<p>I am almost stupid. I totally forgot I bought the insurance from CSI with a $25 deductible for my son because I believe he will need it. He did in fact just drop his phone in a puddle and it nearly died (it started acting funny after a couple days). I was all over Craigslist and ebay looking for a good used replacement because I didn’t want to reward him by using an upgrade and have him end up with a newer phone due to his negligence.</p>
<p>It never occured to me to use the insurance, and this is the very reason I bought it! I knew he’d spill something on his laptop or do something to his phone. </p>
<p>Has anybody ever claimed a phone though this company? How do they arrive at a value? He has a blackberry.</p>
<p>I might not have used even if I remembered because I’m one of those who is always afraid there is another disaster down the road bigger than the current one and I don’t want the insurance to think I’m putting in too many claims and cancel me or something.</p>
<p>I saved the phone by baking it at very low temp. I turned the oven on the lowest and preheated it, shut it off and put phone in (no battery) until it cooled down. I did it a few times and it worked. It has been working for a week now, so we’ll see. I guess I can always put that claim in if it dies, but if it lives until his birthday in the spring he can get the new phone then if he wants. </p>
<p>Just wondered how reasonable they are on values.</p>
<p>D submitted a claim for her 2 y.o. iPod Touch last year after it took a water bath. She had to send in a copy of the original sales receipt along with the iPod itself (they send a prepaid label, IIRC). One they determine that it isn’t repairable they issue a check for full replacement cost. In her case, the model had been upgraded and they based replacement cost on MSRP for the current model so she actually received a bit more than I had paid for the original. The whole process was quick, maybe a week from start to finish.</p>
<p>Since your son’s phone is now working, you’re probably right that it’s not worth doing a claim.</p>
<p>I actually had this happen to me! I had gotten S a blackberry, bought the insurance through Verizon ($7/month), and 8 months after having the phone, the screen cracked. Maybe he dropped it – I don’t know – but it was unusable.</p>
<p>I brought it in, they looked up the insurance contract, and gave me a brand new phone! </p>
<p>I doubt I have a receipt and it wouldn’t be for much because we did use an upgrade on it last Christmas, that’s why he would have to use someone else’s upgrade on the plan. That’s ok because we move the upgrades from line to line all the time. Verizon is good with that. Hopefully some other proof, like a printout showing the phone on our plan or maybe I have the box would work. I really doubt it will keep working but maybe we’ll get lucky. </p>
<p>I read there is a new Razr that is supposed to be pretty tough. I’ll talk him into that…but those iphones are appealing aren’t they? (I hate blackberries, but it was one of the cheapest smartphones at the time)</p>
<p>My DS dropped his 4 month old Thunderbolt and we used Verizon insurance for it. </p>
<p>We have CSI but the issue is they want you to get an “estimate” to have it fixed (Verizon store near him doesn’t do that and he didn’t know a place to get one) or you had to send it to CSI (with receipt) and wait. He needed his phone. So I paid the $100 phone insurance (Assurion) deductible and got the phone the next morning.</p>
<p>Fast forward 3 weeks and the phone stopped working. Filed a CSI claim but had the same issue (send it to them, he would have no phone). Fortunately Assurion replaced the phone again, no deductible.</p>
<p>So I think the insurance is good, but you need to be prepared with a backup phone while you wait.</p>
<p>My daughter’s phone was stolen, so we couldn’t send the phone back to CSI. We did have the receipt (and OP, Verizon can get you the replacement value of your son’s phone), which we sent. We also had the phone insurance, so we paid the deductible to get the phone quickly. CSI then reimbursed us for the full deductible, less the $25 deductible of their own.</p>
<p>My son’s computer screen cracked. We purchased CSI. DH sent in pics of the damage, I think a receipt (I know he looked up the date it was purchased, so I assume he sent along a receipt), got estimate for the repair and the full cost of the repair was approved.</p>
<p>S’s phone mysteriously met the toilet freshman year. We had tmobile insurance, which was a joke, and I would never recommend. The phone was less than 2 months old. He took it to store, they said they would fix it, TMobile later told me we had to “tell them it was an insurance” claim when he took it to the store for repair. T Mobile billed me $150. I was not happy.</p>
<p>Filed the claim via phone with CSI, faxed them a copy of front cover of instruction manual and TMobile bill, had the check in less than a week. I was very pleased with CSI and think their rates are reasonable. Our homeowner’s deductible is $2500 and I would never file a claim for something less than catastrophic. I was worried what a college boy could do to his phone or laptop. They never requested the phone, but this was 3 years ago. Maybe that has changed.</p>
<p>Son dropped his $800 laptop from his bunkbed last fall. We had to send it to CSI. They will attempt to repair some items. They kept it for several weeks saying that a part they needed was on back order. After about 4 weeks I emailed complaining because son was heading back to school for spring semester. They were very nice about it and immediately sent us a check to replace the laptop. Email or call them. They were very responsive.</p>
<p>D’s 4 yo Apple laptop screen cracked. She filled out their (CSI) form online, got a call from an adjuster, who requested 2 photos & a receipt. I went to our local Apple store, they quickly found the info and printed it up. D submitted receipt & pics on the 10th. On the 19th she rec’d an e-mail that 90% of purchase price, less the deducible was being sent to her for replacement. On the 23rd she replaced her computer. Cost her about $150.</p>
<p>CSI is a great company and I’m glad we’ve used them.</p>
<p>Just curious – on the cell phone front, do they pay you for the cost you originally paid (less the deductible) or the replacement cost? If you lose a cellphone you paid a deeply discounted promotional price on with a two-year contract (like the $199 iPhone 4S) I am under the impression that a replacement will run you a LOT more than $199, because it isn’t being subsidized by the wireless company.</p>
<p>mom2-
Call CSI. They were great in telling me the options for proof of purchase. </p>
<p>Since your son didn’t lose the item, he can likely take a photo and provide the serial number on the netbook as proof of purchase. </p>
<p>Did son call the manufacturer of netbook for replacement screen. Our sons laptop casing and hinge were cracked and was replaced free of charge due to insurance with the laptop we had with either Dell or Apple- can’t remember which laptop it was at the time.</p>
<p>UPDATE: The phone finally completely died. We used an upgrade and got a different phone at BestBuy for $100. Just got back from BestBuy who 12 days after purchase price matched Radio SHack’s ad for FREE phone! Submitted to CSI for cost of Blackberry. </p>
<p>Chedva, Did you only submit for the deductible? Couldn’t you have submitted to both policies? (unless they would both require you to turn in the phone…which isn’t possible if lost or stolen) I would be happy though to have part of the $99 deductible from Verizon covered, so that’s good to keep in mind. </p>
<p>Before we got the replacement I printed the screen showing the Blackberry on our account. I also printed screen showing replacement cost of 299.99. CSI requested we send phone and documentation to them. They received the phone Friday and today (Mon) he got an email offering to settle for 299.99 plus tax, minus $25 deductible. Can’t ask for better service.</p>
<p>How do they manage to make $? Our policy was for $4000 coverage (more than he needed I’m sure) and it cost $100 for the year. I assume that if we make a second claim (especially for a phone!) that he would be cancelled. I bought the Verizon $5/mth breakage plan, skipped the extra $2 for extended warranty. </p>
<p>They pay the value of the phone because a. it’s a “replacement cost” policy and b. they can’t require you to use an upgrade, some people might not have one available (our son used an upgrade from a different line) I will put the $ away (mentally at least-maybe in a special account) to use in case someone needs a phone when we don’t have a free upgrade available.</p>