – wires were crossed when you called – and the full refund is being processed for the overpayment of the £35. You are covered and have paid for the whole year.

Thanks

By: Mark Roberts

Mark Roberts — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:22:44 +0000

@ Duncan Ritson-Elliott Thanks for the clarity re the companies. I’m not attempting to claim on my insurance – I was simply ringing up to clarify whether the transaction had gone through and to see if I was covered. My concern is that I’ve been charged £52.92 and then a further £35 something due to supercover telling me there was an error – which I’m assuming there wasn’t as U2.CO.UK charged me the full £52.92. So now supercover are telling me that I have to send details of my transactions in to them to claim back the £35 that they charged me incorrectly….That and being on hold for in excess of twenty minutes.

By: Duncan Ritson-Elliott

Duncan Ritson-Elliott — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:17:01 +0000

@Mark Roberts. You ordered at a time when we had just begun the process of changing over to the new system of offering the discount and unfortunately you ordered before we had the email system fully up to notify you of your order. I understand that 6 days after ordering you are making an insurance claim, which the Administrators are looking into.

For clarity:
2u is owned by Mobile Phone World Ltd who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Supercover are the administrators for the 2u insurance. They do a good job at administering the insurance effectively and processing legitimate claims effectively. Supercover do the administration for all such Equity policies as well as the Fortis / Talkcover policies. Either way, it is a sound policy.

@Malvisi The Fortis policy is pretty much word for word the exact same as the Equity policy. It was split/changed for political and admin reasons. Otherwise the Fortis policy is the same cover and the same Terms as the Equity policy.

By: Mark Roberts

Mark Roberts — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:55:33 +0000

Hmmmm, I took out iPhone insurance with 2U.co.uk – £52.92 for a years premium, happy days.
Only to get no email communication – allthough I had noted down the ref no and phone number. I emailed them a few days later and had no reply so finally called the number supplied. After being on hold for a while, I finally got through and was told “there is an error”… we’ve only received payment for the first six months. I explained the deal I had on the internet. She said she could take the rest of the premium there and then. £35 something.

After finishing work and checking my online banking I saw £52.92 had indeed come out of my account to 2U.CO.UK as well as the £35 to Supercoverinsurance. Back on the phone (naturally not a free phone number) after an even longer time on hold I got through and was told “you’ll have to prove that you’ve paid the £52.92 by sending us your bank statements as we’ve not received that”.

I was left bemused, baffled and slightly annoyed by the experience and at a bit of a loss as to the difference between supercoverinsurance, 2u.co.uk and Mobile Phone World LTD. – Can anyone help or shed light on the whole mess? Thanks in advance

By: Rob Malvisi

Rob Malvisi — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:02:44 +0000

@Mark – thanks for the opportunity to respond, the administrators have not been able to trace Nick H from the few details given. I’ll try to keep it brief.

@Nick H – As has been said before the merit of any claim is decided on an individual basis. It appears as if you have been badly let down however as you should have received a replacement if your claim was approved. If you would email me on my direct email ( rmalvisi [at] talkcover.co.uk) I’ll be happy to look at your claim to see how we can assist. Whilst the administrators sometimes give a cash payment when it is easier for the customer to obtain a replacement handset than it is for us to obtain one, the objective is for the customer to obtain a replacement, not be stuck unable to afford one. I cannot really comment further without knowing the details of your case, but I said, email me and I’ll be happy to look at it.

@Pengranger – TalkCover is an Appointed Representative of Supercover Insurance Plc, not an IAR as you mistakenly stated, and is fully FSA compliant. This can be checked at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/.

@iphoneinsurancedude – TalkCover policies are now underwritten by Fortis Insurance, not Equity RedStar, and so are not the same policy you resell.

By: iPhone Insurance Dude

iPhone Insurance Dude — Thu, 14 May 2009 07:12:31 +0000

One of the primary reasons for an excess fee is to put off pointless or fraudulent claims. This is particularly true of iPhone insurance – the fraud-claim rate is comparatively higher than in other areas.

ie situations where the person wants to get a new iPhone or wants to sell their old one so makes a claim on the insurance. This is completely illegal and is insurance fraud but it does happen. The excess fee helps to discourage this.

So the excess fee is designed with this in mind, to discourage fraudulent claims.

By: Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:37:11 +0000

@Car Insurance Dude – as you should know, insurance is a risk-based industry. The risk of getting your car stolen/being involved in an accident relative to the cost of paying out (and administering the policy) is lower (relative to the value of the item) than it is for getting your mobile phone stolen and somebody running up a big bill.

Also, here in the UK, even a low risk driver (e.g. a 35-year old woman with a clean driving licence and full no claims, driving a family hatchback) would pay more than the $500 you quote for car insurance.

@Everyone. The original article was about O2 ripping me off with their overpriced insurance but now the comments on this post have got out of control. There are comments here that are accusatory (I’m not sure if Rob Malvisi has had the opportinity to approach Nick H directly), some that are just plugging alternative insurance policies, and I’ve even been approached to set myself up as a 2U affiliate (it’s tempting, but probably won’t do much for my percieved impartiality).

As the primary purpose of this website is a technology blog, I’m not sure that moderating these comments is a good use of my time, nor is it relevant to my normal readership’s interests.

Consequently I’m leaving comments open for a few more days, in order to allow those who haven’t said their piece to have a chance, then I’ll be removing the ability to leave further comments on this post.