Mobile Industry Review - Latest Comments in Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

kwh — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:57:56 -0000

I refer you to my own experience...

http://khaylock.livejournal.com/44943.html

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

Tom — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:01:40 -0000

Ewan the exact same thing happened to me! I'm trying to claim back money for £100 of unauthorised calls but they told me i reported the dates as wrong, which they clearly weren't. I've appealed, but they're still refusing to pay up. My advice to everyone is that they NEVER USE LIFELINE INSURANCE. THEY'RE JUST THIEVES IN SUITS.

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

Liam Westley — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:54:53 -0000

Not great with bundled insurance, close friend who has a Natwest Advantage Premier current account, which includes mobile phone insurance was informed by them that they

' .. consider the iphone main use to be an ipod'

So an iPhone is not covered by their mobile phone insurance, and has to be covered as an electronic gadget.

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

eckieboy — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:40:10 -0000

I'm having no end of problems with carphone warehouse, they have somehow managed to pass on all my personal details (name, address, phone make and model etc etc etc) to a, in their words fraudulent company who are trying to rip me off buy selling me phone insurance.
Carphone Warehouse claim they did not leak my details, and that using the electoral role and a series of lucky guesses the fraudulent company have all my details correct.
Carphone Warehouse are not interested in my complaint and refuse to apologise to me.

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

smstextnews — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:57:13 -0000

I certainly didn't read the terms and conditions Jack. I thought it would
work just the way it does with Vodafone -- or any other operator. But as
one smart cookie pointed out, there's a massive difference between the
business models of Carphone Warehouse (a retailer, a box-shifter, interested
in single-point transactions) and a mobile operator (critically dependent on
recurring revenue). Vodafone, for example, needs my business. Carphone
doesn't.

The mistake is wholly mine. And how frustrating it was -- for a little
while. As for a hate campaign -- I'd characterise it as learning for the
benefit of any readers wondering whether to get an insurance policy from an
operator from a retailer.

All is good. Lesson learnt, bit time. We move on!

2008/10/6 Disqus <>

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

Jack — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:14:13 -0000

Oh dear Ewan, such an angry person. You purchased a policy, didn't read the terms and conditions and are now angry at the company. While I see reason in your letter for you to be mildly annoyed, that's all really. And from experience I can tell you that a single email/letter to appeal this decision would resolve it. I love how you have said that you can't be bothered appealing this because of the time it would take you, but that you are now launching a hate campaign on this company, which sounds like a lot more effort!

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

JR — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:22:27 -0000

I feel for your situation, and completely disagree with the way insurance is promoted & handled by all operators. However I do think its a good idea - IF you know how to play the game. The reason that they have 'tricky' policies is to cut down and discourage the on the number of false claims. This however penalises the innocent who feel most hard done by when paying the exorbitant insurance fees for a 'no fuss' solution when the worse happens - and you just want what you were sold - insurance to replace your phone.

So, here is the way I play the game, and have been doing with great success. Granted my situation and circumstances are probably different to most but hopefully you can garner something from the following and 'shape' your situation to benefit you. My belief is that insurance for phones is the best value insurance there is and (apart from the legal obligation of insuring a vehicle etc) the ONLY insurance worth paying for. Any other is a waste of money.

I am with Orange. Do not deal with 3rd party providers - phones 4 u, CPW etc - how can they possibly give you a better deal than going to source - it may look better but that will be in the way in which the deal is constructed. They take care of the deal structure - I constantly try to improve my 'deal' by speaking to them 3 or 4 times a year. This call I do not relish as it means jumping through the hoops and getting my negotiating head on. It also results in my renewing my contract each time, which means tying me into a new 12 or now 18 month contract. Which is OK, if the deals right.

With that deal there are things that orange and all operators can discount heavily. One is insurance which is a £5 a month value and I get this for free.

I also receive a £5 loyalty reward from a previous mistake with 'free' insurance that I took umbrage to, spotted and kicked off about. Another point NEVER go back to a worse deal.

Always when looking to improve your call charges/package compare them against the best market out there. The 3 network offers the cheapest call plans so I use this to screw orange down. I now get 1000 minutes for £35. This is a £45 deal with a £10 discount. Might be called Dolphin, not sure.

Only the disconnections team can do the deal that you need to do. They are also called migration - its much cheaper for an operator to retain you than buy you afresh.

I get unlimited texts. Quite common now, and a very cheap sweetener to give away.

I get a 'free photo 30' which is 30 free photo messages. This is a monthly thing so I usually call to say can you extend if I can remember.

I get a 'lucky numbers' thing that puts my nominated most called numbers into a roster that gives benefits. I can add a number every 3 months I think. I have just missed the door on this so I only have 3 numbers. When I call again I'll try and get it reinstated.

I get unlimited off peak data so I can use my laptop. Although when I was 'sold' this aspect I wasn't told it was off peak - what use is that! so I will again be taking umbrage and demand some form of 'compensation'.
I also get free 'trail' video calls. Never use it, dont have time and its shit.

Finally. If you have a claim with insurance. STOP and think about the circumstances. All phone co's now need losses, thefts etc etc reporting within 24 hours. Phone co's do not handle these themselves - they are farmed out - IF the criteria is met. So, make sure your phone is lost - not misplaced. You may need to get a crime number so only report it when you certain and are going to be able to go into your police shop and get one. Think carefully about knee jerking to get your phone barred. Say it was taken out of your bag or pocket while on a train or bus. Dont say it was lost through negligence.

If you want a new phone cause yours is scratched and because I dont agree with adding to crime figures I use a different method to get a new phone but other operators may have different criteria. Using orange you need to basically report a fault, that when an operator at orange walks through the 'system diagnosis' they get a 'faulty handset' indicator on the system. The best one of these (faulty handset - return to base) currently is a bluetooth connectivity problem. So call to say you cannot get a connection between your pc and phone. Never let me down yet.

Always get a more expensive phone upgrade if you can and flog it brand spanking new. Just got a nokia arte and its on ebay soon. Price from nokia? £600? Its the dearest phone they do and I got it upgraded at orange for £100. Did my best to negate this but I was really out on a limb due to the other bonuses!

I'm really happy with my deal and you should be too. take a look at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ for the latest on different deals etc.

All the best.

JR

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

smstextnews — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:01:12 -0000

Agreed -- network cover is the way to go...

2008/9/30 Disqus <>

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

Darryl Ayres — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:57:54 -0000

I take your point, but remember a Network Operators insurance has an entirely different agenda than a retailers.

Having been a Retail Manager for 8 or 9 years I have had to push the sale of Coverplan and Fonesure. My honest opinion to anyone is take the Networks cover. It's about keeping you using the device to maintain your ARPU. The retailer is about profit and more profit and creating a sticky customer and bringing you back to the store. On top of that definitely research your standard home contents policy as a general insurance will often be the best option.

By the way I'm not an insider I sell Business Leads to B2B Dealers :)

My thoughts on your CPW claim is more they go through a process to protect themselves (in order to make MORE money) from fraud. They do this by verbally hearing your plight, and then getting it in writing. They then compare the two and look to escape the claim (OMG! an Insurance Company trying not to pay out what a revelation). Your claim failed because it had discrepancies and failed to meet the T&C's to be a viable claim. I feel that you need to take some ownership of your actions. We have choices in life...... if you choose not to read the T&C's before making a claim then that is YOUR choice. BUT equally if your claim is rejected because you have not reported it within the correct timescale then that is nobody elses fault. THAT IS INSURANCE! That's the nature of the beast.... it's not a charitable organisation trying to help you out in your hour of need, none of them are! That is just Marketing and PR to make you subscribe to their service. There job involves taking as many premiums as they can and paying out as little as they can!

Phew I feel better now, sorry I often take the devils advocate roll... LOL Not that CPW is much of an under dog.

Anyway I hope you see my point in amongst all of this, I'm a man of many words :P

Darryl

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

thehotaisle — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:35:35 -0000

My missus, just bought an iPhone from CPW in Norwich last week and they tried to sell her insurance. She bought from CPW because the O2 shop in Norwich had one salesman scrapping with a customer about the crap coverage of O2 and a line out the door, CPW had five salespeople, She was all for it and I said no. Reason being that you can guarantee that any insurance sold in retail premises is a complete rip off and not worth the paper it is written on. CPW, Currys, PC World, all the same rip off theft sold by salespeople who are just too embarrassed to argue when you laugh at the idea. Typically she gave me a hard time about being a tight old Scotsman, this proves I was 100% right.

BTW the O2 customer was right O2 coverage is crap.

Thanks

Steve

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

Darryl Ayres — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:03:43 -0000

I have no love lost for CPW, they have been a competitor to me, for over 10 years now. BUT!!!! Because of the dates your claim looks fraudulent. What else would you expect them to do???

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

Christoph — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:02:36 -0000

Carphone Warehouse tried hard to convince me that I need insurance for my spanking new iPhone (just imagine if you lose it/it gets stolen/it's such an expensive phone and so on). But then I started to calculate.

If insurance is £144 quid a year that means, assuming the unit costs around £600, I would have to have roughly a one in four chance that I lose my phone or have it stolen, destroyed, whatever.

Now I know people who lose their phones on a regular basis. Or they have it stolen. Or they drop them in the Thames. Never happened to me.

Insurance is about risk. My risk of losing a phone is very small (I've had a couple of phones in my lifetime, didn't lose a single one). So with a mobile phone insurance I basically finance all the replacements of people who are not capable of watching for their stuff (no offense, Ewan).

So if you're good at taking care of your gadgets and you don't want to subsidise the iPhones of people forgetting their phone at the pub, a mobile phone insurance just isn't the right thing for you.

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

smstextnews — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:09:53 -0000

They haven't done something wrong Darryl. It's their chosen business
practice. They've chosen to -- by default -- turn down my claim. A claim,
that had I made with Vodafone, would have been immediately accepted, I'd
have had to pay a one-time charge and I'd have a new handset sent out the
next day. The fact the letter doesn't even make sense demonstrates it's
simply a standard business practice. So in this case I don't think it's
about writing-a-letter-to-Mr-Dunstone, I think it's about me recognising
that it was a huge, huge mistake to rely on them. Huge. And I should eat
the loss myself.

What's more I feel I should make other people aware that their service is
definitely not what it says on the tin.

2008/9/23 Disqus <>

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

dashing — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:34:17 -0000

Now that's an interesting question: should we complain? I think the answer, in general is yes. In fact we Brits don't do it enough and this could be why we get such crap customer service in general in this country. I've been in business for longer than I care to think about and every now and then we make a mistake (cos we're human) and someone complains. We then go as far as we can to rectify the situation and invariably we have a happy client. Other times I've had a client up and leave without warning and when I've enquired they've been unhappy about something, something I could have fixed but now it's too late.

Now just to undermine that, she-who-keeps-the-chequebook, has pretty much reached a similar decision for not wildly dissimilar reasons (we’ve had our run in with CPW too), so I guess I should really practice what I preach…

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

dashing — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:30:18 -0000

Does the man only deserve/expect only one communication from you?

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

smstextnews — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:47:17 -0000

This post is linked from the top of the site at the moment and it's one of
the highest read this month. That's the way ahead for me. I don't see why
I should have to complain. It doesn't-do-what-it-says-on-the-tin. I have a
choice to give them another 250 quid (or whatever) for the insurance this
year, or buy a new iPhone 3G from o2. I'll do the latter.

2008/9/23 Disqus <>

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

smstextnews — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:45:14 -0000

Is my only recourse to write to Mr Dunstone? I've already done that. Years
ago. To thank him for excellent service at the Carphone Warehouse on Baker
Street.
2008/9/23 Disqus <>

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

dashing — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:08:42 -0000

I'm going to do something odd: I am going to defend CPW. Actually I am going to defend Mr. Dunstone. Years ago I ahd the misfortune to be involved in a car accident. I went into the side of a car. The man in the car behind me rushed over and gave me his details as a witness explaining that he'd recently been shafted (my word not his) by the insurers in a similar situation recently. I said I'd hope not to have to use it Well guess what the other party disputed the facts and we looked set for a long drawn out fight which I had no hope of winning ecept for that wtness so I duly wrote to him and hey presto within a month I was paid. That man was of course Mr. Dunstone.

So come on everyone he's human, he's been there and he's done the decent thing in the past where insurers are concerned, I'm sure he can be persuaded again!

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

whatleydude — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:08:23 -0000

Don't let it go dude.. Keep fighting.

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

dennymeta — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:21:16 -0000

Embrace the power of AND.

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

MaManfie — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:55:37 -0000

That is terrible!

The Carphone Warehouse have never done anything to overtly impress me; but that is just stupid.

I'm not a good campaign thinker (I usually just send letters, and e-mails of complaint) - but we all know where that gets us!

I suggest something that'll annoy them... Like the "Sony News" did with Sony.

Samantha.

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

Paul — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:11:54 -0000

Did the CPW salesman state that the insurance would cover you if you lost the handset? If so how about claiming the insurance was mis-sold just like all those PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) policies that people are now claiming back.

Also, check the small print of your home contents insurance policy. A lot now cover personal possessions outside of the house such as laptops, phones, etc.

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

MarkW — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:52:02 -0000

Give it the full treatment. Post every crap, wriggling excuse they send you on here as a running feature. It'll build up an archived, indexed body of evidence warning people about how they operate and it'll amuse the rest of us no end (not to mention reminding us not to do business with them). I have a particular axe to grind with CPW because they sent the debt collectors after my pensioner parents for a debt that didn't exist (at least not until they got 'slammed' by a CPW salesman). Only got sorted when I wielded my national newspaper contacts at their press office. This crap has gone on too long. Go on, give 'em hell!

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

rickyc — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:25:35 -0000

option one sounds much better! :)

Re: Carphone Warehouse Liveline Insurance: Total Rubbish

danlane — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:09:35 -0000

a new weekly segment for the MIR show in which we covertly film inside a CPW store. Stride straight over to the business solutions desk, go through all the motions of signing up for brand new top of the range phones for all 20 of the "staff" on a massive tariff with all the insrance and extras and just at the last minute... right when the salesman has pretty much spent his commission in his head.... "actually... nevermind" and walk out.

Or we could just go to their head office with our camera and your letter, Mark Thomas style!