iPhone replacement and how American Express saved the day

Extended warranties on Credit Cards are honestly something I never thought about. My mother and grandfather always told me “Don’t forget about the extended warranty,” but the truth is, I always forget about it. I often don’t keep credit cards long enough that the warranty is usable. But that may change thanks to American Express after my experience with replacing an iPhone 5.

I noticed recently that my iPhone 5’s power button would fail to register a press. Sometimes, it would take multiple presses to finally register. And it quickly became annoying and worse. Problem was, my iPhone wasn’t up for an upgrade until October, seven months away. The accessibility trick Apple showed me for enabling an on-screen lock button was driving me crazy and not a solution that would allow me to survive until October.

I had to find a solution. But $700 for an out of band replacement, knocked down to $269 by trading in the iPhone using Apple’s program, still is a lot. The lone good news is this didn’t affect my iPhone upgrade eligibility, but why would I buy two iPhones in one year?

Then I remembered…didn’t I buy this on my old American Express card? I searched and found the receipts. I did! But, that card was canceled a year ago. They wouldn’t honor a warranty claim, would they? I researched online and the results were inconclusive. Some folks claimed they successfully got paid on a claim despite a canceled card…well, it’s worth a shot.

I called American Express and submitted my claim. A couple days later, an email arrived saying it was closed and a check for $269 was being sent my way. No questions asked, even though my credit card had been canceled for a year. Today, just seven days after my claim, the check arrived in the mail.

I was so surprised, that I immediately signed up for a new American Express card. For now on, any technology purchase will go on this. And I won’t cancel the card again, I promise.