News - SCAN launches innovative component installation insurance

[Funkstar]

That's really a bit of an abuse of the offer, IMHO. It's a bit like some MPs expenses - it might be within the rules, but it's abusing the spirit of the free shipping offer, if not the letter of it.

I agree with that. However, if I wanted one or more items insured, I would have absolutely no problem with splitting orders to avoid paying these fees on items I don't want insured. If it costs Scan more in postage I'm not paying for then so be it. I'm certainly not going to worry about it.

[moogle]

You've already had two posts on this forum from someone that said ended up with it because they clicked through in a hurry without noticing it was a default opt-in.

There was another last night
It seems you can't even cancel the ScanSure even if you haven't got the products yet, or they have not yet been dispatched.

[Main]

In all fairness, there are a lot of items that is doesn't apply to at all. I checked. But there are a lot of dubious ones that it does apply to.

It's been applied in a blanket fashion, everything between £5 and £500 before VAT has it, unless it's one of the item types excluded, which are:

Digital cameras
Camcordas
Laptops
Netbooks
Bags for any of the above
MP3/video players and some, but not all the accessories
Complete systems
Software
Non-original power adaptors

So it mostly makes sense, except that it doesn't apply to the most expensive things people might buy - if you can afford to shell out for a Core i7 965EE surely you'd like some piece of mind insurance that costs a pittance compared to the item?..too bad - and the same thing happens at the other end where you get 3m HDMI cables that are insured but 2m ones that aren't, and the only reason is price. Why are cables even insurable? Wouldn't it be covered in the insurance on whatever you're plugging them into? What if you got a problem from using a cable you already had instead?

[Funkstar]

Thanks for that Main, I hadn't spent a great deal of time working out what was and what wasn't flagged as insurable.

It does seem fairly ludicrous that you can pay for insurance on a cable but not a £780 Core i7.

Highlights the lack of thought that has been put into this in my humble opinion.

[Chris P]

Funkstar

I understand that there is no way that you could possibly know how much work went into making this service viable.

Cables are insurable because a product could become damaged when a cable is connected to it.

The reason that some product(s) are not insurable even though are part of a group of products which are, is due to the their high value amongst other reasons. These products are not insurable to keep the cost of the policy down. If we offered insurance on these product the cost of the policy would be much higher.

Possibly Scansure could be expanded in the future..........?

Included products are clearly advertised with the Scansure link, those not included are not.

Best Regards

[shaithis]

^^ That makes it sound even more dodgy.

Keep the insurance on items that are unlikely to cause faults or be fiddly to install and items that have a low price tag.

Plus, why have the insurance of an item linked to the value of a completely different item? Surely the insurance should be done on a discrete item-by-item basis?

I do not doubt how much effort was put into this, unfortunately I get the impression that effort was used to ensure that scan reaped the biggest benefits from this scheme, not the customers.

[GoNz0]

There was another last night
It seems you can't even cancel the ScanSure even if you haven't got the products yet, or they have not yet been dispatched.

Removed - DR.

1st Warning - once more and it will be a ban.

[Chris P]

shaithis

If I'm going to be mis-quoted than there is little point me being here replying to these points raised, meybe I've left myself open to more childish feedback ( Thanks Gonzo , you never fail to portray the level of your intelligence through HEXUS, cleverly replacing "N" with "M" - Well done dude, Gold Star for you

I did not say that Scansure was limited to products that are unlikely to cause faults or be fiddly to install, think about it and understand that a £ 700 Intel Core i7 965 CPU NOT included in Scansure is as easy / hard to install than a £200 Intel Core i7 920, D0 CPU, included in Scansure.

In regards to the comment "Scansure was limited to products that are unlikely to cause faults", then I can only come to the conclusion you don't actuall understand what Scansure is about, becuase faults are irrelevant for Scansure becuase this service covers accidental damage. The product warranty regardless of value would cover "faults". The Scansure charge IS set as a % of the basket total, therefore individual product costs ARE taken into account or item by item basis.

I have already explained why products of a certain value are not included - If you are interested in insuring products of a higher value than currently included I will be sure to pass this feedback on.

[GoNz0]

( Thanks Gonzo , you never fail to portray the level of your intelligence through HEXUS, cleverly replacing "N" with "M" - Well done dude, Gold Star for you

thats made my weekend, my 1st scan gold star. Its so nice that you cant just delete my posts here

they really should remove you from being able to reply as your attitude in this threads accounted for most of the nails in scans coffin.

customer service is not your strong point

[PeterStoba]

thats made my weekend, my 1st scan gold star. Its so nice that you cant just delete my posts here

they really should remove you from being able to reply as your attitude in this threads accounted for most of the nails in scans coffin.

customer service is not your strong point

CP's posts still make me laugh whenever I see them, just remember taktaks? comment about " why is chris' username something 4chan would find funnny."

[Chris P]

PeterStoba

I think I'm going to change it back to Chris

I don't get the 4Chan bit??, maybe you could PM so I can understand how my username is being laughed at,

EDIT: I though this meant Channel 4 - No need for an explanation, someone in the office has explained it to me, hmmmmm I wonder why anyone would be aware of this site, I wasn't /

[shaithis]

I did not say that Scansure was limited to products that are unlikely to cause faults or be fiddly to install, think about it and understand that a £ 700 Intel Core i7 965 CPU NOT included in Scansure is as easy / hard to install than a £200 Intel Core i7 920, D0 CPU, included in Scansure.

No, you didn't but I was reading between the lines and looking at what was and was not covered and that's how it appears to me. My comments were not "ANDs", they were "ORs". Unlikely to cause fault OR unlikely to be fiddly to install OR have a low price tag.

In regards to the comment "Scansure was limited to products that are unlikely to cause faults", then I can only come to the conclusion you don't actuall understand what Scansure is about, becuase faults are irrelevant for Scansure becuase this service covers accidental damage. The product warranty regardless of value would cover "faults".

No, I do understand. Perhaps my wording wasn't as good as it could be. At the end of the day we are talking about faults one way or the other. If something is fully working, there is no need to claim is there? When someone "breaks" something, it is now faulty. Perhaps I should have used the words "breakages" and "broken" instead of "faults" and "faulty".....

The cable insurance was what I was mainly driving at there. What accidental damage can be caused by a cable that you would pay out for? Would you pay for a new graphics card or monitor if someone accidently rammed the cable in the wrong way up and damaged the item they were plugging it into?

The Scansure charge IS set as a % of the basket total, therefore individual product costs ARE taken into account or item by item basis.

This I am confused about....earlier you said that including higher cost items would increase the fee. Which is it? Although I get the feeling you are playing word games as I am now guessing its both.
Yes, at checkout its calculated based on the cost of the items you are purchasing but that value is effected by the overall premium you are paying based on what items you include from your full product range.

Which pretty much sounds to me like the insurance is not calculated discretely, it is based on the overall premium figure.

I have already explained why products of a certain value are not included - If you are interested in insuring products of a higher value than currently included I will be sure to pass this feedback on.

Personally, I will never use it. Initially I thought it was a good idea for certain people but the more and more I look at it, it appears to me like a bit of a con....especially when it defaults to including it.

I presume that it defaults to include because more then 50% of purchasers use it? Because if they do not, you are forcing more people to opt out then would need to opt in.

I have always liked using scan but the thought of accidently paying for something I don't want because I was in a rush has really put me off.....and then looking at the cherry-picking of what is and is not included has further annoyed me.

Where will it end? Will you start adding items randomly to carts in case people want them? Because quite frankly, you aren't far from that with the way this insurance is handled.

Scan always seemed to listen but I guess the current economic climate has made certain people desperate to keep their slice of the pie as big as it was before the crash.

[Funkstar]

The cable insurance was what I was mainly driving at there. What accidental damage can be caused by a cable that you would pay out for? Would you pay for a new graphics card or monitor if someone accidently rammed the cable in the wrong way up and damaged the item they were plugging it into?

No... but you will get a nice new cable out of it!

[Saracen]

No... but you will get a nice new cable out of it!

Looking at it seriously, the claim is limited to the value of item(s) the policy covers for that transaction, as I understand it.

So if you ordered the graphics card and paid the relevant premium, then presumably you would indeed be reimbursed for the graphics card if you ruined it by plugging the cable in upside down ...... unless an exclusion clause covered it.

But as with ANY insurance policy, to use an old adage, the devil is in the detail. The policy excludes damage caused by a "deliberate" act that invalidates a warranty, but who gets to decide whether plugging in a cable upside down invalidates a warranty (and I'd guess it usually would), and if it did, whether it was deliberate or not?

The comments on Scan's website use that as an example, saying

Even our most experienced customers know how easy it is to bend connecting pins, snap internal cables and fixings or simply items falling off a work-surface.

Accidents do happen. Give yourself peace of mind.

That remark would certainly lead me to believe that you would be covered if you ruined a controller card or hard driver (etc) by bending pins, up to the policy cover limits so you're out of luck if you just bought the cable, and provided an exclusion clause doesn't get you.

Exclusion 10 excludes damage caused by failing to follow manufacturer's instructions. Most hardware that I've ever seen that requires end users to do things like plugging in cable usually includes instructions on which cable to use, and if it's possible to get it wrong, how to orient it.

So if you bent pins by accidentally pushing a cable in the wrong way up, it could certainly be argued that it's either deliberate, in which case you aren't covered, or if it was an accident, you weren't properly following instructions, in which case it again isn't covered.

It is therefore, in my opinion, not just a case of exactly what the exclusions say, by how they're interpreted, and that as with any insurance policy, may sell depend on the individual doing the interpreting.

[Saracen]

......

This I am confused about....earlier you said that including higher cost items would increase the fee. Which is it? Although I get the feeling you are playing word games as I am now guessing its both.
Yes, at checkout its calculated based on the cost of the items you are purchasing but that value is effected by the overall premium you are paying based on what items you include from your full product range.

Which pretty much sounds to me like the insurance is not calculated discretely, it is based on the overall premium figure.

I think what Chris was getting at is that certain exceptionally high value items distort "averages".

Using an extreme example, suppose I order 5 items at £20, £14, £50, £13 and £100. Total value is £198. The average "per item" value is, give or take a few pence, £40, yes?


Now suppose Scan have done an extensive analysis of the typical pattern of customer orders. they'll have an idea of how many items are typical, and the spread around that average, and they'll have an idea of the typical value of a basket, and the average value of each item. I'd guess that working out this type of profile is where a lot of the work Chris mentioned in setting this up has gone, because any insurance policy is always about setting premiums based on the risk being taken.

Take processors. An actuarial approach might be to look at the cost of each type of processor sold, and the quantity sold. You would expect, I'd guess, the most popular items to be those around the "sweet spot" in performance, because if you can gain a lot more oompf for a relativelt small extra cost, most people will. But a point comes where going up another stage costs a LOT more, and at that point, only those with a real need, or deep pockets, or both, will buy them. And at the other end, there will be those looking for budget processors because it's all their needs require, but many/most will go a bit more upmarket than that.

I'd guess that £100-£150 processors MASSIVELY outsell £750 processors, with the latter being a very small percentage of processor sales.


Which bring me back to that average. If that £100 item on the end of my five items was the processor, how does it distort the average if it was a £750 processor instead?

Well, the £198 basket just became a £848 basket, and the £40 average item value jumps to a £170 average item value.

If you are going to insure a basket with a £170 average item value, the premium is going to be a LOT higher than if it was a £40 value, because the risk you're taking us higher.

And if that £750 processor equates to 0.01% of processor sales, then including it distorts the whole profile of the cover, for the sake of a handful of sales. That would also mean that the vast majority of customers are paying a significantly increased premium because of the distorting effect of a handful of sales of highly specialised top-end items. And at that point, the value-for-money aspect of the policy would look a lot less attractive to the vast bulk of customers not buying the specialised items, and the pricing may be such that the whole scheme was unworkable.

I'm only guessing, but I imagine that's what Chris was getting at. A small number of very expensive items are just too far outside the profile of the "typical" products that Scan carry as to be uninsurable on a policy based on this type of product profiling.

[Chris P]

When ordering products that are / are not included in Scansure of course the charge is only calculated for the total actual Retail value of the applicable products included in Scansure, there is no scansure charge calculated / added / included for the products not included in the scansure service or in other words the % is not blindly worked out simply against the total value of your basket and is against the actual Retail cost of the applicable "Scansureable" products

If we were also to insure the more expensive products the % charged against these products would have to be much higher, increasing the policy charge overall.

Chris