Asurion Cell Phone Insurance SCAM

by **Jamy** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 1:49 pm

Liv's post about that guy suing Wells Fargo reminded me of my own insurance scam I'm dealing with here. It's Asurion, an insurance company that "insures" cell phones. My son accidentally put my cell phone through the wash when he decided to do me a favor and wash my coat with the laundry. No problem...it was insured....or so I thought. Come to find out that in addition to all that I'd already paid for the insurance, I was also going to have to pay $40. Not only that, but the phone replacement option they gave me was completely unacceptable. I called them and was told that was T-mobile's problem. I called T-mobile and told me that was an Asurion issue.

This whole time, everyone I talked to at T-mobile and Asurion treated me as if I was being unreasonable for wanting to have more say in the phone that I'm to be using for the next year or longer. It took me a month to pick out the phone that I had because I'm a careful shopper and I loved my phone. The piece of crap they tried to shove on me wasn't anything like my phone and had all kinds of bad reviews online, but when I pointed this out, they were dismissive.

Nobody helped me and the best Asurion would do was keep parroting "This phone has all the same features as your old phone." Well actually, it didn't and I pointed this out too, but they still wouldn't offer me anything else. This went on for almost a week until I finally sent them an email and said that I was going to file a complaint with the lawyer who was conducting the class action lawsuit against them for just this sort of thing. The NEXT DAY I got a phone call from some secretary in the CEO's office (so she said). She said that if I could go to a cell phone store and buy my original phone, they would replace it, but when I tried, I learned it was discontinued.

I still don't have a cell phone and this was almost two months ago. The moral of the story is DON'T INSURE YOUR PHONE. I'm so pissed off about the whole thing that I told my husband not to re-up my contract with T-mobile when it runs out. I'll take my chances with some other provider.

I hate Asurion and I hope that lawyer bleeds them dry.

by **Liv** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 2:19 pm

I couldn't imagine insuring a phone unless it was something unusual....

I just bought my Optimus for $150, pay $25 a month and generally upgrade every year, though I've found if I buy the better name phones they tend to last longer. My last years phone, a Rumor 2 has been through it all and currently serving a second term of service with Shannon now.

by **Jamy** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 10:44 pm

I bought that phone with the intention to keep it until it fell apart. I really REALLY liked it, which was why I insured it, in the hope that if anything went wrong with it, I could get the same phone again. Stupid stupid stupid. I will NEVER do that again. They reemed me. :evil:

by **Liv** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 12:30 am

Well my recommendation is go Android... I'm in love with my Optimus... Its the single most amazing piece of technology I've ever owned.

by **Jamy** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 1:30 am

Liv wrote:Well my recommendation is go Android... I'm in love with my Optimus... Its the single most amazing piece of technology I've ever owned.

I will look into it. One of my friend suggested Boost too, but I'm not so sure about their coverage.

by **Liv** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 3:20 pm

Except for one odd area on Wendover, (which makes no sense to me)... I've never had a problem with service. The only thing I've found is that I wish my phone had, is flash.... but for $25, with unlimited text and data, I'm very impressed. They also have an unlimited plan too for $49 like boost.... but Virgin has done me good and I'm fond of Sir Branson's efforts into green aviation, and space... sounds silly, but little things like that make a huge difference to me.

If you buy the phone... Radio Shack had a $10 off coupon and free shipping... so I ended up 139.00 out the door.

by **Jamy** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:10 am

Oh cool! Thank you for that! How do you like the touch screen? I've always been partial to slide phones so I don't have any experience with touch screens. One of my friends has one that she just brushes her finger across a few letters and it figures out what she was planning to right. I think that particular feature might get me into trouble. LOL

by **Liv** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:04 am

My last one was a slider... it's taken some effort to get used to it, but it comes rather quicker. You do accidentally hit the wrong thing sometimes, but there is a physical back button which makes corrections easier... and your accuracy rate does get better with practice.

If you have super petite hands I'd say you'd have no problem.... but I manage just fine with my fat sausage fingers.

by **BecauseHeLives** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:08 am

Thank you for supporting the local manufacturing economy! Buy more phones!

by **Liv** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:21 pm

BecauseHeLives wrote:Thank you for supporting the local manufacturing economy! Buy more phones!

HA! Should I have a "BHL inside" sticker on my phone?

by **BecauseHeLives** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:24 pm

Liv wrote:
BecauseHeLives wrote:Thank you for supporting the local manufacturing economy! Buy more phones!

HA! Should I have a "BHL inside" sticker on my phone?

Could be!

by **ltmiller021** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:02 pm

I have been paying for insurance with TMobile for several years. One would think after awhile they would give long time customers better deals when calling to replace a phone. I only had my G2 phone for one week. I dropped the phone and the scream shattered into peaces. I have had many phones (dropped) and never experience this. Now, I have to pay $130 to replace the phone. My upgrade didn't cost that much. I believe $100 is a reasonable amout to pay. When you call TMobile and Asurion the associates are very sarcastic by saying well at least you don't have to pay the orginal price. Yes this is true but its not whay you say but how its said.

by **Liv** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:06 pm

FYI, if anyone does sign up with Virgin... signup with my kickbacks code so I get free referral minutes:

Code: Select all: isd9JQsn

Not that I'd want that to entice you... but if you decide on your own anyways... I can always use the referral minutes.

by **BecauseHeLives** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 4:12 am

Just a piece of info here. Traded the BB in last year and I bought one of the first motorola droids last year. Had it for two weeks. Was walking on a sidewalk with my phone in hand when a bee landed on top of my hand. I shook my hand up and down as hard as I good, lost my grip on the phone, and it slammed onto the concrete sidewalk with full force. The cover and battery came out. I picked it up and put it back together and to my surprise everything worked just fine. Weird thing is that I couldn't even see a scratch anywhere on the phone.

How many times do you think something like that would happen with no damage? With luck like that you don't need insurance.

by **Jamy** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 5:06 am

I ended up getting a Samsung Gravity 3. It has all the features that I want: phone (of course), camera, lots of memory, a good calendar/organizer, and a timer....and it's a slide phone. I also decided to take some extra time to pick a phone with a low SAR and the Gravity has a SAR level of .48. It also has a full qwerty keyboard, which will make entering stuff on the organizer a lot easier. I upgraded so I got it for about half of what it was priced at and I totally agree with the poster...my husband has been with this company since it was Suncom (I bet he's been with them for at least 12 years) and we have THREE lines with them. You'd think they would have been more helpful and less jerky about this.

by **Liv** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:51 pm

I've been pretty happy with anything that's LG.... my last two have been LG and they've proven nearly indestructible... where as my last Kyocera ended up in a cracked screen fireball of death.

by **A Person** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:11 pm

All phones sold in the US or Canada are capped at a SAR of 1.6, in Europe its 2.0. Most phones only emit the maximum in fringe areas

But it's addressing a concern that hasn't been shown to exist. I'd rather have the fringe reception

by **Jamy** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 1:30 am

Liv wrote:I've been pretty happy with anything that's LG.... my last two have been LG and they've proven nearly indestructible... where as my last Kyocera ended up in a cracked screen fireball of death.

Oh I have heard wonderful things about the indestructibility of LG products. I almost bought one, but I really loved the Gravity 3 so I went with my gut.

by **[email protected]** » Fri May 25, 2012 9:29 pm

I am sorry you had a bad experience. A part of this problem in the person that sold it to you the phone. The sellers ask if you want insurance stating "Your phone will be replaced if any damage or loss occurs. They don't tell you the conditions listed on the insurance certificate. This has b een a problem wiuth many companies simply be cause of the way the insurance is presented to you. I know you don't want me to tell you, but once you sign the dotted line it is your responsibility. The phones are sold to hungry customers. Some get so excited about having the phone they donot take the time to read the policy. Next time tell them you don't want the insurnce, but you do want the information so you can call when ready. This gives you a chance to see what you are agreeinig to and talking to an agent who will give you all this information. I learned the hard way about a product I purchased. It was not a cell phone.
K

by **mike1342** » Tue May 21, 2013 11:59 am

I wouldnt leave T-mobile over this issue. Mind you, I dont have T-mobile myself. But nearly all cell phone companies and cell phone insurance companies have the exact same policies.