iPhone Insurance Claim Rejected Because Stolen Vodafone iPhone Had The Wrong sim

Vodafone says I am not covered since my iPhone contained my business sim when it was stolen

The article below, that was printed in The Guardian on 25/11/11 is a strange one. Also, a bit sad as it does not help fight the insurance industries side one little bit, it just helps convince the general public that they are being taken for a ride by insurance providers.

Maybe it is a clause that the FSA needs to look into, just why would a mobile phone insurance policy need to be void from theft cover just because the iPhone owner had decided they wanted to use a different SIM card in their own phone?

Terms and conditions need to be implemented to any insurance policy, or fraud would rocket to uncontrollable levels, but the SIM card issue is over the top and unfortunately far to common a clause within the mobile phone insurance industry.

You could compare this with purchasing Tesco car insurance and after a claim, you find your insurance was invalid as you had shopping from Sainsbury’s in the boot!

PB from Haverfordwest must also take some of the blame in this instance though as he clearly admits he did not read the terms and conditions of his iPhone insurance policy, he simply took the words of the sales assistant to be true. With any insurance product it is essential to read the full terms and conditions yourself, rather than listening to the advice of the person whom is attempting to sell you the service.

It does also raise the question if staff in phone stores across the country are [or need to be] FSA registered to give advice about insurance products to customers.

Glad to see that Vodafone did the right thing though and replaced the iPhone in question, as they had given incorrect advise in store, that is quite good of them, as many companies would normally start the three wise monkeys act and refute that such advise was ever given in the first place.

10 out of 10 to Vodafone for corporate integrity …

In June I visited a Vodafone store in a shopping centre in Cambridge to take out a contract with an iPhone 4. I have a company sim card with Vodafone Business, which is paid for by my employer. I wanted to purchase a contract and iPhone so I would be able to switch between my work and personal sim, as needed.

Being wary about insurance, I specifically asked the saleswoman whether my contract and/or insurance on the phone would be affected if I was using my company sim. I was told categorically that it wouldn’t be. For this reason, I signed the contract and began using the phone, and agreed to pay the £12.99 a month for the insurance.

In October, my phone was stolen. Having reported the theft to the police, I called Vodafone to block the number of my work sim, which was in the phone at the time. I was told I would have to contact the insurance people to organise a new handset. I rang the insurance company, told them my work sim was in the phone at the time, and was told my claim would be refused.

I was informed that the small print of the contract (which I did not read because of what I’d been told in the store) outlined that, in order to be insured, the personal sim would have to be in the phone at the time. Vodafone has since implied it is my word against the saleswoman. I now have a contract which doesn’t finish until 2013, and no handset. Should I really be expected to honour a contract for another two years when I have been misled in order to secure it? PB, Haverfordwest, Dyfed

Thefts of smartphones are causing the telecoms companies big problems because, unlike previous handsets, the latest phones are expensive to replace. Last week, Phones 4u told the City it had suffered a 25% collapse in earnings over the last 12 months because its traditionally lucrative insurance business had been hit by a big jump in claims values, caused by smartphones. This may be the reason why Vodafone’s insurers declined your claim, although we can’t see why the sim’s origin makes any difference to its validity, as you were only claiming for the handset’s replacement.

Happily, however, Vodafone now accepts you were misinformed in its store, and has put the matter right. “We will make sure our customer relations teams learn from this, and have arranged for a replacement phone to be sent to PB,” says a spokeswoman.

Source credit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/25/insurance-claim-vodafone-wrong-sim