Brightstar Fido's Device Protection

[Pistol61]

"Hey Scammers:

Ship the device back to me since you don't want to honor your agreement, because you crooks are not getting another cent out of me. "

This is the email that I sent to Brightstar  - Fido's Device Protection Service today.  A little over 2 weeks ago, Brightstar would not accept my home address, trying to tell me that the address did not exist.  After fighting with them for 3 straight days, they finally accepted that my mailing address does in fact exist and Birghstar emailed me a shipping label to send my devise to them for repairs.  Last week, I received an email from Brightstar saying that after assessing the damage to the devise they determined that the damage was inconsistent as to what damage I reported to them and I needed to call them.  I make the call and they want to charge me a "processing fee" to repair the phone after I have been paying into the Fido/Brightstar Device Protection Plan for over a year.  

I should also note that when I purchased the phone from the Fido Store in North Bay, Ontario - the representative told me that I had nothing to worry about with this protection plan and that I could even "break the phone with a hammer and Brightstar would fix your phone"...what a crock of BS!!!

Judging by all the extremely bad reviews here, I can see that I am not alone in my experience with Brightstar.  CAVEAT EMPTOR!! - Let the buyer beware with Fido's partner company Brightstar and too bad Fido has lost me a customer with their lack of action in dealing with my problems with Brightstar.  DON'T BUY BRIGHTSTAR, IT'S A SCAM.

[Cawtau]

Hello Pistol61,

  Welcome to the community!

  It's unfortunate you did not understand that you need to pay a processing fee for a device repair. However from what you note, it is not a scam. Device protection is like any other insurance, if you file a claim there is a deductable or processing fee. The fee isn't something they just made up to try to scam you. The fees would have been outlined in the documentation provided to you when you first purchased the protection. You can also view the fee schedule here. There is a repair processing fee as well as a replacement processing fee depending on the claim; and the fees vary depending on the cost of the device. Informing you of the processing fee is honouring the agreement.

  Admittedly, the representative in North Bay probably shouldn't have suggested being able to break your phone with a hammer. However, you should have had all of the necessary documentation when you decided to purchase the protection. **edit** Even if the representative was correct and Brightstar would be willing to repair/replace the device, it wouldn't be without the processing fee.**

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[Pistol61]

Nope.  Didn't even see your response.  At least, after a couple of years Rogers credited my account for the phone that was never repaired.  Cawtau, you may want to have a look all the poor reviews (e.g. SiteJabber and Fido's own Forum) regarding Brightstar.  It is quite evident I am not the only person that had problems dealing with that company.  These issues were almost 4 years ago now and I have moved on to another provider with a bit more integrity and hopefully, enough people have become aware of Brightstar horrendous service.