Is anyone else being scammed by Asurion?
alyanon
Enthusiast - Level 1

I made a claim with Asurion on 8/20/13 and it has to be absolute worst customer service I have dealt with anywhere. Ever. Period. Unorganized and unprofessional to say the least.  I would recommend that people really look into their poor consumer reviews before buying “insurance” from these crooks. Here’s how my journey to getting a new phone has gone so far:

-Ordered phone #1, received the replacement phone, the touch screen was pretty much unresponsive and rippled wherever you touched. Called Asurion a dozen or so times, after being sent through tech support numerous times, hung up on a few times and given completely different information by different associates I finally got another replacement phone sent out. I was asked to give them another deposit on top of the $170.00m and $10.00 a month over 2 years or so I had already paid BECAUSE OF THEIR MISTAKE. I declined the charge and had to call them lord knows how many times before they would send another one out for their own mistake.

-Like any time I have dealt with Asurion, they automatically told me they did not receive the defective device I had sent back. This seems pretty standard for them so I noted the tracking number and went as far to record a video if it being put in the envelope, then the postal box. They are quick to charge or threaten to without cause. Read their consumer reviews, this seems to be a common problem (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_phones/asurion.html). Naturally, I was called about the device not being returned. Oddly enough I was looking at the tracking number that said the device had made it back to Asurion as this call came in, so I called them back and told them what was going on and the associate decided to lie to me about it’s arrival before actually checking, not realizing I already had.

-I waited for phone#2 to arrive and when I received this one I quickly noticed that the speakers work intermittently and it had what looked like dried up blood in the creases. Yuck! The phone was operable, for the most part, but if you needed to hear the phone ring you are just out of luck most of the time. So another half a dozen calls, hang ups, pointless technical trouble shooting and rounds of dealing with rude associates I finally asked them to replace their second broken phone they sent me, preferably with a new phone because obviously they do not thoroughly check out their refurbished phones. 

---When I asked the first woman if these phones are actually checked thoroughly she told me that the refurbished ones are I “identical” to the new ones.

--- The next associate hung up on me when I asked about how these phones passed any tests.

---The associate after that told me that the 2 broken phones I have received with the “refurbished by Asurion” sticker attached to the back that arrived in not their original box, but an Asurion box alongside some broken accessories (of various brands) were brand new phones! I can’t see any reason why anybody would take perfectly good brand new phones, break them, maybe get a little bit of dried up blood on them, put “refurbished by Asurion” stickers on them and package them in their own box. So since I wasn’t born yesterday I let the associate know that I’m not an idiot and I don’t appreciate being lied to. She hung up on me too. So I decided to investigate a little further and check the serial numbers on the phones to see if they were indeed “brand new.” Go figure they weren’t! They lied again…which brings us to phone #3!

-Phone #3 is the real kicker. After shipping one to an incorrect address I finally got my “new “ phone in the mail. It was in the original box, sealed in plastic. “Great!” I thought until I went ahead and tried to set the phone up. I turned it on and it was in fact somebody else’s old phone!  Disguised in a new box!!!! How shady is that?! It had somebody else’s sim card, personal information that I bet they didn’t want sent to complete strangers already in it when I received it. Nobody even bothered to see if it was still active. I tried numerous times to erase everything on the phone, but even with my sim card it was registering as somebody else’s phone. I was getting somebody else’s calls and texts on it so I replied back telling somebody (who turned out to be the son of the owner of the phone and or phone number) to have the owner of the phone get a hold of Asurion because I wasn’t having the best luck with their customer service, and I was spending more time on the phone than at my job. The night I first turned the phone on and realized it was somebody else’s, I was told to call back in the morning, in which the associate told me they were 24 hours. What? Contradictory statements seem to be this company’s policy. Because I have a job and a life I didn’t have time to make another couple dozen calls to Asurion to deal the hodgepodge of misinformation and lies that they call “customer service,” I got in contact with the original owner of the phone/phone number. It turns out the original owner sent her phone to them in the past on an insurance claim!  WAIT? But the rude associate told me that they don’t even refurbish phones! That’s odd!! And this refurbished phone was wearing a new iPhone box and accessory costume! Then after all of this I get a call from Verizon then from Asurion that interrupted me at work yet again. Since I lose money every time I step away from work to be on the phone with these people I couldn’t deal with them right then.

At this point I am VERY concerned about private information simply being left on old phones, repackaged, and handed to complete strangers that make insurance claims. Not everybody is nice enough to let somebody know that their cell phone insurance company is sharing their information.  If this would have gotten into the wrong hands it could have been even worse. This is an area that I feel companies should not be negligent in. I am worried my personal information is in the hands of a stranger now. I have dealt with the company lying to me, being rude to me, taking up hours of my time, causing me to miss work, ultimately costing me even more money but the fact that they are negligent enough to physically send your information to another person is not ok! Their solution to this is to send out replacement phone #4! I reminded them about what happened with replacements #1-3 and they offered no other solution, but rather tried to minimize my feelings about the security issue and trail of lies. Also a phone claim with Asurion unfortunately comes with hours of dealing with their  rude customer service, the inconvenience of setting up a new phone every other day and wasting time waiting for deliveries and mailing phones back. NOT ACCEPTABLE!

Labels (1)
Re: Is anyone else being scammed by Asurion?
commonsense101
Specialist - Level 2

yah, insurance companies in general have you over a barrel and know it

Re: Is anyone else being scammed by Asurion?
Wc1
Enthusiast - Level 1

On December 19, 2015 I upgraded to a IPhone 6s at the suggestion of my local Verizon store.  The representative added the Asurion extended warranty, calling it "total coverage".    On March 29, 2016 the IPhone would only work if I twisted the phone or heated it above 105 degrees.  I filed two claims with Asurion and was denied coverage.  I took the phone to the local Verizon store and was told by the representative that the phone was out of warranty and referred me to a repair shop down the street.  The repair shop wasn't able to help.  I returned to the Verizon store and met with the representative who had sold me the phone.  She said for $37 dollars I could upgrade.  After completing the paperwork, I was informed that my phone did have an extended warranty.  When all was said and done, I had paid the price for Asurion for 15 months and in the end my upgrade will now cost me approximately $950.00.