Sorry to hear that. I don’t have the Sapphire Reserve (assuming that’s what you meant even though it was launched in 2016), but have filed for return protection twice with United Club. One time it was electronics and the other time it was cosmetics. For the electronics, they approved the claim but did not ask me to send the item back. For the cosmetics, I was provided a shipping label to send the merchandise to them, and the claim was approved afterward (not before as in your case).