Whirlpool

Hi all,

I am thinking of buying a Nokia N96 from Think Mobile for 1.1k and I want to insure it with optus. Are you aloud to buy a phone from another store and insure it with optus or do you have to buy it from them because I do not like Optus's Branding. The phone I am going to buy is outright because I am to poor to afford a $99 plan also I want to use Vodafone as my carrier. I was wondering if the SafeGuard Essential would cover my phone if I lost it like anywhere like let's say I left my phone in my bag at school and someone stole it would Optus Insurance cover that. Does Optus actually own the insurance or is optus just a re-seller of the insurance company.

Many Thanks, Lexus.

You can only get insurance on a phone you buy from them on a contract/plan. Theyre not going to insure something they dont even sell yet. I think the insurance companies phone providers use can be contacted and you can insure phones through them. I believe they do use another company someone else may know more details. Seems a bit far fetched to think they would allow you to insure a phone bought from elsewhere. The insurance is part of buying a new phone on a 24 month contract with them.

~Spring~ writes...

I believe they do use another company someone else may know more details.

http://www7.optus.com.au/AST_File_Management/Files/production/420.pdf

The Insurance is underwritten by Optus Insurance Services Pty. Ltd.

Sorry Henry... Lol

Lexus writes...

I am thinking of buying a Nokia N96 from Think Mobile for 1.1k

The phone I am going to buy is outright because I am to poor to afford a $99 plan

So let me get this straight you can afford 1.1k straight up, but you can't afford $99 a month?

Anyone else here slightly confused?

Tassiedude writes...

Anyone else here slightly confused?

Lol yeah i get where your coming from...

unless it was tax return or something

99 times 24 is $2376. I barely use $30 credit a term.

Insurance on mobiles is waste of money. Don't bother – often they wriggle out of paying up anyway. :-|

Xtrapol8 writes...

Insurance on mobiles is waste of money. Don't bother – often they wriggle out of paying up anyway. :-|

Really? I work in an optus shop and I don't think I've ever seen them knock back a claim that wasn't completely invalid (ie, customer didn't actually have insurance or was dumb enough to say something like 'well i have it here in my hand but can we say it's stolen and you give me a new one anyway?')... we've had people bring in phones that have had all sorts of things happen to them – dropped in a deep fryer, half-eaten by a pitbull, phone was in their pocket when they got thrown in a pool at a party (two of those in the same week!), and our first iphone insurance claim was a guy who had it in his top pocket and leant over the side of a boat – bloop, bloop, bloop lol

Maybe people have trouble elsewhere but the Safeguard insurance guys that optus uses don't usually seem to ask any questions. If a phone is lost or nicked you need to fill out a stat dec in a cop station and give them the report number, and they block the phone so it can't be used, so they don't really have to worry about bogus claims I guess...

P.S: It's 8 bucks a month, I have it on my iphone cause I know I'll probably lose it somewhere eventually heh :P

How much EXCESS do you have to pay, per claim?

MatthewQ writes...

Really? I work in an optus shop and I don't think I've ever seen them knock back a claim that wasn't completely invalid (ie, customer didn't actually have insurance or was dumb enough to say something like 'well i have it here in my hand but can we say it's stolen and you give me a new one anyway?')...

+1

Having actually worked for Optus Insurance (at that stage was run out of/by Pracom) for 3 years it was quite funny the claims we had come in – from the standard "..I lent over and it dropped in the toilet." (can you imagine having to write that down) all the way to it was eaten by one of my cows.

Very handy product that I have used on more than one occasion – Funny though, since switching to Telstra I haven't had a single accident – perhaps phones are of better quality or I just look after it more knowing I will need to pay for a new one..

freesugar writes...

How much EXCESS do you have to pay, per claim?

From memory, it is $100 in the first 12 months, $75 after 12 and free after 24 months of not making a claim. Repair under insurance is $50 or free after 24 months. A claim within the first three months after a previous claim (or after getting insurance added for the first time) is an extra $65 I believe.

So in a nutshell, the worst case scenario is that you pay $165 for a replacement phone of the exact same model (or equivalent to market price if that one is not available)

Since 2 years at 8 bucks a month is just under 200, and most popular phones including the iphones are around $600-800 retail (double that from telstra lol) so even if there's 50% depreciation you're potentially saving hundreds and avoiding the ugly situation of getting a phone lost, nicked or trashed early in a contract and being slugged with several hundred dollar cancellations or having to operate on a crappy prepaid backup ;)

Is there any way to get insurance on a pre-paid phone then?

No. 12 or 24 month plan only where a phone is purchased at the same time through the plan.

Damn, So that means I can't buy the phone outright I have to go on a plan hey.

Lexus writes...

I can't buy the phone outright I have to go on a plan hey.

you could try a 12 month plan, they are not as bad as 24 months, 24 months is just too long.

Whats the cheapest plan avaliable

the original poster might not be able to insure his phone on an Optus month-to-month plan, but if you have a phone that's in our pricing list then it can be done – whether it's supposed to be done or not I'm unaware, but we sure can tick the insurance box (and first two months free heh) in our systems on any billing connect/upgrade regardless of contract term length.

Since the privacy act (and probably before it too) insurance cannot view details of your account besides insured status and date insured from, so I don't see you running into any issues if claiming in this situation.

Edit: oh, lowest plan is $5/mth (yes sim 5), but a yes 9 will give you some free calling options and might actually be useful. ;)