Solved! At&t & Assurion are giving me the run around.. I'm ready to switch but also want more insight/options..

[agusdfv]

I have been an AT&T customer for over a decade, as part of a family plan. When I obtained the device, I spoke with a retail sales associate, who I believe to be from a third party store, and he helped me take advantage of a promotion where you buy one get one phone free with a new line added. Well I was tired of getting scam calls, so I closed my line and opened a new one for the promo. Except the line which was 'buying' the phone was my mothers, on our AT&T family plan. So for some reason (incorrectly) the At&t device insurance which was on my previous line was transferred to her line. No member of the family was consulted for this - if we were we would have specified the insurance was meant for my line.
6 months ago my phone stops working fully, and first I tried to address this with the manufacturer (Samsung) since it was clearly a device problem that had nothing to do with network issues, and the phone was still under warranty. Short story is Samsung skirted the warranty responsibility. If you want to read about that and more specifics about the device malfunction issue, I detail about it in this post under the tom's guide Samsung forum.
Now recently I called AT&T and tried to file a claim with the insurance. I waited a bit to file the claim being as that I believed there was a certain premium for the deductible that could go up. That's no longer the case lol. but they tell me that the insurance is not for my phone, or my line, but my mothers phone and her line. They can't do anything about it unless I upgrade my insurance to a more premium policy that covers all the devices on the plan, for $40 a month, and also wait a month before filing a claim, and pay an increased $200 deductible, and some $15 on another fee. This is what both the call center in the Philippines told me and the corporate retail store (not third party) said. In fact the call center was much more helpful than going to the corporate store and although the sales associate was nice, respectful and direct, the manager was actually passive aggressive, took jabs at my identity and background, and in such a way (a defense mechanism, from an overly stimulated manager I gather) to get me out the door faster. I'm not satisfied with this solution and am hoping that perhaps others on this forum can detail other avenues to pursue or entirely new options - perhaps others have encountered this issue with insurance, promos, third party retails and found one course of actions that got either Asurion or AT&T to bend further towards their loyal customer, instead of bending me over. Or perhaps on the other (Samsung forum) post can provide how to fix the issue alone.

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I'm ready to switch to another provider and another manufacturer for my next phone but, I also want to see that this injustice against me is brought against these companies and that they are fined or somehow impeded from continuing to defraud customers with false claims of insurance and warranty. At least that is if I can't get the warranty and or insurance service I paid for.

I reckon I'll just purchase the best buy device insurance, I have had positive experiences with it in the past. Perhaps, alternatively, I can try the device policies of BJ's wholesale club, as I am a member. Does anyone have experience with them? perhaps provide a link to a webpage reviewing the device protection policies?

 

[agusdfv]

I bought a Samsung Galaxy s10+ in December of 2019. I have been a Samsung user for several years and devices. When I obtained the device, I researched extensively and was tempted by underdogs such as LG or even Oneplus. I have a history of putting my devices to the test especially with water, and that then also puts the manufacturer's warranty and customer service to the test. So a big consideration of mine was the s10+'s IP68 waterproof rating - but what really made the final decision for me, being as that other LG and Oneplus devices offered practically or almost the same specs, was Samsung's reputation for build and customer service.
In July 6 months ago my phone stops working fully, where when I plug it in to charge, a warning pops up saying that there is moisture in the usb-c port, and so I can no longer connect or charge it through there. I tried resetting it, with Samsung Cust. service on the line, fully. This happened after submerging it in water, but easily for less than 30 minutes and at surface (less than 1 meter). I had seen this warning from the OS before, after also submerging it briefly, but it will go away after about 36 hours and once the port dries. This time 6 months ago it doesn't ever go away. So instead, I must charge it wirelessly, which I have been doing for 6 months now.
Back in August, when it had been a month with the port issue, I try having it repaired under warranty. First I contact one of Samsung's independent (third-party, but contracted for warranty repairs) repair partners, who said it was a software issue, even if they Samsung had to replace it with a new phone and there was no other way to fix the issue. So then I sent it in to Samsung. They respond with a bill saying that because the screen was cracked (there was a crack the size of maybe a nail clipping on a corner) the screen had to be replaced and that they could not otherwise repair the separate port malfunction issue. Honestly it seemed that Samsung was finding a loophole to neglect responsibility for the warranty. I tried calling customer service and asking about it but let it be, as I figured I had insurance on the phone and would just replace it.
Now recently I called AT&T and tried to file a claim with the insurance. That becomes a separate headache which I detail in this post under network carriers tom's guide subforum.

I'm wondering if anyone on this forum has experienced the same or similar issue - especially since, as I mentioned, the Samsung independent repair partner mentioned he had other people come to him even in my local area with the same issue. How did you resolve or proceed with it?

 

[hang-the-9]

The issue with the cracked screen is probably so when they take off the screen to open the phone it does not crack further during the opening. Since they don't want to be responsible for damaging the screen more they tell you it has to be fixed. So yes it's likely the screen has to be replaced to fix the other part. Imagine you were doing a repair and got an item that was a bit broken already, so you try to fix another issue but you crack the broken part more so it does not even work now. The owner would get mad at you and say you need to replace the part that was already partially broken since it was working when they gave it to you. Since they can't work on the phone without taking off the screen, it needs to be in perfect shape so as not to risk more damage and you then telling them to replace the screen on their own money.

For the insurance, you needed to check what device was covered when it was done not assume what was done. Almost all issues like this can be avoided if details are checked before the issue happens. The transfer of phones and numbers and accounts is not always simple and the details of it all have to be checked. If the insurance form you have from them lists exactly the phone that was covered that is not fraud or false claims, if it's incorrect they have no way to know about it, you do.