If I ended up with a device which was materially compromised in terms of functionality as a result of the repair, I wouldn’t accept this and my gut is that a complaint would in these situations probably lead to a replacement device being sent.
I think it’s fairly likely you’d just be sent a replacement in the first place during such a repair job for that reason.
We can probably just agree on ‘presume you will end up with third party parts/unofficial repairs unless your policy specifically promises that they will use manufacturer ones’, and that for Apple devices with Assurant cover if they can use third party parts then they will.
It’s all well and good pointing to AppleCare and saying ‘this is the better cover’ - and undoubtably it is - but AppleCare with theft and loss on a high end iPhone costs £12/month, and obviously doesn’t help you at all if you have a heart attack abroad or break down on a motorway. If you value each component of Nationwide FlexPlus insurance as worth £4.33/month each, Apple’s insurance is triple the cost - it ought to be significantly better!
it feels a little bit like offering advice to somebody who’s purchased a second hand Citroen and found it to be lacking oomph that a brand new Lamborghini would have been a better buy…
I’m comfortable with my £13/month decision. I know the limitations, and I know that I will not (and have not) received a device with equivalent warranty when I will (and have) claimed. I also know that I will not have a device for a bit in the event of a claim and I am prepared for that eventuality.
It’s important when reviewing packaged insurances to review their usefulness to one’s own specific circumstances, I think is the lesson here. And while they might not be for suitable for oneself, for another they might end up being a perfect fit.
Just to be clear, we were discussing the mobile cover provided as part of the packaged bank account. Specifically for my input that you picked on: how that particular insurer handles the repair of an iPhone (the device in question in the OP) which is what my thoughts have pertained to.
So this all now feels to me a bit like a shifting of the goal posts just so you can be right on the internet.
AppleCare specifically also wasn’t my recommendation, that’s who OP would have gone with had they realised the limitations with Nationwide. In fact the one I referenced (and only as a point of comparison for my evaluation process) was the Post office which starts from around £6 for an iPhone. Though it’s worth noting we don’t know what Nationwide’s mobile cover is valued at for this person here. If the customer isn’t taking advantage and benefitting from every other component of the packaged bank account (which would certainly be the case for me), it’s going to be more than your estimated £4.33 (which is substantially lower than the £5.85ish Martin Lewis always sign posts that component at on his show by the way). In my case it would be £13, because that’s the price of the account, and the mobile insurance is the only benefit of the account applicable to me, and it’s only me it would cover. At that point, even Apple Care is cheaper.
Monthly cost also isn’t the be all end all either.
But my input to this thread was to join the chorus in the (I think) fair criticism of Nationwide/Assurant with respect to covering an iPhone for an individual. The only advice I’ve offered is in the way of the general rule of thumb I tend to follow when I evaluate insurance for myself and I’ve made no recommendation for AppleCare (or any insurance provider over another). I haven’t even mentioned Apple Care in any of my posts in this thread until now. So I’m not at all sure how you’ve construed that I’m doing this:
It’s what it says in your policy that matters, not what their repair partner claims.
Regardless, the partner you’ve linked to doesn’t make that claim as far as I can see. This is what it says in their FAQ under ‘Do you use Apple parts?’
We do not use parts direct from the manufacturer, nor does any repair company who are not authorised by Apple as Apple do not sell genuine parts to third party companies. Instead we use OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and replacement parts.
It clearly says they don’t use Apple parts. It then goes on to say they can use OEM parts, which will mean they might go to the manufacturer that makes the part for Apple. But, crucially, it says and replacement parts which to me says if they don’t go to the OEM they will just source a part from any manufacturer.
Personally, for me, I don’t think it matters if the phone is returned in a state that is working. If their use of non-Apple parts meant that functionality was degraded then I would expect them to resolve that, but it would be up to them how they do it as I don’t think there’s anything specific defined in the policy. I imagine their options would be send a refurbished phone or pay me the value of the phone so I can source a replacement myself.
In terms of this stuff about not being able to go in to a shop, I don’t think you’ll get anywhere with that. Even if they did let you go in to their store I can’t see anywhere where it says they would have to offer you a same-day repair.
And on the other extreme, a family with 4 people, 6 phones, regularly holiday abroad and would benefit from the roadside assistance (x2) will be paying 60p or something I can’t be bothered to work out per phone to insure via Nationwide.
It’s not helpful to look at the extremes, and I would cordially suggest that if you only need 1 insurance then a package of insurances is unlikely to represent good value.
It might be for some though. I would never pay £12 or even £6 per month per device for insurance, it wouldn’t be worth it (to me!). Others would just never purchase insurance because they perceive that they’ll not need it and/or be able to afford to cover costs themselves.
Price sensitivity is a thing, and if you balk at AppleCare level prices you either have to believe that it’s overpriced (in which case you need to carefully compare the benefits of lower priced products to ensure you’re comparing like-for-like in the respects which matter to you) or you need to compromise on your cover. Or go uninsured.
You don’t even need to be going abroad regularly. It was going to be about £300 for one trip last year for the four of us. That, for us, means that we effectively get free breakdown and mobile phone insurance.
That said, this discussion has me wondering about who the mobile phone insurance is aimed at. Clearly it doesn’t really work for a high end iPhone but, because of the excess, it doesn’t seem to work for more sensibly priced phones (say, £200 or so) either.
Like most insurances with an excess, it’s aimed not to make it too cost effective to claim.
As for the OPs position on the coverage, unless it specifically offers these things (e.g. loan phone) then they’ve not got a leg to stand on. I would guess the FOS or a court would also look at the cost of the FlexPlus coverage (which is effectively £6.50 for a joint account holder) and see what is reasonable to expect. They definitely cannot expect the equivalent of AppleCare for a fraction of the fee.
Agree. My wife doesn’t fly so we have little need for travel insurance (although could still potentially benefit for a missed GB booking, it wouldn’t be something I’d seek insurance for normally).
We do have an ageing car though, and with onward travel included we can be confident that we’ll be decently covered such that we get to wherever we’re going (e.g. if we break down on our journey to our UK holiday). In my head, that’s £8 of what I pay each month, with the other fiver evenly split between our two phones.
Let’s not poison the well by projecting our own personal situations on the market as a whole and thus tainting a product as something that ‘doesn’t really work’.
Firstly, it does work for high end iPhones, unless you’re keen on keeping Apple parts/warranty.
There are also other high end phone manufacturers - my phone had a retail price greater than any current iPhone, and has been replaced completely (and upgraded) once as a result of loss and had a repair which Samsung quoted £400 for. In each case making the claim was a super easy process, no human interaction required and the devices sent [back] comfortably inside the expectation which was clearly communicated in advance and as part of the claim process. (Both these claims were when I was still with Halifax Ultimate Reward, but it’s essentially the same underlying phone insurance you get with them and Nationwide FlexPlus, just a different excess).
Obviously if you are using cheap phones then insurance is probably not worth bothering with.
Yes, I suspect so. My thinking is that the phone would likely need to be north of £300 to be worth claiming. Even then a damage claim might not be worth it if it were only a broken screen.
The travel and breakdown does seem very worthwhile. We do a fair number of short trips which are now covered when previously we didn’t bother.
If you have the insurance, then any repair or replacement that would cost more than £100 is worth considering a claim for. In the case of a screen repair I suspect most mid-market screen repair jobs will run you less than £100 tho, and it might be more of a faff to send away than get it sorted yourself locally.
Whether insurance is worth getting is a bit of a matrix of personal preference, affordability etc.
I suspect it’s probably not so worthwhile for repairing, say, a £200 phone given the £60 excess although given that it’s effectively free insurance covering four phones for me, for more than a broken screen it would be useful.
The loss, theft aspects would definitely be worth having obviously.
