Brief background: Mugged on Thursday afternoon last week, bag stolen. Not much in there (happily had left my purse at home and only taken a credit card) apart from my iPhone ? a 32GB 3GS (dull but important detail). An eyewitness, and CCTV footage so all verifiable. Police came, took a statement and so on.
I reported it to my insurance company that day. It?s Carphone Warehouse, so specialist phone insurance. They were great ? approved the claim very quickly, and said they would get hold of another phone for me. The weekend went by, and I didn?t hear anything, but didn?t expect to. I called again yesterday, they said they were still trying to find me a phone.
Today they told me they have no phones like mine in stock. And they don?t know when more will arrive. But I can either a) wait until some turn up or b) choose another phone from a list they supplied. Now, I strongly suspect they won?t get any more into stock, as Apple don?t seem to still be selling the 32GB 3GS iPhone any more. The 16GB, yes, and the 4.0, but not this one. My local O2 shop had one when I called in this afternoon, but the guy there said he wasn?t expecting any more- basically, they are moving out of that, and into the 4.0.
So, clearly I am not going to get a like for like replacement. The woman I spoke to offered me a 16GB phone, but there is no cash top up, and the cost of my contract with O2 is based on a 32GB phone.
I don?t want a different phone. I don?t consider a different smartphone to be a like-for-like replacement. I?m a Mac user, I always have been. The iPhone has apps that I use for work all the time that aren?t available on Android. I don?t want an HTC or a Samsung, and it would be little use to me.
I don?t expect them to offer me a 4.0, but do expect them to offer me the retail value, in cash, of a 3GS so I can go and buy one from somewhere else (which I can still do if I get a move on, as they are available from various places). There is a clause in the contract that says they will do that ?at their discretion? but the person I spoke to today didn?t seem to think she could exercise that discretion, and didn?t think anyone else would either.
There is a clause in the contract that basically says (am paraphrasing slightly as T&Cs are at work) ? we will give you a similar model OR a phone from a different manufacturer OR a phone with similar features. To me that seems ridiculous. All that ?or?, ?or?, ?or? COULD mean ?any phone we choose to give you?, couldn?t it? Like a ten year old Nokia? Is that fair?
I am sure they are going to come up against this over and over again in the coming months - I don?t think many iPhone users would want a different handset, but basically if you have an iPhone 3GS 32GB and you lose it or it?s stolen, you?re stuck.
I agreed to call back tomorrow to speak to a supervisor, but was just wondering if I had a leg to stand on here. Can I insist on a cash refund? What can I say to persuade them?
Well done if you made it to the end of this, sorry for the ramble...