jimfitzgerald wrote:
Insurance on a phone is the most ridiculous thing I can think of. You insure against large losses such as your home or your car or your life. You don't spend $10 a month to insure a $500 telephone. If you can't keep your phone from being stolen, you don't need a phone.Most people don't pay $10 a month for insurance, most people that have insurance are paying between $5 and $8 per month. Most people don't plan to have their phone damaged, lost, or stolen; and many people don't have the money to fork over for full retail on a new phone, especially in the current economy. Cell phone service used to be something only rich/well to do people had, in today's society that is nowhere near the situation, it is almost a requirement to have a cell phone; you can get by without one, but having one makes things much easier.
Maybe if you had said something like, "If you can't keep your phone from being lost, you don't need a phone," perhaps your point would have been more valid;instead you come off as bitter and as if you have some personal problem with insurance on things. However, I think you will find that most people that have insurance are the more responsible people. Personally, I don't want to pay full retail for a new phone if something happens to mine, ergo I pay a small amount every month so that if something does happen I won't be without a phone.
Or maybe they don't want to have to pay $649 for a replacement iphone for their teenager..
Insurance is one of those things that you think is stupid until you don't have it and need it..
Phone broke? has it been active for more than 12 months?
Well now you have xx months left of your contract, and you have three options. Purchase a full retail, CPO (droid x is like $240) or purchase one on eBay..
It makes sense if you have the phone in a kids hand or are prone to mistakes.. its $288 over 2 years
jimfitzgerald wrote:
Insurance on a cell phone or any other consumer electronics, etc is a bad deal. My wife and I have been using cell phones for 25 years and never had a problem with one. If we had been paying $10 per month on each of our two phones, we would have paid $6,000 for insurance. That's not only crazy, it's stupid.
While I do agree with you that people need to manage their finances and prepare for such losses, sometimes it is unpredictable. You say you've been using cell phones for 25 years without a problem, might I ask what your profession is or what you do with your time daily? A friend of mine is an EMT and needs to have his phone on him for emergencies and such. A while back he was on a call and was helping move an obese woman from her home to the ambulance, she had a seizure while they were moving her and it ended up knocking him around quite a bit trying to stablize her. He didn't realize until later that it had thrown his cell phone from his pocket and onto the ground, ruining it. All I'm saying is insurance is good for some people whose daily lives include such things. Even I, for example, am an ICU nurse and have had patients toss me around a bit. I never personally kept my cell phone on my person, but if someone had, it could have damaged it.
I remember one time I just upgraded my phone and then proceeded to work. I was working on the company roof and a huge gust of wind happened and scared the me. While I was up there my holster popped out my one and it proceeded to tumble off the roof. It fell 22 stories... THANK GOD for insurance.
Insurance is not for everybody but is nice to have do. For example myself i dont have insurance on my phone but do have the extended warranty do to i signed a two year contract and well mfg warranties are only good for one year. In the case of my wifes phone and my two brothers they all have insurance. Why? well my wife do two of my two kids they like to play with her phone my little brother he travels outside the country now and then and my baby brother, well he is 15 thats more than enough reason for me. My two brother had there phones stolen already and that just was with in two weeks of them getting there phones we werent planning to just drop 600 for each phone and i just knew something like that was going to happen i know my brother better than know themselfs.
There is absolutely no point in knocking those that purchase insurance. Having insurance does not imply that you are careless...it doesn't imply that you are a deadbeat when it comes to paying your credit card bills...it doesn't imply that you are lazy. It means that for some people having that piece of mind is more important than it may be for others. Those that are knocking others for getting insurance are no better than the implied insults that they are tossing out about insurance buyers.
I do not have the insurance. It was a personal choice. I have had it in the past and have never actually had to use it, but at the time, the cost (less than $5.00 for total coverage) was worth it "just in case". This particular time I factored in the lack of use in the last 4+ years that I had it and the increased annual cost ($131.88/year) and decided that I would save that amount. At the same time, I retained my BB just in case something happened and I needed it since as much as I like my iPhone I would not be devastated enough to replace it at full retail nor would I want to pay $200 for a refurbished phone if by some chance something happened less than a year before I was eligible for a new handset. I could live without my iPhone until the next upgrade because I just don't place that much priority on it. Others do...and they have every right to.
Point being, if insurance works for you then by all means get it. If it doesn't, then don't. Stop judging others just because their choices are different than yours.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
