Christmas is just over and if you are like most who celebrate this Holiday, you have both given and received a certain amount of gifts.
Like myself for example.
One of the nicely wrapped things I got was a pair of beautiful black leather gloves.
I wore them the same day on the way to Christmas dinner.
To my greatest frustration, I dropped one of them in a huge puddle, which immediately soaked the entire glove.
Despite extended rescue efforts, the water has significantly changed the colour and feel of the left glove, making the pair seeming more like siblings rather than perfect twins.
Now, ordinarily, I would have just accepted this to be an aggravating fact of life and moved on.
However, after having worked in the insurance industry, I know how easy it is to get a replacement.
Most people buy items on credit nowadays.
The credit card industry is highly competitive and so credit card companies work very hard to get consumers to sign up with them.
How do they do this? By offering as many benefits to their cards as possible.
No matter whether you have a fee or no-fee credit card, chances are that your card has at least Purchase Assurance and Extended Warranty coverage on it.
These benefits are relatively cheap for the credit card company, as customers often don't understand or forget that they actually have coverage for events such as my glove disaster.
Take the Purchase Assurance benefit for example.
Although the conditions may vary between cards, most Purchase Assurance covers items that you have bought in full with your credit card for a period of 90 days from date of purchase.
The coverage is against loss or damage that is not otherwise covered through any other insurance.
Of course there are exceptions, for example, most policies stipulate that items have to be for private use and not commercial.
Other common exclusions: - Perishables - Money or any type of bullion - Other easy to lose items (i.
e.
golf balls) On claiming you will have to submit proof that you've owned the item, wherever possible proof that you no longer own it (i.
e.
police report), and proof that you bought the item fully on your credit card (purchase receipt).
Now, from an insurance perspective, any claim that involves a pair (i.
e.
shoes, gloves, ear rings etc), will not necessarily be viewed as being claimed for as a pair.
Going back to my gloves, this means that I will only get half of the money for the damaged glove as from an insurance perspective, the other one is still useable.
There is a way around this silly interpretation, which is giving up the non-damaged (or non-missing) item to the insurance company, in which case they mostly agree to refunding the full pair.
Especially when dealing with gem earrings, should you for example loose one, the insurance company will only reimburse you for the value of that one, as you could technically still use the stone of the other one, or try and sell it.
So check your credit card agreement to confirm whether you are eligible for this great benefit.
The only thing you really need to make any Purchase Assurance claim are the receipts that prove an eligible credit card purchase, so hang on to all your receipts for at least 3 months.
You never know whether that new sweater gets caught on a protruding nail, your cat misuses your new leather furniture as a scratch pad, your kids drop your two week old cell phone in the toilet.
Even if you can't find the receipt, most stores can issue duplicate receipts if you give them the date of purchase and your credit card information.
Filling out one sheet of paperwork is definitely worth getting a replacement for a relatively new item.
Since my gloves were a gift, I will have to ask my friend to put in this claim, as they were purchased on his card.
I am sure he won't mind considering he knew how much I loved the gloves.
Let's just hope there is another pair at the store!
Like myself for example.
One of the nicely wrapped things I got was a pair of beautiful black leather gloves.
I wore them the same day on the way to Christmas dinner.
To my greatest frustration, I dropped one of them in a huge puddle, which immediately soaked the entire glove.
Despite extended rescue efforts, the water has significantly changed the colour and feel of the left glove, making the pair seeming more like siblings rather than perfect twins.
Now, ordinarily, I would have just accepted this to be an aggravating fact of life and moved on.
However, after having worked in the insurance industry, I know how easy it is to get a replacement.
Most people buy items on credit nowadays.
The credit card industry is highly competitive and so credit card companies work very hard to get consumers to sign up with them.
How do they do this? By offering as many benefits to their cards as possible.
No matter whether you have a fee or no-fee credit card, chances are that your card has at least Purchase Assurance and Extended Warranty coverage on it.
These benefits are relatively cheap for the credit card company, as customers often don't understand or forget that they actually have coverage for events such as my glove disaster.
Take the Purchase Assurance benefit for example.
Although the conditions may vary between cards, most Purchase Assurance covers items that you have bought in full with your credit card for a period of 90 days from date of purchase.
The coverage is against loss or damage that is not otherwise covered through any other insurance.
Of course there are exceptions, for example, most policies stipulate that items have to be for private use and not commercial.
Other common exclusions: - Perishables - Money or any type of bullion - Other easy to lose items (i.
e.
golf balls) On claiming you will have to submit proof that you've owned the item, wherever possible proof that you no longer own it (i.
e.
police report), and proof that you bought the item fully on your credit card (purchase receipt).
Now, from an insurance perspective, any claim that involves a pair (i.
e.
shoes, gloves, ear rings etc), will not necessarily be viewed as being claimed for as a pair.
Going back to my gloves, this means that I will only get half of the money for the damaged glove as from an insurance perspective, the other one is still useable.
There is a way around this silly interpretation, which is giving up the non-damaged (or non-missing) item to the insurance company, in which case they mostly agree to refunding the full pair.
Especially when dealing with gem earrings, should you for example loose one, the insurance company will only reimburse you for the value of that one, as you could technically still use the stone of the other one, or try and sell it.
So check your credit card agreement to confirm whether you are eligible for this great benefit.
The only thing you really need to make any Purchase Assurance claim are the receipts that prove an eligible credit card purchase, so hang on to all your receipts for at least 3 months.
You never know whether that new sweater gets caught on a protruding nail, your cat misuses your new leather furniture as a scratch pad, your kids drop your two week old cell phone in the toilet.
Even if you can't find the receipt, most stores can issue duplicate receipts if you give them the date of purchase and your credit card information.
Filling out one sheet of paperwork is definitely worth getting a replacement for a relatively new item.
Since my gloves were a gift, I will have to ask my friend to put in this claim, as they were purchased on his card.
I am sure he won't mind considering he knew how much I loved the gloves.
Let's just hope there is another pair at the store!
SHARE
