Best Buy to Offer iPhone 3G S Insurance
So we all know that AT&T, for whatever reason, does not offer insurance for any iPhone. It seems as if Best Buy is now stepping up to the plate to offer it’s customers some iPhone 3G S insurance, Geek Squads Black Tie Protection.
This is great news for some of you but keep in mind it comes at a pretty hefty price. Normal cell phone insurance via Best Buy will cost you anywhere from $7 to $10 a month. Not the case with iPhone 3G S, Best Buy has raised this fee to a cool $15 a month. This premium fee is most likely due to the full retail price of the 3G S being so high at $599 and $699.
Good news is that this insurance will cover all sorts of damage – liquid damage, cracked screens, cracked casing, etc… All you have to do is bring your damaged iPhone into any Best Buy, they will fix it or replace your device on the spot.
So at $15/month is this something you’d be willing to pay for some peace of mind?
[Via Apple Insider]
June 12th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Well I guess this is worth it if you think you’ll destroy your iPhone (32gb) every 19 months, but then again at the current rate a new iPhone will be on the market before then.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Best Buy had this same plan with the 3G
June 12th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
At $15 a month dont think its worth. Also was hoping new iphone would come with a pop up keyboard.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
@Rick
You’re right cause I got my wife an iPhone 3G for X-mas from Best Buy and was able to put insurance on the phone from them. This is nothing new. But if you didn’t know, now you do.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Someone told me that they got their iphone insured by Geico for like $5 a month. I haven’t looked into it myself but it’s worth a shot!
June 12th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I <3 Best Buy!
June 12th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I have mine insured through my homeowner’s insurance for $25/year with a floater policy; Statefarm. Anyway, can’t you just get the product replacement plan from Best Buy on it? They always offer that to me for everything at the register.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I have my original iPhone 2G I bought in 2007. No insurance and no damage. If you really care about your purchase you’ll be careful. Unless you’ve had like 10 beers… like I did when my Moto Razr fell in the toilet. Lesson learned.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I wonder if there will be a way to get the insurance if you preordered the 3G S from Apple instead of buying it at Best Buy…
June 12th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
@Rick, yes you are correct – we are aware that Best Buy had a similar plan last year for the 3G. Just letting all the new customers know what options are available to them this time around.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I wouldn’t pay this much. Just save the money and get it fixed. There are great places that will service iPhones these days. Plus anything that’s been wrong with my phone in the past apple has helped with for free. I think its all on the situation and how nice you are
June 12th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Umm, I have a 3G, what happens if I break it? I still do have Apple warranty, not the extended 3 years rather just one.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
@Christin Very true but not every one has an Apple Store close by or in there state.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I’m sure Best Buy’s cost is far short of the stated 599/699 price in the article. (I’d guess they get it for close to half that, which still leaves Apple 100% profit over manufacturing costs if history is any guide.
So you have to figure that Best Buy has to recover 300/350 in premiums to replace one phone, which means that if you pay this insurance for two years they can afford to replace your phone.
I expect most users make it thru two years without needing dropping the phone, so this is going to be very lucrative insurance for Best Buy.
Further, since theft/loss is not covered you have to toss out one of the biggest risk factors.
I agree with others, that putting the money into a good sturdy case is a far better investment. Especially if it covers the whole phone and hides it from the eyes of thieves.
But for those that have to show off the phone (coolness factor seriously eroded by the $99 price) this might be an option.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I think apple has come out with a new insurance for water damaged iphones but as far as craked screens and backs someone instead of bestbuy should step up to the plate!!!!!!
June 12th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
So we do offer the 15 dollar a month protection plan (not insuarance). It comes out to be 360 for 24 months. What’s so great about Geek Squad Black Tie Protection? 1. No deductable. 2. You don’t have to deal with some indian guy on the phone. 3.We do give loaner phones while we fix the phone. (iPhone will be rplaced with in 3 days) 4. We do replace battery and the charger! If you think about it ATT charges $5 a month for smart phones and $125 deductable so you you pay 365 for 2 years thats if you break your phone once.So yea its great deal! @ Christin you can save money and that might cover the cost of the damage. Just to get the LCD online is $140 that doesnt include labor think what would apple charge you???
June 12th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
@Icebike, for every person who actually makes it two years with no damage there are the ones who will come in with damaged phone multiple times. So it goes both ways. Granted, I would never pay $15/month for this let alone buy my iPhone from Best Buy. But again, it’s simply an option.
June 12th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Thanks for the blog…
June 12th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
@ Jeremy. Yea dont buy your iPhone at best buy go to att and dont get reward zone points for your purchase ($5 every $250) And pay twice for everything that goes with the iPhone and not to mention no insuarance!!!
June 12th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I bought my 3g at Costco (Canada) last July. They offered insurance @ $40 that gave me 2 years replacement. If I don’t use it, Costco gives me a $40 gift card. I thought that was a pretty good deal!
June 12th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
@Jeremy Sikora:
Interesting statistics (I presume you pulled these numbers from the same place I pull my estimates).
I know people still using the 1st phone which never gave them any problem, but our company has had 7 different phones for 4 lines of service within the first year. (All covered by warranty).
I wish there was a good source of info on warranty repair rates. The Fanboys over on the Apple Forums insist its no more than 2%. But watching the Geniuses at the Apple store for an hour will tell you its a steady stream all day long.
Maybe Best Buy will release some numbers (I seriously doubt it, I doubt Apple would let them).
Any polls on this subject are largely useless, because those who do not have problems do not surf the web looking for solutions.
Further, I suspect the vast majority of iPhone users are not tech geeks like folks here, they just go to Apple and get it replaced.
I do worry about the second year of my ATT contract with no Warranty coverage.
@BBYM Thanks for pointing out its a Protection Plan, and not insurance. Suggestion: (If you actually work for Best Buy) Suggest to corporate that they develop and sell a Upgrade Plan, where you will take the old phones in trade, and offer new phones with each new Apple Release for a monthly fee. If Apple stays with yearly releases and ATT stays with 2 year contracts, you have a pretty large market for this service, and you still can flood the third world with wiped used phones.
June 12th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
@ Icebike. Yes I’m working at Best Buy Mobile. It’s a good idea whatsoever we are working on lots of improvements currently fallowing the carphonewarehouse’s lead in technology at UK. We can’t jump in to anything major right away. We are currently working on our protection plan (non iPhone)to get a better service provider for faster repair time and to be able to handle more valume.. Also I highly doubt Apple or ATT would allow that.
June 12th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
How about lost or stolen? I wonder if that is covered.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
We do not cover lost or stolen. That’s why it’s not insurance, it’s protection plan.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
You are more than likely to damage your phone then losing it. Biggest complain I get is automatic deduction from credit our debit card because it’s through best buy not att or any other carier.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Sorry “Credit or debit”. We have some people here pay more attention to spelling then the subject let’s make them happy so they can get a L-I-F-E.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Ive had my first gen 8gb iphone for 16 months and have dropped it 3 times, twice on concrete and it has slid screen side first on rocks and only has a few scratches on the side from all that. So Ive been lucky and careful as can be. $15 a month is too much for those of us that arent made of money. I like Best Buy but refuse to do this. $5 a month would be alot better as someone mentioned thru your insurance comp.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
@ Barry if you replace your smartphone once(125 deductable..) with carier insurance you pay 365 dollars for 24 month. With us if you replace your phone 10 times you still pay 360! I am a sales consaltant at best buy mobile and don’t work with commission so Honestly I really believe this protection plan we offer is lot better then Carier’s!
June 14th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Squaretrade offers insurance… they will probably post the new rates Monday. Yes the same guys who insure Ebay auctions… check it out on Squaretrade.com
June 18th, 2009 at 10:48 am
I pay less in renters insurance that covers my 5,000 macbook pro and back up.
Outrageous.
June 26th, 2009 at 9:06 am
@BBYM I don’t know if you are still around, but I would love for you to explain the BBuy repair replacement policy for the iPhone to me. I just went into my local store and got very different info. Namely:
**No on-the-spot repair or replacement. Everything is shipped off and the average turnaround is 7-10 days. You do get a loaner phone, but not an iPhone. Your data is not ported over and when your phone returns some 10 days later all of your data is gone.
*Water damage does not include any manner of submersion. Only surface moisture.
*They also told me that while you don’t offer black-tie for iPhones bought outside of BBuy; you do offer repair services BUT they could not give me any specifics on turnaround time or pricing. You would need to send it off and “see what we can do”
*Most interesting to me was that they claimed that “the most advanced trained best buy employees” actually handle your repairs in a best buy facility if you have black tie. If you dont have black tie then it is repaired by apple techs.
Anyway, thanks for the information you have already provided. I would love for you to clear up some of this for me. I was told this by a BBuy and GeekSquad cat who were standing together in customer sercvice.
Thanks again.
July 6th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Most plan’s replacement phone is refurb phone. I wonder if ur iPhone is damaged beyond repair will BBuy replace it with brand new or refurb one ? Anyone ?
August 21st, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I thought I was wasting my money, but it fell out of my hands as I Kade an attempt to catch it, and it smashed against the brick floor and cracked my entire screen. If I didn’t have my insurance, I’d probably be crying. But since I do, it’s actually pretty funny. I’m really glad that I got insurance.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Paid $40 with state farm, no deductible $699 coverage against everything that you didn’t do on purpose. Never submitted a claim, so I don’t know if this is true, but I did get the coverage. BTW I gor car and renters insurance at the same time, don’t know if that makes any difference whatsoever.
November 17th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Looking to buy an iphone 3gs and came across insuremyiphone.com. It insures even 3gs iphone for what seems a cheaper price than squaretrade or BBuy. Apparently it’s an insurance company by the name of Safeware that now offers iphone insurance and covers accidental damage, liquid spill, power surge, theft, fire, flood, & vandalism as well. Has a $50 deductible per incident. Price varies by phone. There is no limit to number of claims supposedly. I checked out on BBB and looks legitimate but check for yourself.
December 16th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
The best buy insurance covers any accidental damage, normal wear and tear on the phone, minor water damage up to 4 water marks (which shouldn’t cause a problem cause anyone with a brain isn’t going to just let their iphone sit at the bottom of pool for an hour), there are no deductables, and unlimited number of claims, and yes a loaner phone is offered but of course it’s not going to be an iphone otherwise you wouldn’t have any reason to bring it back, there is a 7-10 day turnaround, but waiting a week or so for a phone is no big deal. BBY doesn’t replace an unrepairable iphone with a referb, the only referbs they carry are the 3g.
Accidents happen, you could buy your iphone and walk out the door to go somewhere else to get it insured and drop it in the parking lot, after that BBY can’t insure it and neither can anyone else. If you splurge $15 when you bu it it’ll be covered for the next 30 days and in that 30 days you can look for “cheaper” insurances, but at least it’ll be covered while you’re doing it. If you do happen to find a better insurance all you have to do is call 1800geeksquad and cancel it with no cancellation fees.
December 21st, 2009 at 5:29 pm
iRepair Team LLC offers insurance plans that are superior to all other insurance or warranty plans out there.
I am the President and CEO of iRepair Team LLC. We have been in business for almost 2 years now and service customers all across the nation.
We do not require that the iPhone be mailed in to us. We offer two plans. One covering water damage and the entire phone for failure. This plan covers everything but theft and loss.
The other plan covers glass and lcd breakage as well as battery failure for 1 year for only $35 for the 3g and $45 for the 3gs. Only a $10 deductible is required for the 3g and $20 for the 3gs. 5 claims made me made per year.
There is simply no comparison to our insurance plans.
Please see iRepairTeam.com/iphoneinsurance for more information or call 888-269-5658 for more information.
January 1st, 2010 at 5:34 am
Such a small amount of money is more than worth it for speedy replacement and peace of mine. I’ve had two replacements in 1 year; one for a cracked screen, one for a software fault caused by a short drop. Both were completely random accidents-I am extremely careful with my phone but these things do happen. There’s no way I’d cheap out on £10 a month for a phone worth hundreds of times that amount. Plus I got two free 16gb 3Gs upgrades because o2 don’t stock my old 3G anymore. Hehe
Paid out: £100 insurance Recieved £1000 worth of upgrades
Nice
January 9th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
State farm offers insurance on the iphone for 30 dollars a year.
January 14th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
checked out Safeware. If you get there insuance for one year, its $108. But if you have to replace the phone within the first 6 months you have to pay the full amount of the iphone. After 6 months they send you a check for the amount that they cover and you pay $50. Doesn’t sound to good to me!!
February 1st, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Think about the fact that it’s should have been free and the practically trick you to get some more money.
February 8th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Worth Ave Group offers insurance for 69 dollars for a 16 GB 3GS iPhone and they cover theft, and water damage. You can get the insurance at any time, and file a claim at any time.