Lifeline Insurance Yay or Nay

RubyXI

It would be on Band E so it would cost €165 a year. Seems alot. Well it is a lot if nothing ever happens to the phone. Not sure if it's worth it. Anyone have any advise?

CRAIG07

hey i only found out last week that im being charged 13.50 (think it that anyway ) a month for phone insurance , i think carphone warehouse set it up ?
is there anyway i can cancel it as i think its a wast of money...

RubyXI

CRAIG07 wrote: »

hey i only found out last week that im being charged 13.50 (think it that anyway ) a month for phone insurance , i think carphone warehouse set it up ?
is there anyway i can cancel it as i think its a wast of money...

Ya the guy told me it can be cancelled at any time. Just go into them I'd say

Sam Vimes

@CRAIG07, just go into a store to cancel it


Whether it's worth it or not depends on the phone value. How much is it?

It also covers up to €2500 of unauthorised calls along with loss and damage, which some other companies don't cover.

You need to report the phone within 48 hours of it being lost or stolen though and call the network to cancel it asap. That's very important

edit: I think you can put phones on house insurance for a few quid a year but I'm not sure how that works

djdunny

i think the thing with the house insurance is that it will only cover what was paid for the phone and not the "true" value of the phone, so lets say you get a nok 5800 on a meteor upgrade for 69 quid then all you will get back from the insurance compnay is a cheque for 69 quid. one of the terms of any insurance is that you are not allowed to profit from it so that would be why you wouldnt get a cheque for the real value of the phone.

Blue_Wolf

Call 1800 424 800

Thanks
Blue

CRAIG07 wrote: »

hey i only found out last week that im being charged 13.50 (think it that anyway ) a month for phone insurance , i think carphone warehouse set it up ?
is there anyway i can cancel it as i think its a wast of money...

Blue_Wolf

Regarding the OP's question it depends on you. Insurance benefits some people and not others. My friend breaks her phone every 3 months whereas I never drop my phone and am very careful.

jimmycrackcorm

djdunny wrote: »

i think the thing with the house insurance is that it will only cover what was paid for the phone and not the "true" value of the phone, so lets say you get a nok 5800 on a meteor upgrade for 69 quid then all you will get back from the insurance compnay is a cheque for 69 quid. one of the terms of any insurance is that you are not allowed to profit from it so that would be why you wouldnt get a cheque for the real value of the phone.

I've insured my phone with a value on my house insurance. The value is the replacement cost. Of course, the killer is having to pay the first 2-300 on any claims.

RubyXI

The phone was €380. So it would be expensive to replace. I never broke a phone before but there's always a first time i suppose

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Blue_Wolf

If you can't make up your mind instead of thinking it as 165euro (half the price of the phone) just do direct debit for a few months. If something happens than grand you are covered and haven't paid that much of the insurance and cancel after claiming off the insurance or keep it in case. Otherwise just cancel after 3/4 months. Just cover your own ass in case.

CRAIG07

thanks lads i will ring and cancel it tomorrow.
thanks for all your help;)

colly_eire

165 is cheaper than most places the Band E is only for high spec phones like iphones and n97's and the likes sure O2 have cheaper insurance for the iPhone but yoy have to report the incident to the garada and the network within 24 hours as opposted to lifelines 48 hours O2 only cover up to 1500 euro they only cover phone up to the value of 500 euro so most high spec prepay phones they dont insure ya also cant make more than 2 claims within 12 months if ever the worst happen to your phone. Lifeline do better than these in all cases research has been done and has proven Lifeline better than all network insurances and cheaper than house and contents insurance! Go on Lifeline!

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Sorry to bump old thread....

just wanted to share my recent experience with Car Phone Warehouse and their Lifeline insurance. I Bought a HTC phone off them and was sold insurance from Lifeline. I was told this was superior to O2 insurance etc as they get you a replacement phone really quickly and without fuss. Happy days 13 euro a month and off I go.

So recently my house was broken into, my wallet, phone and car taken. After dealing with the guards that day I went to the carphone warehouse to get a new phone. They gave me a old phone as a temporary measure and the form to fill in and a new sim.

A few days later I was filling in the form and noticed I should have told my network provider the phone was taken...whops I rang them straight away. The guards had asked me to not block the phone incase it popped up as I had the tracking set up on it (sim changed in the CPW that day). I explained the circumstances that I was pretty busy the day the phone was lost, to Lifeline as asked they consider replacement of my phone.

So basically they are now refusing to pay out due to the fact I should have informed o2 within 24 hours. I had been in to the CPW within 24hours and informed the insurance company. What this has to do with them I don't know, my claim is valid which they admit this in a letter however they refuse to pay on this technical point, which I feel is a land-mine placed in the contract to avoid paying. God knows how many others there are in the contract.

So when you need them Lifeline will not cover you and will find any way not to pay. Don't bother with their insurance its not worth it. Sorry to rant but really this is not on.

jimmycrackcorm

Ayla Plump Puppeteer wrote: »

Sorry to bump old thread....

just wanted to share my recent experience with Car Phone Warehouse and their Lifeline insurance. I Bought a HTC phone off them and was sold insurance from Lifeline. I was told this was superior to O2 insurance etc as they get you a replacement phone really quickly and without fuss. Happy days 13 euro a month and off I go.

So recently my house was broken into, my wallet, phone and car taken. After dealing with the guards that day I went to the carphone warehouse to get a new phone. They gave me a old phone as a temporary measure and the form to fill in and a new sim.

A few days later I was filling in the form and noticed I should have told my network provider the phone was taken...whops I rang them straight away. The guards had asked me to not block the phone incase it popped up as I had the tracking set up on it (sim changed in the CPW that day). I explained the circumstances that I was pretty busy the day the phone was lost, to Lifeline as asked they consider replacement of my phone.

So basically they are now refusing to pay out due to the fact I should have informed o2 within 24 hours. I had been in to the CPW within 24hours and informed the insurance company. What this has to do with them I don't know, my claim is valid which they admit this in a letter however they refuse to pay on this technical point, which I feel is a land-mine placed in the contract to avoid paying. God knows how many others there are in the contract.

So when you need them Lifeline will not cover you and will find any way not to pay. Don't bother with their insurance its not worth it. Sorry to rant but really this is not on.

I would challenge them on the basis that they might not cover any call charges because you didn't inform the network but your insurance should cover a replacement phone. Threaten them with small claims court and go that route if they refuse.

hucklebuck

Sorry late on the scene here.

I would tell them you never received a policy/ schedule from them so you did not know you had to, make them prove you got it.

Secondly I would query why the people selling their insurance are not explaining/ familiar with the policy they are selling inspite of the Eu's Insurance Mediation Directive.

From a professional point of view, I think it's a waste of money, the phone must be stolen from a locked boot/ glovebox in your car otherwise there must be a breakin when in is stolen from a property. It doesn't cover if it falls out of your pocket or your leave it on a table anywhere. In effect it is much cheaper to add to your household, see if your insurer will reduce your excess(the amount you must pay on each claim) for the phone and make sure your household policy covers accidental damage to cover dropping it or accidental water damage.

Sam Vimes

hucklebuck wrote: »

I would tell them you never received a policy/ schedule from them so you did not know you had to, make them prove you got it.

People have to sign a form with the policy details on it. And I'm pretty sure it's up to the person agreeing to something to know what they're agreeing to rather than being up to the shop to somehow prove they handed the customer a piece of paper months previously

hucklebuck wrote: »

Secondly I would query why the people selling their insurance are not explaining/ familiar with the policy they are selling inspite of the Eu's Insurance Mediation Directive.

A good question

hucklebuck wrote: »

It doesn't cover if it falls out of your pocket or your leave it on a table anywhere.

Yes it does. It covers loss

flazio

Just to clarify, Falling out of pocket would be covered, leaving it behind on a table constitutes unattended theft which wouldn't be covered. Insurance isn't there to allow you to be reckless with your phones.

hucklebuck

Sam, an intermediary must provide policy details to the customer as it contains distance marketing info (cooling off) and cover details. This is a fair arguement.

Can I give you advice on policies, the what is not covered section is more important than what is covered.

Their policy states "theft or loss of your equipment" but "does not cover you for the following"

> 3.1.1    The Excess, as shown on Your Certificate, which applies to each
> Claim that You make;
> 3.1.2    Damage to, or Loss or Theft of, unattended Equipment or
> Accessories which are:
> (i)    left in or stolen from a motor vehicle of any description unless the
> motor vehicle is securely locked and the Equipment is placed out of public
> view;
> (ii)    left at or in, or stolen from, a public place or a place to which
> the public and people You don't know have easy and unrestricted access; or
> (iii)    left at or in, or stolen from any other property, place or
> premises unless that damage or theft is a result of  forcible entry or exit
> by  the
> acts of a person who has entered the property, place or premises without
> invitation.
>

They are going to argue that falling out of your pocket was left at or stolen from a public place.

hucklebuck

Ayla Plump Puppeteer wrote: »

Sorry to bump old thread....

just wanted to share my recent experience with Car Phone Warehouse and their Lifeline insurance. I Bought a HTC phone off them and was sold insurance from Lifeline. I was told this was superior to O2 insurance etc as they get you a replacement phone really quickly and without fuss. Happy days 13 euro a month and off I go.

So recently my house was broken into, my wallet, phone and car taken. After dealing with the guards that day I went to the carphone warehouse to get a new phone. They gave me a old phone as a temporary measure and the form to fill in and a new sim.

A few days later I was filling in the form and noticed I should have told my network provider the phone was taken...whops I rang them straight away. The guards had asked me to not block the phone incase it popped up as I had the tracking set up on it (sim changed in the CPW that day). I explained the circumstances that I was pretty busy the day the phone was lost, to Lifeline as asked they consider replacement of my phone.

So basically they are now refusing to pay out due to the fact I should have informed o2 within 24 hours. I had been in to the CPW within 24hours and informed the insurance company. What this has to do with them I don't know, my claim is valid which they admit this in a letter however they refuse to pay on this technical point, which I feel is a land-mine placed in the contract to avoid paying. God knows how many others there are in the contract.

So when you need them Lifeline will not cover you and will find any way not to pay. Don't bother with their insurance its not worth it. Sorry to rant but really this is not on.

Howdy I have just dug into the policy. They state you must inform the network within 48 hours, this is under what is covered.

This does not appear under what is not cover, nor have they a condition precedent or a warranty stating your cover is void if you dont.

Tell them you got this advice off a reinurance underwriter with over 10 years general insurance experience and he says your phone is covered.

They may say its too late but they have notification from the time the loss occurred and they chose to close it no claim.

If they try anything, say you were told to ask for details of their professional indemnity insurance as their bad/ mis advice cost you financial loss.

PM me if you want more advice or want me to get involved.

This **** from amateurs gives us pros a bad name.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Thanks hucklebuck, its been a while and I am trying yo forget the whole thing. Eventually it was taking up so much time and hassle that I ask them to stick it. Nice to bump this thread as a warning to others.

Sam Vimes

hucklebuck wrote: »

Sam, an intermediary must provide policy details to the customer as it contains distance marketing info (cooling off) and cover details. This is a fair arguement.

The person would have bought it in a shop and been given the details at the time. I don't see why distance marketing rules should apply to something that wasn't sold at a distance and I don't see why any company should be required to prove that a customer received a second copy of their policy details in the post after they were given their first copy. And I really don't think a judge would require such proof. It's still up to the consumer to know what they're signing up to

hucklebuck wrote: »

Can I give you advice on policies, the what is not covered section is more important than what is covered.

Their policy states "theft or loss of your equipment" but "does not cover you for the following"

> 3.1.1    The Excess, as shown on Your Certificate, which applies to each
> Claim that You make;
> 3.1.2    Damage to, or Loss or Theft of, unattended Equipment or
> Accessories which are:
> (i)    left in or stolen from a motor vehicle of any description unless the
> motor vehicle is securely locked and the Equipment is placed out of public
> view;
> (ii)    left at or in, or stolen from, a public place or a place to which
> the public and people You don't know have easy and unrestricted access; or
> (iii)    left at or in, or stolen from any other property, place or
> premises unless that damage or theft is a result of  forcible entry or exit
> by  the
> acts of a person who has entered the property, place or premises without
> invitation.
>

They are going to argue that falling out of your pocket was left at or stolen from a public place.

Having worked there I can tell you that they won't. The policy covers loss. They don't say that they cover loss and then explicitly exclude all possible methods of losing your phone, presumably the most common of which would be it simply falling out of your pocket.

hucklebuck

Sam Vimes wrote: »

The person would have bought it in a shop and been given the details at the time. I don't see why distance marketing rules should apply to something that wasn't sold at a distance and I don't see why any company should be required to prove that a customer received a second copy of their policy details in the post after they were given their first copy. And I really don't think a judge would require such proof. It's still up to the consumer to know what they're signing up to

When I signed up in the shop, I was given a proposal to sign and no policy document or schedule. Distance marketing applies to all insurance policies that is why I signed up as I knew if the policy was **** I would envoke the cooling off period. Cooling off periods are to allow you to cool off, to protect consumers against signing up to a contract hastily.

Sam Vimes wrote: »

Having worked there I can tell you that they won't. The policy covers loss. They don't say that they cover loss and then explicitly exclude all possible methods of losing your phone, presumably the most common of which would be it simply falling out of your pocket.

"Having worked there?" Why did you not help Fitzgeme given your experience of the policy?

Loss in insurance relates to injury or damage, which is total or partial.

"If they won't" then why did they deny Fitzgeme a valid claim? Also their reinsurance contract will to a large extent determine their insurance policy wording.

I assume being a highly trained member of lifeline you know all about the duty of care that applies to insurance policies and thus if you knew it fell out of your pocket why did you not pick it up rather than leave it in a public place. - this would be the basis of their argument

Your household insurance policy covers theft but doesn't cover larceny and theft won't be paid if you leave the house unlocked when you aren't there, this is because of your duty of care to ensure the house is locked.

Sam Vimes

hucklebuck wrote: »

When I signed up in the shop, I was given a proposal to sign and no policy document or schedule. Distance marketing applies to all insurance policies that is why I signed up as I knew if the policy was **** I would envoke the cooling off period. Cooling off periods are to allow you to cool off, to protect consumers against signing up to a contract hastily.

Of course there's a cooling off period and you got one. You could have gone back in or called within a week to cancel but you didn't. That's not the same as saying that you should have got a copy of the policy you would have signed in the post and that not having got it should entitle you to claim on the policy despite not following the terms

hucklebuck wrote: »

"Having worked there?" Why did you not help Fitzgeme given your experience of the policy?

Loss in insurance relates to injury or damage, which is total or partial.

"If they won't" then why did they deny Fitzgeme a valid claim? Also their reinsurance contract will to a large extent determine their insurance policy wording.

I assume being a highly trained member of lifeline you know all about the duty of care that applies to insurance policies and thus if you knew it fell out of your pocket why did you not pick it up rather than leave it in a public place. - this would be the basis of their argument.

If you read the start of the thread from 2009 you'll see that I mentioned the time limit clause to the person who was thinking of getting insurance and how important it is. And I always explained it to people when I was selling it. Unfortunately it was too late for Fitzgeme who had already violated that term of his cover by the time he posted. Personally I think it's a sh!t term to put in the policy and I would have much rathered it wasn't there but it is there and I always made sure that no one I sold a policy to was caught out by it

And now that I haven't worked there for a long time it's probably safe to say that anyone who came to me to and told me they lost their phone last week and wanted to claim had "yesterday" put down as the date of loss

hucklebuck

Sam Vimes wrote: »

Of course there's a cooling off period and you got one. You could have gone back in or called within a week to cancel but you didn't. That's not the same as saying that you should have got a copy of the policy you would have signed in the post and that not having got it should entitle you to claim on the policy despite not following the terms

If you read the start of the thread from 2009 you'll see that I mentioned the time limit clause to the person who was thinking of getting insurance and how important it is. And I always explained it to people when I was selling it. Unfortunately it was too late for Fitzgeme who had already violated that term of his cover by the time he posted. Personally I think it's a sh!t term to put in the policy and I would have much rathered it wasn't there but it is there and I always made sure that no one I sold a policy to was caught out by it

And now that I haven't worked there for a long time it's probably safe to say that anyone who came to me to and told me they lost their phone last week and wanted to claim had "yesterday" put down as the date of loss[/QUOTE]


I did envoke the cooling off period. You sign a proposal form which is just your details and details of the insured item. If you read my post I said notifying the operators within 48 hours(or 24, whatever it was) is not a warranty so it does not void the policy in it's entirity so he has a valid claim. If it is a warranty he is entitled to his premium back as the policy is cancellled ab-initio. BY the way I queried this with Carphoen Warehouse and they told me your full policy follows in the post so they probably only provide a synopsis of cover. I would refer it to the Insurance Ombudsman

As for saying someone lost the phone yesterday, you would be better off playing the discovery card (you didn't dicover it was lost so you couldn't report it sooner). Otherwise any unauthorised calls will not be covered on your policy if it is lost 2 days and someone is running up bills.

Sam Vimes

hucklebuck wrote: »

I did envoke the cooling off period. You sign a proposal form which is just your details and details of the insured item. If you read my post I said notifying the operators within 48 hours(or 24, whatever it was) is not a warranty so it does not void the policy in it's entirity so he has a valid claim. If it is a warranty he is entitled to his premium back as the policy is cancellled ab-initio. BY the way I queried this with Carphoen Warehouse and they told me your full policy follows in the post so they probably only provide a synopsis of cover. I would refer it to the Insurance Ombudsman

As for saying someone lost the phone yesterday, you would be better off playing the discovery card (you didn't dicover it was lost so you couldn't report it sooner). Otherwise any unauthorised calls will not be covered on your policy if it is lost 2 days and someone is running up bills.

Look I really don't want to get into an argument with you. What I can tell you is that people's claims are rejected for violating the 48 hour time limit every day of the week. If Lifeline are wrong to do this either because it's an illegal clause or because they're somehow misunderstanding their own terms and conditions then he may well have some success in the small claims court or he could make enough of a nuisance of himself in store that they just give him what he wants to get rid of him. But under normal circumstances he will simply be yet another person who didn't follow the rules of the policy and therefore is not entitled to claim on it.

hucklebuck

Sam Vimes wrote: »

Look I really don't want to get into an argument with you. What I can tell you is that people's claims are rejected for violating the 48 hour time limit every day of the week. If Lifeline are wrong to do this either because it's an illegal clause or because they're somehow misunderstanding their own terms and conditions then he may well have some success in the small claims court or he could make enough of a nuisance of himself in store that they just give him what he wants to get rid of him. But under normal circumstances he will simply be yet another person who didn't follow the rules of the policy and therefore is not entitled to claim on it.

Sam, I am not looking for an argument or saying you are wrong, I am just giving free professional advice to anyone curious about the insurance. My point on the 48 hour limit is that they are wrong in what they say and if you point out that this is not a warranty you may have some joy. Failing that someone insured with them can contact Irish Insurance Federation(http://www.iif.ie/) for free information or complain to the Financial Services Ombudsman (http://www.financialombudsman.ie/).


FIN.:)