I have been with T-Mobile for a long time, and have always used their phone protection plans. I have kicked around the idea of switching to another company for warranty over the years but never made the change. Recently I started to take a serious look at the options, while T-Mobile’s offerings have always resolved my issues it is also pricey. I never take advantage of JUMP, so that bonus doesn’t really come into play when I consider my pros/cons.
Ultimately I narrowed down my choices to AKKO and SquareTrade. I have used SquareTrade for years (my first plans were back in 2014) for devices like smartwatches, Chromebooks and tablets and made multiple claims over the years. I don’t remember ever having issues with SquareTrade, and I’d still recommend them today. However, AKKO provided loss & theft protection ( SquareTrade doesn’t ), had lower deductibles and had options to cover other devices. So ultimately I decided to go with AKKO, despite it being a newer company.
I finally decided to just go for it and sign up. The sign-up process didn’t go perfectly, I ran into a few issues I would consider minor and some I am still working to resolve ( I will update if I get information from support on any of these ):
Signing up
I ran into a few issues during the sign-up process:
1) I was trying to use the “Connect your Bank” option, but the first bank I tried ended up not working. The page would give an “access denied” type of error, but when I tried another bank it seemed to work. Not a big issue, later support told me that I could have used a credit card and they still would have given me the $20 deductible credit. Pretty good customer service focused response.
2) In the Android app, when I would select my birthday the actual date was 1 day off - not a big issue, I just picked the day before and it showed up correctly. I let support know about this too, they said it was due to UTC vs local time so not really an error.
3) There was some vague error when I signed up, but I got a text message with information to finish activating my profile so I figured things were fine.
Initial Setup
Actually setting up the protection wasn’t difficult. You do have to take front/back pictures of your phone, which is completely understandable. I also had to provide a copy of the receipt.
Other thoughts/issues
After playing around with the app/site a bit more, a few more things popped up that were not major issues but could be areas for improvement:
1) When adding an item to be protected, you have to enter information like where it was purchased, when it was purchased and the price. If you have had the item for a while, or it was a gift, these might be difficult to remember/find. Some prompts to let you know “best guess” is ok for the date, or a box to mark it as a gift, might be helpful.
2) There isn’t a way to upload a PDF using the Android app, I could only select pictures. In the app it says the following:
“You can upload any picture or PDF of your receipt here along with your item’s images or email a copy of your receipts to Receipts@getAKKO.com for us to keep track for you.”
When I sent my receipt to the email above, they advised me that they can’t manually upload receipts to a customer’s account and said I should just take a screenshot of the first page and upload it. It was a bit confusing that the app would tell me to email the receipt, and then they tell me they can’t do anything with it.
3) The website has a “Evidence storage” section, where I was able to upload a PDF but that option doesn’t seem to be available in the application. Also that area doesn’t allow you to add a note or name to the file, which would be really useful. Being able to associate it to a specific item would be even better.
4) On the website, I went to “Your Stuff” and looked at the information for my phone. The front and back photos would not show up, and neither would the receipt. All of that information shows up correctly in the application, so I don’t know why the website and app do not match.
5) At one point dealing with an issue, support let me know that one of my phone pictures was a bit blurry. Once I retook it, they said it was good. However they said “Please do note it is still your responsibility to ensure that your device does not already contain any damage. Should you file a claim in the future, and a member of our claims team finds that these verification photos show existing damage upon detailed inspection, the claim could be denied.”
So this leaves me concerned. I don’t like having to worry about a future review finding an issue. I would prefer that when I add my device, it undergoes a QA review for the information, pictures and receipt. At that point, once a record is marked “reviewed” they do not later re-review and say “oh wait we found an issue”. If I have an item damaged and try to make a claim, it is too late to prove there was no damage. I will try to send this feedback to the company and see what they say. As a reminder, I didn’t ask them to check the pictures, they just proactively did it again so another plus for customer service.
6) When I go into “Billing” on the web I don’t see anything, and the application doesn’t show that I have a payment method setup. Update: Support said this wasn’t an issue, nothing will show up now since I don’t owe anything.
Despite the issues above, anytime I contact the company via email or in the chat options they are pretty responsive and very helpful. This is VERY important - being able to get help and information is very important. I’ll try to find a way to share my other input with the company.
Bottom line: Overall despite various issues, I would consider most of them UI/UX type of issues that are not show stoppers yet. I will keep adding more devices to my coverage, and keep reaching out to support on questions/issues. I am going to stick with AKKO and see how this works out.
Use my referral code ( BigBoysToys13 ) to get your 1st month free. For full disclosure, I also get a $20 credit if you sign up using my code so thanks!
