Ridiculous insurance claim

[SomberParsley]

Two weeks ago I claimed on my phone insurance.
Tuesday they picked up the phone and Friday they told me the claim had been accepted and an as new refurb replacement would reach me on Monday.
That one turned out to have some screen damage and a broken fingerprint scanner.
I called them, they were apologetic and told me they would arrange a doorstep swap.
Tuesday they swapped it, screen and fingerprint scanner worked fine so I did a full restore of my backup. Six hours of downloading stuff later I go to plug it in to charge and discover the charging port was broken. Too late to call that day so I called them Wednesday to tell them and they apologised again and told me I would get another doorstep swap on Thursday.
Only, they didn't book it.
So today, doorstep swap number three. I open the box and think hey, that's not the same phone.. I cba to moan anymore so as long as it's ok, whatever. Assumed they had possibly exhausted their stuck of the z5 compact.
As I am setting it up, it starts to ring.
"Hey, so we heard you are having issues with your replacements, let me check on this."
Me: well, a replacement actually literally just arrived. But it's not the same phone, what is it?
Him: are you sure its not just a different colour?
Dude, no. I am sure I can tell a compact phone from a normal sized one. I assumed it's a standard z5.
Oh yes, looks like we sent you the wrong one, we will have to swap it again on Monday but if you want to use it until then, that's fine.

2 weeks. 2. And this is what I pay 12.50 a month for and a £60 excess.
My insurance document weren't even explicit about the fact that claim would be handled by brightstar,it's all Telefónica this, Telefónica that, the only time the name brightstar appears is in section 14 about serving notice.

I have a high tolerance for this sort of think but i'm losing my will here.

[Cleoriff · Accepted solution]

Hi @SomberParsley

I think you have every reason to put in a complaint https://www.o2.co.uk/how-to-complain

I certainly would. You have been messed about far too much

[MI5]

Tell them you want to keep the full size one!

[SomberParsley]

I asked them if I could as I was completely fed up and they said no, they can't do that even though the specs are basically the same.
I mean, the full sized one won't fit my beloved case and I chose the compact when I took out the contacts in 2016 because it had somewhat better reviews than the big one, and I have tiny bendy hands.. The only reason I even claimed a month before the end of my contract instead of upgrading was because I love that phone and didn't want a change.
Then they told me they didn't have the yellow one in stock, so I had to make do with a black one and it all want downhill from there.

[MI5]

You are entitled to tell them you'll wait for your exact phone to be sourced and that you'll use what they gave you until then.

[Bambino]

@SomberParsley Sounds like an absolute nightmare. When the time comes for you to renew your insurance with O2, don't. Most homeowner's policies cover mobiles these days, as do many banks. O2 Insurance's reputation isn't really up to much. We see problems posted in this community all the time. I'm sure you can find a better policy elsewhere, and probably for less than what O2 charge. 

[jonsie]

O2 Insure, don't you just love it? Outsourced like everything else of course and like everything else it has more than it's share of problems. There are better and cheaper options but to be fair, we only ever hear of problems on here and I'm sure they have many happy satisfied buyers. But for me? No thank you.

[Liz1Ressa]

I have had similar issues. I need my phone for work. So I used my cracked screen phone that worked perfectly until a replacement for £90 next day arrived. I called up the day after to explain that the phone theu sent keeps freezing, crashing and not actually working. Their response" have you dropped it or has it had water damage" No, it's been glitchy since I've tried setting it up and turning itself off. Initially I thought it was because it needed updates. A couple of weeks later, still happening. They said they will take the phone back to investigate and leave me without a phone, no choice in an additional replacement. Now my phone bill is coming in and they want to charge 90 for sending me a worse phone. When I could have just got a local shop for the same price fix my phone. I'd say to anyone don't bother with insurance. It's a scam and save your money! I've been paying £10pm for 2 years. Save that and you'll have enough to fix or put towards a new phone if it breaks. O2 insurance are a bunch of money grabbing, time wasting scammers. Definitely going to leave o2. Their customers service and things are awful, definitely not there to help the customers.

[Oxonian]

The ironic part is @Liz1Ressa that many folks have mobile 'phone cover on either their household insurance or as part of their bank account package ; and if they don't have it, they can often add it for a relatively nominal fee. 👍