Squaretrade Warranty

[Pheelyx]

Anyone have this warranty for their iPhone? I called them and they said they would cover the iPhone 3G. It would be $76 for 3 years and would cover mechanical and accidental damage. This is only slightly higher than Applecare and would include accidental protection with an extra year.

After looking at some of the pictures of damaged phones around here, I'm thinking I need to get some protection. I'm just afraid I'm gonna break it long before I'm upgradeable. I'm planning on keeping this phone for the full 3 years after purchasing the plan. I've got to stop this need to have a new phone every time something better comes along.

 

[e46fanatik]

try this coupon for 30% off - summer08

I have Squaretrade on my iphone, they let you transfer ownership if you sell or get a pro-rated refund if you decide not to keep it. The accidental damage helps me feel better about carrying around such an expensive phone (I have the 1st Generation 16G).

 

[Knolly]

Squaretrade is excellent. Had it on my two previous phones both of which broke and they reimbursed me for the full cost.

Had accidental protection on my 1st gen iPhone and I dropped it and broke it and they got the money to me quickly.

 

[Pheelyx]

Thanks for the quick replies and coupon code. I'm glad to hear they really are as good as they said they were.

 

[eneisch]

Be careful! From the price you quoted it seems you are only insuring the iPhone for $299 (purchase price of a 16GB). This is the subsidized price. If you break a 16GB iphone it will cost $499 to replace while still under contract! You should insure it for the ubsubsidized purchase price (which I think is on the receipt (AT&T). I looked online and the insurance, including the accidental damage coverage and the coupon code was around $90 for three years for a $499 device.

I'm considering it myself! Thanks to the poster of the online coupon - saves you over $30!!!

 

[Pheelyx]

Be careful! From the price you quoted it seems you are only insuring the iPhone for $299 (purchase price of a 16GB). This is the subsidized price. If you break a 16GB iphone it will cost $499 to replace while still under contract! You should insure it for the unsubsidized purchase price (which I think is on the receipt (AT&T). I looked online and the insurance, including the accidental damage coverage and the coupon code was around $90 for three years for a $499 device.

That's a very good point. I wonder if they'll let me use the unsubsidized price. If I break it in the first 18 months, I'm going to need a lot more than $299.

 

[eneisch]

I currently have an insurance plan with safeware for a Treo 750 (which I am cancelling now that I have the iPhone) and they allowed me to value it at the unsubsidized price for replacement purposes. Unfortunately they do not cover iPhone.

Please post back if you sign up and let us know how it went. I'm so close to signing up myself!

 

[Pheelyx]

I currently have an insurance plan with safeware for a Treo 750 (which I am cancelling now that I have the iPhone) and they allowed me to value it at the unsubsidized price for replacement purposes. Unfortunately they do not cover iPhone.

Please post back if you sign up and let us know how it went. I'm so close to signing up myself!

I've emailed Squaretrade to make sure if I could insure it for the unsub. price. I'm gonna have to wait till I get paid again before purchasing it. I spent a bunch at the App store and got a case. I'm gonna have to space out my iPhone related purchases. I have 30 days to purchase it to be eligible for the accidental coverage.

 

[eneisch]

Just got off the phone with Squaretrade. They will insure it for the unsubsidized price, in fact the rep I spoke with said they recommend doing that. He also told me if you want the accidental damage warranty you have to sign up for the insurance within 30 days of the phone's purchase. lastly he told me that in the case of the iPhone they almost always pay the replacement cost of the phone (up to the policy limits) rather than fixing it.

I think I'm gonna sign up tonight. $90 for three years (with coupon code above) or $30/year is a good deal. I think it is actually better than the AT&T insurance for regular phones (which I think is around $3.99/month or $47.88 per year).

 

[Pheelyx]

Thanks for finding that out. I hope that coupon code still works when I get to purchase it.

 

[eneisch]

Even without the discount the total cost is comparable to regular cellphone insurance from AT&T.

 

[avaloncourt]

Thank you for posting the Squaretrade information and your coupon code. I went ahead and bought it and then was offered a 50% off coupon code immediately after purchase for future purchases. I went back to the contract generation page and tried it. It works. It took the price of the warranty with accidental damage coverage down to $62.50 based on a $499 coverage price.

The coupon code is fiftyoff

 

[snook911]

Thanks everyone. Just purchased it for my iphone 3G. I insured it for $399 as I have the 8GB model and it was $69.99 with the summer08 coupon. Same price as applecare but you get 3 years and accidental damage. After I purchased though it gave me a coupon code for 50% off. It was fiftyoff and it might need to be in all caps. Good Luck.

Edit: Opps sorry about the dup post.

 

[Pheelyx]

I just tried with the fiftyoff coupon and it said "Sorry FIFTYOFF is only available to certain SquareTrade members. If we sent you this code directly, and you're unable to use it, please call us". I guess it's only for repeat buyers. That would have been sweet. But 30% off is still great.

 

[avaloncourt]

That's odd. I even switched computers and used a Safari browser to make sure it wasn't tied to cookies and it came up when I began setting up a dummy quote. Sorry about that.

 

[RoadCyclistID]

Well once again, people on MacRumors save me money! Was going to buy this the other night and I am glad that I waited and saved 30% Got the 3 year with ACD coverage for $87.00, (insured my 16g White for 499.99) now I wont worry as much when this sucker goes flying out of my hands. Thanks again all!!

 

[RoadCyclistID]

Also the fifty off will work on your second warranty, as I saw it on the site after I paid for the first one... So maybe buy a cheaper one with the 30% off and use the 50% for the IPhone??

 

[Mike2128]

I went ahead and bought this with the Accidental Damage Handling for about $122.49 (coverage for 3 years, can be cancelled and prorated at any time). MAKE SURE YOU PUT IN THE REAL NO COMMITMENT PRICING PEOPLE. at&t has announced this pricing as follows...

8GB - $599
16GB - $699

This is the actual retail cost, not the the $399 and $499 prices I'm seeing quoted. Those are "early upgrade" prices and as of yet, at&t has not made "no commitment" priced iPhones available. If you received your phone at anything less than $599, you got a discount and will not be eligible for that again for a little while.

 

[sr5878]

the fiftyoff coupon is working for me... $87.50 for 3yrs of accidental damage!

i'm going to hold off until tomorrow so that i can talk to a rep in person.... the fact that the dropdown says "iphone" and not "iphone 3g" makes me a bit leary... i want to be sure before i buy

 

[e46fanatik]

the fiftyoff coupon is working for me... $87.50 for 3yrs of accidental damage!

i'm going to hold off until tomorrow so that i can talk to a rep in person.... the fact that the dropdown says "iphone" and not "iphone 3g" makes me a bit leary... i want to be sure before i buy

You should be fine: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS104309+07-Jul-2008+MW20080707

FYI, they have a great refund policy. I have cancelled a several days after the purchase on an item I returned and they promptly refunded my money.

They have been great to work with and I have purchased their insurance on several items in the last year or so. They always have coupons, but the 50% is the best I've seen yet.

 

[eneisch]

I went ahead and bought this with the Accidental Damage Handling for about $122.49 (coverage for 3 years, can be cancelled and prorated at any time). MAKE SURE YOU PUT IN THE REAL NO COMMITMENT PRICING PEOPLE. at&t has announced this pricing as follows...

8GB - $599
16GB - $699

This is the actual retail cost, not the the $399 and $499 prices I'm seeing quoted. Those are "early upgrade" prices and as of yet, at&t has not made "no commitment" priced iPhones available. If you received your phone at anything less than $599, you got a discount and will not be eligible for that again for a little while.

Thanks for the heads up! One question though. My AT&T receipt shows that the unsubsidized value as $499. I believe you are required to present the reciept when you make a claim as proof of purchase (As per Squaretrade website: For items bought outside of eBay: you need to have a copy of the item's receipt (with the purchase date and price) on file with SquareTrade before a claim can be processed. You can email or FAX a copy of your receipt at any time.). Why would they accept a replacement cost of $699 when my reciept indicates $499? I'm going to have to look into this more!

 

[scaredpoet]

Thanks for the heads up! One question though. My AT&T receipt shows that the unsubsidized value as $499.

The $499 price is the "early upgrade" price. Basically, that means any AT&T customer can buy at that price, and it will renew their contract to two years starting from that day that the new iPhone was purchased. So you should be fine. There is no limit specified at all about how "early" a person can upgrade.

At the worst case, it should also be pointed out that Apple's repair price for cracked screens and the like is $250. So even if AT&T decides they want to screw us on the price, you can go to Apple, and just have SquareTrade reimburse you the $250.

FWIW, I just bit the bullet and got my warrant with Accidental coverage. The fiftyoff code didn't work for me (I'm a first time buyer), but is supposed to work on future purchases. The summer08 code did work though. Thanks to e46fanatik for posting that!

 

[eneisch]

Thanks for the info. I may stop by the AT&T store to verify that I could get another for $499 if this one broke. Unfortunately I find it very hard to believe anything they tell me there. They seem to have the most uniformed staff - just tell you what you want to hear so they can make a sale!

Since I had the 50% off coupon I insured a digital camera I bought at the beginning of July as well. It was $27 for the three years with the accidental damage coverage. After that purchase I recieved another coupon for 10% all future warranties (through 12/31/2008).

 

[scaredpoet]

Oh, one little word of caution to everybody: the SquareTrade warranty coverage starts about a month after your purchase date (probably to avoid insurance fraud). So, be careful for the next month.

 

[AppleFan360]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for the tip on this. I just purchased my warranty with $699 coverage plus accidental. Total cost was $122. The FiftyOff code didn't work. Had to use the "summer08". I can use the fiftyoff for something else I guess since they gave it to me after the transaction.