Asurion Warranty is a Scam
busdriver12
Newbie

I signed up for Asurion's extended warranty for my new iPhone 4s.  Phone got some water damage which caused it to fry the phone.  I submitted my claim for a new phone and found out the deductible is $169.  I only paid $199 for the phone brand new.  Why would anyone pay $9.99 a month and still get charged nearly the same amount to replace the phone as to just go buy a new one? DON'T PURCHASE THE EXTENDED WARRANTY - it is a scam!

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Re: Asurion Warranty is a Scam
acraftylady
Specialist - Level 2

But if your contract is not up for renewel you will not get that phone for $199, it would be way more than $169 out of pocket it would be full retail unless you had an upgrade discount coming  so I don't see that as a rip off or am I wrong?    Mary

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Re: Asurion Warranty is a Scam
Spiral
Master - Level 1

Replacement cost of an iPhone 4s (16GB) without insurance would be $649.  You are complaining about having to pay maybe $230 (6 months@ $9.99 + $169).  Sounds like you neglected to read the terms of the insurance before purchase.

Re: Asurion Warranty is a Scam
Tidbits
Legend

a brand new iPhone 4S is $649 dollars for the 16Gb, $749 for the 32Gb, $849 for the 64gb.

The reason why when you first purchased the device at $199 is because you signed a 2 year agreement which will help the carrier make the money back they subsidize as well a gain profit over those 2 years.  When you broke the phone you haven't honored your 2 year agreement yet so you can't get another device subsidized.

Re: Asurion Warranty is a Scam
kdb1964
Enthusiast - Level 1

That is always a shock when you have to pay so much for replacement when you have been paying so much for insurance each month. The additional blow is when Asurion replaces your iPhone with one of their "rehab" phones. We have had to deal with Asurion in the past and the replacement phones that they send are awful. Then we are stuck trying to get replacements that actually work. And Verizon does the same thing when they replace phones because they are faulty. We bought 3 iPhone 4s in December and have regretted it. They are just a few weeks old and one already stopped working and Verizon is replacing this practically new phone with a used phone that has been repaired. And each time either Asurion or someone from Verizon tech support has given us the speech of how the repaired replacement phone is as good as new and went through the same quality checks as a new phone. But we end up with a faulty phone regardless. You would have the same luck skipping the costly insurance altogether and saving the money. Then you can buy a phone from EBay and stand just as good of a chance that it will work well.

Re: Asurion Warranty is a Scam
demmo86rt
Champion - Level 3

busdriver12 wrote:

I signed up for Asurion's extended warranty for my new iPhone 4s.  Phone got some water damage which caused it to fry the phone.  I submitted my claim for a new phone and found out the deductible is $169.  I only paid $199 for the phone brand new.  Why would anyone pay $9.99 a month and still get charged nearly the same amount to replace the phone as to just go buy a new one? DON'T PURCHASE THE EXTENDED WARRANTY - it is a scam!

I pay $6.99/mo. with a $99 deductible (and that is straight out of the letter from Asurion detailing their new rates), I think the issue is with your phone.  Apple has a history of keeping the reigns super tight over their products and may have had some say about the insurance terms.  In fact, when the iPhone first came out on AT&T, you couldn't even insure it.

P.S.  After thinking about it, I ran back and re-checked the paperwork and yes, the iPhone is once again in a category all by itself.  Apparently it is such a magical device that it requires a higher premium and, while that normally means you have a lower deductible, in this case, it is, in fact, higher.

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Re: Asurion Warranty is a Scam
kaebfly
Champion - Level 3

demmo86rt wrote:

busdriver12 wrote:

I signed up for Asurion's extended warranty for my new iPhone 4s.  Phone got some water damage which caused it to fry the phone.  I submitted my claim for a new phone and found out the deductible is $169.  I only paid $199 for the phone brand new.  Why would anyone pay $9.99 a month and still get charged nearly the same amount to replace the phone as to just go buy a new one? DON'T PURCHASE THE EXTENDED WARRANTY - it is a scam!

I pay $6.99/mo. with a $99 deductible (and that is straight out of the letter from Asurion detailing their new rates), I think the issue is with your phone.  Apple has a history of keeping the reigns super tight over their products and may have had some say about the insurance terms.  In fact, when the iPhone first came out on AT&T, you couldn't even insure it.

P.S.  After thinking about it, I ran back and re-checked the paperwork and yes, the iPhone is once again in a category all by itself.  Apparently it is such a magical device that it requires a higher premium and, while that normally means you have a lower deductible, in this case, it is, in fact, higher.

Actually, if you look at the insurance rates available for AT&T devices you will see that several devices have higher insurance rates and deductibles...not just Apple devices. I used AT&T as an example solely because I was looking at this info with a friend recently while she tried to decide if insurance was worth it for the phone she was getting her teenage niece. This seems to be the case for most providers at this point and the newer smartphone devices. What you don't seem to understand is that if you didn't have insurance and something happened to your device before you were eligible for an upgrade you would NOT be able to pay that new price you see advertised (the 2 year contract price). You would have to pay several hundred dollars more for the full retail price...unless you opened another line to get it at the 2 year price...but then you would either be paying for an extra line for 2 years or you would wait it out and pay an ETF fee to stop paying that monthly fee....in the end you will still pay far more than the 2 year price or the deductible. You can play with a couple of scenarios to make your cost cheaper than full retail, but short of being eligible for upgrade or having someone let you use their upgrade (or like I mentioned, opening a new line to get another phone for the lower price) you will still pay far more then you would if eligible for upgrade. Oh...if you're lucky enough to find a good device for sale by someone then you can pay less than full retail also...but you have to be very careful when it comes to that.

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Re: Asurion Warranty is a Scam
demmo86rt
Champion - Level 3

kaebfly wrote:

demmo86rt wrote:

busdriver12 wrote:

I signed up for Asurion's extended warranty for my new iPhone 4s.  Phone got some water damage which caused it to fry the phone.  I submitted my claim for a new phone and found out the deductible is $169.  I only paid $199 for the phone brand new.  Why would anyone pay $9.99 a month and still get charged nearly the same amount to replace the phone as to just go buy a new one? DON'T PURCHASE THE EXTENDED WARRANTY - it is a scam!

I pay $6.99/mo. with a $99 deductible (and that is straight out of the letter from Asurion detailing their new rates), I think the issue is with your phone.  Apple has a history of keeping the reigns super tight over their products and may have had some say about the insurance terms.  In fact, when the iPhone first came out on AT&T, you couldn't even insure it.

P.S.  After thinking about it, I ran back and re-checked the paperwork and yes, the iPhone is once again in a category all by itself.  Apparently it is such a magical device that it requires a higher premium and, while that normally means you have a lower deductible, in this case, it is, in fact, higher.

Actually, if you look at the insurance rates available for AT&T devices you will see that several devices have higher insurance rates and deductibles...not just Apple devices. I used AT&T as an example solely because I was looking at this info with a friend recently while she tried to decide if insurance was worth it for the phone she was getting her teenage niece. This seems to be the case for most providers at this point and the newer smartphone devices. What you don't seem to understand is that if you didn't have insurance and something happened to your device before you were eligible for an upgrade you would NOT be able to pay that new price you see advertised (the 2 year contract price).  You would have to pay several hundred dollars more for the full retail price...unless you opened another line to get it at the 2 year price...but then you would either be paying for an extra line for 2 years or you would wait it out and pay an ETF fee to stop paying that monthly fee....in the end you will still pay far more than the 2 year price or the deductible. You can play with a couple of scenarios to make your cost cheaper than full retail, but short of being eligible for upgrade or having someone let you use their upgrade (or like I mentioned, opening a new line to get another phone for the lower price) you will still pay far more then you would if eligible for upgrade. Oh...if you're lucky enough to find a good device for sale by someone then you can pay less than full retail also...but you have to be very careful when it comes to that.

Um, I do understand that you would have to pay the full retail price, my original statement was based on an assumption that the OP was exaggerating.  My point (admittedly very poorly made) was that one should know what they are getting into before signing up for something.  If you sign up for any other insurance, would you not find out beforehand what the payment AND deductible are?  I don't disagree with anything you have said in any of your other posts, I pay for insurance on my two main lines 1) for the extended warranty (which I used on both my and my wife's last two phones, and probably on other phones before that) 2) because I work in construction and the chances of harming a phone, no matter how careful you are are higher than normal circumstances and 3) because my wife is notoriously hard on phones (her last one got dropped in the bathtub, fortunately we were due for an upgrade, before that she dropped one in the deep end of the pool, one got lost in a parking lot and run over, one went through the wash and, no, I am not making this up). 

As for my other statement, I saw an opportunity to take a dig at the iPhone and took it (I blame the new forum layout for this, normally I would never wander into the iPhone area, but this thread showed up on the main screen and, in a weak moment I clicked on it). 

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Re: Asurion Warranty is a Scam
colleencarrigan
Enthusiast - Level 3

The EXACT same thing happened to me. Why does Verizon continue to do business with these grifters? They SUCK!

Re: Asurion Warranty is a Scam
BDA
Contributor - Level 1

If you call Apple within 30 days or go into an Apple store you can buy Apple Care +. Its $99 upfront and they replace the phone for $49, and they cover broken glass now. Comes out to be a lot cheaper in the long run, plus you get Apple Tech support for 2 years so you won't have to call Verizon their non-tech help. I realize its past 30 days now for you but might be helpful for others who are looking to buy an iPhone.