SquareTrade is the only major warranty provider for iPhone 3G, aside from Apple’s iPod-derived AppleCare Protection Plan. And, while their offerings are a bit confusing, we’ve gotten the straight story on how to get your iPhone 3G covered the way you want it.
Part of the confusion here, is that iPhone 3G has three different price-points. There’s the $199/$299 price point (for 8 GB and 16 GB, respectively), which is the “new customer” price. Only new customers, people out of contract, and first-gen iPhone buyers can get that price. Then, there’s the $399/$499 price, which is what customers locked into a contract with AT&T will pay to have their contract reset early. Finally, there’s the $599/$699 price, which eventually will allow buyers to purchase an iPhone 3G without any contract.
Got that? Good. Because now it gets a bit more confusing.
SquareTrade will provide you with three years of warranty coverage, and for an additional amount, provide accidental damage coverage. It’s not full insurance, if your iPhone 3G is lost or stolen, you only can get back a partial refund of the unused coverage.
At their web site, they tell you to enter in the price you paid. However, for iPhone 3G, you should enter the price-point that you want coverage for. Meaning, if you want them to refund you for the no-contract price of iPhone 3G, you need to enter in either $599 or $699 (respectively) as the coverage amount. If you’re fine staying locked into an AT&T contract, enter the $399 or $499 price as the amount. We don’t suggest entering $199 or $299 as the coverage amount… if your iPhone 3G breaks 1.5 years down the road, you’ll have to pay AT&T a $200 penalty for an early contract reset to get your iPhone 3G replaced.
Of course, SquareTrade could make a special iPhone 3G sales page which clarifies this. But, until then, you should probably grab your warranty now. People that bought an iPhone 3G on launch day have a little over a week to buy their warranty extension, since you must buy it within 30 days of purchase.
Money Saving Tip: Enter coupon code FIFTYOFF to get, surprisingly, 50% off your warranty price. This discount also applies to the accidental damage option. That actually brings the full warranty, sans contract, with damage coverage, on a 16 GB iPhone to only $87.50 (only $19 more than Apple’s single year warranty extension, which doesn’t include damage coverage). That comes to about $2.50 per month for the best warranty and damage coverage you can get for iPhone 3G.
Update: SquareTrade has confirmed to us that the procedure above is correct, and that they will honor all three iPhone 3G price-points, regardless of what you originally paid for iPhone 3G. You enter the price into SquareTrade that you want coverage for, up to the $599/$699 price-point.
Very confusing. I’ll take Sprint’s use of Assurian. Have a lost, stolen, or damaged Instinct or 800w pay $50 deductible, get a new or refurb in 2 or 3 days. Simple and satisfying.
OK it’s still confusing. If I need a new iphone and have NO warranty then I can get one for $200 if I renew my 2 year contract, correct? That means ATT hands me a new iphone, resets my contract and I pay $200, correct?
I got the square trade warranty for a 16gb iphone, but I bought it for $499 of coverage. So I’d really pay $200 of that to ATT and walk away with $299, albeit with a new 2 year contract.
Or is it looked at as an “upgrade”, meaning ATT will sell me the iphone for $499, but not reset my contract.
It’s still confusing as hell.
OK I reread that a bit closer and it makes sense. If you are in contract you will pay $399/$499 and have your contract reset. If you don’t want to reset your contract then you have to pay the full $599/$699. You should get coverage for whichever situation you fall into. I’m going to up my coverage to the full $699.
Correct, if you break your iPhone 18 months down the road, AT&T will want $499 (for the 16 GB) and your contract will reset to a full 24 months.
If your iPhone were to break 30 months down the road, you would be out of contract, and AT&T would only want $299. However, you would have to sign a new two-year contract to lock in that price.
This is why I suggest everyone protect their iPhone 3G for $599 or $699 (for 8 GB / 16 GB respectively). That way, if your iPhone 3G stops working, or is damaged, you’re covered without having to worry about a contract extension.
the ‘FIFTYOFF’ code has been deactivated, but you can use ‘WELCOME40’ for 40% off for any new customer warranty… at least until that one is deactivated as well.
FIFTYOFF appears to be working still for us. Keep in mind that if you have purchased a warranty before, it may not work (especially if you have used the code in the past).
I’ve never bought anything through SquareTrade before, but ‘FIFTYOFF’ tells me something like ‘this code is reserved only for people who we have sent it to directly. please call us at 800-xxx-xxxx for assistance.’
By the way, ‘FIFTYOFF’ seems to work until I enter my credit card info and try to submit the order– thats when it gives me the error.
The FIFTYOFF code works as long as you are an existing customer. I purchased a 1.99 warranty for my iPhone charger which made me a customer. Then I used the FIFTYOFF code for my iPhone.
Chris a couple of different reps at squaretrade swore up and down that the 399/499 is without resetting the contract, they even check with managers. I went ahead and upped my plan to 599/699 (wifes and my phone) just to be safe though.
AT&T may offer broken iPhone 3G buyers that price without a contract renewal… but they haven’t decided yet. We haven’t gotten a clear answer from them on that, which usually means it’s still being batted around internally.
It may largely depend on how easily iPhone 3G can be unlocked… AT&T doesn’t want to subsidize each unlocker every 90 days…
Regardless, we’re suggesting folks pay a few dollars more and bump up to the $599/$699 level. AT&T could easily say 90 days from now that a 2-year renewal will be required for broken iPhone 3G owners… and at that point, you won’t be able to change your coverage.
On the bright side, if your iPhone 3G does break and SquareTrade has to refund your money, the worst-case scenario is that you have an extra $200 in your pocket.
I see, so maybe your article should specify that we still do NOT know what ATT will charge to replace a phone without renewing a contract. Also as specified by the squaretrade rep you will NOT get the extra cash, only a new iphone.
Well, AT&T has told us to expect paying $599/$699 if you don’t want to deal with a contract. Apple may butt heads with AT&T on that, but as it stands right now, the rule is $599/$699. What I meant in my above comments, was that there are rumors of that changing. As of right now, they’re just rumors, and we don’t report on rumors generally.
SquareTrade is also glossing-over a bit, in their answer to you. They did however, tell PhoneNews.com the whole story. What will happen, is when you file a claim, they will mail you a box. You’ll put your damaged/defective iPhone 3G in the box and mail it to one of their repair centers.
If they can’t fix it within three to five days, they’ll mail you a replacement. If no replacement is available, then they’ll mail you a check for the amount of coverage that you purchased.
Considering that SquareTrade has no suppliers of parts for iPhone 3G, it is highly likely that they will not be able to replace the unit. They cannot order replacement units direct from Apple at this time. Now, 18 to 36 months down the road… that certainly can change. But, as of right now, if your iPhone 3G breaks, you’re looking at getting your money back, since SquareTrade has no iPhone 3G units to replace yours with.
what about taxes? do we put that into consideration? if i were to buy a replacement outright without extending my contract. it’d be 699 + 8.25 (CA sales tax) = 756.67. so, in essence i’ll be paying about 58bux out of my pocket in taxes if they didn’t give me an outright replacement or repair. that’s not counting the deductible if its a loss because of accidental damage.
square trade accidental damage – $175 (fiftyoff doesn’t work)
taxes – $58
deductible (for accidental damage) – $50
total price of coverage – $283
i know on paper it’s still worth it.. but i’m still skeptical.
Insurance typically tries to avoid sales tax, but you could input the price with sales tax and ask SquareTrade to cover the local sales tax rate.
Here’s another coupon code for 50% off: SUMMER50
I have a squaretrade account and had my original iphne insured by them. sold my son the phone and transfered the warranty to him. I bought the iphone 3g and followed what was said in postings but none of the savings codes work. I keep getting the same message “Sorry SUMMER50 is only available to certain SquareTrade members. If we sent you this code directly, and you’re unable to use it, please call us” I get this with both codes. Also when I select the phone it only has iphone, not iphone 3g. Any suggestion?
All of the above codes FIFTYOFF, Welcome 40, and Summer50 give me the same message,
(Sorry SUMMER50 is only available to certain SquareTrade members. If we sent you this code directly, and you’re unable to use it, please call us.)
Does anyone have a code that works??
Darwin, try purchasing a warranty for a very cheap item, like a $1.99 charger. Others above have reported that enables the coupons to work for the warranty on the iPhone 3G (or anything else for that matter).
Hello everyone,
Vince from SquareTrade here. Sorry for all the past confusion on how to get an iPhone warranty. In September, we created a special program just for iPhones — you can avoid all confusion by just going here:
http://www.squaretrade.com/iphone
Which provides all the details you need. No more need to worry about purchase price — you just need to provide whether you bought an 8gb or 16gb model, and if you want 2 or 3 years of coverage.
For what it’s worth, Best Buy is also now offering extended protection on iPhones through their “Geek Squad Black Tie” service — but it’s a bit pricey at $14.99 / month.
Vince, there’s a big problem with the “iPhone Program” that you’ve started:
Quoting the web site: “Prices are based on the maximum replacement costs of the iPhone models: $399 for an 8gb model and $499 for the 16gb model. You will see these values listed as the “item price†on the checkout page and on your purchase summary email.”
But that isn’t correct! The maximum replacement cost of iPhone 3G is $599 for an 8 GB and $699 for a 16 GB unit. The prices you quote take into consideration the signing of a new 2-year agreement.
Ergo, if someone is 29 months into their contract (out of their contract), you are only refunding them the with-contract sales price of the phone. What if someone is now on prepaid service, or wants to cancel service? They can’t sign a new contract to get that price.
This wasn’t on the main sales page, this is buried in the agreement.
So, I now have three questions:
1) Will SquareTrade continue to allow iPhone 3G users to warranty their iPhones at the $599/$699 price-point? Can they go to squaretrade.com and simply register it like any other purchase?
2) WIll SquareTrade honor existing iPhone 3G warranties, which were purchased using the $599/$699 price point? Will there be any problem in making a claim for the full retail price?
3) What will SquareTrade do when customers are out of contract, and told that buried in the fine print, they’re now forced to either fork over $200, or sign a new contract to replace their iPhone? SquareTrade must bring this to the attention of the plan buyer… and not bury it in the fourth sub-tab of the fine print… especially because before this web site… SquareTrade went on-the-record with us saying that they would protect the full retail/replacement cost of iPhone 3G.
Hi Christopher. Good questions. Sorry for any confusion, unfortunately the business of replacing cell-phones is a bit tricky all around.
To answer your specific questions:
1) Will SquareTrade continue to allow iPhone 3G users to warranty their iPhones at the $599/$699 price-point? Can they go to squaretrade.com and simply register it like any other purchase?
Yes. You can still go and purchase a warranty at the $599/$699 price point, just like any other purchase.
We created a simplified program because customers were confused and worried that they wouldn’t put in the right price point. Unfortunately not all of our customers gets to read the excellent guide you’ve put here on how to determine the right price, so we’ve tried to make it as hassle free for the average user as possible.
2) WIll SquareTrade honor existing iPhone 3G warranties, which were purchased using the $599/$699 price point? Will there be any problem in making a claim for the full retail price?
We will definitely honor contracts that were purchased at the max replacement cost of the iPhone. Keep in mind, though, that the price of the iPhone may change over time. If the price of a 8gb iPhone drops to $399 without contract in a year’s time, and you purchased the coverage at the $599 price point, we will reimburse you $399 to get the new iPhone (minus $50 deductible for accidental damage), and the remaining $200 of coverage will be applied to your replacement phone.
Likewise, if it’s just your battery that can’t hold a charge, and it costs just $89 to get your battery replaced (no deductible, since this is covered by the basic warranty, you will still have $599 – $89 = $519 worth of coverage on your iPhone.
3) What will SquareTrade do when customers are out of contract, and told that buried in the fine print, they’re now forced to either fork over $200, or sign a new contract to replace their iPhone?
When we spoke to our customers before creating this program, the majority indicated that they planned on staying with AT&T in the future and didn’t mind signing a new contract if they were getting a new iPhone. Since the cost of warranty + ADH on a $599 phone is $179.99 for 3 years — almost as much as the customer paid for the phone initially — we chose to make the warranty more affordable.
I hope I’ve been able to answer your questions!
I made an error in the above post and need to correct the record:
In the case of replacement contracts, a full replacement of the iPhone finishes up the contract, according to our Service Agreement:
LIMIT OF LIABILITY:
The total amount that We will pay for repairs or replacement made in connection with all claims that You make pursuant to this Service Agreement shall not exceed the purchase price of the Product, less taxes. In the event that We make payments for repairs, which in the aggregate, are equal to the purchase price or replace the Product with a new, rebuilt or refurbished product of equal or similar features and functionality, We will have no further obligations under this Service Agreement.
The mistake was unintentional, and I apologize for any confusion.
Also, something Vince missed, but I just caught… it appears that SquareTrade does not cover the sales tax of an item. I thought that they did (if you entered that amount), but the Question Box next to the price on the sales quote tool says to not enter sales tax… indicating that they do not cover it.
It is worth noting that, aside from the flash tool, there is no area on the SquareTrade web site noting this, and it can be (legitimately) not seen by the user entering their information.
[…] PhoneNews.com has covered in the past, SquareTrade has begun offering “marketing pages” for both standard cell phones as well […]
OK I really am not following
1) this warranty is a one time deal – get the new phone, pay deductible, pay tax stay in contract (or start new 2 year contract) AND then pay for a brand new warranty?
Perhaps it would be less confusing if u leave out the dual prices —
2) I send the broken phone in – u Cant fix it – what happens? get a new one AND pay these fees (tax plus deductible) and ST warranty is finished?
3) I am also not clear – IS there an option for staying in contract or must we start new one?
Thanks
OK. Will this warrenty work with new IPHONE 3G S? and will it cover cracked screen? and what do i say i paid for it max price or medium??? Oh and can you pay a one time fee cheaper instead of paying every month?
SquareTrade iPhone plans are compatible with the iPhone 3G S. A cracked screen is covered if you add on the optional accidental damage policy (which is included on the special iPhone plan). SquareTrade only allows for one-time payment, but you can cancel at any time and get a pro-rated refund of the unused warranty. That’s particularly good if your iPhone gets lost or stolen…
Hey everybody,
Austin from SquareTrade here, I wanted to let everyone know that we have updated our pricing to reflect Apple’s new price points. Nothing about our coverage terms has changed, other than the dollar amount of coverage you get for each model. Here are the new prices (after our ongoing 20% discount):
8GB iPhone 3G – $76.80 for 299.99 in coverage
16GB iPhone 3G or 3G S – $96 for 399.99 in coverage
32GB iPhone 3G S – $115.20 for 499.99 in coverage
Take special note of our coverage amounts. If ATT requires you to pay the full No Contract cost (currently 599 & 699 for 16GB and 32GB 3G S), you will be responsible for the difference.