To pay or not to pay. That seems to be the question when it comes to phone insurance. There are many considerations to take into account when it comes to deciding whether or not to get insurance on your phone. Lately, I’ve received a lot of emails from people who broke their Shadows in one way or another. Be it falls, drops, water or stolen it does cost money to replace or restore your Shadow.
The solution is insurance (T-Mobile does provide it). I have used it before, many years ago for a broken screen. The Shadow does demand some dollars so unless you have cash coming out of your ears you might want to consider the replacement costs. My suggestion is this, if you are young or accident prone, get insurance. You will be happy you did. At the most you will wait a few days for your new Shadow to arrive in the mail.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Insurance is a whole 6 bucks a month a t-mobile… GET IT… It’s better to pay half of your phone cost then to buy a new phone.
Although t-mobiles insurance requires you to send your phone in the mail and THEN they send you a new one.
My last phone was covered under insurance but i needed a phone that day so i added a line and bought the shadow.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
really? iv used it three times with my previous phone and i always got the replacement first then sent the defective away.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
pay the insurance!! I just got mine the LCD inside the screen broke yesterday called them told them what happened they sent a BRAND NEW one today came with the shadow box all the accessories a new battery all the cables etc..! So not only did i recieve a brand new phone it only took 26 hours to get it. heres the crazy part. i orginally had the SK3 and i signed up for insurance on that phone then i sold it and bought the shadow off of craigslist then it started over heating so i called for a manufacture defect and told them i got it for a xmas gift so i didnt have a receipt and since the shadow was only like a month or so old they approved the claim so i recieved a brand new one at no cost then yesterday i broke the screen paid the deductible and got this NEW one. I dunno how they didnt catch it but it worked insurance is a great feature granted $6 a month adds up to $72 a year but even on craigslist shadows sell for $200+
February 27th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
How has everyone commenting (and the original post’s author) neglected to mention that on top of the $6/mo charge for insurance is the $110 deductible.
Obviously, no one here has ever given a thought to risk/benefit analysis, or you would clearly see that spending $144 over the course of a two year contract doesn’t make any sense.
If you can get a brand new Shadow on eBay or Craigslist for ~$200, why spend $244 to insure it and file a claim? Just be more careful with your expensive electronics.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
commenting on john ok how well could you trust people off craigslist/ebay i mean even mine over heated and the seller said it was “perfectly fine” ur also paying for assurance u know what your getting FOR SURE and also whats more affordable $6 a month with $110 deductible or $200+ straight out of pocket.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I have had several phones over the years and never thought I needed insurance. Then lost a Samsung T629 slider when a Camero drove over it. I still had a year and half on my service contract before I would qualify for another phone, and so I bought a used phone with no warranty. I learned, and I have insurance on my Shadow.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:35 am
John,
Not everyone has to pay the deductible. I’ve been with -Mobile for many years. One time I had a broken phone, there was no deductible. A second time I had a broken phone they didn’t have my model, but sent me a different phone instead with no deductible. I decided to have my original phone fixed instead so I sent the replacement back anyways.
I don’t know the schema for deductibles, but I do know I don’t have one.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Here’s the trick of the trade. Get the insurance for the new phone. After one year with the phone find out how much it would cost if you upgraded at that moment. If your upgrade cost is equivalent to the insurance deductible at that time, cancel the insurance. Because if you did break your phone, they’ll just send you a refurbished one whene it would cost you the same to upgrade and get a brand new one. Yes this recently happened with me for my wifes pearl.
February 28th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I guess it depends on how your phone breaks since all phones come with a one year warranty, where tmo will send you a replacement phone for about $10 shipping. Only condition is that the white circle under the battery is not red (indicates water damage), the screen is not cracked, or the shell of the phone is not cracked. I got my shadow under a one year plan so it’s not a huge gamble.
February 29th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I should have bought the insurance from T-mobile, a week after I got the it fell about 4 feet in its case to concrete forever messing up the slider/sensor and denting the screen. Has anyone quoted HTC to the costs of repair. I asked back in December and they estimated a minimum of $80 and thats with no screen damage. I do think that the overall build quality is a little chintzy compared to HTCs other offerings both at home and abroad. I wish I would have made myself buy a Dual Touch last time I was in Dubai
March 8th, 2008 at 9:06 am
t-mobile has assurance and they do not insure the phone but they rather they insure the phone line so when your phone breaks they replace the last one you used like last week I used my buddies wing and broke it I called t-mobile up and they replaced no question asked and trust they know what phone you used last