is this true????

[YourMobileGuru]

I bought my Motorola Droid on eBay (yes it was new) and then a few days later I called customer service and added insurance to the line (it was auto-removed when I took the other phone off). I just told them it was a retail purchase and I was told I had 15 days to add insurance. She looked at the date I added the phone and did it no problem.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

I have had insurance on phones and it follows your number, not the device, so if I had bought a used phone as long as I had insurance prior to it, then it would transfer to the new device.

At least that is how Assurion used to work.

Not anymore. When you do an ESN change it automatically drops the insurance (and the system warns you of this).

With AT&T you are quite correct that's how it works...

I didn't buy my phone off eBay but I did buy it from Amazon and when I initialized my phone (replaced a Storm 2) the insurance was added to it, they did not say that it had to come off it.

Amazon is an authorized reseller like Radio Shack, Best Buy, zWireless, etc. So yes it's basically the same as buying it from them..

 

[FramCire]

I bought my Motorola Droid on eBay (yes it was new) and then a few days later I called customer service and added insurance to the line (it was auto-removed when I took the other phone off). I just told them it was a retail purchase and I was told I had 15 days to add insurance. She looked at the date I added the phone and did it no problem.

It is possible that an authorized reseller sold it to you on eBay. I know Dell has some authorized resellers who use eBay. Otherwise I doubt Verizon would do this with a phone that, to use a term from another walk of life, is out of their chain of custody.

 

[toddricks]

Everyphone I have purchased off ebay or from other 3rd party was able to be insured. I just had to wait 2 weeks so verizon could verify a working device. Never had a problem when it came time to make a claim and when I did make a claim I received a new device, not refurbished. But all my purchased phones were new in the box also.

 

[Qazme]

Maybe it depends on if the ESN previously had insurance on it and was already a working phone on their network. Then the wait two weeks to verify thing makes since. Interesting. If that was the case and the ESN had never been insured and never been activated on their network they know it's a new phone.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

It is possible that an authorized reseller sold it to you on eBay. I know Dell has some authorized resellers who use eBay. Otherwise I doubt Verizon would do this with a phone that, to use a term from another walk of life, is out of their chain of custody.

That is possible, though they didn't ask anything about the seller. He/she seems to do this for a living selling phones and accessories and had good feedback. But I think it is more likely that they just saw that I was the first one to activate that ESN, as has been stated earlier in this thread they can see that.

Maybe it depends on if the ESN previously had insurance on it and was already a working phone on their network. Then the wait two weeks to verify thing makes since. Interesting. If that was the case and the ESN had never been insured and never been activated on their network they know it's a new phone.

I didn't have to wait two weeks but the phone had been active and running for about that (a day shy I believe).

Everyphone I have purchased off eBay or from other 3rd party was able to be insured. I just had to wait 2 weeks so Verizon could verify a working device. Never had a problem when it came time to make a claim and when I did make a claim I received a new device, not refurbished. But all my purchased phones were new in the box also.

Yes, this was new in box, looked exactly like the pictures I have seen of the droid boxes on the various blogs, all the protective tape and stuff intact on the phone, plastic bags sealed, etc.

Just to summarize I think that as long as they can somehow verify that the phone was indeed NEW IN BOX (ie not bought from someone who had previously used it or possibly used it) they can and will add insurance. The lady I talked to didn't really question me, she just took a look at the account and added the feature, no fuss.

If you don't get the answer you want the first time, call back and talk to someone else. Generally if you are persistent you can get someone to do what you want if it is reasonable, and once you have that insurance on the line you are pretty much home free since that's all they (Verizon, never dealt with Assurion directly) do when processing a claim is verify insurance on the line.