Carphone Warehouse Insurance

My experience with LifeLine insurance from the Carphone Warehouse has been very poor and has in fact consumed so much time out of my life that it would have been much easier to buy a replacement handset myself than make a claim with them.

So far my insurance claim has taken 30 days, 17 phone calls and 5 in-store visits and still no replacement phone. Every step has been excruciatingly slow whilst their incompetent staff fail to communicate to each other or to me.

The "additional information" (police report) that they have been requesting from me was provided on the very first visit but was handed back to me by the store employee.

I then had to wait 7 days for a letter to arrive which requested more details. This was sent and I received no reply. I spoke to someone who confirmed they had lost the details and told me to send them again. Only after 3 weeks had passed did someone tell me they needed the police report. I faxed this in and when I had no reply called to see what the problem was - apparently they don't read the fax machine and nobody had linked the fax to my claim.

Finally today, 30 days since my original claim, I have been accepted - although now my phone is out of stock and is going to be at least a week before they have it in again (they think). I have been told to come back next week to see if it is in. That will be my 6th visit.

I spoke to the branch manager today at the Preston branch who basically shrugged his shoulders and said nobody is to blame and it can't be helped. I was told "that is what LifeLine customer services is for" when I tried to make a complaint. Not even a hint of an apology - disgusting!