Mobile phone and gadget insurance

Mobile phone and gadget insurance usually protects you against things like:

• accidental loss
• accidental damage
• theft

You’re normally only covered for damage that stops the phone or gadget working, not cosmetic damage.

Customers often complain to us that the:

• policy was mis-sold
• policy wording was misleading
• insurer refused to pay the claim
• policy continued beyond the phone contract
• policy was automatically renewed
• replacement is a refurbished phone or gadget and not a brand new one

Our service is free and easy to use. 

1. Before bringing your complaint to us, you should make a formal complaint to the company involved. If they don't send you a final response letter within eight weeks – or you're unhappy with their response – you can bring the complaint to us.
2. Fill in our complaint form. If you're considering using AI to help you complete the form, read our guidelines on using AIread our guidelines on using AI before you start. 
3. As you complete the form, we'll ask a few questions about some of the things we need to know to get started.
4. Your case will be assigned to a case handler who will get in touch when they start to investigate.
5. To help us consider a complaint fairly, we may ask you to provide more information to help us understand what happened

If we decide you’ve been treated the unfairly, or the insurer made a mistake, we’ll ask them to put things right. Our general approach is that you should be put back in the position you would have been in if the problem hadn’t happened. For example, we may ask the insurer to:

• make the necessary repairs – it’s important to note that policies don’t always cover a repair by the manufacturer
• replace the mobile phone or gadget
• offer a cash settlement

A cash settlement will generally be the cost of replacing the phone or gadget with one of the same age and condition. The replacement will come from a reputable source. It might not come from the manufacturer directly.

If we think the policy was mis-sold, we’ll normally tell the company responsible for the sale to refund the premiums you’ve paid – with interest.

We may also ask them to compensate you for any distress or inconvenience you’ve experienced as a result of the problem.

If you’re a business looking for information to help you resolve complaints or want to find out more technical information, you can find more detail about mobile phone and gadget insurance on our dedicated information page for businesses.