An Insurance Rip-Off? What A Surprise!

[plumtreeblossom]

Last week I finally upgraded my stone age BlackBerry to a beautiful new BlackBerry Curve, which I love mostly because it puts so much Internet in my pants that it's coming out the leg hole. But misfortune struck: I put it in the same pocket of my purse with my old BlackBerry, and the old one scratched up the face of the new one. (And how many love triangles have ended just that way?)

I had purchased $7.50-a-month insurance for the new phone, which I thought was insurance directly via Verizon, but which turned out to be 3rd party. Nonetheless, I thought the monthly payment would cover fixing or replacing it. I called And oh, they will replace it, for an $89.00 deductable. WHAAAAT?

The phone retails for $19.99 with a 2 year contract, and I got it free as an upgrade. I'm not paying $89 goddamn dollars. I'm also canceling the worthless insurance posthaste. But in the meantime I have a new BlackBerry with a scratched up face.

surrealestate's fiance (who doesn't have an LJ) said that some jewelers have delicate tools that can buff the scratches out. Does anyone know anything about that? Gemstone tools on plastic...I'm having a hard time imagining it, but I hope it's true. I'm pay a bit for the service. I'm sad for my my otherwise juicy new BlackBerry.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

You can try and search online for replacement parts. It may be possible to make the repair yourself.

[totient]

It may be possible to make the repair yourself.

The right tool for this job is a buffer wheel made out of ScotchBrite. An ordinary ScotchBrite scrubber sponge will work as well, albeit more slowly.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

I dont know about jewelers, but I do know about a tool that will buff scratches off a DVD. They have one at the library. Maybe it's the same thing?

[psilocin.livejournal.com]

What you need to do here is to polish the surface. I happen to know about this subject because my father has a great deal of experience polishing in his metalworking, and I've also read about the polishing of optical lenses. Polishing works by using abrasives of increasingly finer and finer grits until the scratches are too small to be seen by visible light. If there are scratches, no single abrasive will do. You must start with something coarse enough to get rid of the existing scratches in a reasonable amount of time, and then move to a slightly finer abrasive which is able to get rid of the scratches from the previous abrasive, and so on, until you finally reach a polished surface.

However, in this case, I assume we are talking about a touch-sensitive computer screen, which may be a bad idea to mess around with. In the process of polishing, you will inevitably make the outer layer thinner by at least the depth of your scratches, and it will no longer be of uniform thickness. This may affect the functioning of the touch screen, or you may even break through the outer layer. The other possible problem is that plastic is porous and tends to absorb the colors and smells of things it comes in contact with.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Mare has a Thing about touch-screens so this isn't one, which is the why DD and I suggested polishing it might work.

[aphrabehn.livejournal.com]

I don't know how bad the scratches are, but there's a kiosk in the Burlington Mall (and probably similar ones in other malls) that buffs off scratches and then covers the screen with a sealed on protector for something like 20 bucks. I know a few people who've used it with great results.,

[muffyjo]

Did you talk directly to Verizon about it? Your phone is still covered under the purchase warrantee which may cover that.

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

I was in Rite-Aid today, and randomly noticed an item on the shelf that might be of use. Scratch repair kit for glasses - presumably a resin with the same optical index used in the plastic to make lenses.

I do NOT know how that compares to the material on your screen, but I suspect it is close, and could probably dig up an answer with an hour or so of effort - if noone on your flist has a ready answer I will go digging.

For $10 or $15, it seemed a reasonable potential solution...