JS Insurance blog

JS Insurance has recently introduced a new scheme for iPhone Insurance which is an annual policy with a premium of £89.00 per year (£69.00 for the iphone 3G), which constitutes a monthly cost of £7.42 per month.

In making a comparison with retail outlets, we have found that their premiums are higher for the iPhone and even the monthly premium for a rolling contract is higher than the £5.99 we offer for all other phones including Blackberrys:

JS Insurance:  £7.42 per month (Annual policy only)

02:  £15.00 per month

Phones 4 U:  £13.99 per month

Vodafone:  £12.99 per month

Carphone Warehouse: £12.00 per month

Orange: £12.00 per month

All other mobile phone models including Blackberrys have a monthly direct debit premium of £6.99, where as the monthly premium offered by JS Insurance is £5.99.

JS Insurance offers mobile phone insurance, which covers accidental damage, theft, liquid damage and unauthorised calls. One of the most often asked questions is:

Do we cover loss of a mobile phone?

We are unable to offer loss under our new policy and looking into other insurance policies, the cover for loss is rather limited and the terms and conditions does provide many situations in which loss is not covered.

Here is an example of a policy exclusions relating to loss:

• Any loss from a commercial vehicle, or any motor vehicle where you or someone  acting on your behalf  is not in the vehicle, unless the mobile phone  is concealed in a locked boot, locked glove compartment or other locked internal compartment and all the vehicle’s windows and doors closed and locked and all security systems have been activated.

• From any building, land, premises or vehicle unless force, resulting in damage to the building or premises, was used to gain entry or exit.
• Where the mobile phone has been left unattended when it is away from your home.
• Where reasonable precautions have not been taken.
• Loss caused by neglecting the mobile phone.

This is basically covering your mobile phone for theft but not loss, using the words ‘neglect’ and ‘reasonable precautions’ means that almost any situation that involves loss of your mobile phone insurance would not be covered.

With the proposed strikes and industrial action by British Airways cabin crew and BAA Staff, if you have or are planning on purchasing travel insurance for your trip, this post is designed to give you some details of what you are covered for and what you cannot make a claim for.

CANCELLATION OR CURTAILMENT - NO COVER

Customers, who are planning to travel during the strike action may be considering submitting a claim under the cancellation section as a result of:

• Disinclination to travel due to potential disruption to their travel arrangements, caused by the strike.
• Receiving notification that their original flight has been cancelled and customers rejecting alternative options offered by the airline.
• Wanting to curtail holidays e.g. return to home early than anticipated, in order to avoid any travel disruption as a result of their return flights being affected by the strike.

On either of these and similar scenerios, we will not accept claims under the cancellation or curtailment section as Strike / Industrial Action is not a specified peril in any of our policy wordings.

You should contact the airline for further advice and assistance.

DELAYED DEPARTURE  - cover as normal for flights that aren’t cancelled in advance

The intention of this benefit is to compensate customers for the inconvenience of finding themselves stranded at the airport. In order to claim, customers’ flights must have been subject to a minimum of 12 hours delay from the scheduled time of departure.

We expect customers to either have checked in or provide a written note from the airline (at the airport) confirming that they were not allowed to check in and also providing details of how many hours delay the flight was affected by.

NOTE: The difficulty may be for customers to prove that they remained at the airport for 12 hours or more, especially if they were unaware of the above requirements. A need for pragmatism may be required here and payments may be awarded according to individual circumstances.

Travel Delay is a benefit, so customers are not required to submit receipts as evidence of expenses incurred.

ABANDONMENT OF TRIP  - cover as normal for flights that aren’t cancelled in advance

The intention of the policy is to cover customers who, having checked in, find their flights being subject to a delay, after 24 hours (from the scheduled time of departure) decide to abandon the trip.

As has previously been the case, the airline may instruct their customers not to travel to the airport on the confirmed strike dates.

We will therefore consider accepting claims under this section, for customers who have been told not to travel to the airport, under the following conditions:

1. Customers must provide proof of original flight.

2. Customers can only claim for abandonment after 24 hours have elapsed from the original time of departure.

Customers must provide evidence of flight being delayed and or receiving instructions from the airline not to travel to the airport / not to check in. If customers experience difficulties in providing proof that their flight has been delayed or that they have recieved instructions from the airline not to check in, claim handlers are required to seek confirmation from the airline.

CUSTOMERS CANNOT CLAIM FOR ABANDONMENT IF THE FLIGHT HAS BEEN COMPLETELY CANCELLED BY THE AIRLINE WHICH IS LIKELY IN THE CASE OF BA FLIGHTS.

Under the Abandonment section, we will only reimburse irrecoverable costs.

If customers accept alternative dates, offered by the airline, they may need to alter their insurance dates of cover.

Claims under any other sections of the policy will be subject to normal terms and conditions of the wording.

JS Insurance has launched a new mobile phone insurance policy that includes a monthly as well as an annual mobile phone insurance.

The new policy is underwritten by AmTrust International Ltd.

The cover reamins the same; accidental damage, theft, liquid damage and unauthorised calls to £1,000.

For  mobile phones (including Blackberrys), there is an option to purchase cover which can be paid by monthly direct debit, £5.99 or an annual policy which is £59.00.

The iPhone (including the iPhone 4) can only be purchased only on an annual basis. The iPhone 3G is insured for £69.00 and all other iPhones (including the iPhone 4) is £89.00 a year.  This new payment method has been introduced as a result of customer enquiries regarding paying the full premium up front rather than over a 12 month period.

Maximum value of replacement mobile phones is £400 (including VAT) and iPhone is £600 (including VAT).  This new mobile phone insurance policy will only cover phones that have been purchased within the last six months.

The mobile phone insurance excess has also changed and is as follows: Any claim incident that occurs within the first 3 months of the start of the policy is £100. Any claim within 4 to 6 months, the excess is £75.00 and after that the excess is £50.00.

Your policy is active as soon as you have purchased the policy and your certificate information is sent to you via email, text message to your mobile and followed up by a letter, with information regarding your payment, in the case of monthly direct debit, the date in which your direct debit will be taken.

If you need to contact us, there are various methods:

Email: jsinsurance@citymain.com

Fax: 0844 576 2333

Post: JS Insurance, PO Box 116, Ryde, PO33 2WX

Tel: 0844 576 2294  Monday to Friday 9:00am - 5:30pm