TEP: Is it worth it to get Service and Repair Program option for Epic??
I will be ordering Epic and need to decide if I should keep the full TEP (damage+service) or just the damage insurance part. The reason for me to decide between the two is - one, I am a advanced user and if there is a software issue ever, I will be comfortable asking for help from the community here and using odin and other tools to flash rom etc, and second, I am a student with very tight budget on hand and every dollar I could save at the moment will help. Once things get little easier, I wont mind adding the service part of TEP back to the plan; will sprint let me do that later on is something I also wanted to ask here. So what do you guys think?? Is the service part of TEP that important a deal if I can do little tweaking and hacking on my own to fix things?? And will Sprint let me add it back if need be later on?
you need tep for repair/replacement under warranty if you expect sprint to do the warranty work/exchange for you - if you dont have it you will have to pay $35 if your screen fails no fault of yours - or any other repair etc under the mfgr's on year warranty - tep is not just for lost stolen damaged devices
I would recommend looking into Best Buy's ADH (or Black Tie) plan for your phone. I know they used to insure phones not bought from them, but I'm not sure if thats the case anymore. Its slightly more expensive ($10 a month) but there is no deductible. No service coverage, but if anything goes wrong with the phone, i.e. screen, damage from drop, water, etc. They will replace it with equal OR better equipment. Full disclosure: I used to work at Best Buy. Having said that I would never recommend anyone buy a service plan from them, unless its an accidental damage plan.
Honestly, it all comes down to preference. Yeah, it's only 7 bucks but at the same time if you never use it then it's 7 bucks wasted over how many years.
Personally, I've never had insurance on any phone. Over the past 13 years I've never needed it. 7 a month at 13 years is enough to purchase a new phone or two.
If you feel you need it, get it. If you feel comfortable without it, that's fine too.
__________________ Typos or odd wording??? I blame Swype for the Swypo's!
Yeah I've never had a phone without it either; I've not broken or lost one before but I hav had phones hose up many times & all I had to do was make a call; I mean, would u get a car or house & say "Well since I never or hav not ever used the insurance, I don't need it"?
I know thatz obviously more than a phone but then so is the price of the insurance, & I bet we don't think twice about that...jus sayin
If you have a Sprint Premiere account, get Insurance for the first year; it's well worth the $7.00 a month. Then, dump it once you become eligible for a new phone upgrade (1 year). What I like to do is "utilize" the "advanced exchange" program just before I upgrade my phone. That way, I can sell my phone on eBay with the plastic still attached to the screen in "like-new" condition. Of course I let the buyer know it's a refurbished phone.
i'd hate to be break one or lose one and have to buy one without contract for $500
You're not getting a new one on insurance- it'd be a refurb. the more appropriate comparison would be buying a lightly used one for $300. And that's with the phone relatively new- prices will come down as newer, better phones come out.
I've never, and would never, get insurance on a phone when there's a deductible involved. At $100 + $7/month, for it to make sense you'd need to replace your phone (under a non warranty issue) every year for it to make any sense. In 13 years of cell phone ownership, that's been an issue for me exactly once.
Stay away from the best buy black tie plan if you can. My wife and I both have epics, she has black tie and I have the TEP. Well she dropped her phone a while back and cracked the screen, took it to best buy for repair. 1 month later she still hasn't received her phone. Sure there isn't no deductible, but say you need a loaner phone from them while it gets repaired, you'll have to pay a $100 to use that loaner phone. Sure you'll get it back when you return the phone but what's the point of paying 10 a month?
I on the other hand, had issues with my headphone jack, went into the sprint store and right then and there they tried fixing my phone. It coudln't be fixed on site, so they just gave me a new phone. I was in the store for just about an hour. It's the way to go.
One more thing the TEP covers that Black Tie doesn't is lost or theft. If you lose your phone, your screwed under black tie. Under the TEP, you'll have to pay the $100 deductible, but at least you won't have to rebuy the phone at full price.
Last edited by klownin816; December 15th, 2010 at 11:13 PM.
I look at it like this. The insurance with a $100 deductible plus the $7 per phone and I have 3 family members is just too much. Being the primary I am eligible in a year. If something happens there is always ebay.
7x12=84 plus the 100 means I could buy something on ebay for around $200 and I should be able to find something to last me the year.
I also keep at least one of my last phones as a back up. it takes 2 minutes to switch on the sprint website. Yes my last phone isn't a smart phone but i survived before without one.
The way I look at it is that if it's in the first year and it's a hardware defect, it's under warranty anyway, so it'd cost $35 at most to get a replacement phone. Hardly seems worth it to me to pay $7/mo for something that will only pay off $35.
So clearly TEP isn't worth it for defective hardware coverage. The only question then is whether it's worth it for replacement of a phone damaged by the user. That comes down in part to how likely one is to break his phone. Unless you think it likely you'll break a phone within the first few months of owning it, you'll end up paying close to $200 total to exercise the policy ($100 deductible + whatever you'd paid in premiums up to that time) to get a refurb phone, which isn't much less than I'd expect to be able to get a used comparable phone for on my own. Plus, like gooberman, I always keep at least one old phone for backup, and I wouldn't mind going back to my TP2 as a fill-in for a while.
In summary, given how likely I think it is that I'll break my phone, it doesn't seem like a good deal to me.
All this said, I'm already on my 3d Epic in only about three months of ownership. My first unit had a complete failure of the Bluetooth module, and Sprint replaced it for free, I guess since it was within the first month of ownership (not really clear on this, but didn't feel the need to ask). The second one had a weird problem where it stopped connecting to/disconnecting from USB properly, wouldn't charge reliably, power button stopped working reliably, etc.; I did have to pay the $35 fee for that one. So I'm beginning to have my doubts about the reliability of this piece of hardware. If I have to eat a couple more $35 charges, my evaluation of this entire matter might change.
Last edited by huntm856; December 16th, 2010 at 09:03 AM.
The way I look at it is that if it's in the first year and it's a hardware defect, it's under warranty anyway, so it'd cost $35 at most to get a replacement phone. Hardly seems worth it to me to pay $7/mo for something that will only pay off $35.
...
All this said, I'm already on my 3d Epic in only about three months of ownership. My first unit had a complete failure of the Bluetooth module, and Sprint replaced it for free, I guess since it was within the first month of ownership (not really clear on this, but didn't feel the need to ask). The second one had a weird problem where it stopped connecting to/disconnecting from USB properly, wouldn't charge reliably, power button stopped working reliably, etc.; I did have to pay the $35 fee for that one. So I'm beginning to have my doubts about the reliability of this piece of hardware. If I have to eat a couple more $35 charges, my evaluation of this entire matter might change.
why are you being charged for exchanging defective hardware? i've never heard of this, or had to pay for this..
why are you being charged for exchanging defective hardware? i've never heard of this, or had to pay for this..
It all depends on the store and what's wrong with the phone...
After 30 days of owning the phone, you are susceptible to repair charges, up to $125.00 per incident, if you choose to have the phone repaired in-store by a Sprint technician. Otherwise, within the same 1 year warranty period, you can have the phone repaired/replaced through Samsung's RMA process for free (which can take weeks/months to process).
Insurance covers all repair costs and defects that are not your fault. You only have to pay the $100.00 deductible to Asurion if the phone is physically damaged, stolen or lost, not defective.
In the previous months that I owned an EVO, my phone was exchanged once, and 4 LCD screens were repaired due to the "b-spot". During the ordeal, I was never without my phone overnight and it didn't cost me a penny. IMHO, It was well worth my $28.00 investment for convenience, YMMV.
I'm going to purchase an Epic tomorrow. Trying to decide whether to purchase the Sprint TEP for $7 per month ($100 Deductible) or the Best Buy Black Tie coverage.
I don't really like the idea of the deductible but there is some advantage to having the coverage directly with Sprint.
Anyone have suggestions or advice between the two coverages?
Thanks.
It is a little off the topic, as it is a third choice, but most credit card companies include some sort of "electronic gadget insurance" if you pay your bill with said card. Personally, mine is almost identical to the Sprint plan, but only a $50 deductible. Because of this, I will never need to get another plan. Their are other variables to consider of course, and I know not all cards offer this, but I would check that out before buying either plan.
Agreed. Tep. Bestbuy will send your phone out and hold a 150 deposit for a dumb phone to use and they have your phone for up to 30 days, possibly more. Found that out with my wifes moment. Not a good deal imo.
It all depends on the store and what's wrong with the phone...
After 30 days of owning the phone, you are susceptible to repair charges, up to $125.00 per incident, if you choose to have the phone repaired in-store by a Sprint technician. Otherwise, within the same 1 year warranty period, you can have the phone repaired/replaced through Samsung's RMA process for free (which can take weeks/months to process).
Insurance covers all repair costs and defects that are not your fault. You only have to pay the $100.00 deductible to Asurion if the phone is physically damaged, stolen or lost, not defective.
In the previous months that I owned an EVO, my phone was exchanged once, and 4 LCD screens were repaired due to the "b-spot". During the ordeal, I was never without my phone overnight and it didn't cost me a penny. IMHO, It was well worth my $28.00 investment for convenience, YMMV.
maybe i just have a good store... but that sounds like quite a scam. ;D in the past year, i've replaced 2 palm pre's, and 1 hero, at no cost, and no inconvenience. only the first pre (power button stopped working) was replaced w/in 30 days, and they just swapped it out with a new one. the second pre was replaced after ~6 months for a faulty volume switch, and the hero (paint flaking off the buttons) were replaced with refurbs, which they ordered for us- we kept the existing phones in the meantime and swapped out when they arrived. well worth my $0.00 investment for convenience.
maybe i just have a good store... but that sounds like quite a scam. ;D in the past year, i've replaced 2 palm pre's, and 1 hero, at no cost, and no inconvenience. only the first pre (power button stopped working) was replaced w/in 30 days, and they just swapped it out with a new one. the second pre was replaced after ~6 months for a faulty volume switch, and the hero (paint flaking off the buttons) were replaced with refurbs, which they ordered for us- we kept the existing phones in the meantime and swapped out when they arrived. well worth my $0.00 investment for convenience.
Sprint changed their policy (again) last month. Warranty repairs/replacement now cost $35 if you do not have $7 TEP or the $4 ESRP plan.
I purchased my Samsung Epic on launch day. As of today I'm on my 4th Epic. The first one had a defective radio. The second one the charging port went bad. The third which was the replacement for the second was bad right out of the box. So today I picked up my 4th Epic. I have the full TEP (damage and service). I've never paid one cent in repair or replacement costs.
If you have any of the higher end phones its worth every penny. If you have one of the free to $100 phones maybe not then.
Anyways if your paying $250+ for a phone like I did how can you justify not getting the TEP. If you lose your phone your paying $500+ for a new one.
I will be ordering Epic and need to decide if I should keep the full TEP (damage+service) or just the damage insurance part. The reason for me to decide between the two is - one, I am a advanced user and if there is a software issue ever, I will be comfortable asking for help from the community here and using odin and other tools to flash rom etc, and second, I am a student with very tight budget on hand and every dollar I could save at the moment will help. Once things get little easier, I wont mind adding the service part of TEP back to the plan; will sprint let me do that later on is something I also wanted to ask here. So what do you guys think?? Is the service part of TEP that important a deal if I can do little tweaking and hacking on my own to fix things?? And will Sprint let me add it back if need be later on?
Yes, I would at least for the first 6 months or so.
True, but looking on ebay/craiglist their going for about $300.
TEP with a $100 deductible is still cheaper then that.
What everyone seems to be forgetting is that with Sprint's new $35/$125 (I think that is the high price) repair model, even if you crack your screen and don't have insurance, you can just pay Sprint $125 to fix your screen under the new policy. So with TEP a cracked screen is $7/mo + $100. Without TEP, a cracked screen is $125. Essentially the only thing you can't pay to fix is water damage and theft/loss.
OP, as mentioned previously, it depends on your lifestyle and usage. thinking back to my student days, how at times my mind is focused on other things, i would definitely get TEP (full service). it's not just for accidental breakage, it's for lost or stolen, and i would think that's pretty high percentage of that happening, during my student period.
as for BB black ties, i've heard/read there's a better deal with Square Trade. check that out first.
you'd be a fool not to get it. i use it all the time. i bought a epic yesterday on craigslist for 27o on craigslist. it turned out that phone had issues. so i took it into sprint and they gave me a brand new one! for free! not a refurbish but bran spanking new epic!!!
I disagree. As I've mentioned above, I have never paid for insurance over the course of 13+ years. At 7 dollars a month I would have thrown away over 1000 dollars for something I wouldn't have used.
Also as stated above, it's preference, knowing your "luck" with phones, knowing your financial situation etc.
Yes, it's great for some but pointless for others.
Device(s): Note 2, SG S2 & S3, Evo 3D & 4G, Epic 4G, Captivate. (Moment, LG Optimus S, Vibrant)
Carrier: verizon / sprint / at&t
Thanks: 488
Thanked 477 Times in 349 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by outkast25
you'd be a fool not to get it. i use it all the time. i bought a epic yesterday on craigslist for 27o on craigslist. it turned out that phone had issues. so i took it into sprint and they gave me a brand new one! for free! not a refurbish but bran spanking new epic!!!
TEP = money down the toilet.
If you buy a new used phone on Craigslist / eBay, you have up to 30 days to buy TEP any way. So if the phone you bought did have issues, add TEP, then take it in for service.
Insurance is for something you can't afford. If you're paying $84 per year + $100 deductible, that's $184 out the door for a year of protection and deductible that you'll never get back.
Looking at the Epic, they go for $300 - $400 right now. In a year's time, they may be worth $200. You could have saved the premium and gotten a replacement Epic for about the same price you would have thrown away at TEP.
Only suckers pay TEP, or those who are very unlucky with phones or extraordinarily clumsy.
And only suckers who don't understand math / depreciation / finance pay for TEP and RAVE about it.
By the way, I strongly urge and recommend you and other people to keep paying for TEP. It only adds to Sprint's profit so they can keep offering me cheaper plans.
Device(s): Note 2, SG S2 & S3, Evo 3D & 4G, Epic 4G, Captivate. (Moment, LG Optimus S, Vibrant)
Carrier: verizon / sprint / at&t
Thanks: 488
Thanked 477 Times in 349 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelmar
I disagree. As I've mentioned above, I have never paid for insurance over the course of 13+ years. At 7 dollars a month I would have thrown away over 1000 dollars for something I wouldn't have used.
Also as stated above, it's preference, knowing your "luck" with phones, knowing your financial situation etc.
Yes, it's great for some but pointless for others.
It's pointless for most, but it's great for those who abuse their phones, or are extraordinarily clumsy with their phones. They're getting replacement phones at the expense of the rest of the suckers who pay for TEP but never use it.
For my very first Android phone, the Samsung Moment, I paid TEP for a year, about $84 out the door. I got it because I had not idea how reliable Android would be, or how good my Samsung hardware would be. Turns out I had no concerns.
Looking at the worst case scenario, I paid $84 out the door, and then if I needed TEP I would have paid $100 on top to get a replacement Moment. That would be total $184 out the door.
After one year of use, looking at Craigslist / ebay, I could pick up another Moment for $100 - $150. This means I would be LOSING money using TEP to replace my Moment compared to just sucking it up and buying a replacement off of Craigslit or eBay.
I canceled TEP and will never have it again. It just makes no sense.
Last edited by AndroidSPCS; January 7th, 2011 at 11:40 AM.
I dont agree its only for suckers, everyones circumstances are different. To classify people as whole for something you believe is short sided. It maybe good for me and not so good for you. It really is the same as an extended warranty on a car, you use it once and it has paid for itself, if you dont yes then its wasted money. All insurance is set up like that though. Both my wife and i have it because we have an active 4 year old who does end up with one of our phones every now and then, so if something happens we are protected from having to pay for another phone at full price or trying to find one for the price it cost for the deductible. They might be coming out ahead in the long run but then again maybe not. And to say a phone is will be coming down in price in a year as your argument is kinda silly, why not wait the year and get the phone then when its cheaper instead of getting it now. Makes no sense what so ever in the case of whether or not to get tep, you get it because of the price of the phone when you got it and not what it will be in a year from then. I do understand the thinking of where you are coming from as i do that with different things i do purchase, but everyone needs to make the decision based on whats best for them.
To be honest SPCS, it's hard to even see a point in ur post after the way u worded it & called people what u did... I saw it when u posted it & started to post but I deleted it & ignored it which I think others may hav done as well...
that being said, we all missed your analysis...
Last edited by Keybeeetsss; January 11th, 2011 at 01:50 PM.
To be honest SPCS, it's hard to even see a point in ur post after the way u worded it & called people what u did... I saw it when u posted it & started to post but I deleted it & ignored it which I think others may hav done as well...
that being said, we all missed your analysis...
Thanks. I reread his two post that prompted me to write my post and i still dont see what i missed. Not trying to fight or anything but i just dont get it.
Spcs, if you feel i missed your point then please enlighten me. From what i read out of it you made your point of view pretty clear.
Device(s): Note 2, SG S2 & S3, Evo 3D & 4G, Epic 4G, Captivate. (Moment, LG Optimus S, Vibrant)
Carrier: verizon / sprint / at&t
Thanks: 488
Thanked 477 Times in 349 Posts
Here's what you're missing - TEP allows you to replace your phone with a like phone. If you're replacing your phone with an exactly the same phone, the price of the same phone will be coming down over time.
I gave you the Samsung Moment as an example. I paid TEP for an entire year. The price of the Samsung Moment went from $180 (post rebate) to $99 after 6 months. Craigslist prices for almost new Samsung Moments were around $130-$150 after 6 months.
So you're paying TEP for full replacement for a phone that is going obsolete or decreasing in price over time. Why?
Why not save the money from TEP, and simply buy a replacement off of eBay or Craigslist, and still come out ahead, IF you have an incident with your phone?
Why throw away the $7 each month, and the $100 deductible, for a phone that is no longer worth as much as when you first bought it?
If TEP was different, say you ALWAYS got the latest phone, then it might be worth it. If 6 months after you got the Moment, and you broke your phone, and Asurion gave you the Evo, then, yea, maybe TEP is worth it.
But if you pay $142 ($7 tijmes 6 months + $100 deductible) for a refurbished Samsung Moment through TEP, you've done no better than if you bought a Samsung Moment on Craigslist or eBay. Now if you don't have an incident (most people won't), then TEP is a loss loss proposition. You're throwing away $7 per month for nothing. Why not self insure against the possibility of an issue, and use Craigslist or ebay for a replacement IF something should happen?
TEP is a bet AGAINST yourself. That's why it makes no sense.
Device(s): Note 2, SG S2 & S3, Evo 3D & 4G, Epic 4G, Captivate. (Moment, LG Optimus S, Vibrant)
Carrier: verizon / sprint / at&t
Thanks: 488
Thanked 477 Times in 349 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keybeeetsss
To be honest SPCS, it's hard to even see a point in ur post after the way u worded it & called people what u did... I saw it when u posted it & started to post but I deleted it & ignored it which I think others may hav done as well...
that being said, we all missed your analysis...
I'd like to see your reply, and see how my analysis is off.
I have a background in statistics and finance. My background tells me the risk of something happening, with what you are throwing out in TEP simply does not makes sense for most people.
The purpose of insurance, fundamentally, is to protect yourself against something catastrophic that you CANNOT cover. For most peope, home insurance, car insurance, and medical insurance makes sense because they would be in a bind if something catastrophic happened.
But to insure a phone, and throw away a rather significant amount to do so, makes zero sense.
A car's deductible can be a few hundred dollars, that makes sense because you're protecting yourself against the possibility of having to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for an accident.
To have a $100 deductible for a phone that only costs a few hundred dollars, plus the $7 premium, makes no sense. You're given terrible terms for this "insurance", when it's better to self insure and use sources like Craigslist and eBay to buy replacement phones.
I wish I could sell insurance like TEP. Sprint and Asurion are raking in the dough because the terms are so favorable to the merchant, and so unfavorable to the customers.
To put it in another way, with the way TEP works right now, you're pretty much paying for the price of the phone every year or two years, if you just have a single incident.
Imagine if that was car insurance, where you have a $30k car, and every year or two years, you're paying $30k out in insurance premiums and deductible just with a single accident. Under what scenario would that make sense???
If TEP was a lot cheaper, say $1 or $2 per month, and the deductible was $10 or $20, it *might* make sense for some people, but it's still a long stretch to justify that.
One more example - for a $30k car, let's say annual insurance premium costs are $1k (fairly reasonable for most people I know), that's 3.33% of the car's value. That cost protects you against not only damage, but also liability.
With the phones, there is no liability, so insurance should be less than 3.33%. But let's apply the 3.33% against the cost of $200 phone. With the 3.33 % factor, the appropriate cost per YEAR should be $6.67 per year!! Given that you're paying 12 times that per year, you're basically being ripped off by a large factor of what insurance should really be for a phone, when compared to something like car insurance. On top of that the deductible is 30-60% of a phone's value. Imagine if a car's deductible was half of the car's value...who would buy insurance like that for their car?
Under the most common scenarios it simply makes no sense, financially, mathematically, or riskwise, to pay TEP.
Last edited by AndroidSPCS; January 12th, 2011 at 01:49 AM.
Device(s): Note 2, SG S2 & S3, Evo 3D & 4G, Epic 4G, Captivate. (Moment, LG Optimus S, Vibrant)
Carrier: verizon / sprint / at&t
Thanks: 488
Thanked 477 Times in 349 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keybeeetsss
SPCS, u still missed my point... After seeing u call people out their names, Ur point was read because that is what was sought 1st...
Good ur a stat guy, but don't be an arse 1st & stat guy 2nd; show us the stats without the arse part & we're all good... get it?
Where did I call people names? I called no one specifically here any names. I said people who buy into TEP and don't think about it are suckers. That included myself when I first got my Samsung Moment and paid TEP for a year because I was unsure about how well Android would hold out. Yes, I was a sucker when I was paying for TEP.
Where's the name calling that you allege, other than stating the facts that people who pay for TEP generally are getting suckered?
It seems you're hurt because you defended TEP several times in this thread and take some things personally. If anything your name calling of "arse" against me specifically is uncalled for.
Where did I call people names? I called no one specifically here any names. I said people who buy into TEP and don't think about it are suckers. That included myself when I first got my Samsung Moment and paid TEP for a year because I was unsure about how well Android would hold out. Yes, I was a sucker when I was paying for TEP.
Where's the name calling that you allege, other than stating the facts that people who pay for TEP generally are getting suckered?
It seems you're hurt because you defended TEP several times in this thread and take some things personally. If anything your name calling of "arse" against me specifically is uncalled for.
I understand what you are saying and thats all good sound reasoning with lower to mid range phones but if you go out and buy a new top of the line, just for the sake of argument here, an epic or evo and you drop it into to say a toilet then what? Tep will cover your butt and money well spent then because, 6 months or a year down the road when the next latest and greatest phone comes out and demand goes down so prices drop, you are not paying retail or inflated used price on it. I happen to agree about the moment or any other mid range/lower end phone, but since we are in the epic forum here, it would be hard to replace it for what you are suggesting now, later ya but not now. As i said in my post earlier i dont always do the warranties, in fact rarely do i because most of the time it doesnt make sense. Auto, home owners, yes. Extended warranty on a vehicle, more than likely depending on circumstances. Top of the line smart phone, you bet ya. But then again it all boils down to what is most comfortable for each of us and whether or not you are indeed making an informed decision. You did enlighten me on your reasoning and for that i tip my hat to you. Like i also said i wasnt trying to fight either.
The Samsung EPIC 4G is Sprint's specially branded version of the Samsung Galaxy S. Samsung announced all their Galaxy S devices simultaneously, and the EPIC 4G has several unique features and capabilities that help it stand out from ... Read More
TEP: Is it worth it to get Service and Repair Program option for Epic??
