<p>As some students go off to college for the first time, I wanted to bring up the topic again of dorm insurance. There are many many threads on which route to take- cover via your homeowner’s policy or purchase separate insurance. I don’t want to revisit that debate. I just want to relay the great experience we’ve had with one of the two main student policies, CSI (the other being NSSI)</p>
<p>Both our daughters have CSI policies. I think we started at 5k coverage for each, we increased our older daughter’s to 7k last year when she moved into an apartment and had more stuff. </p>
<p>D2 had to file a claim on the first day of her policy. When we arrived on campus, her 64G ipod touch fell out of her pocket and the screen cracked. This claim was a bit of a hassle to process but partially due to our inexperience, we could have ordered the steps differently. Once she had a quote for repair, CSI cut her a check and the apple store gave her a new item as it was cheaper. If we had known that CSI would not require sending back the ipod she could have just gone to Apple earlier. I thought there might be some issue since this was the very first day of the policy, but no questions.</p>
<p>The second claim is for D1. She had her backpack stolen at a Paris train station. In it were her laptop, cameras, wallet, a couple dozen individual things in the contents. Again, dealing with CSI was as smooth as possible. We didn’t have receipts for all the items, we only needed to provide for items $100 or more which made it a lot easier. For one camera we didn’t have a reciept, but found a warranty document and they accepted that. The laptop was three years old, the SLR camera even older, but we arrived at agreement for reasonable replacement items. The items first proposed for the camera replacements did not have some of the features we liked in the originals, and they accepted our proposed suggestions. The only two things not covered were policy exclusions of cash and transportation items (reloadable bus pass)</p>
<p>The other great thing about the theft (if anything can be great) is that she was leaving Paris right then and didn’t have time to file a police report. CSI took a statement from the study abroad person as acceptable. </p>
<p>In both cases they needed proof of student status.</p>
<p>So if anyone is considering getting one of these policies, I strongly recommend it. Both these experiences for both damage and theft could not have been smoother.</p>
<p>Both of my kids had a phone replaced last school year through CSI. I was thinking that they probably would not want us to renew, but I have received e-mails to renew both kids.</p>
<p>We also filed a claim with CSI for my D’s phone. They were great to deal with. However, I just received the renewal email and their premium has gone up substantially. NSSI is much lower. Does anyone have any experiences with NSSI?</p>
<p>We also have filed a claim with CSI. My D dropped her computer from the top bunk and broke the screen. They sent a check minus the deductible. This was the first week of school.</p>
<p>We Need to file another claim as soon as my D gets the police report. Her bike was taken from the backyard of a friends house. Luckily my H saves receipts. It will be interesting to see what they want to give us. The bike was 8 yrs old but over 400 when it was new.</p>
<p>The big deal is to keep receipts or have some way to prove you own an item. I am thinking about this as my D has an expensive saddle at school that she bought uses so we have no receipts.</p>
<p>mom60- look now for bikes that would be equivalent so you can suggest that. For the cameras since they were many years old, there wasn’t a straightforward equivalent, but when we mentioned the cameras with equivalent features they accepted that. The age shouldn’t matter as it is replacement value.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about proving the saddle belongs to her. You might want to ask now if a picture would be sufficient. </p>
<p>We did not have to prove “ownership” Although all this stuff was in the stolen bag, the SLR camera was ours which she was using during her study abroad, and the stolen phone was also being borrowed at the time.</p>
<p>Speaking of the phone- the stolen phone was a verizon global loaner phone. This was verified to the acceptance of CSI by having a call between them and Verizon to verify the phone was reported stolen and service suspended on the day of the theft.</p>
<p>agree that several photos of the saddle from various angles would be a good thing to keep on file, in case it is stolen or damaged. Probably a notarized statement would be sufficient, IF there is coverage. You may wish to ask insurer what proofs they need.</p>
<p>We went with CSI after S2’s 6-mo old MacBook Pro laptop sustained liquid damage in his freshman year. AppleCare policies DO NOT cover liquid damage. Liquid damage can occur if someone spills a beverage on the keyboard or the sprinkler system in a dorm goes off. OR in S2’s sophomore year when a pipe burst in the bathroom directly over S2’s room & flooded his room. (Fortunately his new laptop was spared & we didn’t have to file another claim).</p>
<p>I signed my kids up with NSSI the day after my daughter’s mac book pro was stolen. Too late for that event, but throughout their college careers, we’ve filed claims for several other items (cell phone dropped in toilet, stolen camera, spilled coffee on laptop), and have always been happy with the settlements. This insurance is a no brainer.</p>
<p>How timely! I have been paying for CSI insurance for 3 students over the years. One is long since graduated and never filed a claim, and two will be college seniors in the fall. We have filed a claim for neither of them. One of my twin sons is spending the summer doing marine biology research on an island, which is 85 miles off the shore of a major city.
While stopping at a beach to walk down to the water, he tripped and fell and his iPhone (new this year) fell into the lake. He tried to dry it in some special “device dryer” that his roommate had, but the phone is “toast” after 48 hours of trying that. We immediately ordered him a new iPhone and are having it shipped to him via FedEx. We filed the claim simultaneously with ordering the new phone and I have learned that this was a mistake.
CSI is asking him for some documentation, entirely reasonable, but also wants him to take the damaged phone to an Apple Store, saying that they will repair it for a much lower cost than buying a new phone. He is 3 hours by ferry from any city with an Apple Store and cannot leave his NSF grant program to do this. His program does not end until 8/10, and I think it is unreasonable to expect him to go without a phone for another month. I am waiting to see what CSI’s response is to this. I understand their perspective, and if he was at home on the East Coast, we would have gone to an Apple Store today. He just has no way to do this now. I’m thinking they are going to say the equivalent of “tough luck!”</p>
<p>MD Mom,
That sounds like a good idea. I just don’t know if he has access to get any packaging together as a means to carefully ship it back to us. We are going to wait until tomorrow to see what the CSI rep responds to him. Our Verizon rep also told us that they have a 30 day return policy for the phone they are shipping him. He will be home within 30 days, so at least if we have to give it back to them because CSI insists that he take his current phone in for repairs, we will not be out the $700+ dollars that the new phone costs. Or should I say more accurately that our son will not be out that money. We are very mean parents, LOL</p>
<p>Well, we had CSI. Filed two claims (my D brand new iPhone was stolen on the first weekend in college, and 6 months later she dropped it in the toilet and then on the tiled floor). The claims were handled quickly and to our complete satisfaction. I couldn’t be happier… until the letter came in last months informing us that CSI is dropping my D and will not renew her coverage for next year. When I called them and ask whether there is a certain period after which she can buy their policy again I was told that it is pretty much forever.
So this year I am going with NSI. And I am buying a 3-year coverage.</p>
<p>Granted, my D is accident-prone, but her claim total was less then half of her coverage. I don’t think she should have been dropped like this. It is insurance, after all. And we are buying it to have coverage in case if accident/theft. And it is unreasonable to sell coverage and expect no claims from clients.</p>
<p>I would send the packaging to him the same way you send the phone of it is a problem and you have a time limit.</p>
<p>Newstudentmom, I was surprised to get the renewal notice from CSI. I assumed we would be dropped. I do not know how that company makes money with the low premiums and the high cost of electronics.</p>
<p>Before you sign up for special dorm insurance, make sure that your child’s belongings are not already covered by your homeowner’s insurance. My D had a great deal of her personal items stolen from her sorority house. It’s a long story but the theft was partly the fault of the house. The sorority ended up filing a claim for the loss but my insurance agent told me that the loss would have been covered by homeowners if it had been on campus property (ie: in a dorm).</p>
<p>Our homeowner’s covered most of my daughter’s things when her apartment was robbed a year ago. However, our deductible is higher than the cost of the CSI policy.</p>
We are very mean parents, LOL</p>