Lost iPhone

[Diane]

DD has managed to lose her iPhone and is devastated as it's like a part of her body!

 

We've got it on contract and have another 18months left to run - so our options are to get a replacement phone - either second hand from Ebay or somewhere, or a new one from Vodafone. Obviously disadvantage of second hand is you don't have the replacement rights you have if you get one from the shop: have to admit Vodafone have been great in the past when the camera stopped working, they just swapped for new one, no questions asked. Luckily she did back hers up to iTunes about a month ago, although she'll have lost all her recent holiday pics.

 

Anyway, reason for the post is to ask if anyone else has experienced this, and whether the loss is covered on any house insurance? Am waiting for the organisers of the trip she's on to come back to me and tell me if it's covered on their travel insurance, but somehow I doubt it . Unfortunately we didn't take out Vodafone's optional $10 a month insurance - mainly because I didn't know till today they offered it!!

 

The other thing is if anyone out there might have upgraded to a 4S and have a 4 that they want to sell/get rid of? Hers was only a 8gb so she's not worried about top of the range or anything - but she does want a 4 as opposed to a 3G coz I've got the 3G and it's rubbish in comparison!

[Guest yogi64]

Did she have "find my iPhone" switched on, if so you can use that to find it, we have cover on our house insurance that covers all items that we take out of the house, including all our phones etc.

 

Mike

[Diane]

No, she didn't - OH and I have and we hoped she had too, but nothing - guess what'll be the first thing we install on any new one she gets???! hindsight is such a wonderful thing..... did you have to specifically mention on your house insurance that you wanted phones covered or is it part of a normal policy?

[Guest yogi64]

As far as I remember it was something we had added, because we go away a lot and camping gear, cameras, phones and alike are bloody expensive.

 

Keep an eye on Gumtree, there's always iPhones coming up for sale on there, as long as it's still under 12 month old you'll still be covered by Apple warranty, then if you wanted you can add additional Apple care before the 12 months is up.

 

 

There's a chance that it is covered by the schools travel insurance.

 

Mike

[Guest Helchops]

Just be careful with the second hand option:

 

I broke my 3GS and replaced it with an original iPhone 1 but the software wouldn't work as I'd upgraded the 3GS to the new software which then wasn't compatible with the cheap replacement.

 

If you do go down the second hand route, make sure the handset supports whatever version of IOS DD had on the lost phone!

[Guest yogi64]

Iphone 3GS, 4 and 4S will all support the new iOS.

[Toni]

I think RAA automatically covers you if you take out house and contents insurance. I'm shopping around for our home insurance at the moment and it is one of the things that I am pretty sure they mentioned.

[Misplaced]

As punishment and to teach her a lesson get her a Nokia 3010i - she'll nver lose another phone then!!

[Northern Mick]

Not all home and contents insurance cover phones, you'll have to ask. And when you do get a new phone, check what the insurance from Vodafone covers. Believe it or not, it doesn't usually cover you if you lose the phone. I've found that the insurance offered by phone companies isn't worth it, you can only claim if the phone stops working or is damaged.

[adelaidenow]

Don't tell the Insurance company you lost it, say the dog got it and chewed it, and you threw it away.

[Guest The Dimmocks]

I lost my phone last year sometime, thankfully it was handed into a shop and they contacted me. I have since added it to our contents insurance and it is listed on the certificate.

[Northern Mick]

Don't tell the Insurance company you lost it, say the dog got it and chewed it, and you threw it away.

 

I doubt it would be that easy to be honest

[Diane]

Apparently our house insurance does cover "portable items up to the value of $1000"....but we have an excess on the policy of $1000 so that seems like one of those 'add-on extras' that's not worth the paper it's written on to me!

[Northern Mick]

Apparently our house insurance does cover "portable items up to the value of $1000"....but we have an excess on the policy of $1000 so that seems like one of those 'add-on extras' that's not worth the paper it's written on to me!

 

Yeah my insurers didn't cover phones when I tried to claim but have since changed their policy to include them and laptops under "portable items". It will be interesting to see how much my premium goes up and my excess if I decide to include an Iphone as a portable item when I renew the policy!

[Lazy Cow]

 

Anyway, reason for the post is to ask if anyone else has experienced this, and whether the loss is covered on any house insurance? Am waiting for the organisers of the trip she's on to come back to me and tell me if it's covered on their travel insurance, but somehow I doubt it . Unfortunately we didn't take out Vodafone's optional $10 a month insurance - mainly because I didn't know till today they offered it!!!

 

Oh yes, Diane, I feel and understand your pain!

 

My DS has lost his, not once but TWICE and is now the not so proud owner of the cheapest phone imaginable!

 

First time, he lost the iPhone at some point on a reserve. I reported it to Christies Beach, claimed on my Vodaphone insurance (I did know lol!) and within days a new iPhone had been delivered. I stupidly figured he would guard it with his life, if necessary, but no! he lost that one at a party. Very grr! The insurance company used by Vodaphone have said I can claim again but as the excess was around $200 the first time and will be more this time, I haven't bothered.

 

His plan will run for another seven months so I asked for a sim swap so he can use his number and as I will be paying his $59? Plan for ages yet, at least this way I will get some of that back!

 

Fingers crossed your daughter's phone turns up - or the trip insurance pays up!

 

Oh the joys of parenting a teen lol!

 

LC

[Diane]

I was reading on another forum about someone suggesting that Apple should design an App that would let you take a photo remotely with your camera so if someone else had it, the original owner would be able to trigger a photo to be taken of the new person using it, which would be emailed to the original owner! What a great idea, and so much more useful than Angry Birds!

 

Lessons learnt for the future are : (a) install "find my iphone" app and try it immediately a phone is missed, or (b) have chain surgically attached to DD and DD's phone and padlock them together!

 

Vodafone have offered me a replacement that we (or DD!) can pay off at $28 a month (thats for the 8GB one - only $31 a month for the all singing all dancing 4S with loads of GBs on it!) for the rest of the contract so might be going for that option if no joy with insurance companies

[Lazy Cow]

Love the idea of the remote photo thing!

 

Love the idea of the surgical addition to our kids even more lol!

 

It's a hard decision re the replacement. I mean you don't want to penalise your daughter as this is her first time (unlike my son grr!) but whichever way you cut it, it's expensive

 

Good luck! LC

[sidestep]

Say it had an accident in the kitchen