Shop Talk
Don't need insurance the first year...
Just had a customer come in, got his phone in December and now the battery won't hold a charge. Realizing that it's probably just a warranty issue, I still as asked, "Do you have insurance?" Since all warranty claims are handled with the manufacturer, if he had insurance, I could have directed him on how to get a new phone.
"Don't need insurance the first year *chuckle*," was his reply.
At this point I was soooo hoping there was water damage on his phone... but, alas, no damage, not even wear and tear.
Of course he got all pissy when I offered him a loaner phone for the time he sends his phone in.
I hope in a month when his phone is out of warranty he drops it in the john.
"Don't need insurance the first year *chuckle*," was his reply.
At this point I was soooo hoping there was water damage on his phone... but, alas, no damage, not even wear and tear.
Of course he got all pissy when I offered him a loaner phone for the time he sends his phone in.
I hope in a month when his phone is out of warranty he drops it in the john.
...
Or my personal favorite, leaves it sitting on the dash, while he makes a turn with the window open. On the highway, when an 18 wheeler comes by.
...
What was his reasoning for not needing ins for the first yr?
The manf. warrenty???
The manf. warrenty???
...
I have customers who do the same thing. My philosophy is just the opposite, you only need insurance for the first year. If you made it live that long, your phone is either discontinued, and they will send you one you hate, or if it's not, you are tired of it. Plus, if you made it live that long, you only have 6 months left before you can renew and get a new phone anyway. That I get, but saying you don't need insurance for the first year? I don't get that. I have customers who didn't have insurance during their contract, but when they go month to month, they get insurance. That makes no sense at all! At that point, you could get a phone better than what you have for less than the deductable, and way less than what you were paying for ...
(continues)
(continues)
...
We can only add insurance within the first 15 days of purchase, so if our customers don't want it for the first year, they don't get it at all.
...
USCC is different, every once in a while a CS rep will call the customer to confirm that the phone is in working order, and they can't file a claim until it's been on for 30 days, but other than that, you can put insurance on at any time.
...
VZW Used to do that too. I think they finally caught up with the fraudulent ways of the world though. I've seen many Liquid/Physical damaged phones that still "work" at least enough to pass the initial adding of insurance test. My favorite ones was when a customers phone snapped in half, but they could still use the bottom half with a headset to get them by. They added insurance, made the claim 30 days later, got their new phone. The other good ones are the customers who aren't quite eligible for upgrade yet who decide they NOW want insurance, so they add it on, dunk it in water, to pay $50 to get a refurb of the exact same model of the phone they "just can't stand". 🙄
...
Yup! Those are common occurances. We help our customers with their Signal claims. We give them their esn, and anything else they may want from them. But we won't help customers who are trying to commit fraud. If you want to rip somebody off, go ahead, but don't ask for my help.
...
I think the lesson here is that you can always assume customers are either really really stupid or trying to rip you off.
...
I'm so happy Cingular finally put a policy out that you have to get insurance within the first 30 days... it's gonna make alot of people mad that think they can screw the "system".
...
The first year is the most important time to have insurance. And anyway, they have to get it within 30 days with the company I work with or they can't have it at all. I just tell them what the warranty doesn't cover and they get insurance.
...
I only mention insurance. I don't sell it to the customer. If everyone got insurance I would make way less money.
...
just today, i women who i sold a phone a week ago just came to me and told me that her bf sat on her phone and the screen cracked, i told her there was nothing i can do, i can't take it back nore can i exchange it since it got damaged. i asked her and told her how important insurance is when i first activated, but she politely smiled and told me that nothing will happen to her phone and her warranty will cover what could happen.
a little rough justice.
a little rough justice.
...
As of Nov 1st I'm putting insurance on every insurable phone I sell, and deducting the cost of the first month of service off the price of the phone. We have a new policy where you can only enroll in the first 30 days, so I'm covering it from my end.
The way I'm going to tell it to customers is they don't even have to keep it for one day, in fact if they want it off their phone immediately I'll do so, but it's still going on to their accout and then coming back off so it's notated that they declined the insurance at the point of sale.
The way I'm going to tell it to customers is they don't even have to keep it for one day, in fact if they want it off their phone immediately I'll do so, but it's still going on to their accout and then coming back off so it's notated that they declined the insurance at the point of sale.
...
Yeah, my manager suggested that we say it comes automatically and you can cancel it if you really don't want it but I just don't agree with putting charges on someone's bill if they don't want them. That's the same reason why I can't STAND when customer care says that a cusotmer accepted a free trial of blah de blah when they didn't because inevitable that customer comes back to me and says I have charges on my bill for something I don't agree with...etc etc. I like to avoid that as much as possible.
...
Then just do what I'm gonna do and take the $5 off the cost of the phone. Insurance is the only thing I'll do that for, because it's the only thing that really seems to cause problems. People always blame the retailer for not offering it, and sometimes they don't, but my store always does. This is a way of covering our butt.
...
