BRITAIN’S MOST DANGEROUS ANIMALS ARE … BOXER DOG PUPPIES.

GADGET-COVER.COM

MOBILE PHONE & GADGET INSURANCE

PRESS RELEASE

May 22, 2012.

BRITAIN’S MOST DANGEROUS ANIMALS ARE … BOXER DOG PUPPIES.

It’s official – Britain’s most dangerous animals are boxer dog puppies.

That’s the finding of www.gadget-cover.com, the UK’s longest-established mobile phone and electronic gadget insurance provider, which says that the combined teeth and slobber content of a boxer chewing on a mobile phone are fatal – to the phone.

“Puppies, generally, are the animals most cited when claims are made for pet-inflicted damage to mobile phones, iPods, satnavs and other electronic gadgets – but breeds such as boxers, which slobber more than most, result in more moisture damage, which is generally fatal for a phone,” said Carmi Korine of Gadget-Cover.

Puppies chewing on phones are the most common claim, followed by cats chasing them around table tops before knocking them on to hard floors. Wagging dog tails also do their fair share of damage by launching gadgets across rooms from low surfaces, but some claims are difficult to prove.

“We’ve had claims for people who say their snake has swallowed a phone, while others have claimed their parrots have cracked phone screens or peeled off covers, and we have had a claim that a pet monkey stole a phone and in playing with it ended up dialling a number in South America which stayed connected until the battery ran out, and ran up a bill of hundreds of pounds.

“We were speculating that he was phoning home.”

Of animal-related claims made in the first four months of 2012, these were the most frequent:

1. Puppies chewing phones or gadgets, 29%.
2. Adult dogs fetching phones for owners, 22%.
3. Dogs knocking phones onto hard surfaces or into liquid, 19%
4. Cats knocking phones onto hard surfaces, 13%.
5. Incidents involving horses, 9%.
6. Incidents involving fish tanks, 6%.
7. Other, 2%.

www.gadget-cover.com is part of Supercover Insurance, the UK’s longest-established insurer of mobile phones and high-intrinsic-value consumer electronics. Launched in 1995, the company offers theft, loss and damage insurance, as well as up to 3GB gadget content backup, for laptops, PCs, satellite navigation equipment, MP3 players including iPods, and other such communication, storage and gaming equipment.

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Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.gadget-cover.com

PHONE DROWNINGS UP AS SQUABBLING COUPLES, WORKAHOLICS AND STROPPY PUB LANDLORDS DROWN 430,000 MOBILE PHONES A YEAR.

GADGET-COVER.COM

MOBILE PHONE & GADGET INSURANCE

PRESS RELEASE

April 23, 2012.

PHONE DROWNINGS UP AS SQUABBLING COUPLES, WORKAHOLICS AND STROPPY PUB LANDLORDS DROWN 430,000 MOBILE PHONES A YEAR.

Squabbling couples, prankster colleagues, children and stroppy bar staff are responsible for nearly 430,000 insurance claims a year in the UK for mobile phones being dropped in drinks.

www.gadget-cover.com  the UK’s longest-established mobile phone insurance provider, estimates around 30,000 more claims for phone dunkings were made in 2011-12 financial year compared to 2009-2010.

Gadget-Cover asked a cross-section of customers how their phones ended up being drowned, and there’s been a slight change in reasons for water-, wine- and beer-logging.

“For men, the main cause remains stretching across a desk or table and their phone falling out of their shirt pocket into a drink, or a phone being knocked into a drink during a meeting – people wave their arms around in meetings, often with a phone in their hand, and some contrive to lose grip on their phones and get a bull’s-eye on a cup of tea or coffee they could never manage if they tried,” said Carmi Korine of www.gadget-cover.com.

“For women, the main cause is a child, toddler or baby playing with a phone that they drop into a cup or glass, but with an emerging trend for children to wash phones they’ve gooped, or to put them in washing machines.

“Those are the two single biggest causes at around 40% each (170,000 each, 340,000 total) – primarily because more people have more phones, and have them in their hands more of the time; but there is a fall-off in phone rage or phone envy when the owner of the phone is not directly responsible for it finding its way into a drink – down from around 45,000 to around 36,500.

“Arguments between couples have resulted in a doubling in the number of phones being dropped into drinks deliberately – up to 11,000 a year compared to 5,500 a year in 2009. Working on holiday, or simply working too hard are other issues – that’s also doubled to around 2,000 incidents of that nature.

“Office parties and drinking sessions with work colleagues can result in an ever-ringing phone being dropped in a pint, and we do get quite a few claims when a client or customer has dropped a supplier or adviser’s phone in a drink because they keep answering it during meetings – if we gross up our claims levels pro-rata nationally, then this would equate to around 2,000 claims.

“People ‘posing’ or showing off their phones, or talking embarrassingly loud in bars or restaurants resulted in around a thousand incidences of snatch-and-dunk.

“But at least once a day a stroppy pub landlord will take a phone off a customer and drop it in a drink – usually in the north, and usually because the pub has a phone ban.”

The remainder of claims arise from phones being left on table tops and being drowned in spreading pools of spilt drinks, phones left in bags with leaky drinks containers, or unexplained incidents in which phones are swamped.

www.gadget-cover.com is part of Supercover Insurance, the UK’s longest-established insurer of mobile phones and high-intrinsic-value consumer electronics. Launched in 1995, the company offers theft, loss and damage insurance, as well as up to 3GB gadget content backup, for laptops, PCs, satellite navigation equipment, MP3 players including iPods, and other such communication, storage and gaming equipment.

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.gadget-cover.com

SUPERCOVER INSURANCE LAUNCHES PERSONAL EMERGENCY COVER POLICY FOR RESELLERS.

SUPERCOVER INSURANCE

MOBILE PHONE & GADGET INSURANCE

PRESS RELEASE

February 27, 2012.

SUPERCOVER INSURANCE LAUNCHES PERSONAL EMERGENCY COVER POLICY FOR RESELLERS.

Supercover Insurance, www.supercoverinsurance.com, has launched a personal emergency cover policy which is available for resellers to offer to customers and clients.

“HelpMeOut!” is a concierge service which can be a stand-alone product or added to existing Supercover products such as Gadget Cover, Handbag Cover, Tools Cover or Bicycle Cover.

RRP is £1.25 a month or £15 a year, with a highly competitive ongoing commission.

HelpMeOut! Provides cancellation and replacement of debit and credit cards in case of loss or theft, arranges a locksmith in case of lost or stolen keys, replaces car or house keys, reports and blacklists a lost or stolen mobile phone to the network provider, arranges transportation in case of lost or stolen car keys or wallet or any similar emergency, and makes family and friends aware of the emergency situation.

London-based Supercover Insurance is the UK’s longest-established insurer of mobile phones and high-intrinsic-value consumer electronics. Launched in 1995, the company offers theft, loss and damage insurance, as well as up to 3GB gadget content backup, for laptops, PCs, satellite navigation equipment, MP3 players including iPods, and other such communication, storage and gaming equipment.

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.supercoverinsurance.com

FAKE INSURANCE CLAIMANTS CAUGHT WITH TROUSERS DOWN – LITERALLY

GADGET-COVER.COM

MOBILE PHONE & GADGET INSURANCE

PRESS RELEASE

February 22, 2012.

FAKE INSURANCE CLAIMANTS CAUGHT WITH TROUSERS DOWN – LITERALLY.

A naked bedroom raider and a trouser-removing prostitute who couldn’t be fought off one-handed by a youth carrying a takeaway are amongst dodgy and declined insurance claims made for lost or stolen mobile phones.

More and more fraudsters are being caught with their pants down as insurers tighten the belt on ever more creative bids to trouser cash from false or questionable mobile phone loss and theft claims.

Gadget-cover.com, which provides policies for resellers including many high street names, saw a near-doubling of insurance claims for lost or stolen mobile phones in January 2012 over January 2011, but it would have been higher still had new tougher checks not identified fake or suspicious claims.

Carmi Korine of www.gadget-cover.com, which is the biggest and longest-established insurer in the sector, said that two attempted claimants in particular were caught, literally, with their pants well and truly down.

“One attempted claim arose when a customer’s son went on holiday with a friend and his friend’s parents. The phone was alleged to have disappeared one night when, whilst they were all in bed, a naked guy came in to the parents’ room and got in the bed with them.

“The father then awoke and kicked the naked guy out of their room, but before leaving, the naked guy put on the customer’s son’s trousers, which were on the floor, and left – we weren’t given a clear explanation as to why his trousers were in his friend’s parents’ hotel room.

“The phone was said to be in the trousers which were taken by the naked guy. The parents did not think the incursion was strange, and carried on with their sleep. There was no sign of forced entry.

“The second incident is also alleged to have involved a loss of trousers. The claimant’s son was coming home from a takeaway shop. He said he walked into a back street in order to wait for a cab, which he had called for earlier.

“Whilst waiting for the cab in this back street, a woman, who he described as looking like a prostitute, walked up to him and began touching him and pulling down his trousers. The customer says her son tried to push the ‘prostitute’ away but was ineffective in his efforts as he was carrying his takeaway in one hand.

“The woman managed to pull his trousers all the way down to his ankles and, after a while, she left and he later realised his phone was no longer in his pocket. The customer’s son was so traumatised he did not leave his room for three days.”

In each case, and based on wider assessment of the submissions made, but withheld here to avoid identification, the claims were declined.

www.gadget-cover.com is part of London-based Supercover Insurance, which is the UK’s longest-established insurer of mobile phones and high-intrinsic-value consumer electronics. Launched in 1995, the company offers theft, loss and damage insurance, as well as up to 3GB gadget content backup, for laptops, PCs, satellite navigation equipment, MP3 players including iPods, and other such communication, storage and gaming equipment.

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.gadget-cover.com

VALUE STORES AND MOBILE PHONE SHOPS – THE NEW LOOK POST-BUST BRITISH HIGH STREET.

MCBAINS COOPER

PROPERTY & CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANCY

PRESS RELEASE

March 30, 2011.

VALUE STORES AND MOBILE PHONE SHOPS – THE NEW LOOK POST-BUST BRITISH HIGH STREET.

In the boom years it was big brands, restaurants, hairdressers and estate agents - but as Britain battles out of bust, the signs are the country’s high streets will have soon changed beyond all recognition with “value shops” and mobile phone retailers staking claim to prime shopping strips across the country.

That’s not a prediction, it’s a fact - according to McBains Cooper, the international property and construction consultancy.

“Our building surveying function is carrying out a significantly enhanced – and growing – number of building surveys for ‘value shops’ and mobile phone retailers, which indicate that the high street is going to have a very different look about it by the time the retail economy has settled,” said Allan Davies of McBains Cooper, Birmingham.

“These dual trends started in the South East in 2007, but they’ve gathered a real momentum in the regions – particularly northern towns – providing a much needed re-invigoration of high streets, following the void left by the likes of Woolworths, Adams and Ethel Austin.

“The high street multiples of 2012 and beyond are going to be variations upon the ‘pound shops’, and more, bigger and better mobile phone retailers. We know of two mobile phone retailers who plan to open more than 50 new stores in 2011, most of which are occupying sites previously operated by high street icons.

“Our background research says that the value store chain growth is down to high street shoppers easing away from premium and designer brands, but the quality and range of value store products is so good that there’s a question of whether consumers will ever flex back up to those designer brands.

“The value brands grew from the downturn, and are genetically tuned to managing costs, and developing and deigning stores that pack the maximum retail punch per square foot combined with attractive but no-nonsense design.

“That, combined with tumbling property costs and charges, means they’re perfectly placed to re-shape and re-invigorate the high street.”

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

07788 978800 im@pressrelations.co.uk

www.mcbainscooper.com

Notes.

McBains Cooper

McBains Cooper is an inter-discipline consultancy, specialising in property, infrastructure and construction, offering a wide range of consulting and design services including architectural, aesthetic or technical design, problem solving, budget management, facilities management, health and safety, sustainability consultancy and on-the-ground civil engineering. Driving and supporting projects ranging from minor works to major contracts worth more than £100 million, McBains Cooper operates across a variety of sectors throughout the UK, Europe and Latin America. McBains Cooper is committed to environmental, social and economic sustainable development and their integrated approach means they deliver effective, award-winning solutions to their clients. The Group employs 150 people. McBains Cooper has regional headquarters in London (head office), Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Oxford, Windsor, Lima (Peru), Miami and Mexico, with associate offices in Belfast and Dublin. www.mcbainscooper.com

“Too good” customer service costs mobile phone companies dearly.

SUPERCOVER INSURANCE

PRESS RELEASE

March 2, 2010.

“Too good” customer service costs mobile phone companies dearly.

Over-enthusiastic customer service is costing the mobile phone industry dearly as allegedly lost and damaged handsets are replaced without enough questioning or investigation.

Carmi Korine, director of Supercover Insurance – one of the longest established mobile phone insurers – said that a growing community of less-than-honest customers are taking advantage of mobile phone companies and insurers torn between hanging onto subscribers and questioning dubious insurance claims.

Insurance claims made end-to-end by phone have become the norm as insurers compete on speed, efficiency and fast customer service.

“Typically, a claim will be made by phone, the customer will falsely state a phone has been lost, they’ll be sent a new replacement – but they’ll continue to use the old one and sell the new one, sometimes for hundreds of pounds,” said Carmi Korine.

“We and our clients and partners – a range of high street names and big brands – have been slowly but surely tightening-up procedures for mobile phone loss claims after this trend started to emerge.

“We’ve found that in introducing downloadable claims forms, which have to be filled in to back up an ‘in-principle-agreed’ claim over the phone, around half of the claims made by phone simply disappear.

“We also developed a simple process to track and time use of the ‘lost’ phone, and, working with the service providers, discovered that some claimants were even making their claims by ringing from their ‘lost’ phone, even though they had changed the SIM card, and hence the number. Mobile phone usage can be tracked through electronic serial numbers as well as the phone number.

“Fundamentally, as an example, a false claimant will lose or damage a phone, claim it is no longer in his or her possession, make a claim to the insurer – which, in this day and age can be under any brand name, not necessarily insurance – and try to drive the claim through over the phone.

“This type and level of service has been growing as insurers compete to offer the fastest claim turnaround service, but phone-call-only claims are wide open to abuse – with the emergence of serial false-claimants committing what, effectively, is fraud.”

Supercover is a 15-years-established provider of insurance for consumer portable high-intrinsic-value products such as mobile phones, laptops and other gadgets, as well as spectacles.

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

0161 929 0446/07788 978800

www.supercoverinsurance.com