O2 insurance scam - not honouring claims for 5 phones

[Anonymous]

A warning to others..

I've finally had the last straw, and this is the first time i've ever committed my complaint with a company to an online forum. That's how strongly I feel about this.

Accross the family, we have had 5 iPhones, all paying insurance charges for £12.50 per month, on long term contracts. We have all been with O2 since.. well.. as long as modern phone contracts  have been offered by then (I'm a bit scared to do the full maths, but it is surely upwards of £75,000 in airtime alone + device plans for each new iPhone). 

I have just transferred to EE sim only, despite being the kind of person who typically cannot be bothered to faff with switching things over. The other four family members closed their O2 accounts last year, after having a similar experience to mine.

My current phone is still the iPhone6. I have had a device plan and airtime bill for around £75 per month for 24 months, and I'm now close to a year past being out of contract, but still stayed with O2's plan. The entire time I've been paying for device insurance, coming to around £425 for this phone alone.

Today I spoke to O2 to make a claim for my first cracked screen.

They asked if the ohone had ever been changed by Apple, which I answered yes to, around 18 months ago when it kept locking up. In the apple store, they took the old phone, handed me a new one at the counter, and sent me on my way. 

I'm told by O2 on the phone, that because it was changed the insurance cannot be used. So at least 18 months of the insurance we've been paying would have never been valid, even for something as basic as a cracked screen.

I found out today that this was a complete dead end experienced by two other family members, which is why the rest of them had made a mass exodus away from O2.

Is it just me who finds this appalling?

[MI5]

Sadly typical of any insurance company these days who will look for any excuse to not pay out.
What you should have done, to avoid this, was to inform them of the change of phone and given them the new IMEI number.
That is all well and good in hindsight though.
As a minimum for now though, I would be claiming a refund of the premiums you have been paying since the date of phone change, as if they are saying the policy was no longer valid, they have been taking money under false pretences from you.
Try resolver off the complaints link here as a start point
http://www.o2.co.uk/contactus

[Beenherebefore]

Blame the small print that all insurance policies contain.

My philosophy regards insurance is "if it's not a legal requirement don't bother".

For most items I put an amount of money into a separate easy access savings account and use that to finance any repairs/replacements.

From memory, my only insurance policies are car, travel and buildings.

[PiedPiper]

This is just typical of the way the world works these days. Imagine the pleasure some pathetic nobody derived from spotting the loophole - probably got a gold star!

Totally agree with @Beenherebefore and have done the same for years.

[Anonymous]

The response to this issue in webchat is "I'm afraid it's not a customer service issue"

Well.. I'd say O2 has really lost touch, because given how long we've been with O2.. it bl**dy well is a customer service issue.

[gmarkj]

I realise that this is not going to help, but do you happen to have a "paid" for bank account?
Most of these now include some sort of mobile phone insurance, and some don't even need the phone to be registered.
Might be worth looking into...

[Marjo]

Hi @Anonymous Sorry to read about your negative experience. Thank you for posting about it - we send member feedback from this board regularly over to O2 so will pass on yours as well. I'm also going to send you a quick PM to get a few details, please check your private messages when you get a moment.