Welcome to Virgin Media Protect, brought to you by Asurion
Virgin Media Protect consists of:
- Insurance which is underwritten by Liberty Mutual Europe Limited (please see the Insurance Terms and Conditions below for further details)
- Mobile Rescue service which is provided by Asurion Soluto Europe Limited (please see the Mobile Rescue Terms and Conditions of Use below for further details)
Payment is collected in a single monthly premium by Asurion Europe Limited. If either the insurance or the Mobile Rescue is cancelled, the other is cancelled automatically.
Insurance Terms and Conditions
Nobody likes reading the small print, but to avoid any surprises, please:
- Read the insurance Terms and Conditions in full so you know what’s covered, what’s not and how to claim
- Block any lost or stolen device as soon as you discover it’s missing by calling Virgin Media on 0345 6000 789* to protect against unauthorised calls
- Make a claim, ideally within 30 days of discovering that your device is damaged or missing by calling us on 0345 030 3291*
- Pay the excess fee to complete your claim for a replacement device which may be refurbished to ‘as new’ standard. The excess fee was confirmed in your welcome pack and you can call us at any time to check it
- Comply with our reasonable instructions, including switching off or uninstalling any app which prevents our access to remove data from the claime for device
- Return any damaged or faulty device in the pre-paid packaging provided with your replacement – or you’ll be charged a non-return fee (based on the value of the non-returned model)
Insurance Terms and Conditions - for customers joining from 10th June 2016 onwards.
Please read the Terms and Conditions in full so you understand what's covered and what’s not. The terms 'we', 'our' and 'us' means Asurion Europe Limited (the policy administrator) and 'the Insurer' means Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe Limited). When we refer to "Virgin Media Protect" in these insurance Terms and Conditions, we are referring to the insurance cover only, not the Mobile Rescue service.
A. Your cover
Virgin Media Protect gives worldwide cover to protect your device against:
- Loss and Theft
- Malicious damage caused by someone who doesn’t have your permission to use the device
- Accidental damage (including cracked screens and liquid damage)
- Pet damage
- Out of warranty breakdown
You're covered as soon as the device is in your hands. You're covered when you lend your device to family or friends and whenever you travel abroad – however long that's for.
We don't offer 'new for old' cover so any replacement device you receive may be refurbished to our standard using original equipment manufacturer parts. Our aim is that you will not be able to tell the difference between a new and refurbished device. In the unlikely event we can’t send you a same model replacement, we'll offer you a different make, model or colour device with comparable features and functionality.
You can buy Virgin Media Protect provided:
- You're buying or upgrading your device with Virgin Media
- You're over 18
- You haven't had a mobile insurance policy declined or cancelled by us in the past or a claim denied due to fraud
You can also buy Virgin Media Protect if you and the main
authorised user of the device are resident in the UK. If at any time you or the authorised user are no longer going to be resident in the UK, you need to contact us using the details above and let us know. Your cover will be automatically cancelled.
B. The cost of cover
Your monthly premium and claim excess fee (the amount you have to pay towards the cost of your replacement device to complete a claim) is based on the value of your device at the time of purchase and confirmed in your welcome letter.
Monthly premiums by device model are: £4, £6, £8 or £10
Claim excess fees by device model are: £20, £40, £60 or £80
Asurion will collect your monthly premium in advance by separate direct debit (this will show on your statement as NEWAsurion Europe LTD RE VirginPhoneIns) on behalf of the Insurer. You need to pay the first month’s premium before any claim can be completed, your cover then renews automatically for the next 59 months after which we’ll cancel your policy. As devices age they will fall in value and so from time to time we may adjust your excess fee downwards. Call us to find out your current excess fee
C. What's not covered
- Any device other than one purchased from Virgin Media and shown on your welcome letter unless replaced by us or replaced under manufacturer warranty.
- Any claim if you haven't paid your insurance premium. If you haven't paid a premium but your policy hasn't yet been cancelled, we'll process your claim if you pay the outstanding amount.
- The excess fee you have to pay to complete a successful claim
- The cost of any calls, texts, data usage or downloads on a lost or stolen device.
- A third or subsequent claim in any 12-month period.
- Accessory-only claims.
- Accessories other than the battery, mains charger and any hands-free kit that came with the device.
- Cosmetic damage – where the device works as normal, except where you are claiming for a cracked screen.
- Damage caused by making alterations to the device or acting against manufacturer guidelines.
- The cost of any repair to your device unless we instruct it.
- Any fault that happens within the manufacturer's warranty period (where the manufacturer covers you against certain operating failures).
- Any malicious or deliberate damage caused by you or somebody you have authorised to use the device.
- Any losses or consequences you face as a result of being without your device.
- Loss or corruption of any kind of app, software or digital content other than standard manufacturer software.
- Confiscation of your device by a finance company or government agency (such as the police).
- Any claim that we find to be fraudulent. If we settle a claim that's later found to be fraudulent we may take action to recover our costs.
- Your SIM card.
D. Making a claim
- For lost or stolen devices, call Virgin Media as soon as possible (we recommend you do this within 48 hours) on 0345 6000 789* (+44 7953 967 967 from abroad) to block it against unauthorised use. We recommend you report any stolen device to the police, as we have the right to require a crime reference number to complete your claim.
- Call our Virgin Media Protect team on 0345 030 3291* to make a claim, ideally within 30 days of discovering the loss, theft, breakdown or damage. If you’re calling from abroad please dial +44 345 030 3291* replacing + with the international dialling prefix relevant to your location.
Please have a payment card ready to pay your claim excess fee. We accept MasterCard and Visa debit or credit cards.
If you report a claim to us more than 90 days after discovering the loss, theft, fault, breakdown or damage to your device, we will still consider your claim, but it may impact our ability to assess your claim and could, in some cases, result in it being declined.
When you make a claim, we'll block any lost or stolen device automatically before sending any replacement. We won't be able to complete your claim until you agree to our blocking that device. Once your claim is completed, we (and only we) can unblock that device.
We aim to send a next-day 'as new' replacement for claims approved before 8.30pm Monday to Friday and 2.30pm on weekends. For claims accepted outside of these times, you will receive your 'as new' replacement phone within 2 days. If we're late, let us know and we'll give you £20, credited to your bank account within 30 days.
This excludes:
- Claims made or deliveries that fall on a Bank Holiday.
- Deliveries outside of mainland Great Britain including deliveries to the Scottish Islands, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands.
- Any delay caused by something outside our control like extreme weather, natural disaster, epidemic or crime, and supply shortages affecting the industry (e.g. where new model devices are in very high demand and short supply after launch).
Please make sure someone is in to sign for the delivery. Your replacement comes with:
- A 24-month warranty
- The usual device accessories, if yours were involved in the incident or we provide you with a different model replacement
- Prepaid packaging to return any damaged or faulty device (minus the SIM card, battery and charger).
As soon as you receive your replacement device, the original claimed-for device (the faulty or damaged device or the lost or stolen device if later recovered) becomes the property of the Insurer and must be returned to us within 15 days. Otherwise, we'll charge a non-return fee (based on the value of the non-returned model) to the payment card used to pay your excess fee. The device is your responsibility until it arrives with us. Please make sure that when you go to the Post Office that you get proof of postage (this is free) and confirmation of the weight of the package you are returning to us. We will not approve any further claim until you have returned the claimed-for device or paid the outstanding amount.
You must comply with our reasonable instructions including switching off or uninstalling any app which prevents our access to remove data from the claimed-for device. If you need any help with this please call us on 0345 030 3291*. If you refuse to do it we will not proceed with your claim. If you fail to do it we will treat that as a non-return and may charge you a non-return fee.
E. Cancelling your cover and changes to the policy
You can call or email us to cancel your policy (see contact details at the top of these terms) or write to us at Virgin Media Protect, PO Box 71012, London W4 9FW.
You can cancel within the first 28 days and (if you haven't made a claim) we'll refund any premium paid. Otherwise, you can cancel at any time and cover will finish at the end of the paid-for period. When you buy another device from Virgin Media on the same mobile number and add insurance, we'll cancel cover on your old device automatically. You can call us to keep that policy running. We'll set up a policy for the new device and confirm your cover start date, premium and claim excess in writing.
We'll cancel your policy if you cancel your airtime contract with Virgin Media, fail to pay the monthly premium, have two successful claims in any 12-month period or if you make a claim we find to be fraudulent, and we will send you confirmation including your cover end date.
We may change your policy terms or alter the premium or excess fee for future periods of cover based on significant adverse claims experience, significant increase in our operating costs, inflation, economic and environmental factors, and changes in legislation, taxation or interest rates. If we make a change that increases any charges or reduces your cover, we’ll give you at least 30 days' notice sent to the current contact details we have for you and you will be able to cancel your policy if you are not happy with our changes. If we make any change that improves your cover, we may apply it straight away without notice.
If you cancel Virgin Media Protect you won’t have access to the Mobile Rescue service.
F. How to complain
You can call or email us (see contact details at the top of these terms) or write to us at Virgin Media Protect, PO Box 71012, London W4 9FW. If we can't resolve your complaint right away, we'll email or write to you within five working days to outline our next steps. If the issue still isn't resolved within two weeks, we'll contact you again to keep you up to speed on what’s happening.
If you’re not happy with the outcome of your complaint or we haven't given our final response within 8 weeks of you raising your complaint, you can contact The Financial Ombudsman Service by phone: 0800 023 4567 (Freephone) or 0300 123 9123, by email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk or in writing at: Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR. You need to contact them within 6 months of receiving our final decision. The service is free and we are bound by any decision the Financial Ombudsman reaches. This won't affect your statutory rights or prejudice your right to take subsequent legal proceedings. See financial-ombudsman.org.uk for more details.
G. Who provides this cover
This insurance is administered by Asurion Europe Limited ('Asurion'), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (no. 502545), registered in England and Wales with company number 6568029 at Chiswick Place, 272 Gunnersbury Avenue, Chiswick, W4 5QB. The Insurer is Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe Limited, which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (no. 202205), registered address: 20 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 3AW. Go to fca.org.uk/register or call 0800 111 6768 (Freephone) or 0300 500 8082* to check the Financial Conduct Authority's register.
You and the Insurer may choose which law will apply to this contract. Unless we agree otherwise, Virgin Media Protect is governed by the law of the part of the United Kingdom that you live in (England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) and all communication from us will be in English.
Any payments collected by Asurion under these terms and conditions are collected on behalf of the Insurer.
The Insurer is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). In the unlikely event that we can’t meet our liabilities you may be entitled to compensation to a maximum of 90% of the claim under this scheme. Further info can be obtained from the FSCS on 0800 678 1100 (Freephone) or by going to fscs.org.uk.
H. Our use of your personal data
By taking this cover you confirm that you've given us your permission to communicate policy information with you by phone, SMS, email or in writing using your given contact details.
In issuing and administering this policy, we will share your personal data with Virgin Media and other partner companies providing services under this policy. We may also share your personal data with group companies and any third parties who are purchasers of all or part of Virgin Media, the Insurer or Asurion, and with organisations we use to monitor our performance, carry out research, create statistics, prevent or detect crime and other third parties to the extent required or permitted by law. We may access your call history around the time of any claim incident as part of our claim assessment process.
Whenever your personal information is shared with third parties, it will be done in accordance with all responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 1998. This includes, for example, putting in place appropriate written terms to protect your personal information and ensuring any export of your personal information outside the European Economic Area is lawful in accordance with the Act. We will only use the personal information given by you to confirm your identity, administer your policy, contact you about your policy, process claims, carry out internal record-keeping, record claims details on relevant databases and registers for fraud detection purposes and contact the police to check any crime reference number you give us.
Asurion is registered with the Information Commissioners Office as a Data Controller (number Z2176995). By providing personal data to us (i.e. information which can identify you and relates to you, whether by itself or when used in conjunction with other information e.g. your name, policy number, telephone number and other contact details), we will assume that you consent to this type of information being collected and used in the ways described above (subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998) including for example for fraud prevention purposes and other requirements imposed by law or regulation. You have the right to see and correct any personal information held about you. A £10 administration fee may be charged for this. If you wish to see your personal information or ask any question about our use of your data, please contact us.
Your data may be transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA) for the above purposes. If that happens, we’ll make sure it's treated with the same level of protection as in the EEA. If you give us personal information about someone else, you are responsible for having their permission to do so and for telling them who we are and what their information will be used for. We will never sell or transfer your personal data to a third party unless we have your prior written consent, subject to the above and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
For further information on how Liberty processes your personal information, please see http://www.libertyspecialtymarkets.com/privacy-cookies/
*Calls to 03 numbers cost the same as calls to UK landlines starting 01 and 02. Call charges apply when calling from abroad. To find out more about the cost of using your phone abroad visit virginmedia.com/callingfromabroad
Please note standard charges apply, please check with your network operator for rates.
