Optus has seriously simplified its insurance policies for phones and tablets. There is now only one monthly premium and two kinds of excess covering all its eligible gadgets.
There’s no lock-in contract, so you can get out whenever you want, but you can only sign up to a policy while purchasing a new device. This makes sense. It would be too easy for a customer to decide sign up to an insurance plan after they had already damaged their device and attempt to claim.
Even if a physical inspection of the device was required to sign up to insurance, a user might think their handset is looking a little shoddy from wear and tear. A $13 premium + $50 excess would be a small price to pay to get it replaced with a flawless new one, after the culprit ‘accidentally’ dropped it, of course.
This way you can insure your new tablet or phone while it’s still at its most valuable, then decide to cease payments a few months in once it’s depreciated a little.
There’s a 19 day cooling-off period where you can decide to leave the scheme without paying a premium.
Pricing and turn-around
The month-to-month cost of the premium is $13, no matter if you get a flash top-tier gadget or a lowly budget option. Unfortunately this means that folks who opt for cheaper devices will get less value out of their insurance. On the plus side it’s much easier to understand.
Where before there were 42 difference excess charges that you could incur, there are now two: one for theft/loss and one for physical/liquid damage.
Accidental damage will cost you $50 on top of what you’ve already paid for your premium. Accidental theft or loss is $150.
Optus will get you a replacement device within 1-2 days of your claim being approved.
Exclusions
There’s a hefty list of things not covered by the new insurance policy, but most of them are pretty understandable. No loss of software or data stored on the device, no loss of business or personal profits as a result of losing the device, no mechanical problems after a period of 2 years (when your warranty has definitely expired), marring or scratching, damage caused by unauthorised repairs, the list goes on.
The only thing that may cause surprise is no fire damage is covered, but that’s not bound to be a problem for most Australians. Bushfire season is obviously a threat, but your home and contents insurance kicks in at that point.
Some quick facts
Optus claims that in the last 12 months 118,000 of its customers made an insurance claim. 75% were for physical damage, 20% for loss and 5% for theft. That’s a lot of customers who, going forward, should find the process a little easier to understand.
Source: Optus
Alex Angove-Plumb
Digital Content Editor
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