FIDO PROTECTION IS A SCAM

[Tinyhuynh]

Do not waste your money on Fido protection/Brightstar. I had been paying $13 + GST for a year. My phone was broken two days ago. so I took out my sim card and put it on my backup phone to call Fido protection customer service to submit a repair request. However, my request was rejected. The rep said this was because my sim card was not in the phone when I made the claim. THIS IS THE MOST RIDICULOUS REASON I HAVE EVER HEARD.

The phone was not working and it would not turn on; of course, I had to use a different phone to call them, but they expected me to use the broken phone to make the claim valid. What surprised me was the rep said my protection plan was now valid for the backup phone (iPhone 6s plus), but I never purchased a protection plan for this phone. WHAT A SCAM! 

PEOPLE WORK HARD FOR THEIR MONEY. PLEASE STOP TAKING PEOPLE MONEY FOR GRANTED.

[Tammycook]

What was the resolution to this? Because I actually did send in a repair ticket, but couldn't afford the upfront cost because christmas, so I switched my sim into another of my phones. i waited until now to get it repaired, but yeah... thats the excuse I got too. Makes zero sense, and im pretty choked.

[Cawtau · Accepted solution]

Hello Tammycook,

  I replied to your other post here. Since the original post, the device protection has switched from Brightstar to Likewize. In addition, there appears to have been a change to IMEI-based protection. As mentioned in my other post, I'm not sure whether different policies are in effect depending on when the device protection was purchased.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[Cawtau]

Hello Tinahuynh,

  Welcome to the community!

  Sorry to hear your phone got broken. It's unfortunate that you did not understand how the protection works.

  I understand you purchased the device protection when you obtained your new phone. However, the device protection is not specific to any particular device. The protected device is the most recently used by the Fido SIM. If your SIM was used in a different phone, the broken phone (ie phone from which you removed SIM) would no longer be protected. The device protection would have transferred to that other phone (ie phone with SIM).

   Brightstar does state that the Protected device is the eligible device which is actively registered on the Fido network and for which airtime has been logged after enrollment (see Terms & Conditions here). You should have been provided with the relevant documentation when you purchased the protection. When you replaced the SIM into your old phone, that phone would have become the actively registered device. 

  I also understand that you couldn't call with your broken phone and that's why you switched your SIM. However, you should have also been able to have started the service request via your My Account --> Usage & Services --> Mobile --> Start or Track Phone repair claim (near bottom of page).

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[Tinyhuynh]

I did submit the request online and IT IS STILL REJECTED. I called back and asked the rep if I was able to turn on my phone, put my sim card in and called to request a replacement. She said NO because I called and made the claim more than 2 times, so my SAMSUNG phone was not covered any more. When I purchased the phone, the Fido employee asked if I wanted to purchase Fido plan protection for my SAMSUNG phone, he did not mention about the above issues. He even said I could intentionally damaged my phone and FIDO protection still had to replace it. Now what? I can never get my phone replaced even though I has been paying for the plan over the year. 

The employees should have been trained properly so that the info was delivered correctly. I am really disapointed. 

[FidoPierre]

Hey @Tinyhuynh, 

I can understand that these kinds of situations can be worrisome. In this case however, the policies covering the requirements for filing a claim are set out by Brightstar and are very specific. Once purchasing the device protection, you should have received a ``welcome package`` that lays out all of the details relating to using this service.

Did you get a chance to review the information sent out to you? We'd also want to clarify that you should not have been told that you can intentionally damage the phone and have it replaced. It isn't the kind of thing we want to encourage at all. The proper description for this would have been to inform you that it does cover physical damage (excluding abuse, misuse or intentional acts).

[Tinyhuynh]

Cautaw said I should have been able to submit the request online, i did but they still rejected it. Does this mean I have to accept that my phone can never be fixed and Fido cannot do anything about it? This is outrageous! 

[Cawtau]

Hello again,

  Firstly, I would like to apologise for addressing your username incorrectly in my previous post.

  I hope the Fido moderators can help you come to some sort of arrangement with Brightstar given your particular situation.

Cheers

[FidoPhilippe]

Hey @Tinyhuynh! I understand your frustration. It's not fun to have your claim rejected.

You can certainly contact us here and we'll be happy to take a look at your options. We can also send you a PM from the community, if you prefer.

Let us know.

[Tinyhuynh]

Please send me a PM from the community. Thank you!

[FidoPhilippe]

I've sent you a PM @Tinyhuynh! Talk to you soon.