SquareTrade.com reviews and complaints

A little over a year ago, I purchased a big screen "Smart Television" from a local retail store. It was a somewhat lofty price, but for a television of that size it was worth it. On check out, the gentleman at the store asked if I would like to purchase an "Extended Warranty". The added cost was minimal, so I thought about it for a moment and, due to the amount of electronics in today's "Smart Televisions", for the first time in my life I said "Yes" to an extended warranty. And I am so happy I did. Two weeks after the normal warranty expired (which is generally 1 year), the television just up and quit while I was watching it. I retrieved the receipt and the "Extended Warranty Brochure" from my records. I saw the name "SquareTrade" (the company used by Allstate to handle claims such as this) and called the number listed. What transpired over the next 10-15 minutes was the best Customer Service experience that I have ever received from a company. The well spoken and knowledgeable agent had me run thru some last ditch efforts to breathe life back into my dead television. After these efforts proved fruitless, she told me that the main logic board at its heart had failed and that this failure was covered by the extended warranty. She further advised that a check would be mailed the following day and that I would receive it within 3-5 working days and on day 4 I received the check. SquareTrade has made a believer out of me when it comes to purchasing extended warranties on high dollar electronics. The company should be proud of their Customer Service Agents because they set themselves apart from the rest.

On September 25, 2019, I bought a refurbished iPhone 7 with 128GB of storage and a 3-year protection plan from ***.com. However, after only 4 months, the phone started having intermittent functionality issues. I had to reboot it multiple times for it to work, and even then, it would sometimes stop working if I bumped it even slightly.

I contacted *** Customer Care on January 31, 2020, and they advised me to reach out to Square Trade regarding the protection plan. They provided me with a link - http://www.***.com/protection. I followed the link and clicked on the "File a Claim" button, which redirected me to a Square Trade page. I used the chat feature on the Square Trade page and received some incorrect instructions on how to make a phone call. After spending about an hour chatting with the assistant and realizing her instructions were wrong, I finally managed to speak to a representative by navigating through the automated phone menu.

The first representative I spoke to on January 31 was named ***. He insisted that the phone could be repaired by restoring it to factory defaults. He claimed to have created a claim number and sent me an email, but the email didn't contain a claim number and only had a link to instructions. When I tried to follow the instructions and restore the phone, I couldn't connect it to my computer's iTunes as required. Frustrated, I called them back.

The second representative I spoke to on January 31 was named *** (sp?). She told me that the phone was repairable and provided me with some repair locations. Unfortunately, the nearest one was over 27 miles away near Boston. They sent me a voucher with a claim number via email to their authorized repair shop, Cell Phone Repair (CPR) ***. I followed the instructions, printed the voucher, confirmed that the shop was open, and drove there. However, after examining the phone, the shop owner, ***, informed me that the phone was not repairable. Disappointed, I drove back home and called Square Trade once again.

The third representative I spoke to on January 31 was named *** (sp?). She informed me that there was no information from the repair shop (CPR) and that I needed to go back there and have them submit the information on an unnamed form that I had no knowledge of. This made me thoroughly frustrated and upset. I told the representative that I had followed all of their instructions and had gotten nowhere. I suggested that they call CPR themselves to obtain the necessary information. All I wanted was for my phone to work properly. The representative advised me that Square Trade would indeed contact CPR on my behalf and asked me to give them a day and then call back to discuss the next steps.

On February 1, I contacted Square Trade once again and spoke to a representative named *** (sp?). The representative informed me that there was no record of the previous call or any contact with CPR to collect the required information. They insisted that it was up to me to go and get the information. I once again insisted that they contact CPR. After being put on hold multiple times, the representative confirmed that they had contacted CPR and were informed that the phone was not repairable. Now, Square Trade wanted me to send them my phone so they could determine if it was repairable or not and decide how to proceed. I had lost all patience with them and demanded that they send me a replacement. They could do whatever they wanted with my failed phone. However, I was informed that they didn't have any iPhone 7 units available, even though I could find hundreds of them available for next-day shipping on the internet. This refusal to help me and their insistence on putting all the burden on me frustrated me even more. I told the representative that I was completely fed up and that my next course of action would be to file a report with ComplaintsBoard.com and the consumer protection division of the Massachusetts State Attorney General's office. After spending more time on hold, I was asked to wait for another day to receive another email with further instructions that I had to follow.

However, on February 2, I didn't receive any email or phone call from Square Trade. So, on February 3, I contacted them once again and spoke to a representative named ***. The representative informed me that I had to send the phone to them via expedited shipping for repair. I asked about the previous call, and after more time on hold, the representative realized that the replacement request had been entered by the previous representative on Saturday but hadn't been finalized. *** took care of this and then informed me that I had to wait for up to 5 more business days to receive an email informing me whether or not they would replace the phone. As a project manager, I cannot afford to be tied to a desk for a week because my phone isn't working. I am extremely frustrated with Square Trade and their refusal to support their customers. They haven't been following up with emails, phone calls, or even claim numbers. I apologize for the lengthy message. Regards