How To File an Extended Warranty Claim through Chase and What to Expect from this Process.

I've been dealing with a lot of "adult" things this past month - oil changes, air filter replacements, car battery replacements, taxes, amending taxes, and lastly, my phone dying on me. There were many days this month where my face looked like the picture below. BUT it is nothing I can't handle, but i'm glad that they are finally being crossed off my list of things to get done!!!

Me (left) and my cousin. Wonder why I look so grumpy.. maybe I didn't get a nap?

Late last month, I started to notice that my Pixel phone that I purchased through Google circa 2016 in order to use Project Fi was having issues; when I wanted to switch from Bluetooth to my phone I could no longer communicate with the person on the other end - which was never an issue before. Then, I would make phone calls from my phone and the person on the other end couldn't hear me but I could hear them. So I called Google support; the first time they told me it was a WiFi issue and I had a weak connection. Yet, the problem persisted. I called again and they told me it was third party app issue. And yet again, the problem persisted. I called a third time and they told me to do a factory reset. Yet, the problem persisted... and got worst. Now my phone was rebooting out of the blue for no reason. I called Google support and while they reassured me everything would be OK; she said because my phone was out of warranty for 2 months they could not replace my phone. So my 2 options were to 1) Take it to one of their repair shops and pay for the repair out of pocket 2) Turn in my phone to Google to get $286 back for a phone I paid $649 for and buy a new phone from them. Then she had the audacity to ask me if everything was OK? No, everything is not OK. From the research I have done, Google is aware of the issue - which is a manufacturing defect - but will only replace phones in warranty. Their lack of owning up to their faults and lack of doing what's right pissed me off immensely. I refuse to give them more money by buying a phone from them when they refuse to own up to their faults. My only choice was to take it to UBreakIFix (their recommended repair shop). According to them, I would probably need the motherboard replaced for $300 and 1-3 small parts at $79.99 each. The idea of spending from anywhere between $300-540 to replace a $649 phone seemed outrageous.

Then, I looked up my credit card policy which I used to buy the phone; I happened to use my Chase Sapphire Reserve. They have an extended warranty policy that covers anything you purchased with the card for an additional year! I needed to file a claim through their Card Benefit Services.

The information I needed to include and the process is as follows:

1. Claim Details.

    Claim Type - Warranty Manager.

    Date of Incident.

    Claim Description - What is wrong with your item.

    Preferred Reimbursement - Check or Debit Card
Product Details.

    Product - Cellular

    Manufacturer - Google

    Model - Pixel

    Serial Number

    Product Purchase Date

Amount claiming - How much did your pay for your phone before tax?

2. Documents - upload the following documents before they can review.

     Sales Receipt

     Credit Card Statement

     Repair Invoice

     Manufacturer Warranty- Just look online for their warranty policy

I suggest using a form similar to the one I linked on Repair Invoice. The first time I asked the repair shop for an invoice...they sent me an email with two sentences that told me the price of the motherboard and then the price of each small part. I waited 5 business days for them to tell me that I needed to use a form similar to the one in the link and had to wait an additional 3-5 business days for the claim to go through.

3. Once you upload all these forms you wait for them to review and hear back from them. They say it takes up to 5 business days. Once I uploaded a more legitimate repair invoice I heard back within 3 business days that they would send me a check for a total of $166.18. I'm not sure how they came up with that number. At this point, I found out that Google would replace the motherboard so I only needed to pay for the 2 small parts that would cost $79.99 each plus tax. They said it would take about 10 days for a check to come to me. At this point my phone had been at the repair shop for 2 weeks and I was able to tell them to go through with the repair and it was ready the same day. I charged the repair to my credit card, since I would receive a check in the mail to reimburse me.

You can have them repair the phone before the claim goes through- but there is no guarantee that the credit card company will pay for that repair. So I just wanted to make sure and waited til it went through.

If you are also having Google Pixel Mic Issues: Check out this forum to get helpful information on what people have gone through and what they've done to remedy the issues.

Remember that Chase Sapphire Reserve Extended Warranty isn't only for cellphones. While the annual fee is very high for this credit card, it has been worth it for me these past couple years; $300 travel credit (which includes airline/train tickets, Ubers, Lyfts, parking garages, hotels, Airbnbs etc.), compensation for global entry fee (which is good for 5 years), and awesome customer buyer protection as well as customer service. Anyways, I just wanted to remind people that it's important to know what benefits you have available to you and this should help you plan out how you make your purchases in the future/what card you use to make expensive purchases.

Other helpful posts about filing extended warranty claims: Mommy Points, Points Guy

Disclaimer: Links to Project Fi,  Chase Sapphire Reserve,  Uber, Lyft and Airbnb are referrals. This was not a promotional post that I was paid to do.

Airbnb - Introduce a friend to Airbnb. They'll get $40 in travel credit when they sign up and you'll get $20 in travel credit once they complete their trip!
Project Fi  - You get $20 and I get $20 in credits.