Phone Gadget insurance not paying out

[woolleyterrier]

Please help before I go insane!

 

Last week, I woke as normal and placed my phone on the side of the washbasin in the ensuite and washed and then brushed my teeth.

 

I needed the toilet so sorted that then went back to the basin to wash my hands. I left water in the basin to do this. To my horror, My Iphone was now submerged in the bottom of the basin.

 

I claimed under my bank account gadget insurance gadgetsafe and after getting things so mixed up for 10 days and saying my phone was stolen! they have said that they will not cover this as I did not take reasonable precautions to prevent damage or loss.

 

How could i possibly have predicted that? I dont consider I have been reckless.

 

They have made me feel like a criminal and even said that people do this to replace old or tatty phones. Its an Iphone 4 and although 14 months old, is in brand new condition. I really look after this and have always had screen protectors on front and rear as well as a bumper case so surely this is testemant that I really do take reasonable care to prevent damage??

 

Thinking about it, for any sort of accidental damage to happen they could turn round and use this as a get out clause so whats the point?

 

I have paid this for 2 years and never claimed for anything in my life.

 

I have obviously appealed today but they dont seem to see common sense.

 

Any ideas anyone please?

[Conniff]

So you dropped it in the handbasin but reported it stolen?

[Conniff]

Moved to the insurance forum

[woolleyterrier]

No, sorry i wasnt clear in my explanation, probably because I am that bloody angry!

 

I claimed for accidental damage, which I am covered for. After a number of days talking to 4 different people, most of them from what I thought was India, they called me back and said that they had to arrange a conference call with Orange to prove when the phone was "blacklisted". I questioned why this was and they said it was to prove when I reported the phone stolen. I said IT HAS NOT BEEN STOLEN............LOOK ON THE CLAIM FORM!!!! They then detailed they got this wrong then looked at the claim again then said it was a loss claim due to the phone going down the plughole!!!! I said IT HAS NOT GONE DOWN THE PLUG HOLE, IT WONT FIT............LOOK ON THE CLAIM FORM!!!!

 

Then after all of this total and utter incompetence, they refuse my claim, over a week after the event saying I was reckless in leaving the phone at the side of the wash basin!

[unclebulgaria67]

Same advice for any Insurance complaint. Make a complaint in writing to the address shown in your policy documents and if not resolved to your satisfaction within 8 weeks, you can ask the Financial Ombusdman Service to look into your complaint.

[kinrossfranco]

I am in the middle of a similar claim.

 

My phone was stolen at a wedding on a Sunday night. I made the discovery the following evening, reported it to the network and had the phone blocked and then called the police the following morning to make the report and get the report number, well within the 24 hour reporting period after discovery.

 

I then contacted the bank who use Gadgetsafe for my cover, spoke to the relevant people, got the forms and completed and returned them that day. This was nearly a month ago. I reported the phone as stolen to both the police and network.

 

The company sent me a letter about a week later declining the claim on the basis that I didn't report it to the police within 24 hours of discovery. As this was nonsense I called them, was told there was nothing they could do and of course requested to speak to a manager. Apparently 24 hours is the standard reply time for a Manager to call you back. I had to call them two days later and was told if I wanted to appeal it would take a week for it to be heard.

 

I sent an email with the appeal articulating every detail of the proceedings making them aware that I could provide CCTV footage from tescos and an itemised phone bill from my girlfriend showing the exact time of discovery.

 

A week later I had to call them and apparently after review my appeal was successful, three days before I called them. They offered me a refurbished iphone 4 8gb instead of my 3GS so I thought fine. I called in two days later to make the payment to find out their payment system was down. I tried again that afternoon with the same result. They said they would hold the phone for me and low and behold I called in on the Monday to find out it's been allocated to someone else.

 

I'm now waiting on the manager calling me with an outcome as I refuse to pay extra money on top of the £50 excess (supposed to be £25 for a stolen phone but my phone apparently was lost according to the Gadgetsafe) to upgrade to a new phone. They offered my totally different phones instead.

 

To top it off they are based in London NW10 and I'm calling from London but I have to pay them 10p per minute just to speak to them, and I've had alot of long winded conversations with them.

 

Still waiting...

 

Advice: Stay clear of GADGETSAFE as they will do anything they can to make the claims process as long and arduous as possible to put you off in the hope you'll give up and just buy a new phone.