My mobile phone seems to have developed a fault where it freezes after about a minute and wont respond to buttons. It's not the simcard as I've swapped it with others and the same thing has happened. The phone is in good condition too. I dropped it back at Easter but it's been fine since then.

My network is O2, but my contract is provided by theorder.co.uk . The phone is insured through a third party (chosen by theorder) called Sheraton services. They charge me 4.99 a month to insure my Siemens SL65.

I've just been checking the fine print on the insurance terms and conditions and noticed that in the case of 'Accidental damage', you have to go through the rigmarole of completing a claim form, sending it off, then waiting to see if they accept this. They'll then pick up the phone, test it and then decide whether to fix it or replace it. Obviously, this sounds like quite a lengthy process. I'm using my mum's phone at the moment but she's going to want it back sooner or later.

Anyone had any experience with this?I haven't even been able to claim yet (went wrong on Friday night and offices are closed over the weekend) so I'd like to know how long I'm going to have to wait.

Much obliged to everyone who's made their way to this point in the post!

Given the length of time that it is since it has been dropped I personally would say that in all likelihood they are unrelated incidents and not worth mentioning. Unless when you say you dropped it you mean from the 5th floor of a building out the window then I am sure that every phone more than 6 months old has been dropped at least once or twice in their life - I know mine has and if it when wrong months later I wouldnt even consider mentioning it.

I havent got any experience with the company that you mention who administer the policy but I would imagine you are probably looking at a 2 weeks or so when you consider the time it takes for something to go through the postal system (possibly more than once if the handling company dont have the expertise to repair phones). Best thing to do is to read your policy to see if it says anything about length of time or when you contact them ask them what their average time or SLA (service level agreement) is for these things.

I have no experince of O2 or your insurance provider. I am with Orange, and my partner was until he switched to 3. Whenever we needed to make a claim with Orange it was painless process, new handset was delivered within 24 hours. When claimed with 3 had to send the handset off to be looked at, got lost! Took 3 weeks to be 'found'
To be without a handset for longer than 24/48 hours when you are paying the insurance is ridiculous!!

Cheers for the replies.

Spoke to the Insurance people today and they told me that, since I didn't damage the phone, the problem seems to be a fault of the handset. I wasn't too sure about this but ended up ringing Siemens. Have to send them the phone and they'll repair it under the terms of the 12 month warranty. Should take 5 days.

Obviously, I'd have preferred to be issued with an instant replacement. I guess this the problem with buying and insuring mobiles with third parties.

Ignore me if I'm talking rubbish as I'm not clued up on these things but surely you are paying the insurance company so that they will sort out any problems. After all, the 12 month warranty is something you'd get anyway without having to pay extra.

Yeah, that was my thinking too. Unfortunately, the insurance covers accidental damage, loss and theft. The problem with the phone doesn't really fit into any of those and I was informed that it's the manufacturer's responsibilty. As explained above, the phone hasn't been damaged (lately) it's just developed some kind of fault. Yes, it's a pain. I've been paying £4.99 a month for insurance so I thought that actually getting some of this money back would be the only good thing to come out of this.

I sent the phone off today in a pre-paid envelope. I noticed that the warranty mentions that I could face a charge if the fault is a serious one. Should that happen, I think I'd consider refusing to pay. Since my contract ends at the beginning of next month, I could just cut my losses.

i bet you would have got an instant replacement if you told them it was stolen. not that i'm suggesting you do that of course.