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Nextel - Signal Insurance

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susan of medford, OR July 11, 2009

I paid insurance for a year and when my phone was dropped and deemed unrepairable the insurance did not cover it. Isn't this why I had insurance? Just try to collect on it. Don't waste your money, it's a rip off!!

Leighann of Thorndike, ME June 20, 2009

I have purchased cell phone insurance for my cell phone at 5.00 a month for 4 years through US Cellular. At the time I signed up for the insurance, it was overseen by US Cellular with assistance provided at the local level. This insurance is now being overseen by The Signal. This information was never given to me at the time of the change, nor have I ever been provided a privacy notice or contract of coverage.

I made a claim as my phone is not working. I was told at the time of my claim that the phone that I have is no longer manufactured and that they would be sending me a replacement phone with comparable features. The phone center service provider told me "... you will receive a phone with the same if not more features than the phone you have now." When I received my phone, it was a poorly refurbished basic phone without some features and other features were reduced.

When I called The Signal back, I was told that they "send a phone with the same if not more features than you have now but sometimes there are less features." When I spoke to a manager I stated that I wanted to return the phone and receive a refund for my deductible. He stated that I would receive a refund of my 60 deductible when they receive the phone back. I was told the deductible would be 50.

Renee of Kingwood, WV June 18, 2009

Bought a phone one year ago today. Has been in repair 4 times. Each time the company sent me a different phone, same model HTC PPC 6800(refurbished) so that tells me the problem with phone is universal. The same problem every time. Now my warranty is out, I have another year with US Cellular before my contract is out. Won’t be going with US Cellular again, not when they replace my brand new phone with someone else’s used one (refurbished) through their shady insurance company “the signal“. Now I expect I’ll spend the next year using my phone insurance every three months to keep the phone working. So in other words I have owned 4 of these phones, DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE. I use to have Alltel and when you use their insurance they send you a brand new phone. I don’t remember US Cellular telling me that they would replace my phone with someone else’s used phone that didn’t work either. That somehow fills wrong; perhaps even illegal.

Lisa of Seymour, TN April 16, 2009

Lisa of Seymour TN (04/16/09)
I filed a claim for water damage 1/26/09 that went wonderful. They sent my son a refurbished phone. LG Blue...the one with the keyboard that slides out. I had this phone activated on 2/2/09. The spring popped out of the slide part of the phone...it was okay. The phone kept working fine. A couple of days ago the screens went completely white. You can see anything. So I took it to my US Cellular store last night. They told me this was still under the warranty though signal insurance.

I just got off the phone with them. They consider the spring popping out physical damage instead of mechanical damage and won't cover it. I can file a new claim for 50 but they won't cover it themselves for free per their pamplet I picked up last night. Even though the phone has only been in my hands a little over 60 days. So why pay 5.95 per phone really? They have only covered one claim since purchasing their insurance.

They want another 50 for another refurbished phone that you have no choice in at all. Seems like a scam to me. Any way to get out of paying the claim they will.

Tracy of Morgantown, WV April 5, 2009

In Feb. 2009, I purchased a Motorola Hint from US.Cellular and approx. a week later I damamged the phone by dropping it in the dogs water dish. I made a claim with The Signal Insurance (which I have paid 6.00 per month for Bout 8 years) and paid my 50.00 deductible.

I received my replacement phone which was a very poor excuse for a replacment for the Hint. It was an older version of the Motorola Razor that did not have most of the features that the Hint had - which is why I bought it. I called the Signal and spoke with a woman named Char. She was the rudest person that I have ever spoken to and she informed me that that's the only phone that they have and that it was not an upgrade program. I asked her if they were going to get any Motorola Hints in soon and she rudely stated NO! I did not know at that time that the Hint had been pulled off the shelf.

I then went to my local US Cellular store and told them what was going on and basically I was told that they are a separate company and I would have to deal with The Signal - there's nothing that they could do.

I called The Signal again and spoke to Cheryl - who was actually nice. She understood my complaint and agreed that the phones were not compatible and because they have nothing else to send me that they would reimburse me up to 215.00 (minus a 50 deductible)towards the purchase of a new phone. I agreed to that, but that I should get my deductible back from the initial claim (as soon as I returned their Motorola that I would not accept) or can it just be moved to cover the deductible for this part. She stated that it had to be treated as 2 separate claims and that could expect a refund of 50.00. Then, when I purchased the replacement phone - they would reimburse me 215 and would subtract the 50 from that amt. I was told that once I purchased my phone they would need me to send/fax a copy of my receipt.

I returned the Motorola Razor in the pre-paid env. and asked if they needed me to send them the Motorola Hint and I was told that I did not need to by Dave.

I faxed my receipt to the fax number that I was given and a couple of days later I received a phone call from them saying that they received my fax but it was not acceptable and I would need to send it again. I was becoming very frustrated by this whole experience and asked to speak to a manager. I spoke to Amy who after hearing about the run around I am getting by The Signal, gave me her "private" fax number. I repeatedly asked each and every person that I spoke to please let me know if there was anything else that was needed from me to get this claim paid. And each time I was told no.

I faxed the receipt to Amy's "private" fax number and did not hear anything for a few days and then I received a letter in the mail saying that they have been trying to call me and could not get through. That's such a line of crap because they had no problem contacting me several times previously. I called yet again and talked to Barbara who rudely informed me that The Signal was going to charge my credit card 250.00 (a random amt!) if they did not receive their phone! (I confirmed that they received that phone!) I hung up and called back and spoke with Benjamin who was patient and listened to the sequence of events and he said that what is needed is the Motorola Hint. He confirmed that my faxed receipts were received as well. I told him that I had asked about sending it back and I was repeatedly told no - it was not necessary. he confirmed that according to the notes in the computer - no one ever told me that they also needed the "reclaimed" phone or offered to send me a UPS label. I asked him what I needed to do now and he said that he would send me a UPS lable to return the "claimed" phone. He stated that if I had a fax machine that accepted faxes 24/7 he could fax me the UPS lable. This was on April 2, 2009. On Friday, April 3rd, I checked my work fax # and nothing had came in from The Signal. I am so furious!! They are giving me what is required to settle this claim in bits and peices to make me so frustrated that I just give up - just to hold up the claim. I have already signed up with AT&T and will push The Signal to pay.

Shepard of Clinton, NC March 24, 2009

Shepard of Clinton NC (03/24/09)
OK, so I am working when it starts raining , phone in pocket, never works again. I have had the same phone for two years and paid six dollars a month to the biggest rip off company on the eastern sea board. In total I have given the Signal at least 150, which is more than enough to cover my phone, along with the 50.00 they charge when they ship you a knew one they would have more than came out on top of this deal anyway, that is, if the deal had ever happened.

After my phone quit working, I went to US Cellular and they told me the # of the insurance company along with the info I needed to give them. This info included a serial # and a model #. Taking for granted that I thought people who worked around cell phones all day long would not botch this info I called the signal and told them the info that US Cellular had given me. It just so happened that the model # was wrong.

While I had a LG M135, US Cellular told me that I had a LG UX135. This minor, insignificant detail turned into the biggest hassle I think I have ever experienced in the arena of customer service. After being told that I would recieve my phone in 2 days after I filed my claim, it was a week later when I got the news that my claim had been denied because the model number on my claim did not match the model number of the phone they had listed on my account. I call them back, am put on hold for a total of about an hour, basically called a liar, am talked rudely to and this is all before we ever even find out that US Cellular had given me the wrong info. Now, that we had that resolved it would move on amicably to resolution

I have US Cellular contact the Signal and explain to them what happened, that they wrote down the wrong model #. I make a new claim, this time with the right model #, and am assured that this time my phone would actually be there in two days. Nope. I get called back saying that even though I have paid insurance for two years, corrected US Cellulars error, took about 4 hours out of my work day to talk to a bunch of con-artist telecommunicating knuckleheads, been out of a phone for a week, and gone through all the aspirin in my house, that despite of all of this, I still would not be able to get a new phone because my original claim had an incorrect digit in the model # I gave them.

So in the end I had to pay the full price of a new phone. Around 250, plus the 150 I have paid the Signal over the last two years. Around 400 worth of damage and one hell of a headache.

Andrea of Wichita Falls, TX March 11, 2009

Andrea of Wichita Falls TX (03/11/09)
I dropped my Blackberry Pearl 8130 in my dog's water dish and I let it dry out and it works suprisingly, but I didn't want to take any chances that it could stop working due to water damage so I called the Signal and filed a claim and they charged me 50 and sent me what I thought was a new phone. So, I get the new phone in the mail and it looks almost indentical to my Blackberry, but there were very subtle differences such as size, the fact that a real blackberry has blackberry name on the front, the back, the battery, and the sticker underneath the battery; the replacement phone that they sent me did not have the Blackberry name on the majority of those places except for the battery; the battery and the software installed on the replacement phone was Blackberry...the sticker under the battery on the replacement phone said, Remanufactured in Hong Kong.

I was upset that they sent me a knock-off Blackberry phone. I looked at my receipt from the Signal and the paper that came with the replacement phone had my Blackberry listed (RIM-PEARL 8130 Blackberry USC) as the equipment claimed and what was listed as the replacement phone was RIM Pearl 8130 Gray!! Notice that it didn't say Blackberry in their description of the replacement phone...perhaps because the name Blackberry is copyrighted and since they didn't send me a Blackberry, they couldn't put it down as a Blackberry phone. I was not about to send the Signal my 500 Blackberry until the issue was resolved; it's not right that we spend a lot of money on a phone only to be given a cheap, refurbished phone.

I contacted US Cellular first, and they took my complaint, called the Signal and told me to send back the knock-off phone and call the Signal in 24 hrs and give them the UPS tracking number, and they would send me a new phone. Called the Signal this morning, gave them the tracking number, and the lady proceeded to tell me that they will be sending out a replacement phone that has been refurbished!! I was upset to say the least, and I explained to her that I don't want a refurbished phone, I'm supposed to be getting a new Blackberry phone. Well, she was trying to hear any of that, and told me that the company either sends out a new or refurbished phone; I asked her how they decide which one to send out and she said it's based on availability; I told her that it makes no sense and told her that I would be contacting US Cellular.

I called US Cellular who then put the Signal on a 3-way call with all of us; and once again I was told that that was how it goes. I told the Signal that I want my 50 refunded and I told US Cellular that I want to cancel the insurance. The end result is that I'm not happy with the Signal and I'm even more upset with US Cellular for having a contract with such a deceiving company.

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