I have had my share of bad luck with cell phones (as I’m sure many people have). Dropping them, leaving it on the back of my car in the rain, having it ring while it was on silent, batteries dying, you name it. Everytime something happened, my cell phone company told me that there was nothing they could do because I didn’t have insurance with them. I ended up paying a lot of money to replace phones every time.
Now that I do have insurance, I pay $5 a month just to have the insurance. So far nothing has happened to my phone (fingers crossed), besides the fact that the battery died and I have had it for less than a year.
However, batteries are not covered under insurance because the cell phone companies know that this is probably the most likely to go. More than likely you are going to have to replace your battery before your 2 year plan has expired. The catch?…batteries are only covered under warranty for a year and then they are not covered even if you have insurance. A new battery can be anywhere from $30 or more depending on your phone.
If your cell phone breaks and you DO happen to have insurance, there is usually an additional deductible that you must pay. Not only that, but if your cell phone needs to be replaced often times you get one which is not as high-tech and not brand new but instead re-furbished. So basically although you pay for the insurance each month, you may not get top quality…so, what is the point?
Unless you have an extremely expensive or high-tech phone (a Blackberry or iPhone for example) it may be a waste of money to even be paying for the insurance. Over your 2 year plan, you are paying an additional $120! That is a lot of money that could have gone towards something else.
It is a personal choice whether or not you take out insurance on your phone. Usually the cell phone provider will give you up to 14 days after taking out a plan to decide if you want it.
My suggestion is that during these 14 days you take the insurance coverage contract home with you and read through it 100%. Weigh the pros and cons of the plan to see if it is right for you. Although this seems tedious, it will give you a sense as to what is covered or not and what additional fees you may incur.
Obviously I am one of those individuals who is willing to pay $5 a month because I am too scared what might happen without the coverage. But like I said, it is a personal decision and many people decide to take a risk and not purchase insurance which can be very cost-saving in the long-run.
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