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fac3lessman's profile

Contributor

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1 Message

Thursday, August 25th, 2016 5:12 AM

Insurance you buy with At&t is a scam - BEWARE.

It's too late for us, but do not buy the insurance! At&t has partnered with an unscrupulous, unethical company called Asurion. After paying $165 in monthly premiums ($10.99/mo.) they want another $99 to replace the phone. With all that money I could just buy a brand new phone!

 

** And Asurion sends you a USED replacement phone, not a new one!!

 

And get this - if it was just 4 months ago that the phone broke, they would have charged  DOUBLE that --> $199!!  That would have been a total of $320!

 

And what is *really* upsetting is that our salesman at the local store seemed really nice. He excitedly told us about how great this insurance was and was really encouraging us to buy and NEVER ONCE mentioned any so-called "deductible" (which is really a charge for a refurbished phone) to pay IN ADDITION when making a claim. Do they get a commission from selling this insurance? It's not like auto insurance where your $500 deductible is a small fraction of the repair/replacement cost of a wrecked car.

 

There are horror stories all over the internet. I wish I had checked before buying 😞

 

If it's not too late for you, look into extra warranty protection from the manufacturer of your phone. And cancel this insurance if you're already paying for it! Shame on At&t to bring this onto their customers. They should partner with a good company or handle insurance themselves.

Professor

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1.1K Messages

8 years ago

Hi @fac3lessman,

 

Sorry you feel that way about the insurance. Insurance is just that, insurance. It has a deductible (the $99 you paid). Your home owners insurance has one, your car insurance has one, your medical insurance has one. I wouldn't find it shocking that cell phone insurance has one either.

 

 

The AT&T insurance website (https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/features/mobile-insurance.html) also mentions "Claims may be fulfilled with new, AT&T Certified Like-New, or other models of like kind and quality. Colors, features, and accessory compatibility are not guaranteed."

 

Also, the deductibles are set at what they are based on the original cost of the phone. Your auto insurance deductible doesn't go down just because the repairs only cost $700, they still want their $500.

 

To address the commission on insurance. I don't know if it's changed, but the last time I was in a position at AT&T where I had commission on feature sales, insurance was not a commissionable feature as it was an insurance product and we weren't licensed insurance agents, but that may have changed.

 

The last time I signed up for insurance, I was also sent info via US Mail that had all of that same info in it. Whether someone chooses to read the info, is on them.

 

Again, sorry you felt like you were misled or that the insurnace is a scam, but it's just that, insurance.

 

Justin

 

If this solved your problem, please consider accepting this as the solution so that it can help others in the future. Please remember that this is a customer forum and all of the answers we provide are through our own research, experience, or personal knowledge.

ACE - Expert

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13.1K Messages

8 years ago

And most smartphones are not $99. Some can get close to $1000. It is your choice to get insurance or not and take the chance of having to pay way more than the deductible to replace your phone.

Guru

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629 Messages

8 years ago

@fac3lessman

 

I must second the statements made by both @jt212s and @kdfederer in that, considering there are no subsidized phone contracts anymore and, therefore, customers are being required to purchase phones at full price, one way or another, insurance is a very good idea for some people.  For those individuals, insurance cuts down substantially the replacement cost of their device, should something happen to it.  

Employee

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3.5K Messages

8 years ago

Whenever someone registers for insurance, you get a packet of information mailed to you from Asurion. Every insurance enrollment gets this in the mail, every device and account. It details clearly the terms and conditions of the insurance. Deductibles are a part of ALL insurance products and a cellular phone is just the same as a car, home or any other product. The cost of a cellular device is upwards ot $650-1000 for flagship phones.

 

Not sure why people are so quick to throw the term "used" around. Used means a phone is used and not recertified or reconditioned. Which the replacements from Asurion are completely reconditioned and have a complete 1 year warranty on them. So everything is certified to work properly just the same as any other device.

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

8 years ago

How is that different from Auto insurance?

You pay premiums.

If your car is stolen you pay a deductible.

You are reimbursed the book value toward another car, which may be far less than you paid for the car, no matter how well you took care of it, you can only afford a used, similar replacement.

 

The only Insurnace that pays out with no deductible is life insurance.

 

 

New Member

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25.7K Messages

7 years ago

The difference is......    auto insurance does not cost  $400/month,   with a $10000  deductible. 

 

 

New Member

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25.7K Messages

7 years ago

"Your home owners insurance has one, your car insurance has one"    ( a deductible ) 

 

The mathematical equivalent would be for homeowners insurance for my  $300,000  home to cost  $3000/month  and have a $100,000  deductible.       Or my car insurance to cost  $400/month,  with  a $10,000  deductible.    It's outrageous. 

 

ACE - Expert

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64.7K Messages

7 years ago


@futrsprntusr wrote:

"Your home owners insurance has one, your car insurance has one"    ( a deductible ) 

 

The mathematical equivalent would be for homeowners insurance for my  $300,000  home to cost  $3000/month  and have a $100,000  deductible.       Or my car insurance to cost  $400/month,  with  a $10,000  deductible.    It's outrageous. 


So what's your point? You don't think the insurance is a good deal, I happen to agree with you. I have never and will never buy the mobile insurance. However, insurance costs are based on risk and the risk of someone losing or breaking their phone is much higher than car and homeowner insurance risks. For some people, the risk for them needing to replace their $800 phone more than offsets the cost of the insurance and deductible.

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

7 years ago

@Anonymous

I know you think that's a point for your argument.  But it's not, here's where it actually bears up Asurion's high cost:    If the rate of loss were far less, mobile insurance would cost less.  

Example...

Lets look at home owners VS car.   I have a $350k home and a car worth $22k.  My yearly auto insurance premium is more than home Insurance.   The deductible is the same.  This is because the likely hood I will have an auto claim is much, much higher.  In fact I have never had a home owners claim.  But I have had car claims.  

And again for the record, Asurion works with all carriers and the terms of replacement, deductible, etc are all the same.  

 

Teacher

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14 Messages

7 years ago

Asurion are nothing short of a pain in the neck.

After resubmitting an affidavit to them, they said they never received it, so we scanned the fax and sent it.

They are difficult to get through to on the phone, but are ok to take premiums and give customers the run around.

My situation has been going on for two weeks.

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