insurance sending me a refurbished phone, should I be worried?!

[aldo82]

Last week my s7 edge fell no more than 20cm onto a tiled floor. I thought nothing of it until later I realised the screen was shattered. It was in a genuine Samsung leather case which clearly didn't offer much protection!

Realising how much new screens were, I put in an insurance claim with my bank (nationwide in the UK) for a £25 excess. Today I've spoken to them and apparently the phone isn't repairable so I'm being sent a refurbished phone instead.

In a way I'm pleased someone isn't going to do a poor job fitting a new screen to my edge which would probably invalidate water proofing etc. But does anyone know how good these refurbished models are? Do the UK insurance companies used genuine Samsung refurbs? I got the impression nationwide are sorting the refurb for me after the repair centre said they couldn't fix it.

Anyone else been through this?!

 

[Harry Dunn]

This is something I'm worried about... I dropped my edge last week and it's shattered... I'd like to get a brand new one through insurance not a refurb...is this normal procedure sending out refurbs?

 

[Law2138]

In my past experience, I've had no problems with refurbs. When people return phones within the 14 day period, "because they didn't like it", they are likely to become refurbs. When my carrier stated that my replacement would arrive in like new condition, I had total confidence that the device was thoroughly tested and would arrive as described.

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[justin1578]

In the US that is a normal practice, has been for as long as I can remember.

 

[Harry Dunn]

Oh ok thanks

 

[aldo82]

What they offer when you read the small print isn't quite as good as you'd hope. They offer a refurbished one if it can't be fixed and they don't even promise to match the colour! And if they don't have one then they reserve the right to change it to something similar or to give cash to the market value of the phone at that time. So a brand new replacement is never going to be in the cards.

I dropped my phone and it was my fault so in a way I don't expect anything brand-new in return. But had I had the phone stolen and been making a claim through no fault of my own then the policy would be pretty disappointing

 

[Tiko7523]

I stopped messing with Asurion after my expierence with refurbished phones. I am over it.

I had a issue with when they sent me my S5 when my phone screen was shattered the phone they sent me to replace it with the home button kept getting stuck....i called them and they replaced it with a new one.

i had the craziest thing with my girls iPhone tho....the 1st one they send me the back was extremely dirty on the back like stains of black. I was like wtf.....i called them got another refurbished one the next day & the sim card slot of that was faulty it lost service. the 3rd one they sent me was a new one but they had to change the color of it which was disappointing for what i paid was like $8 a month plus a $200 deductible.

S7 edge unlocked on Ebay goes for like $500 brand new with the Exynos processor rather just get i will never go through Asurion again.

 

[Doniesha Davis]

Last week my s7 edge fell no more than 20cm onto a tiled floor. I thought nothing of it until later I realised the screen was shattered. It was in a genuine Samsung leather case which clearly didn't offer much protection!

Realising how much new screens were, I put in an insurance claim with my bank (nationwide in the UK) for a £25 excess. Today I've spoken to them and apparently the phone isn't repairable so I'm being sent a refurbished phone instead.

In a way I'm pleased someone isn't going to do a poor job fitting a new screen to my edge which would probably invalidate water proofing etc. But does anyone know how good these refurbished models are? Do the UK insurance companies used genuine Samsung refurbs? I got the impression nationwide are sorting the refurb for me after the repair centre said they couldn't fix it.

Anyone else been through this?!

Im in America and when I did a claim with assurion they sent me a new s7. I called sprint and complained because I wanted a edge. Sprint called assurion and the figured something out. I finally called back assurion and they told me they could order me a silver edge but it would be on back order. It shipped the next day. Granted this was like 3 months ago.

 

[JOC2016]

I bought a refurbished one fron the Argos Outlet on ebay with a guarantee, it was like new, IIRC it may not have had all the usual accessories in the box. I'd buy another and it was £150 less than a new one.

 

[aldo82]

Just to provide an update on this. I received my refurbished phone from the insurance company in a black cardboard box. Inside the box, the phone was wrapped in air cushion padding that filled the box. The phone itself did not have any plastic on it and whilst clean, wasn't as clean as a brand new one and had a certain level of greasy coating.

Despite not being as clean as a new phone, on inspecting it it looked to be pristine. No obvious scratches or scrapes and all buttons feel great. In fact the fingerprint reader is a little more reliable on this one than my original!

Only slightly strange thing is the security patch was dated February so the software on it was old. I applied all the updates and then factory reset and set up as new and all is going great. If anything battery life is slightly better than my original.

So my experience with a refurbished replacement has been great. So far at least!