My first extended warranty benefit claim

[Anonymous]

I work tech support for a major electronics company.

I processed one of these for a Discover card customer. I'm sorry to say that this may be a major PITA to get. I had to escalate to our service manager who dealt with the tech directly. They were unsure how to do this because their invoices do not provide itemized repair by the numbers.

We got it, but it did take a bit.

[masscredit]

You are correct. If the process was simple, I'd use it for lower priced items but I have to jump through more hoops than a circus dog so there comes a point when it's not worth my time.  

The card used was my Barclay Rewards card. It looks like I'm dealing with MasterCard and an insurance company they deal with. 

[iced]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Why would no you use it for small items? It's not like your rate will go up... 

what card is it?

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I assume because of the hassle and the value of ones time.

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Pretty much this. I've paid medical bills out of pocket before because it was a bargain compared to the hassle of getting all of the claims, approvals and referrals in order along with the forms submitted to insurance for reimbursement. I couldn't see myself jumping through similar hoops for commodity equipment that I could just replace in an hour and  be done with.

[UpperNwGuy]

This is why I have never been upset when credit card issuers have dropped various "protection benefits" offered by third-party insurance companies.  The hassles of accessing those benefits are incredible.

[Anonymous]

So far it was a call and an email.. then a few more calls, finding the right docs. Seems allright.

The fact that they need 10 days just to make determination is not allright. 

I wonder if this will work out in the end. 

[masscredit]

I spent some time working on getting everything together tonight. For the warranty info, I had to do some searching to find something that spelling out the manufacturer's warranty is one year.  It varies by model. I also saved all of the technical warranty language we never read. I'll provide that too so they don't say I didn't give it to them. 

I got stuck on this one - 

• Document linking the eligible MasterCard account with the rewards program used to make purchase. Some examples are "Smiles", "Latam Pass", "Multiplus", etc.

I have no clue what they are talking about. I called MasterCard but I was to late today. I'll have to call back when that department is open tomorrow.

Before I started this I was thinking it would be as simple as providing a copy of the receipt, maybe my credit card statement and some warranty info.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like it’s only needed if you used card “points” to pay for it. If you paid in $, this does not make sense.

[masscredit]

Yeah... I see where this is going. I just got off the phone with the MasterCard Assistance Center. I first asked about the info being requested about the rewards program.  She didn't see that in the info that is needed for my claim. Now onto the part about needing a repair estimate. I explained what Netgear told me. They can't provide anything that says the modem is defective but will tell the adjuster it is if he calls and provides the case number.  She said I need something in writting.  Either from them or I can bring it to a repair facility (local computer place?).  Dead modems/routers usually get tossed in the trash.  I've never brought one anywhere to be repaired so I think this will be there way out of paying the claim.  I don't give up easy so I think I'm going to bring it to a local computer store, explain the situation then offer to pay for their time to write up something that says the modem needs to be replaced. They wouldn't have a reason to go out of their way to do that for nothing.  I'd pay $25-$50 to get $400. 

[kdm31091]

As noted above these types of things tend to be a hassle. I’ve never had a reason to use it. On the other hand, I somewhat understand companies making it a hassle. If it were extremely simple, you’d have people making false claims left and right. So there does have to be a balance.

That said, for something quick and simple to replace I’d just replace it. If we were talking about 1,000 bucks or something it would be different.

[Anonymous]

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@masscredit wrote:

Yeah... I see where this is going. I just got off the phone with the MasterCard Assistance Center. I first asked about the info being requested about the rewards program.  She didn't see that in the info that is needed for my claim. Now onto the part about needing a repair estimate. I explained what Netgear told me. They can't provide anything that says the modem is defective but will tell the adjuster it is if he calls and provides the case number.  She said I need something in writting.  Either from them or I can bring it to a repair facility (local computer place?).  Dead modems/routers usually get tossed in the trash.  I've never brought one anywhere to be repaired so I think this will be there way out of paying the claim.  I don't give up easy so I think I'm going to bring it to a local computer store, explain the situation then offer to pay for their time to write up something that says the modem needs to be replaced. They wouldn't have a reason to go out of their way to do that for nothing.  I'd pay $25-$50 to get $400. 

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Guess there's a lot of variation.   My Samsung phone screen cracked, and I guess it was early enough in Discover's purchase protection window.   I sent it to Samsung for repair and discover quickly refunded most of the repair price.   And, since I am immoral, my cellphone insurance also paid some of it, so I ended up with something like a $50 profit.   Not easily scalable unfortunately!   (To be a little fair, the question on one of the forms was has some other insurance paid for this, and at the time I didn't know that they would.)    So that's why Discover ended Purchase Protection if you need someone to blame.