Best Insurance for EVO 4G LTE?

PsiPhiDan · May 12, 2012

I pre-ordered my EVO through BB. I'm contemplating where to get my insurance now though. Can I go through Sprint still? Should I get the BB insurance? SquareTrade? Other?

What are some pros/cons from experience? I figured this would help a lot of people out. Thanks in advance!

Sent from my PC36100 using XDA

mammothjojo88 · May 12, 2012

i would check with BB, but you can get it through sprint. just call them and ask for it, should be good to go

purock · May 12, 2012

PsiPhiDan said:
I pre-ordered my EVO through BB. I'm contemplating where to get my insurance now though. Can I go through Sprint still? Should I get the BB insurance? SquareTrade? Other?

What are some pros/cons from experience? I figured this would help a lot of people out. Thanks in advance!

Sent from my PC36100 using XDA

My 2cent experience.

BB is a great insurance from a cost perspective. No deductible if your phone needs replacement. The only down side with BB insurance is if there is an issue, they need to send it in.

My BB Story:
I sent in my OG Evo because it had a bad charging port (common problem). It took them a month and a half to get it back to me. Meanwhile they gave me a beat up LG Optimus as a lender phone. It was decent, but it felt like a life time without MY phone. They fixed the charging port on my Evo and sent it back, but when I got it back, I noticed that they blew out the one capacitative button (above the charging port). I couldn't send it out and wait AGAIN. So I used LED hack to keep those lights off, because it looked like it was missing a front tooth.

Also, if you lose or your phone is stolen, your SOL. I dropped my Evo into the dark endless bottom of a lake (SOL).

You can go onto the Sprint Insurance after you buy your phone elsewhere, like BB. Nice things about Sprint is that they replace lost or stolen phones. If you need a replacement they get you one immediately. Downsides: Replacement phone might be refurbished and you have to pay a high deductible.

It's really whatever floats your boat. Sorry for the long post.

Rodderik · May 12, 2012

just to add to sprint's TEP you should be able to add TEP through sprint within 30 days

LTEvo · May 12, 2012

Also I believe now Sprint is uping their TEP cost to 11$ per month. For phones that cost 500$+ w/o contract. It is Asurion that provides the insurance, and from what I read the LTE will have a 150$ deductible.

So essentially you will end up paying $264 for 2 years + 150 deductible = $414.

And I currently have insurance on my OG Evo. I am seriously considering just dropping the insurance. If I break my LTE, just keep my old Evo as back up or buy something on craigslist. And after a year you can get the 75$ credit towards an upgrade.

I am leaning towards just saving my money on the insurance.

Sephirothvfc · May 12, 2012

purock said:
My 2cent experience.

BB is a great insurance from a cost perspective. No deductible if your phone needs replacement. The only down side with BB insurance is if there is an issue, they need to send it in.

My BB Story:
I sent in my OG Evo because it had a bad charging port (common problem). It took them a month and a half to get it back to me. Meanwhile they gave me a beat up LG Optimus as a lender phone. It was decent, but it felt like a life time without MY phone. They fixed the charging port on my Evo and sent it back, but when I got it back, I noticed that they blew out the one capacitative button (above the charging port). I couldn't send it out and wait AGAIN. So I used LED hack to keep those lights off, because it looked like it was missing a front tooth.

Also, if you lose or your phone is stolen, your SOL. I dropped my Evo into the dark endless bottom of a lake (SOL).

You can go onto the Sprint Insurance after you buy your phone elsewhere, like BB. Nice things about Sprint is that they replace lost or stolen phones. If you need a replacement they get you one immediately. Downsides: Replacement phone might be refurbished and you have to pay a high deductible.

It's really whatever floats your boat. Sorry for the long post.

Ya i hear these all the time because thats what the old insurance plan used to be.

Let me tell you about the changes they did for the Black Tie Protection plan from best buy.

2 Options:

1) Rapid Exchange program where it takes 2-5 business days for you to get another phone. Yes it will be a refurb phone and most of the phones I send out they usually come in 2 days.

2) repair program where you can send out your phone to be repaired and u will get the same unit. Takes anywhere from 2-4 weeks to get your phone back. Now this good thing about this option is that if your phone is not cost effective to repair then they will they give u full retail value to either get the same phone or u might be able to get yourself a new phone. Ive had times where ppl had the epic 4g and they were tired of it, sent it out and 3 weeks later they got themselves an epic 4g touch for $50 since the price difference from retail cost was 649.99 to 699.99. Now this may not always happen but it can.

SilentSummer · May 13, 2012

LTEvo said:
Also I believe now Sprint is uping their TEP cost to 11$ per month. For phones that cost 500$+ w/o contract. It is Asurion that provides the insurance, and from what I read the LTE will have a 150$ deductible.

So essentially you will end up paying $264 for 2 years + 150 deductible = $414.

And I currently have insurance on my OG Evo. I am seriously considering just dropping the insurance. If I break my LTE, just keep my old Evo as back up or buy something on craigslist. And after a year you can get the 75$ credit towards an upgrade.

I am leaning towards just saving my money on the insurance.

This is pretty much my thoughts on insurance as well.
It's not really worth it. I'm keepmy my OG Evo as well for backup in case anything happens with my EVO LTE.

.jond · May 13, 2012

The Sprint warranty is essentially you making a $464($200 deductible + $11*24months) bet that you'll break your $550 phone over the next 2 years for a reason outside of the 12 month manufacture warranty coverage. Add in the variable of the price of the phone dropping after year 1, and it's a losing bet.

With squaretrade(who I currently use for my old EVO), it's a $225 bet of breaking your $550 phone over 2 years.

Bestbuy insurance just sucks from what I've read.

If your phone ever breaks, don't think of it as you're having to shell out $550.
Think of it as you've already saved $464 of the cost. You're only paying $85 extra for you losing your bet.

In other words, to make it more clear, it cost you $90 more to break your phone w/o insurance than with.
Are you really going to drop down $264($11/month) to maybe save $85 one day?

NasTraDooMis · May 13, 2012

Theres this insurance company:

http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/android-landing1

I dont have any experience through them so i dunno, seems the reviews are good though but its a bit pricey @ $70 a year or $125 for 2 .

"Coverage up to $750. Coverage only available
for phones bought in the past 30 days."

jgalan14 · May 13, 2012

Where did that 11$ came in? Are they changing it soon I paid 8$ at month and deductible is 100$ btw I do keep my insure for almost a year and then drop it ain't worth it for 24 months

Sent from my Sprint Galaxy Nexus CDMA using Tapatalk 2

ticklemepinks · May 13, 2012

LTEvo said:
Also I believe now Sprint is uping their TEP cost to 11$ per month. For phones that cost 500$+ w/o contract. It is Asurion that provides the insurance, and from what I read the LTE will have a 150$ deductible.

So essentially you will end up paying $264 for 2 years + 150 deductible = $414.

And I currently have insurance on my OG Evo. I am seriously considering just dropping the insurance. If I break my LTE, just keep my old Evo as back up or buy something on craigslist. And after a year you can get the 75$ credit towards an upgrade.

I am leaning towards just saving my money on the insurance.

they don't have $75 upgrade anymore

PsiPhiDan · May 13, 2012

NasTraDooMis said:
Theres this insurance company:

http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/android-landing1

I dont have any experience through them so i dunno, seems the reviews are good though but its a bit pricey @ $70 a year or $125 for 2 .

"Coverage up to $750. Coverage only available
for phones bought in the past 30 days."

How is that pricey? Way cheaper than Sprint and BB.

Sent from my PC36100 using XDA

LTEvo · May 14, 2012

ticklemepinks said:
they don't have $75 upgrade anymore

Hmm...I swear they were still giving 75$ credit for adding another year to your contract. Guess not, looks like this was canceled.

Ep3n3wp · May 14, 2012

I'm keeping sprint's insurance... pay the deductable and get a new phone over nighted no questions asked for any reason!

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

PsiPhiDan · May 14, 2012

Ep3n3wp said:
I'm keeping sprint's insurance... pay the deductable and get a new phone over nighted no questions asked for any reason!

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

People have been doing some intense math on this forum regarding the TEP, and it seems that you'll pay about $450 for the insurance if you use it once. That's hardly worth it when the phone won't even be worth that in a year. I would recommend against it honestly, but if the peace of mind is worth it than do what you've gotta do.

Curb71 · May 14, 2012

PsiPhiDan said:
People have been doing some intense math on this forum regarding the TEP, and it seems that you'll pay about $450 for the insurance if you use it once. That's hardly worth it when the phone won't even be worth that in a year. I would recommend against it honestly, but if the peace of mind is worth it than do what you've gotta do.

It really boils down to how much of a clutz you are. if you are always dropping and/or breaking your phone and loosing it I think insurance is a smart buy. If you are very careful and treat it like your baby then insurance is about as bad a buy as when playing blackjack.

PsiPhiDan · May 14, 2012

Okay how about ensquared.com? For $99, I get 2 years coverage and get:

-3 claims up to $1000 each (only a max of $600 TOTAL through squaretrade)

-$75 deductible (better than the $100 one through squaretrade)

-covers lost, stolen, dropped, water, etc.

Seems like the way to go! Any thoughts on this? Experience with them?

Sim-X · May 15, 2012

TEP is a house bet for most people. Those who haven't read this yet, read this write up by Mathman here.

I just dumped my TEP, 37.5% price increase with 100% deductible increase to go with it. On top of that, no guarantee your replacement is going to be new, it's most likely going to be a refurb which doesn't have the full value of a new phone.

caspertodd · May 15, 2012

I have always had TEP, and it has saved me multiple times. With my Samsung Moment, I bricked it several times. The first thing they asked me "do you have TEP?". Then they would replace it (for free) no questions asked. I have had them repair my wife's old Hero a couple times, and have had them repair other phones in the past. I have yet to pay a single deductible.

For me personally, TEP has worked out, and saved me a lot of money. So keep in mind that TEP does have some benefits too, and not every repair requires a deductible. I personally cannot afford forking out $599 for a new phone if I did not have insurance, so I have to have some sort of it. Squaretrade with a 30% off coupon makes the warranty about $90 for two years with accidental damage (doesn't cover lost or stolen), that is the other choice I would look at, but I think I may stick with TEP because of my past experience. The price hike does piss me off though.

PsiPhiDan · May 16, 2012

caspertodd said:
I have always had TEP, and it has saved me multiple times. With my Samsung Moment, I bricked it several times. The first thing they asked me "do you have TEP?". Then they would replace it (for free) no questions asked. I have had them repair my wife's old Hero a couple times, and have had them repair other phones in the past. I have yet to pay a single deductible.

For me personally, TEP has worked out, and saved me a lot of money. So keep in mind that TEP does have some benefits too, and not every repair requires a deductible. I personally cannot afford forking out $599 for a new phone if I did not have insurance, so I have to have some sort of it. Squaretrade with a 30% off coupon makes the warranty about $90 for two years with accidental damage (doesn't cover lost or stolen), that is the other choice I would look at, but I think I may stick with TEP because of my past experience. The price hike does piss me off though.

See my above post. Ensquared seems to be a better bet than SquareTrade.

Sent from my PC36100 using XDA

Best Insurance for EVO 4G LTE?

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