Great idea. I'm not sure where the OP lives, but I know throughout LA there are places that will do this (done it many times myself) for a pretty small fee.

That's why whenever I call, I tell them what they want to hear. Never give them a reason to turn your claim down -- provide the minimum (and/or selected ;)) information necessary to get approved

I've only used return protection a couple of times and both times they were excluded items and Amex made exceptions. I certainly don't expect them to make exceptions when I call, I just got lucky.

FWIW...I have had much better luck with damage protection claims and I find them to be a lot less restrictive. My point- skip the return protection, do something to damage the item (nothing major, but enough that you can still file a claim; spill on a shirt, dent on an iPod, etc...), and just use that program instead.

Call American Express and explain to them that Motorola made unauthorized changes to the item which you purchased with your card.

If you get the right rep, they will file the claim for you.

I just received a claim in my favor for the Price Protection of the Apple iPhone even though cell phones are clearly excluding in the terms, so it just takes a good rep.

Thing is Motorola didn't make unauthorised changes to the OP's phone - he sent it to them becuase he thought it wasn't working. Motorola attempted to fix the problem with a firmware upgrade wc is standard. That's like you tryingit on with Amex because iPhone instals updated phoneware when you log in to iTunes \. Its not unauthorised. The fact they "locked" the phone is easily remedied.

and btw, Amex was honouring the iPhone fiasco. There are tonnes of threads on this forum. So, no, you didn't just get lucky or get a good rep.

I may have missed it (because the fine print was VERY fine) but I didn't see anything in the fine print about not paying on claims where the store offers store credit that you don't want. To me that's not really agreeing to take it back because I'm not getting back what I originally gave them (money that I could have used anywhere). I should be allowed to make the choice to accept the store credit and not file a claim under the Amex program, or to reject the store credit, keep the sandals, and return them to Amex for a proper credit of what I paid. The T&C say nothing about store credit. They just say the program excludes purchases that the store will take back. If a store is taking something back and giving me a coupon in return, that's not really taking it back. If it were then me dropping off the sandals and getting nothing in return from the store would also be excluded under the toothless Return Protection program.

My point is that I expect better service from a card I pay almost $500 each year for. I expect that in these "close calls", the card will do the right thing and pay up. They market themselves as a card that will do that, but this experience indicates otherwise. (I will say that generally I'm happy with AMEX's customer service, but this experience with the smug representative who almost seemed to take joy in the fact that he could reject the claim and with my frustration, was a very negative one).

Might I suggest storing info on the SIM card instead of in the phone in future? That way, when you send in your phone you don't lose your data.

Motorola should certainly honour your request to unlock the phone, but that really has nothing to do with Amex.

Um... because any experience with financial institutions' consumer agreements should show you that it is standard practice to rig everything to the customers' disadvantage. The whole consumer banking world's business model is based on people not understanding their agreements, violating little rules and regs and getting slapped with punitive fees and rates. Any functioning adult who ever bounced a check or got a credit card payment in two hours late knows that these institutions are not your friends, and it is surpassingly naive to imagine otherwise.

I have never seen a warranty protection/return protection program from any card issuer that was worth reading to the end, let alone getting the card for, let alone trying to invoke. They are all written to impress you in the marketing brochure and distress you in actual use. Their strategic goal is to help attract new card signups, not satisfy existing cardholders, and even a casual student of the industry should know better than to "take it on good faith that a program that markets [itself] as 'X' would actually perform as such."

Now you know how Amex (and all its major competitors) feel about you. Live and learn.

Moderator Hat On

While there are some constructive comments here, I'm going to close this thread temporarily to deal with some of the off-topic chatter.

Moderator Hat Off

Update: Thread has been re-opened. Let's make an effort to keep on topic.

IMHO, while I don't disagree with the thought that warranty programs are meant a lot more for marketing than for customer use (see Post #22 by BearX220 who is pretty much right on the money), I have also had some very positive experiences with the Amex programs. So far, they have done what they promised (within the rules--and the rules ain't so easy to find or figure out) and I have saved thousands of dollars. :)

Admittedly, there are a lot of exemptions and loopholes.

Now, Visa and MC programs ...:mad:

That is a completely different story. That is why I pull out my Amex Card any time I buy that I think I might have to return, will need extra warranty protection or Loss/Theft insurance.

I do not think that you can only blame AMEX for this kind of coverage.

I only can speak for the German market, but I think that the situation is comparable.

The "Return Protection" and the other enhancements are not really from AMEX, but from an local insurance where the AMEX card is issued. AMEX is a kind of broker here.

So in real we are talking about a insurance contract. And the insurance companies always trying to hold the claims costs down. Sometimes they even forced by law to do restrictions.

So an insurance company is allowed to request the purchased part from you and again sell it as used part.

When going back to the "Return protection" and looking into the exclusions you see that for example pets and fire arms are not included. Simple, because the insurance company may not be allowed to sell or even handle this goods. Or used mobile phones have a so low value on free market that it is not woth to sell them again.

I think that it would be hard for AMEX to get a better contract, and even if they get it the premium for it would explode.

So when I look into other insurance contracts with the objective, the AMEX one is normal. So its customers decision to get it and pay for it.

Still, the marketing should not be so pushy on it.

Good post, I had no idea there was a limitation on this...

It must have changed btw, just 2-3 years ago I lost my RAZR (which I paid $500 for) in NYC and amex refunded the full amount to my credit card immediately... So > $300 and a cell phone...

As everydays live. Getting a compensation from an insurance not always depends on the conract and the rules. Often it depends on the responsible person and his/her mood.

Often there is also a need of a good negoation after getting th first declination.

Don't know about Germany, but, I believe, in the US, while the protection may be through an insurance company, it is a company owned and controlled by Amex.

What????????