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GAF, an insurance company just stole my iPhone. Please help me return it.

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Agent_J

Agent_J

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I'll try to make this as brief but descriptive as possible. I've been having problems with my iPhone 4S and when I went to the Apple store, all they told me was to pay $200 because it had water damage (it didn't) and there was no way around it. Whatever the real reason my phone was acting glitchy was pushed aside because water damage takes priority for them.

For this reason, I started searching for companies that would fix my phone for cheaper. I ended up finding (after reading good reviews) http://www.eSurranty.com

So, i paid via PayPal for a year's worth of insurance for approximately $50, plus an additional $15 to cover water damage and replacement. I figured, what a great deal! What could go wrong? This was June 2nd.

I submitted my claim around June 4th. The first response I get from a man named Jon states that I never filed a claim, which was stupid. I quickly took a screenshot of the receipt and he apologized. Then he said I never paid for my deductible. Taking another screenshot shut him up. I should've seen these red flags, but I dismissed them as an incompetent worker, not a bad service. We e-mail back and forth for the next two days, and he tells me he'll reach me via phone within 24 hours.

I write back after not hearing anything on June 14th. I demand my refund, but then the head honcho calls me, named Angelo and he seemed helpful, and assisted me and told me the next step was to mail out my phone to him. I really hesitated, but with all the positive reviews I've read online, I decided to trust him.

I mail out my phone on the 18th of June. Angelo responds to me with:

On Jun 21, 2012, at 2:54 PM, Angelo <angelo@esurranty.com> wrote:

Once we get it our techs will look at it the same day and repair it. It will then be sent back to you the following day via overnight delivery. 1 day shipping, 1 day repair, 1 day shipping back to you.

Angelo
Click to expand...

He claims he received my phone on the 27th of June. Between July 2nd and July 5th, he's guiding me through the process of repair and I have no choice but to patiently wait. He says how the Apple store is giving him trouble and blah blah blah..

On July 6th and 7th we e-mail and I tell him that it's a family crisis and I desperately need my phone. He takes it as a threat because I mention the police.

On July 6th, he tells me the phone is shipping out the next day. And since then he's been ignoring my e-mails. There's no contact number, and the only time he called me was from a blocked number. So, I threaten him saying I'm gonna involve the cops, and my friend who happens to be the chief of police. He says to me:

I don’t know who the fuck you are threatening kid but you need to realize one thing. I do not respond to threats and in fact, if you would have told me in a gentlemanly manner that you didn’t receive your phone back I would have jumped in somebody’s ass first thing in the morning because since I didn’t hear anything yesterday, I assumed you got it back already. Now, since I have decency I will see what happened and let you know as soon as I know something. Once your phone is back in your hands, I will take action towards the moron that didn’t get it fixed and returned to you in the time frame that I specified before I left. I DO NOT fix the phone’s and I am not a micro manager. If there is an issue I will get it resolved. By looking at the order notes and your e-mail’s, I’m sure you pissed off someone and they put your claim at the end of the line. There is an old saying, you get more bee’s with honey than vinegar. Now, if you want to have whatever police chief and a chief justice come to Florida and try to throw some weight around, I welcome it. Shit, I would be fucking astonished and buy you a new iPhone myself. I mean, I’m sure they have nothing else to do but run with you after a $500 phone. But then again maybe you’re the guy who will beat a bitch down for $5 on principle... Grow the fuck up and realize that threats get you NO WHERE! I could threaten you with an insurance fraud claim and prosecute you here in the state of Florida as well as Federally then get an extradition warrant since your device was broken before you purchased your coverage with us. You’re right about the features of an iPhone, it tells us exactly when something first malfunctioned and everything... BUT, I’m not some punk ass kid that likes to blow hot air. As a MAN, I will tell you that I will honor my business reputation and get your issue resolved as quickly as humanly possible. Since I am not in Florida until Friday I will have to do this via phone and e-mail, but it will get done, and when I am back in Miami, I will discipline or fire the fuck that caused us to have our little e-mail pissing contest. Have a good night, and I apologize for the unprofessional behavior of the of the soon to be fired asshole that was supposed to get your phone to you by Monday.
Click to expand...

I haven't heard from him since, even with me contacting him on a daily basis.

I've already contacted PayPal and received my $70 refund, but it's the phone I need, not the money! I've submitted my claim to the BBB, the online FBI criminal site, and the Florida online crime site. I feel helpless, as if none of these sites will help me!

I've called the Ft. Lauderdale police station, and I'm waiting to hear from them but I seriously don't expect to.

Sorry for the length but I even used proper punctuation and capitalization just for y'all, which I normally don't ;)

TL; DR
I paid for an online insurance company, I mail them out my iPhone and they never return it.
 
I don't understand how I committed insurance fraud? It's a website that offers insurance for all products, cell phones, tablets, etc. I'm just a paying consumer and it doesn't state anywhere that what I'm doing is illegal.
 
You really should have just paid for Apple's repair. Sure, it's overpriced but I'd prefer Apple handling my phone than some random insurance company.
 
slick7rick said:
I don't understand how I committed insurance fraud? It's a website that offers insurance for all products, cell phones, tablets, etc. I'm just a paying consumer and it doesn't state anywhere that what I'm doing is illegal.
Click to expand...

You bought the insurance after it was broken. Did you tell them it was broken before you bought the policy?
 
slick7rick said:
I don't understand how I committed insurance fraud? It's a website that offers insurance for all products, cell phones, tablets, etc. I'm just a paying consumer and it doesn't state anywhere that what I'm doing is illegal.
Click to expand...

It was broken before you started the insurance. If that wasn't illegal then everyone would only get car insurance after crashing their car.
 
So you basically just told everyone you committed insurance fraud and now you're asking gaf how to help you commit more fraud?
 
My phone wasn't broken. It's in physically perfect shape. It just started acting glitchy, apps would crash like Safari and such. I've taken it to the Apple store a dozen times, but they couldn't find the source of the problem and kept telling me to come back after a restore, etc. One day I go there, and they claim that the bottom water sensor was triggered and it turned pink. Which is bullshit, because I'm OCD about my phone and never got any liquid on it.

While purchasing this coverage, I explicitly told them my issue. I never hid anything from them.
 
Lesson learned: Don't trust online insurance companies. Even the best ones are designed to be money pits. You pay them, they do everything they can to not give you a cent.

On the plus side, now maybe you can report your phone stolen to Apple and get a new one for free.
 
Do you keep your phone in your pocket? Do you sweat? Sometimes that's enough to trip the moisture sensing thingie.
 
Two things:

1. Insurance fraud is when you make a claim against insurance under false pretenses. For example, your friend wrecks their car and you claim that you accidentally ran into them, they pay you the money for the principle, and they get their car fixed for cheep. In your case, you had a broken phone, purchased insurance after it was broken, then claimed that it was broken after you bought the insurance. Thus, fraud.

slick7rick said:
While purchasing this coverage, I explicitly told them my issue. I never hid anything from them.
Click to expand...

Possibly irrelevant. If you signed an agreement with the insurance company stating a particular date you were covered for, then you still committed fraud. The person just probably didn't care.


2. Unless you can get a lawyer, you've done about all you can do in this situation. Somebody else may chime in, but if they actually mailed it there's nothing they can do and if they didn't and they're not responding you really can't make them. You could always look up their consumer affairs department and try that venue.
 
slick7rick said:
My phone wasn't broken. It's in physically perfect shape. It just started acting glitchy, apps would crash like Safari and such. I've taken it to the Apple store a dozen times, but they couldn't find the source of the problem and kept telling me to come back after a restore, etc. One day I go there, and they claim that the bottom water sensor was triggered and it turned pink. Which is bullshit, because I'm OCD about my phone and never got any liquid on it.

While purchasing this coverage, I explicitly told them my issue. I never hid anything from them.
Click to expand...

But you did because it was triggered. No offense but I believe the Apple store.
 
Seriously, how did op not see this happening with this thread? I like his condensed version too, nothing about how the phone wasn't working properly before the insurance.

If you need a phone that bad, go by a radio shack and pick up a $10 phone.
 
wow thanks for the one person who actually gave a damn to respond properly. a mod can delete or close this topic, as it's obvious no one cares to help. i didn't do anything illegal, i didn't commit fraud. i out right told them the exact issues with my phone before sending it in to them.

but whatever, what's done is done.
 
slick7rick said:
wow thanks for the one person who actually gave a damn to respond properly. a mod can delete or close this topic, as it's obvious no one cares to help. i didn't do anything illegal, i didn't commit fraud. i out right told them the exact issues with my phone before sending it in to them.

but whatever, what's done is done.
Click to expand...

So why did you wait two days to make the claim? Why not do it right then, while you were on their website anyway?
 
because during that 2 day period, i had to delete my e-mail accounts and phone numbers due to someone hacking into my accounts.

some of y'all really are heartless, accusing me of being a criminal. i'm just a normal dude with shitty luck sometimes.
 
slick7rick said:
wow thanks for the one person who actually gave a damn to respond properly. a mod can delete or close this topic, as it's obvious no one cares to help. i didn't do anything illegal, i didn't commit fraud. i out right told them the exact issues with my phone before sending it in to them.

but whatever, what's done is done.
Click to expand...

This is irrelevant.

How do you not get this?

-Your phone was defective. It doesn't matter if it was "physically not broken"...it was defective, and therefore requiring repair.

-You bought insurance AFTER discovering this.

-You made a claim AFTER it was defective, which you knew BEFORE you bought the insurance.

Fraud.

It doesn't matter if you told the company what is wrong with it before you sent it in. Of course you did that, that's why you filed a claim. You will have to explain what's wrong with it.

It's like you're hanging onto irrelevant parts of the story just to justify your actions.
 
On the off chance you honestly don't know what you did wrong, here's a cheap tip:

You cannot buy insurance after something has gone wrong. That is not how insurance works. Insurance is protection against future bad luck. It is not something you can get after the fact.

Insurance does not work if people only buy it after they need a payout. When you buy insurance, your money and everyone else's is pooled together, and then used to pay whoever actually needs it. This system completely breaks down if you only put in money when you need more money back out.

If you're familiar with the current healthcare stuff in the US, this is the reason for the mandate that forces people to purchase insurance. If that wasn't a part of it, people could just go ahead and buy insurance after they were already sick, and the system would go bankrupt.
 
slick7rick said:
because during that 2 day period, i had to delete my e-mail accounts and phone numbers due to someone hacking into my accounts.

some of y'all really are heartless, accusing me of being a criminal. i'm just a normal dude with shitty luck sometimes.
Click to expand...

Criminal is a strong word. I've done similar before with cell phones. Accidental coverage is allowed, phone takes a beating but works, so I "accidentally" make it break. I pay 50, get a shiney new phone.

The difference is, I pay the 5 bucks per month when I get the phone through my bill. I do not get insurance after the phone breaks.

Seriously, look up their fax number and address. Mail/fax a written letter. Ask to escalate your problem through their call center.
 
Tapiozona said:
But you did because it was triggered. No offense but I believe the Apple store.
Click to expand...

Eh, I don't really. My wife's phone's sound doesn't works really weird now and they claim they can't fix it unless we give them $200, because apparently one water thing is tripped. My wife has never had it near water with one tiny exception. She had it in the bathroom (near the open door mind you) while she showered. That's it. We even told them that, though, and they were all blah blah that shouldn't matter. That's normal use. These are totally specifically engineered so that won't trip it. Well apparently not.

Not that I would say believe a guy that buys insurance after the fact over apple, but Apple's record on this is pretty shit to me.

Cisce said:
You really should have just paid for Apple's warranty. Sure, it's overpriced but I'd prefer Apple handling my phone than some random insurance company.
Click to expand...

Apple's warranty wouldn't cover it. That's actually why my wife and I breathed a sigh of relief that we didn't get applecare on her phone. If we would have paid that much for insurance and had them give me some BS excuse and refuse to fix it under normal use... I would have blown my top. Actually as it stands I nearly did, because the phone was less than a year old and only put through normal use...

Edit: Ah, I guess there is applecare+ which apparently does cover it. Didn't know that. Still 100 bucks is a lot considering I still think we deserve an actual replacement since it broke through normal use...
 
BBB, FBI and local police? Really? After you insurance fraud a phone...

I actually side with his response.
 
Here's a website on auto insurance fraud in Pennsylvania. Although it's about car insurance, it's still relevant due to the nature of the fraud.

http://www.helpstopfraud.org/TypesofInsuranceFraud/Automotive/tabid/66/Default.aspx

Specifically (see bold):

The majority of automotive insurance fraud arrests in Pennsylvania involve:

&#8226;staged auto accidents and false claims of injury
&#8226;false reports of stolen vehicles
&#8226;false claims that an accident happened after a policy or coverage was purchased
&#8226;false claims for damage that already existed
&#8226;claimants who concealed that a person excluded from coverage by their policy was driving at the time of the accident
Click to expand...

OP, you did the exact same thing. You made an insurance claim for a defective product that already existed before the policy.
 
maybe its a gaf trend but when i saw the title i instantly thought id have to vote for something
 
After reading the OP completely...

1. You are in the wrong
2. You committed insurance fraud
3. You sound like a dick
4. That message the company sent you was completely justified

You commit fraud and then call the FBI? We're probably going to see a news thread posted about your arrest soon.
 
Sanjuro Tsubaki said:
They absolutely would.
Click to expand...

Yeah, just saw that. That's still a really really shit deal though. You pay 100 bucks up front for applecare+, and then apparently get a $50 service fee when it's replaced? Without applecare with an accident you pay $200...

As it stands I don't think my wife's ever going to buy an iPhone again, seeing as her phone is now broken, and she has to keep using it for a while, even though she took great care of it and never actually had something accidental happen to it...
 
RDreamer said:
Yeah, just saw that. That's still a really really shit deal though. You pay 100 bucks up front for applecare+, and then apparently get a $50 service fee when it's replaced? Without applecare with an accident you pay $200...
Click to expand...

Most insurance companies have a deductible of some sort. With AppleCare+, you get two incidents fully covered for only $49.

I don't see how that is a bad deal.
 
should have either got apple repair or sent it to a third party repair site.

you stated that you got the insurance after the problems started. then you sent the phone in to get a new one. that is fraud, no one is accusing you of a crime, you admitted to committing a crime
 
RDreamer said:
Yeah, just saw that. That's still a really really shit deal though. You pay 100 bucks up front for applecare+, and then apparently get a $50 service fee when it's replaced? Without applecare with an accident you pay $200...

As it stands I don't think my wife's ever going to buy an iPhone again, seeing as her phone is now broken, and she has to keep using it for a while, even though she took great care of it and never actually had something accidental happen to it...
Click to expand...

AppleCare+ covers everything, even if your device is demolished, completely submerged in water etc. I don't think Apple would replace an iPhone that was demolished for $200 (maybe I'm wrong).
 
railGUN said:
AppleCare+ covers everything, even if your device is demolished, completely submerged in water etc. I don't think Apple would replace an iPhone that was demolished for $200 (maybe I'm wrong).
Click to expand...

They won't. If you have an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad that is in salvageable condition out of warranty or warranty voided, you basically have a coupon at that point.
 
Sanjuro Tsubaki said:
Most insurance companies have a deductible of some sort. With AppleCare+, you get two incidents fully covered for only $49.

I don't see how that is a bad deal.
Click to expand...

If you take care of your phone and don't fucking break it it's not a good deal at all.

You don't get two incidents fully covered for $49. No incidents cost you $100. One incident costs you $150. Two incidents costs you $200. The only way this is a great deal is if you are prone to breaking your phone more than once. It might be an ok deal I guess if you want to save only $50 and you don't take care of your phone.

As per my own example, my wife and I have never accidentally broken a phone. Ever. We've only ever lost one, and I'm pretty sure applecare isn't going to cover that. So, for us it would be stupid to buy the applecare+ on our phones. The problem is we didn't account for apple being shitty manufacturers with a defect in their goddamned water detection stuff.

We've had 4 iPhones thus far. Let's say this specific applecare was available on all of them (it wasn't with our old ones), and we decided to buy it. We'd have put out an extra $400. What would we have got for it? We'd have got a savings of $50 on this one phone. In other words we would have paid $450 in insurance in order to ensure this one get fixed... yeah... shitty deal overall.


railGUN said:
AppleCare+ covers everything, even if your device is demolished, completely submerged in water etc. I don't think Apple would replace an iPhone that was demolished for $200 (maybe I'm wrong).
Click to expand...

Yeah, but I mean... who the fuck is doing these things to their phones? Who's buying this applecare with the thought that they might actually demolish their freaking phone? That's crazy.

Edit: wrong math
 
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