Stolen iPhone 3G - HELP!

future.music

Hi Everyone,

My iPhone has been stolen and I need your help.

I have insurance but they have a rule that you can't make a claim within 60 days of buying the insurance, so the insurance company won't provide me with a replacement iPhone.

I spoke to O2 - they won't let me out of my €45/month contract and they won't let me buy a replacement iPhone to use on this contract (they regard that as an upgrade - something I'm not entitled to for 18 months).

So, what the hell can I do? I'm left with a bill of €45/month for a phone I don't have and I can't buy one to replace it. O2 also say that because the iPhone price plans are exclusive to the iPhone I can't use another phone with that contract.

I need your help! What should I do? What are my options?

paconnors

When did you purchase the phone?

Dades

future.music wrote: »

O2 also say that because the iPhone price plans are exclusive to the iPhone I can't use another phone with that contract.

What? That's ridiculous! Have you tried just getting a replacement SIM and putting it in another phone?

I would harass them repeatedly until they budge on something. Otherwise... Director of Consumer Affairs. If they won't provide you with a chance to buy a replacement for the only phone they allow on an 18 month contract then the problem is with them.

future.music

paconnors wrote: »

When did you purchase the phone?

I bought it in August.

paconnors

Hi Op

is This your first contract or an upgrade, cause if its an upgrade and you have insurance for more then 60 days with your old contract then you are entitled to a replacement

future.music

paconnors wrote: »

Hi Op

is This your first contract or an upgrade, cause if its an upgrade and you have insurance for more then 60 days with your old contract then you are entitled to a replacement

This is my first contract. Previously I was on O2 Speakeasy since 2003.

paconnors

Did You have insurance with the speakeasy

future.music

paconnors wrote: »

Did You have insurance with the speakeasy

No. Crappy, cheap phone.

kmick

1) Ring them and bully them until they provide an alternative. The worst that they should be able to do is to buy a sim free one at vast cost.

2) If that does not work tell them you are canceling the direct debit. You have done everything in your power to work with them and if they are playing silly buggers then thats their problem. Tell them you are writing them a letter outlining your reasons for canceling the direct debit and you will be forwarding it to the director for consumer affairs, the minister for enterprise and employment, Santa, Lord Lucan, your cat and anyone else that will listen.

paconnors

threaten joe dufffffffffffffffyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

future.music

kmick wrote: »

1) Ring them and bully them until they provide an alternative. The worst that they should be able to do is to buy a sim free one at vast cost.

2) If that does not work tell them you are canceling the direct debit. You have done everything in your power to work with them and if they are playing silly buggers then thats their problem. Tell them you are writing them a letter outlining your reasons for canceling the direct debit and you will be forwarding it to the director for consumer affairs, the minister for enterprise and employment, Santa, Lord Lucan, your cat and anyone else that will listen.

Thanks. I will certainly be writing them a letter. Anyone have any ideas about leverage - apart from cancelling the DD? All I want is to get a replacement iPhone and not be paying €45/month for nothing.

jimmychin

if you bought the insurance in the shop at the time you bought the phone i dont think the 60day rule applies.

its only if you bought the insurance after you bought the phone you're buggered.

its to stop people losing a phone, buying insurance after and then claiming.

you can defo put your sim in another phone though.

alternatively you could look to claim it from your home insurance maybe?

Gillo

I may depend on the insurance, if you bought from an O2 retail store and took insurance at the time of the purchase then you are covered. I'm not sure about CPW's insurance they may be different.

I know it's annoying but I wouldn't recommend canceling the DD as you'll run up a few months worth of bills and then have the debt sold to a collections agency, which may lead to more problems. Just my opinion.

digitaldr

Agree canceling the DD might harm your credit rating - a precious thing these days!

Gillo

digitaldr wrote: »

Agree canceling the DD might harm your credit rating - a precious thing these days!

Thanks, I was waiting for the usual, "You've got every right to cancel it, FACT' sort of response.
Considering credit ratings are like relationships hard to build and very easy to mess up, you'd be made to risk doing that may lower it (speaking from experience here).

OP, who is the insurance with?

It may be worth starting a thread over the the O2 forums, the mod there Daryl, seems pretty decent and may be able to offer a suggestion / solution.

Sam Vimes

Gillo wrote: »

I may depend on the insurance, if you bought from an O2 retail store and took insurance at the time of the purchase then you are covered. I'm not sure about CPW's insurance they may be different.

There is no 60 day term or any such term on cpw insurance

op, just buy a crappy pay as you go phone, get a replacement sim and start using it, then at the 60 point, get a replacement on the insurance. They might not let you use another phone by the terms but they can't actually stop you

the iphone contract is worse than the regular contract. Seems odd to me that they would actively prevent someone signing up to a contract that gives them more money just because they don't have a particular phone

Do-more

Do you have a household insurance policy? You might be covered under the "all risks" cover. I had a Sat Nav replaced by my Bank of Ireland House insurance policy when it was stolen from a hire car in Germany earlier this year.

Fighting Irish

Dades wrote: »

What? That's ridiculous! Have you tried just getting a replacement SIM and putting it in another phone?

I would harass them repeatedly until they budge on something. Otherwise... Director of Consumer Affairs. If they won't provide you with a chance to buy a replacement for the only phone they allow on an 18 month contract then the problem is with them.

terms and conditions are wrote up for no reason then?



OP: how did your phone get stolen?

trekaddict

go on to the talk202 forum Daryll or Paddy may be able to do something for you



highly unlikely but its worth a shot:cool:

godskitchen

If you paid for the phone on Credit card you might have some comeback?

future.music

Thanks for your responses everyone.

I lost the phone in Dublin Airport, I think I was pickpocketed. I did buy it with VISA.

The most annoying thing about this is that they SHOULD have INFORMED me about the importance of buying insurance THE DAY you buy your phone - otherwise whenever you do buy insurance you have to wait 60 days before the insurance you're paying for actually kicks in.

grizzly

If the insurance doesn't cover you during the first 2 months, what is it good for?! Why are they taking a monthly fee? What, if anything does it cover

Gillo

grizzly wrote: »

If the insurance doesn't cover you during the first 2 months, what is it good for?! Why are they taking a monthly fee? What, if anything does it cover

Insurance covers immediately if you take it out at the time of buying the hone, the reason for the waiting period if you take insurance at a later stage is to stop people losing or damaging a phone and then taking out insurance.

jim_bob

why not just wait the 2 months then put in the claim , if you have allready put the claim in ring them and tell you found the phone and it was a false alarm simply really

Rsaeire

jim_bob wrote: »

why not just wait the 2 months then put in the claim , if you have allready put the claim in ring them and tell you found the phone and it was a false alarm simply really

You can't do this as you need to have used the handset within a few days of putting in your claim. There is certain insurance criteria that need to be met before an insurance claim will be honoured.

OP, I would be very careful how you proceed as you really only have one chance to make your claim. If there is no way for you to make your claim, as your insurance was bought after the handset, then O2 should be able to do something for you as you can't be locked into a contract on a restrictive tariff with no handset to use because of the ridiculous conditions they've set. The best bet would be to escalate your issue through customer care and if in doubt, ask to speak to a supervisor and don't get off the phone until you are completely satisfied.

kmick

Just a thought. If you bought it on your Visa you may have a 100 day insurance policy from them. My card covers all purchases for loss/destruction for 100 days. Get on to them fast.

Rsaeire

I spoke to two O2 customer care representatives and found out that if a customer's iPhone is lost/stolen, and they have no insurance, that another handset can be used on the iPhone tariff or the tariff can be changed to a standard O2 tariff. I confirmed that the reason the iPhone tariff can be changed to a standard O2 tariff is due to a customer's iPhone being lost/stolen and that they will take these circumstances into account.

If the OP calls O2 customer care again I am sure they will be able to assist him with a tariff change request, regardless of what the O2 representative said when he contacted them initially.