Did you know that 80% of all iPhone failures are due to accidents? The problem is that most mobile carriers will not cover a smartphone like the Apple iPhone under typical insurance contracts.
SquareTrade, a licensed insurance provider, offers the only iPhone protection that fully covers accidents from handling. The company has been in business since 1999 and has sold over one million iPhone warranties.
According to SquareTrade, "drops, spills, water damage, battery failures or any other failures from normal use or accidental damage" are all covered under their plans. This is the key difference between SquareTrade's insurance and other coverage options such as AppleCare.
Don't Drop That iPhone
Your iPhone comes with 90 days of technical support and a one year warranty from Apple, and many users have extended this coverage to two years with AppleCare. Unfortunately, if your iPhone is dropped and damaged or accidentally gets wet, Apple will not cover the repair.
Let's take a closer look at the features in SquareTrade's iPhone warranty.
One of the best features of the plan is NO deductible and NO shipping charges. If you need to send your phone for a standard warranty repair everything is completely covered. Accidental damage repairs have a low $50 deductible. Some other insurance products we've seen have deductibles of $100 or more.
SquareTrade Can Save You Money
You may have paid $199 or $299 for your iPhone, however these are prices subsidized by your wireless carrier to the tune of $400. For example, full price for a 16GB iPhone 3GS from AT&T is currently a whopping $599. A $50 deductible to repair the broken iPhone is a great deal. Apple has been known to charge users $200 to repair a broken screen.
SquareTrade promises a five-day turnaround. This is quick. If it turns out the damaged iPhone can't be repaired, then SquareTrade will send you money instead.
How much money? Enough to subsidize a new phone at full price. Current reimbursement prices are $299 for the 8GB iPhone, $399 for the 16GB iPhone, and $499 for the 32GB iPhone. This means you can purchase a brand new iPhone for the same price you initially paid, saving you $400. If the cause of damage was accidental, the $50 deductible still applies.
If you're interested in canceling the coverage before the two years is up, SquareTrade will actually refund the remaining cost of the plan.
How does SquareTrade Compare?
Of course, there are other ways to get different kinds of coverage for your iPhone. We explored some of the options in this writeup, however SquareTrade has emerged the clear leader.
AppleCare for the iPhone costs a flat $69 for a second year of coverage (the first year is free). The weakness of this plan when compared to SquareTrade is that "Damage to the Covered Equipment caused by accident, abuse, neglect, misuse..." is not covered by AppleCare.
Credit cards vary widely in what additional warranty coverage they will provide to cover purchases such as the iPhone. Although using a credit card with some kind of accidental damage protection plan will not cost you any additional money (unless you're paying interest), most of these plans will only cover accidental damage for the first 90 days. This won't cover you very far into a two-year iPhone contract.
Depending on your existing insurance company, homeowners or renters insurance may be extended to cover an iPhone. State Farm will reportedly cover your iPhone for an additional $32.50 per year. The problem is that homeowners insurance deductibles can be $500 or more. This is almost the cost of a brand new 16GB iPhone at full price. If the extended coverage is not subject to the standard deductible, you'll need to get the iPhone repaired yourself, and it's possible you will face a complex and time consuming claims process.
SquareTrade clearly has expertise specific to the needs of iPhone owners and offers the most complete and easy solution.
What does SquareTrade cost?
For the level of coverage, the price of this protection can't be beat. The two-year SquareTrade insurance plan runs $96-$144 depending on your iPhone model. As of this writing, the company is currently in the middle of a 20% off promotion on ALL of their iPhone warranty products. This means two years of insurance on an iPhone 16GB (normally $120) is on sale for $96.
This means the cost is four dollars a month to cover a 16GB iPhone against manufacturing defects and accidental damage.
The Fine Print
There is some fine print, but we found these terms to be reasonable. You must purchase your SquareTrade iPhone warranty within 30 days of purchasing your iPhone. Standard warranty coverage is for two years from the date of purchase. Accidental damage coverage begins 30 days after the date of purchase, and complete loss or theft of your iPhone is not covered.
All claims get free shipping to the SquareTrade repair depot via UPS. Five-day service is guaranteed. If service takes longer, SquareTrade will refund the cost of your warranty. SquareTrade promises not to replace your iPhone with a refurbished model. They will repair YOUR phone.
What Do Others Say About SquareTrade?
SquareTrade's insurance plans and service have received near perfect consumer ratings on NexTag and Epinions, and have received an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB). All warranties sold by SquareTrade are covered by Amtrust, an A- rated insurance company.
After a detailed review, we highly recommend SquareTrade if you're looking to protect your investment in an iPhone (and you probably should be, given the $500-600 replacement cost). You can give yourself a lot of peace of mind by protecting your iPhone now by with SquareTrade insurance. We already have.
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This article soundsw too good to be true.
For one thing it states that there is NO DEDUCTABLE. I would remove this statement completly since there is a deductable for accidental dammage. which is the only thing this insurance offers over apple care.
The other thing I take exception to is the statement about positive reviews on eopinions site. I was not able to find any refrence to square trade on that site anywhere.
If I were a betting man I would say that the majority of this article was copt and pasted from a release from Square Trade with little or no fact checking.
Did you guys actually try the service?
Did you buy the coverage and send in a phone to be fixed?
How is the quality of the repairs?
You generally get what you pay for and there is certainly no such thing as a free lunch here.
IMHO you should retract this article untill a more thorogh examination of the product can be had. Try them out. Buy a phone, Buy the insurance, drop it break a phone send it in for repair. see how long it actually takes them to repair it. check the quality of the repair.
It isno good to say that if it takes longer than 5 days you get your money back. Who cares! I want a repaired phone back. There is nothing that says that it wont take weeks to effect a repair.
Anyway please look more closly at products of this nature before spreading the word.
The whole thing about insurance is getting a lot of people to partisipate. I get that. But anyway you look at it apple care is a proven well paved road. This product is NOT...YET.
Yaesumofo
Maybe you should check Epinions as the article states- not "Eopinions". Square Trade Inc. gets 4.5 out of 5 stars from 620 reviewers on Epinions right now.
IMHO you should take your broken iPhone to Apple and see how much they charge you for a repair with Apple Care. There is no free lunch. Square Trade is charging a price to deliver a service.
Seriously, did you buy Square Trade and have a problem?
NO I don't have a problem with square trade.
I have a problem with poor quality reviews and untested statements.
I tried and failed to find any . to square trade on eopinions. Can you provide a link?
"
We found no matches for: "iphone insurance"
However, we did find results using fewer keywords.
See results for:
iphone insurance
iphone insurance"
When you review a product one usually actually USES it in order to see if it is any good. One doesn't just copy a press release.
I have tried several different search strings and have not found any references to square trade on the epinions site.
Again when you review a product you don't just go by what the company says. you try it out.
Now you suggest I buy the product and send my broken iphone to them and test them. Why?
It isn't my review.
I have no issue with the product I have an issue with poor writing and journalistic partice.
If I were going to use a source Like epinions I would at the very least include a link. Especially if it is as hard to find as it apparently is for me. For the life of me I do not understand why I can't find any thing on that site referencing either iphone insurance or square trade. Go figure.
In the end that will not actually solve the issue I have with the review. Iphone Faq has not actually written a review of the product. they have passed on information provided by square trade.
Normally a review is written by somebody who actually tries the product.
Would you want to buy a car based on a review written by somebody who has not driven the car?
I wouldn't.
Would YOU recommend a product you don't own or haven't tested to a friend? I wouldn't.
Would you review a MOVIE if you haven't seen it?
I could go on and on but I will stop.
I would like to see a couple of links and an attempt to actually review the product. Almost more than anything I would like to know more about the actual quality of the repairs. Insurance is all well and good but if at the end of the day the quality of the end product (repair service) is poor then it really is all a waste of money time and energy.
Yaesumofo
Try google next time buddy
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Online_Stores_Services-SquareTrade_Inc
What do you want this guy to smash his phone to test the repair? If you don't want insurance thn don't buy it man
Again you guys miss the point COMPLETLY!!
Thank you for the link.
I was not able to find (of the 269) reviews there of the square trade company reviews, any referring specifically to the Iphone insurance service. There certainly aren't 200 plus positive reviews of the Iphone insurance service there.
The point is this article is NOT a REVIEW of the Iphone insurance service provided by SQUARE TRADE. IT IS A COPY AND PASTE job of a press release.
There are no references that I can find regarding the QUALITY if the work done.
Like I said would you go send a friend to a movie that you haven't seen?
IMHO this is pure marketing BS. The service might be excellent.. But how good is it?
what are the repairs like? Any good? Nothing worse than receiving your Iphone back only to have it break down because of poor work.
I suggest that you become less like sheep.
I suppose it is too late for that.
I guess if they say it ...It must be true.
Yaesumofo
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I think you have anger problems. Personally I found this review really helpful.
You want them to buy an iPhone, break it, get it repaired, and tell you how good the repairs were? Give me a break.
This review is a comparison of the Squaretrade warranty vs. other options, and I think they covered important points. The positive reviews from hundreds of customers speak for themselves in regards to the repair quality. Also, I'm sure anything but minor repairs result in a brand new iPhone replacement.
i don't know what all the fuss is about. ST seems well loved to me.
i had them for my original iphone and went swimming with it in my pocket and they sent me a new one no questions asked.
what more would you expect a company to do? people love to complain about nothing.
He was commenting on the quality of the review not the quality of ST.
Maybe he is angry.... maybe not. It doesn't matter. His comments about the review appear to be accurate. The author does not appear to have used the product. It might be more accurate to call it a summary of ST advertising.