Quinn Insurance is to give 13,000 of its customers refunds totalling €290,000 after what it describes as “internal review” uncovered the fact that the company had incorrectly calculated refunds due to customers who cancelled their policies.
Aoife Kane read our recent article on mobile phone insurance and found herself agreeing, and so cancelled her policy last week.
“Imagine my surprise when I woke on Sunday morning to find my apartment broken into and my handbag, containing my newly uninsured mobile phone, gone,” she writes.
She figured it wasn’t the end of the world, as she knew she was due an upgrade. She called O2 and blocked the stolen phone and Sim card but when she asked about her upgrade eligibility she was told it wasn’t due until June 1st. This date was non-negotiable, despite the fact that she had been an O2 customer for more than eight years.
“Unfortunately mine wasn’t the only phone stolen from the apartment. My partner’s (insured) mobile was also taken,” she writes.
They both threatened to switch providers, and O2 relented and agreed to upgrade her phone two weeks early. After the upgrade was agreed, Kane received a call from an O2 customer service manager who asked how she felt about the way she was dealt with.
“I told him I was none too impressed and felt that two weeks wasn’t a lot to ask after so many years. By way of making amends, O2 has waived my line rental for one month, a saving of roughly €28 ex-Vat, which almost cancels out the cost of the upgrade I paid for. I’m undecided as to whether I’ll insure the new phone or not.”
What’s the story with phone insurance?: Mobile phones are stolen every couple of minutes in Ireland, the mobile phone companies like to warn us. And if they’re not being thieved, they are being lost in the pub or dropped in the toilet – which is why we should be eternally grateful for the peace of mind we get from the insurance policies we are artfully persuaded into when we buy a new model.
Or maybe we are just being conned into buying products which have little or no value and are just another example of big business making money out of consumers while purporting to act in their best interests.
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