TEP: Is it worth it to get Service and Repair Program option for Epic??

TEP hands down.

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.

OregonLAN said:

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.

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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.

PoundSand said:

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.

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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.

Dvin211 said:

If you lose your phone your paying $500+ for a new one.

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Who pays full retail these days?

AnthroMatt said:

Who pays full retail these days?

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True, but looking on ebay/craiglist their going for about $300.
TEP with a $100 deductible is still cheaper then that.

taylormah said:

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?

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Yes, I would at least for the first 6 months or so.

Dvin211 said:

True, but looking on ebay/craiglist their going for about $300.
TEP with a $100 deductible is still cheaper then that.

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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.

good luck.

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!!!

outkast25 said:

you'd be a fool not to get it!

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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.

outkast25 said:

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!!!

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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.

Kelmar said:

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.

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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.

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.

You missed the analysis completely rounsy222.

AndroidSPCS said:

You missed the analysis completely rounsy222.

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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...

Keybeeetsss said:

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...

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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.

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.

Keybeeetsss said:

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...

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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.

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?

Keybeeetsss said:

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?

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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.

AndroidSPCS said:

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.

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Ur rite...

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.