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Protect Your Bubble.com - Think Twice
madnes
Posts: 1,081 Forum Member
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Anyone thinking of taking out Mobile Phone insurance with this firm think twice. I was fooled by the cheap premiums!
2 weeks after they the fone clinic deems my phone as beyond repair I am still awaiting a replacement handset. - I complained directly to the Underwriters and found it had not been ordered.
So far I have spent £9.84 on calls, Mainly being left on hold waiting to speak with them on the 0871 number for over 22 mins - They have now agreed to refund these charges.
They ignore emails that you send to them. And the little replies I have received back from them have not made any sense.
I am promised I will receive the replacement C7 within a few days... Not next day.
In all, It has cost me £5.80 to send the handset to them. £25.00 excess... £22.00 to pay the policy upto date and £9.84 in phone calls - to which I await the cheque.
2 weeks after they the fone clinic deems my phone as beyond repair I am still awaiting a replacement handset. - I complained directly to the Underwriters and found it had not been ordered.
So far I have spent £9.84 on calls, Mainly being left on hold waiting to speak with them on the 0871 number for over 22 mins - They have now agreed to refund these charges.
They ignore emails that you send to them. And the little replies I have received back from them have not made any sense.
I am promised I will receive the replacement C7 within a few days... Not next day.
In all, It has cost me £5.80 to send the handset to them. £25.00 excess... £22.00 to pay the policy upto date and £9.84 in phone calls - to which I await the cheque.
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I received the same email, The emails I have received from there complaints team is from superinsurance.com...
Google Protect your bubble and you will read terrible claim experiences about them.
I eish I had, they are just a nightmare. 4 times I have been assured the replacement handset had been ordered when in fact it turns it had not been ordered. It was me who informed them the handset had been written off... they were non the wiser.
Yeah, the same company Supercover Insurance has many different company names that they operate. Too many reviews on the internet telling you to avoid them.
I bank with Barclays but dont pay for the add-ons.
I will be speaking with my home insurer next week to make sure the phone is covered by them in the future. I know the contents is 0 x/s.
I put faith in Protect your Bubble. They have a duty and requirement really did not expect this much hassle.
My next step is to get at them over the x/s. Only after I spoke to the Underwriters did they contact me regarding my concerns.
The underwriters made clear they would only become involved after 4 weeks.
I am the Webmaster at Protect your bubble and was sorry to come across your string of posts. I hope you don't mind me replying to you, but we pride ourselves in customer excellence and so I was very concerned to read your feedback. To give you some background, following a very successful TV campaign earlier this year we found capacity at our Third party claims administrator to be very stretched and we moved to remedy this as quickly as possible. As a result we moved to bring the claims service in-house which allowed us to better serve our customers. Assurant Solutions Ireland is the name of our new in-house claims administrator and they will be looking after all Claims and Enquiries after 3rd May. Any claims before 3rd May will still be handled by our previous third party Supercover (who sent out an unexpected email to Protect your bubble customers on Friday which we are currently investigating). If you have any questions, I am keen to help you on your individual enquiry and you can contact me at feedback@protectyourbubble.com. Thanks for listening. PYBGirl.
If you are keen to assist send me a PM with your number on. I will not email any email address related to supercover.
PYBgirl did get in touch however assistance no longer required.
It would seem someone at Supercover seen my posting... They tried to remove my review at the review center.
I have received the replacement handset and have been refunded the phone call charges as well as the excess.
I have taken insurance via my home contents cover. Providing the same level of cover with no excess and cheaper!
I lost my iPhone 4 over 2 week's ago and I was covered with ProtectYourBubble and have paid the extra for Lost gadgets.
I realised I had lost my phone so within 3hrs of losing it after frantically trying to find it I reported it lost to my network o2.
They put a bar on the IMEI handset and the telephone number. Because this was lostand reported in the early hours of the bank holiday Sunday I then woke up the next day and went looking for my phone again.
I could not get hold of ProtectYourBubble as they were shut on a bank holiday Sunday and also on the Monday so later on in the day I decided to UN-bar my iPhone as I have remembered I had Apples Find my iPhone GPS tracking installed. I attempted to call my phone and use this service which also remote wipes/alarms to go off on the handset as well as giving you the GPS co-ordinates but none of this worked.
So on the bank holiday Monday I rang o2 and barred my iPhone IMEI handset and number again.
Tuesday came and I reported the phone Lost to ProtectYourBubble and they emailed me a claims form. I immediately filled it in and emailed/scanned all the documents they required Apple Store receipt, claims form etc to them within the hour. I then waited several days and rang them on the Friday to see how my claim was progressing and they explained we needed to do a conference call with o2, which we did and they confirmed all of the above, that the handset was barred/is barred but it was temporarily taken off when I attempted to locate it via GPS.
Now each step of the way I have had to contact ProtectYourBubble to find out how my claim has been progressing and today they tell me it has been rejected because my phone did not remain barred?
I understand from them this is against their T&C's however can they not understand it was done with good intention to prevent a claim and try and find my handset, the IMEI was unbarred for about 12hrs and is now permanently barred.
It seems to me they have caught me out on a technicality when in good faith I was trying to avoid a claim.
I have appealed the decision and am awaiting a response however since this claim started nobody has contacted me. I have had to make every call to them on a 0845 number to find out what was going on an initiate a conference call with o2. They have cut me off when in the queue about 4 times and have took a week to come to this decision which would have been much longer if I had not chased them. They advertise a claim will be paid out within 48hrs if successful obviously mine wasn't but regardless I cannot see how they hit that target.
I feel as if I'm being victimised for trying to find my phone when they know the handset cannot be used and I couldn't contact them over the bank holiday so tried other avenues to get my phone back. It does seem unfair of them, lifes unfair I know but I feel as if I am in the right here.
What difference does it make the IMEI being unbarred for a total of 12hrs? I am not claiming for any misuse of the handset for phone calls made. The phone cannot be used now.
What does everyone else think? can you advise if I am right or wrong or where I can go from here please?
Personally I don't think I'll ever use them again unless they put things right and explain why unbarring the IMEI for a few hours to try and ring it and use the Apple Find my iPhone functions has stopped my claim being accepted.
Much appreciate any advice.
Regards
Scott
Just an update
Todate between both protect your bubble and Supercover they have so far paid me £75.00 back in goodwill gestures plus £10.00 in phone call charges.
My advice is if you have a complaint with these.. Push for as much you can get... So in all a Nokia C7 is £270.00 to replace with the £85.00 I have recieved back and all I ever paid to them was £79.00 were is the buisness sense in that?
Thanks is all I can say!
The email address which PYB girl provided no one responds to.
I took out insurance on my iphone 4 for peace of mind as I knew I couldn't afford to replace it. I even took out extra loss cover.
My phone was stolen last week on my way home from work, probably when I went to a grocery shop for food for dinner. I had a number of things in my hands and was waiting to pay and I suspect someone just saw their chance and took it out my handbag (which was on my shoulder).
I realised I didn't have my phone in my handbag on the way home but thought I'd left it at work as I use my phone all the time for work and personal use - I have everything on it and am currently lost without it!
When I got to work the next day, I couldn't find it anywhere and my colleagues, security, cleaners didn't know anything so I reported it to pyb, my service provider and the police all within about 30 minute of each other. I submitted my claim and was told my insurance had been cancelled because they couldn't see monthly payments (I'd paid a lump sum payment!). I went through it all and they agreed it was their fault and my claim was fine.
I waited 3 days, heard nothing, phoned them again (10p per minute from a landline, on hold for over 10 minutes) and was told that my account was cancelled again (so went through that again!) and that my claim hadn't been authorised because I hadn't reported it lost/stolen with my service provider within 12 hours of realising it was lost. Except I did! I didn't know it was stolen until I got to work the next day - and then I reported it pretty much immediately!
They told me to appeal. so I did. Waited 48 hours, heard nothing. Phoned the number on the automated email from the appeals address and was told that they don't discuss appeals on the phone and that the appeals team don't take phone calls and I should email them. So I did. And got the same automated response as before! I'm not sure there's anyone in their appeals team! It just seems to be a black hole!
So I am going to file a formal complaint tomorrow and take it to the FOC/FSA - it's just disgraceful. Oh, and also, i was so upset, I wrote a post on my blog, and put it on facebook, including posting it on their facebook page, and also I tweeted it. They have deleted it from their facebook and twitter accounts! No response - just delete! Disgraceful!
Anyone thinking of getting insurance with them shouldn't bother - get it with your home insurance or service provider instead. PYB are a waste of money!
Go through your policy documnets and contact the underwriters directly. They used 2 Assurant and Uk General.
I have a good contact in UK General Who helped deal with my claim.
PYB will delete anything that they dont like from the facebook and twitter walls.
So how do I find out who the underwriters are?
Had To Wait 2 Weeks For A Claim Form After Constant "£10 A Call" Nagging!!
Worst Insurance Company Ever~!!!!!!!!!!!
following tuesday,still nothing. i called,was met by a rude lady,telling me that they were still in the process of calling the police,she couldnt be definate on when this process will be completed, i asked to be put through to the relevent department, she said they had no incoming calls so couldnt!! i asked why i was told the previous week that everything was ok. she said she couldnt comment as they do not communicate with that side of the business!! she told me a supervisor would call me,but guess what? they didnt.
i came home last night to a "lovely" letter stating that they cannot authorise my claim because "reasonable precautions were not taken" as my handset was UNSECURE,UNCONCEALED AND NOT UNDER MY CONTROL!!! well please remind me to bolt my phone to the palm of my hand whilst keeping it in my bag,the next time i want to use it.
today i rang them posing as a potential customer,using a number of examples of theft to see if i would be covered,and guess what?? yes, if a phone was taken in the same circumstances as mine,you would be covered!! when i told the guy who i was and asked him why my claim was rejected,well,lets just say, he lost the ability to talk...
oh and they lie about ringing the police too.
i rang earlier asking if they had contacted the police like they said they would and they said yes.
hmmmm,thats strange because i rang the officer who dealt with my case last night and he had not recieved any calls from them.i double checked with pyb to make sure it was the same number and when she confirmed it was, i caught her out and well, another colleague who had lost the ability to talk..
i was then put on hold for an eternity only to be informed to email the appeals department as i have a chance of being "successful"!!!
protect your bubble,you are an absolute joke!!!
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.PAY A LITTLE MORE MONEY AND GO ELSEWHERE.:mad:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/you-and-yours/contact-us/
Checked their terms and conditions on the website and within 1 minute decided it wasn't worth having - they seem to have every get-out clause possible in there.
Be more careful with your phone or maybe put the premiums in a savings account instead.
Yes, it's more money, but you get what you pay for,
This^
You've just had the typical experience of dealing with PYB. They will look for the smallest and slightest reason to decline your claim and then when you appeal, they'll spring another 'reason' for declining your claim.
Goodluck with your appeal, before it used to take ten working days to appeal but now its 14 working days.
As for the calls you've made, I suggest making a complaint with a copy of your phone bill to show how many times you've called to get your claim sorted plus all calls are recorded, use that in your appeal.
They'll never be able to get their act together. Anyone who has taken out a policy before May 3rd 2011 are dealing with a third party insurer called Supercover Insurance who PYB orginally were using for their gadget insurance. But! they lost that contract earlier this year due to customers having a bad and terrible experience with them that PYB got fed up with them and ditched them.
That was 6 months ago and NOTHING has changed. All the reviews are still the same and if you google Supercover Insurance, you can see they really are a terrible company.
i totally agree with you and i only wish i had done the same.