Insurance

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I don't normally bother getting insurance when I get a new phone, but considering I just spent close to £500 this time I'm thinking it might be a good idea. Unfortunately Handtec (the company I bought the Touch Pro from) didn't offer me any insurance with it and I've enquired with my credit card company if purchases are insured because I know some credit card companies offer this service - unfortunately mine doesn't!

So does anyone in the UK know how to go about getting my Touch Pro insured against loss/theft/accidental damage for the next year or so, and what would be a reasonable price to pay?

OK never mind, I've just been doing some googling. I found several sites that wanted £7.99 a month (probably all the same company as they all had very similar wording) which seemed quite expensive even though they all give you a free battery after a year (another reason why they're probably all the same company).

Then I found Gizmoguard: They only want £24 per year and are underwritten by AXA so I chose to go with them. The only slight glitch is that they only insure items up to a value of £500 and most sites are selling it for more than this. I don't think this will be a major problem though, even if you paid slightly more than £500 for it, they should still give you £500 back so you wont be too much out of pocket if you need to claim.

A lot of people don't realise that their phone is often covered on their household insurance. Even when lost/damaged/stolen while out and about.

Originally Posted by finisterre

A lot of people don't realise that their phone is often covered on their household insurance. Even when lost/damaged/stolen while out and about.

Very true but the excess could be quite high. Mine's not, but I have to specifically inform my insurer of any items worth over £500 that will regularly be taken outside the house. Then they up the premium by about 50p per month...

It says in the Gizmoguard FAQ that

7)Are there any items you cannot cover?
The maximum cover for any one item is £500. You cannot insure an item with a value of over £500 with Gizmoguard.
We cannot cover mobile phones.

Did you still manage to insure your phone?

I just checked on that site and it covers blackberrys and ipaq's so would presume it would cover the Touch Pro

Originally Posted by mtbmtbmtb

It says in the Gizmoguard FAQ that

7)Are there any items you cannot cover?
The maximum cover for any one item is £500. You cannot insure an item with a value of over £500 with Gizmoguard.
We cannot cover mobile phones.

Did you still manage to insure your phone?

As duke748 just (sort of) said, the Touch Pro isn't a mobile phone! It's a PDA with a "phone" feature

Although I've already purchased a policy, I have just sent them an e-mail to make sure that my cover is definitely valid cos I did pay more than £500 in total for mine, but I bought it from Handtec bundled with TomTom software and my argument is that the device on its own without the software is sold on the same site for less than £500 (just about). Seeing as it's only the device that I want to insure, and not the software as well, I should be OK. I told them to cancel my policy and give me a refund if I'm not covered, but I don't see why I shouldn't be.

I asked them:

You say you don't cover mobiles, but you do cover Blackberry. Do you insure other smartphones besides Blackberries? Eg the HTC Touch Pro?

And got back this response by email this morning:

No sorry we do not cover smartphones, we cover blackberries and other devices that have the function of a mobile phone but not mobile phones that have other functions.

I guess the question is, when is a device a phone with PDA features (not covered), vs a PDA with phone features (covered). As the Touch Pro is probably one of the most advanced smartphones in terms of non-phone features, and definitely more PDA-featured than a Blackberry, it's not obvious to me that it's a "phone with PDA features" - but with insurance it pays to be unambiguous otherwise you'll end up not covered (it's the underwriter's job to make sure that all conditions of the policy are met before paying out so).

Originally Posted by zanewilson

I asked them:


And got back this response by email this morning:


I guess the question is, when is a device a phone with PDA features (not covered), vs a PDA with phone features (covered). As the Touch Pro is probably one of the most advanced smartphones in terms of non-phone features, and definitely more PDA-featured than a Blackberry, it's not obvious to me that it's a "phone with PDA features" - but with insurance it pays to be unambiguous otherwise you'll end up not covered (it's the underwriter's job to make sure that all conditions of the policy are met before paying out so).

Hmm... I just checked my e-mail and I got this reply:

Hello

Thank you for your e-mail.

If you are happy to cover your item without the software/accessories so that the total value insured is £500 or less then that is fine to do this and you would not be affected in the event of a claim.

We trust the above will prove to be satisfactory however please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further assistance.

Kind regards

Customer Service

Insurance4Living
JLT | Online - virtual insurance solutions

I definitely won't be deleting that message in case I need it in the future

I asked gizmoguard the following:

"I would like to insure a device I have purchased (HTC Touch Pro) and would like to clarify two things:Firstly, I bought the product for £518 although most shops sell for £499. Would this be insured OK for £499 despite the price I purchased at?

Also, the policy mentions that mobile phones are not covered. The HTC Touch Pro is a PDA with phone capibilities - would this pose a problem?."

Their reply was:

"Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we do not cover PDA’s where it is also a phone, however if you contact a specialist mobile phone insurer they should be able to assist you further."

This obviously conflicts with previous posts here so I guess it depends on how you word your queries! I'll be using household contents insurance because nowhere seems anywhere near as reasonable as Gizmoguard.