Re: BOGUS! Verizon Wireless Total Equipment Coverage

I'm thinking they would refund you on the discounted price you paid for the phone, not the full retail price of a replacement phone.

I'd have to see the refund document in writing, before I would sign up here.....sounds too good to be true....

How exactily do they determine if the manfacturers waranty covers it? With me they just check the litmus paper then change it out.

That is pretty much the test. Unless there are some obvious signs of abuse (broken displays, cracks in the housing, etc) or the phone is older than 1 year, Verizon should replace the phone in store with no hassle.

I too learned about the $50 deductable. I just wanted my phone replaced becaue I had broken the hinge for the 2nd time, i was about to superglue it again but my friend said "don't you have insurance??" So I tried that and they wanted fifty bucks for a new phone.. I was like "whatever, nevermind then" and superglued that thing for <$2

I guess it's a good idea to have the insurance, but the monthly fees you pay for it should addup to cover the cost of the deductable or SOMETHING!

I went around the web searching for people that felt similar to us. And I found a bunch of great blogs. Here is one: Asurion Cell Phone Insurance — a Scam? . And it links to a lots of other materials as well.

Nice Blog! I had a similar experience with the insurance, but ended up getting a loaner phone from the store so I did not have to fork over 50$ for a refurb phone.

I Just Had An Experience With The Total Equipment Coverage Plan Where My Daughter Was On The Back Of My Dad's Motorcycle And She Dropped Her Phone (lg Vx9900 Env) At 60 Mph. We Turned Around Picked It Up And Called It In And Yes I Had To Pay The $50 But Since I Bought The Phone Without The New Every Two And Paid $319.99 I Feel It Was Well Worth It. I Also Feel That It Was Very Simple To Make The Claim And The Phone Was At My House The Next Day. Sorry That Others Have Had Problems Just Thought I Would Share My Experience.

Cell phones are not free. By agreeing to the fact that you are signup for a one to 2 year contract they are reduceing the price of the phone. 40 dollar plan X 2 years is 960.00 Is why a phone that cost 100 bucks can be given for free.

I agree. The price of the phone is built into the plan.....

Say a phone costs 300$ (cost to Verizon) this is only 12.50$ per month on a 2 year contract. Now we all know this is the Retail cost of the phone, and Verizon pays far less than this......

speaking of Radio Shack! i few months ago my battery completely went.. I went to my local Radio Shack and asked for a replacement but they didn't have the right one left over.. so, even though they stopped carrying Verizon i just had to call up Radio Shack and they sent me a new battery for FREE! They had the deal where, i guess, after having your phone for 10-12 months you get a replacement battery (as long as you bought it there of course!).. If they have it they will send it! check it out!

I got screwed this weekend by Verizon also. I've been having battery life problems with my Chocolate for the past couple months. I've gotten the software updated, the battery changed, and I finally took it in to get the handset replaced. After having 1 technician tell me that it was normal and they couldn't do anything about it, I spoke with the manager, who agreed to replace the phone. Even he said it wasn't normal.

So I left it to get replaced, and when I went back to pick it up, the manager said that the phone had gotten wet and my warranty was now void and they couldn't replace it. He told me that I should've purchased insurance and I could keep it as-is or pay full retail for a new phone. I've only ever taken extremely good care of my phone and it's never been wet. This is so ridiculous and now I'm stuck with a messed up phone with no warranty. I hate Verizon with a fury right now. For all I know, they could've gotten the little litmus thing wet and claimed that it was like that already.

WOW! Well, I just read all of the comments in this post....

A couple of things that came to my mind:

1.) Of course there is a deductible--it's insurance--insurance has deductibles!! Now, I understand that it is important information to be told that there is a $50 deductible--being detailed with a customer is good.

2.) Insurance is a good deal in MOST cases--if you aren't eligible to upgrade and have to replace it at full cost then you are probably looking at $220 or more unless you just have a very basic $150 retail cost phone. You only get the discounted prices when signing contracts, i.e., Verizon "eats" the additional cost of the phone with a contract. It's only a smart business practice on their behalf to decline replacing damaged phones for free (as customers often will demand); they don't even start generating revenue on your account until towards your second year of service with them and if they give you just one free phone and "eat" the cost of this they have lost a pretty good amount of that revenue. Verizon's habit of "sticking to their guns" has made them the successful company that they are which in turn allows them to put so many dollars into their network which provides you with the good coverage that is likely part of why you choose Verizon for service (at least...this is true for MOST!). Verizon is the ONLY major cell phone service in the USA that avidly turns over profits quarter after quarter after quarter with no losses. This can't be done if you give away everything like some carriers are doing--they are creating their own customer churn!

Okay--I've rattled enough! Just some thoughts flowing...

Just to Clarify I personally am the Manager for Wireless Advocates inside of Cost-Co. Depending on the damage there are certain times we can make exceptions. However water damage is not one of them, if he had insurance like in this case he did we would have sent him to a Coorperate store to do the insurance claim.

Also as far as the insurance claim, your issue with how much you have paid. Let's say you paid $18 and then the $50 deductible. You just made out on a really good deal for a new phone. Let's use the worst case scenario and you did not have the insurance you would have been looking at upwards of $200 full retail price for a new phone.


Bottom line is tell your daughter her phone is not the thing that should be getting wet.

I wrecked the LCD screen on a VX7000 and didn't have insurance. I ended up signing up one of my kids on the Family Share plan to get another one! Then, I hooked him up with my old Motorola.

Two years later (the VX7000 was brand new!) I've got a new 8600 and he's happy as a clam with the VX7000.

I took out insurance this time, mindful of how expensive the 8600 will be to replace if something happens to it. But I'll watch the prices, and if it drops, I planned to drop the insurance.

Can you do that?

Thanks!

you can take the insuarance off at any time, however you may only add it on during the first 14 days after purchase of the phone.