Who has or have directly known anyone that has purchased a third-party insurance/warranty from squaretrade? I ask because I read good things about their warranties but can not find "real" (actual people on this board or elsewhere) who can give testimony for either good or bad.
I purchased a Sprint branded Touch Pro (using it on Verizon) from ebay, and it came in immaculate condition and fully functional as the seller stated. At the time, I thought the squaretrade warranty offered by the seller on ebay was a scam, but for $48 I figured it was cheap insurance. I know sometimes parts fail and as luck has it, the USB charge/sync port failed. I am in no way blaming the seller and am not going to try to scam my money back from them. Verizon will not touch it as it is not a device they sell technically and Sprint won't touch it either as I do not have a line of service with them.
HTC will not warranty it for free as I am not the original purchaser, and offer repairs at an estimated cost at or above what I paid for the device off ebay.
I filed a claim with squaretrade as my warranty states I am entitled to, and they promptly approved my claim and emailed me a pre-paid UPS return shipping label and claim they will have it repaired "usually within five days of receiving the device". I boxed it up, filled out the simple form they required and shipped it off.
Now this being my first time using this company and their service, up to this point I am pleased with them. Their customer service seems to be on par with Asurion and other types of services I have used in the past. I will be more than happy to update this thread when I receive my device back in working order and give a rating here.
Thanks for reading this rather long post, and I ask anyone who has dealt with them in the past to chime in with any feedback, good or bad regarding Squaretrade and their services.
Have you received the phone back yet? If so/if not - remember to update us on this!
I was wondering if you got the phone back from squareTrade yet.
I would like to use them but like you would like to know that there are real people out there who are satisfied with them.
Okay here's the deal. I bought a "new" phone on ebay from a seller in U.S. shipped overseas to where I live. I bought this to use it in U.S. as well when I visit the country in a couple of months.
The seller agreed to include a printed sale receipt and a letter stating that he had sold this phone with this IMEI inside the box. I received the phone two weeks back and surprise, there was no receipt or sale letter inside. I was gutted.
Since then, I have tried to contact the seller at least ten times and he has not responded even once. He had responded to every single one of my emails in an hour before the purchase.
I am not going paranoid. Is there a chance the seller might be scamming me by reporting it stolen? How does it work in the US? Is it possible to report a phone stolen (to claim insurance) and get it blacklisted without the original phone box?
And, if it indeed had been blacklisted by all the networks in US and it fries my new sim, will having the original phone box be enough for a proof of purchase to "unblacklist" it? If so, how long does the process take considering I might be in US only for a few days at a time.
Thanks in advance!
I would just file a ticket with eBay, not because I necessarily believe they're trying to cheat you, but because they violated your agreement. Did you make sure the seller confirmed to you that the IMEI was good and would continue to be so - within eBay ?
There's always a chance they might be scamming you. The original box doesn't mean anything, to anyone, when it comes to reporting it stolen or an insurance claim or them bailing on a payment plan. Them not having it won't hurt them and won't help you. Lots of phones are stolen while still in the original packaging - and those phones do tend to get blacklisted. And like you have thought, they might be planning to report it stolen or stop paying for it (in which case, the carrier will blacklist).
Why not just buy a pre-paid SIM and use that in your normal phone while in the USA ? Or buy a cheap pre-paid phone while you are there if your current phone does not use SIM technology ? You can get one for $20 at places like WAL*MART and similar, which are all over the USA.
Not sure what you mean about "frying" a new SIM. It just wouldn't work if the IMEI was blacklisted, but it's not going to explode or anything. :silly:
If it's blacklisted, I wouldn't count on getting it "un-blacklisted". Carriers really don't like to do that, and you'd probably be looking at making multiple phone calls and facing the likelihood that they weren't going to do it no matter what you said. Normal reps tend to not even know what the IMEI blacklist is, you'd have to have your case brought to someone who did, and convince them to do it - which they usually flat-out will not. I've only really heard of success with having it "un-blacklisted" if you're a long-term customer with a retention/sob story, and it took multiple phone calls and a lot of time.
Thanks I actually did buy a GSM phone for use with a prepaid SIM in USA. I bought it mainly for 3G band inter-compatibility between that used in US and where I live.
Wouldn't opening a dispute with Ebay for this be a little too much? Also, if I open an Item Not As Described dispute, they would request me to get the phone checked with a local dealer and give them a report of exactly how it is not as described by the inspector right? The receipt being missing would be a minor thing that I am not sure they would even consider looking at.
I really don't know the process (but the stories I've heard didn't make the buyer do anything too complicated). Honestly, the sellers themselves have been screwed over because they'll often just take you on your word and people have been known to scam that way. *shrug*
It's up to you how worried you are and if you're prepared to take a loss. But if they're not responding to you, what else are you going to do it get eBay involved? Other than just sit on it and hope for the best - which might all turn out fine, might not.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
The seller is still being very dodgy. Is it true that the Social Security Number is printed on the phone bill when it is purchased from AT&T even if it was an outright purchase?
The seller is refusing to provide the original sales invoice on the grounds that it has his SSN and he would not want to disclose that. He is also refusing to provide a bill by himself saying that he does not know the IMEI of the phone he sold to me so he cannot take the liability of giving a bill for an IMEI he is not sure was sold by him! However, the phone is working fine otherwise.
Could someone clarify if this is right?
I bought a brand new Motorola Photon Q at FULL PRICE from Sprint a few weeks ago because I do NOT believe in contracts and remain contract free.
My phone shuts off every time I touch the Lock Screen button on top or when I BEGIN to slide out the QWERTY keyboard. (NO drops, cracks, scratches, water damage, abuse, etc verified by Sprint store)
I have the $11 a month Total Equipment Protection.
First, they can't fix my phone at the Sprint Corporate store.
Then, the want me to wait THREE BUSINESS DAYS for a REFURBED phone because the Sprint Corporate Repair Center does NOT have any in stock.
Lastly, the manager REFUSES to simply give me the ONE new Photon Q LTE they have in stock by telling me "If I give you a new Photon Q for your Total Equipment Protection Claim E-ticket I will be written up and face disciplinary action and/or lose my job."
Why the complete lack of service?
I am paying a HUGE MONTHLY PREMIUM of $11 a month for TEP, and my phone is new and still under the factory warranty.
Sprint is in the business to make monthly fees.
If I don't have a working phone, they can't charge me for monthly service.
If my Comcast cable box died, regardless of who owns it, Comcast would make it right..... even at their cost..... because they want my monthly payment.
I am NOT under contract with Comcast, and I am NOT under contract with Sprint either.
So, why aren't they bending over backwards to get a working phone in my hands ????
Not too long ago, you could walk into any corporate store and walk out with a free refurb with NO insurance and NO $50 fee.
This complete lack of customer service has me wanting to cancel Sprint and simply take my Photon Q LTE to the prepaid side or simply getting a new phone from another prepaid carrier.
This way, I can save money off of the monthly bill and just buy a cheap "backup" phone from Craigslist in case of emergencies so I can be my "own personal warranty and repair department".
PS.
The Sprint corporate store made me wait around for 4 hours.
This was after I IMMEDIATELY displayed, and duplicated 3 times, that my phone was shutting off every time I simply touched the "lock screen" button on top.
Any advice would be appreciated.
I look forward to hearing comments on Sprint's current customer service performance and policies as well.
They pulled the same crap with me when I tried to get my phone replaced. I ended up just saying **** it and replacing the parts myself. Though I am on a contract... But I also do pay for the TEP... I think their (lack of) support is ****. And it's really got me considering switching carriers.
I've been on the phone with Sprint customer service all day.
Been given nothing but a run around.
They have not located me a phone.
They have no idea where it will ship from.
They have no idea when it will ship.
My phone will not power up and I have been missing calls and texts for 2 days.
I keep requesting that they tell a Sprint store to give me a new phone, or even a refurb, and I will drive there to get it.
No one will agree to help me.
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH SPRINT ??????
That really sucks...
What's sad nowadays, is companies don't really care unless you make a big stink... and perhaps you need to make a BIG one.
Post on all their social media outlets. I've heard of mountains being moved simply because an issue was made public.
I know it's a little late now, but the next phone you buy, I would recommend getting from Best Buy, and get their protection plan. I've been told that I can literally walk out the door seconds after buying a phone, "drop" it in the parking lot, walk back in, and get a new phone on-the-spot. The best part is, it costs the same as the TEP (or you can opt to pay in full for about $170 for 2 yrs of protection), and NO $100 insurance claim fee.
I don't mean to sound like a salesman, but I've had to do enough TEP claims to decide that most big business doesn't care anymore about the consumer. Best Buy's plan is the only one I've come across these days where I can leave with a brand new phone within minutes.
arrrghhh said:
That really sucks...
What's sad nowadays, is companies don't really care unless you make a big stink... and perhaps you need to make a BIG one.
Post on all their social media outlets. I've heard of mountains being moved simply because an issue was made public.
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Click to collapse
I totally agree on this one.
Sent from my Motorola Photon Q LTE using xda premium
Now that sprint contracts out the TEP insurance stuff to asurion (asurian?) thats the procedure. I broke my Q's screen within a couple months of buying it and I had to go through the same crap were I couldnt get an in-stock phone immediately because if a screen is cracked, you must go through the TEP process, and if your phone isn't the hottest new thing selling, you will likely get a refurb.
I have had a quite a few refurbs in the past through TEP (all because of my own fault), and they have all been good working and good looking units. I broke the phone, so I would have taken almost any working phone. But in your case, I can see why its bothersome.
So I bought a Samsung Galaxy S6 in November of 2015 on ebay for $370. I checked IMEI before buying and it was clear. I received the phone and activated it on my Verizon account and continued to use it on that account for almost 2 years until recently when I attempted to move it to a different account.
After completing the port of my number to the new verzion account I was unable to activate the phone that had been previously working. Sometime between November 2015 and when I ported the person who sold me the phone decided to stop paying their bill and Verizon blacklisted the phone as stolen. I spoke to Verizon's fraud department and they are unwilling to take the device off the black list. Verizon continued to state that since I bought the phone from ebay and not directly from Verizon there was nothing they would do.
As infuriated as I am at losing a device for someone else's financial obligation (rant below) I am mainly writing this as a warning to the many people like me out there who buy used phones. I will likely never buy another used phone from a private seller because of this and I suggest you strongly consider the same. I believe this is going to become more widespread as Verizon introduced the device payment plan a couple years ago and this appears to be a clause in the terms that allows them to black list the device as stolen should the individual not pay.
I've contact ebay but am unable to open a case as the sale was 2 years ago. I contacted paypal and they likewise are unwilling to do anything.
Rant: It is as if Verizon is treating the device like a car and has a lien against it. With a car when you purchase and go to register the car under a new owner this can only happen once the current owner has satisfied the lien. Seemingly although the act of activating it on Verizon's network is the same as registering a car it does not require the former lien be satisfied. This leaves a person like me with no way of knowing if the phone will be black listed after I purchase it. Verizon should either not allow the phone to be activated on another account until the balance has been satisfied or at least provide a way to know if an IMEI has an outstanding balance associated to it.
This is kinda common knowledge though. It is the reason xda stands behind and supports swappa.com
This has been happening for years. The only way to make sure is to not use eBay and use a more reliable and vetted source.
There are ways around this (you will find the results I'm sure) but mind you they are illegal and you won't find help here with it.
I feel bad for you. This is still kinda a new thing in the states and carriers are really coming down on it. Just be careful.
As I said swappa.com is a great source. Just about everyone here uses it.
Anyone else get ripped off in the Trade-In program for the X4?
I had two Nexus 6p devices to trade, and ordered two X4s. Got my X4s promptly, but they only sent one trade in package. When I asked for the other one they flat-out refused to send it and said I would need to send back my X4 and order another one in order to receive another trade-in envelope. Despite numerous customer service reps saying this wasn't right, they stuck to it and would not send the trade in kit. After a month of back and forth, I agreed to send back the X4 as requested -- but they said it was now too late!!
The other 6p was sent in the day we received the trade in envelope in mid-October.
Last week, I *finally* received the $50 credit that was promised. And yesterday, I received my trade in credit of $15.41. Yes, you read that right: $15.41.
Project Fi claims that I did not send in the device on time, AND that it would not power on.
The 6p was in pristine condition when I sent it THREE months ago.
I refused their trade in offer and requested them to return my device (as it allows in their trade in terms & conditions) and now they are stonewalling with generic responses.
I am out $300+ on the devices and $50 on the trade in they wouldn't allow, plus the $800 I spent on the new phones. Unreal!
Needless to say, I am cancelling my Project Fi service. I am trying to decide whether to keep or sell the X4's.
I didn't have any issues.
You should report this in /r/projectfi
Specifically check the sidebar of that subreddit and click on Make a Reddit Request! It will be a hassle but if you can communicate everything to them they may be able to help.
There were many other people that also had issues with the trade-in program. I think the FI team had a breakdown with their 3rd party vendor that was handling the trade-ins. They stopped processing them for about a week, when it first started to try and sort out issues.
My Project Fi devices trade in experience
Very first week of offer I bought a Moto X4 to replace my spare cracked screen, no power on Nexus 5x. I received phone quickly, trade in was delayed and was informed by Fi account. 2 weeks later received trade in envelope returned and more delays. Project Fi email of delays with trade in devices...Xmas time frame so waited and received 56.25 trade in allowance, actually slightly more than quote. Did get Project Fi credits.
I was very disappointed with being stuck with 7.1 and Nov update...with mightysween troubles on twrp and rooting....believe me I was watching every day....Thank you for your HUGH amount of work...
I decided to by a Pixel 2 with Google store credit and received device and waiting for trade in kit for my other Nexus 5x which has a $150 trade in value....now still waiting received email of delays...I did receive the buy device discount and
Project Fi credits.
I kinda like Moto X4 with Oreo really keeping for spare "cheap" Project Fi, I have only one carrier in my home area.
US Cellular and marginal Sprint / T mobile.
Wow, now I feel lucky that I got full value without incident ($150 for Nexus 6p + $50 fi credit).
I did have to wait 2 weeks after sending in my phone before they evaluated and credited it, and the fi credit took 2 months to show up, but nothing like your disaster.
Like the previous person said, sounds like the 3rd party service google used to do the trade-ins, wasn't up to par.
I'm surprised google hasn't stepped in to help you out.
I sent in a Nexus 6, my wife a 5. It took my wife about 1.5 months, and my trade-in took two months to process. Hers went through fine, full credit, etc. Mine had a similar response, saying that I didn't send it in on time, and that I hadn't done a full factory reset in my case. I detailed the day I received my X4, and then detailed the extensive process I went through to clear the phone, including the factory reset, then factor re-imaging the phone, relocking the boot loader, etc. Inside of 2 hours of filing the ticket, I had full credit for the phone.
I suspect that many of the "won't boot" issues are directly related to the battery degradation phones like the 6p were seeing, combined with a 2-3 month time before they analyzed the phones. From the number of cases, it is clear they aren't plugging them in on a fail to boot scenario. Can I assume you have done a reddit support request to try to get this resolved?
My trade in took over a month for them to receive and evaluate, but just got an email this week saying they got it. Still waiting on my Black Friday rebate though which I was told would be applied in 4-6 weeks.
As of my last complaint (which included past complaints/case #s) their response was that a specialist would reach out to me "sometime next week"... it has been 8 days. Absurd.
I am really not interested in anything other than them a.)proving by carrier tracking # that I sent the device late, and b.)taking back the credit and sending me my device per the terms of the trade in agreement.
If it really is DOA, so be it. I can probably sell it for parts and do better than 15 bucks.
But my suspicion is that they have NO idea where that device is. Time will tell.
mightysween said:
As of my last complaint (which included past complaints/case #s) their response was that a specialist would reach out to me "sometime next week"... it has been 8 days. Absurd.
I am really not interested in anything other than them a.)proving by carrier tracking # that I sent the device late, and b.)taking back the credit and sending me my device per the terms of the trade in agreement.
If it really is DOA, so be it. I can probably sell it for parts and do better than 15 bucks.
But my suspicion is that they have NO idea where that device is. Time will tell.
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Click to collapse
They actually changed the terms after the initial offer, removing the "send it back", or so I had read on a thread on Reddit. You had 30 days from receipt of the x4 to send it back--you can probably prove to them the date the X4 was received based on their shipping e-mails and such. I'm sorry you are having such problems with this--I really really want you to stay working on this phone!
mightysween said:
As of my last complaint (which included past complaints/case #s) their response was that a specialist would reach out to me "sometime next week"... it has been 8 days. Absurd.
I am really not interested in anything other than them a.)proving by carrier tracking # that I sent the device late, and b.)taking back the credit and sending me my device per the terms of the trade in agreement.
If it really is DOA, so be it. I can probably sell it for parts and do better than 15 bucks.
But my suspicion is that they have NO idea where that device is. Time will tell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make a Reddit request in r/projectfi - they have access to Google to escalate issues.
I have been "escalated" to upper tiers of service several times. The issue is that there is NO follow up on their end.
They all seem to agree that I was ripped off, but that there is nothing they can do about it.
I am already moving on from Fi service back to an MVNO that at least doesn't scam their customers. But I WILL be getting my 6p back, or fair market value... even if it costs me 10x as much to do it.
Good luck on this one guys, they f-ed me over on my trade in as well. I did send it back a little later than I initially thought I would. It took them almost 2 months to process the return.
I sent in the phone, box, charger, everything that it originally included when I bought the phone. My phone was unlocked / rooted and I relocked it, fully wiped it out and returned it to stock.
Google claimed the phone was not factory reset (bullshiz) and that they didn't receive it within time and the credit was something like $15 bucks, when the phone (Nexus 6) was perfect in every way, shape and form.
I had a 2nd Nexus 6 to send back in as I bought two (2) of the Moto X4's and didn't even bother on the 2nd phone due to the way Google handled the 1st return.
No issues with my trade in, got the full quote. Pretty streamlined process was my experience.
My Fi trade in for the Moto X4 was great. I have been waiting for a trade in Credit on my Pixel 2 from Dec 22 and still shows on my Project Fi account page a trade in (worth 150 at posting of details for initial Trade in Credit of my Nexus 5x). A couple of no return responses on the project Fi feedback button. So who knows.
The moral of the story is to never trade in anything with anybody. The cost of your time and the gamble of problems makes it not at all worth it. If you think they care that you will cancel your service, think again. And if you think you will get better service elsewhere, think again. We no longer live in a customer service oriented society. And to be honest, I don't think we should. There are too many people out there who try to jack the man and sponge everything they can. People seem to have this sense of entitlement that sickens me to the core. Ah, but I digress. Sorry about your troubles, mate.
Have to agree. Why trade and lose 40-50% of it's value, and then have to worry if they will follow through.
Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
I am glad you were able to find some level of relief by venting your frustrations here. It always makes me chuckle a little, though, when people say they are no longer doing business with X and will switch to Y. The fact is, customer service is largely dead on this planet. You (or many others) will have the same crappy service with vendor Y eventually. Switching every time you have a bad experience is not going to solve your problem. In fact, it is only going to make your life harder. I wish you luck though. By the way, trade-ins are a huge waste of time; no matter what carrier you are doing the deal with.
Me Too
I got an attempt to rip-off today by Google Fi too. They promised $150 and then they said the best they could do was $19
My Nexus 6P had 0 cracks, screen in perfect condition, turned on, factory reset.
I contacted them asking why the low value, and they said they would re-check my phone to tell me the details.
I'm waiting for their reply.