BE WARNED: JL HOME INSURANCE CLAIMS PROCESS IS NOT CUSTOMER FRIENDLY AND DOES NOT LIVE UP TO THE PERCEPTION OF THE JOHN LEWIS BRAND! I purchased Home Insurance from John Lewis in 2022, which was recently renewed. I took the "Add-Ons" of Premium Contents cover and Building cover, believing the online marketing which stated this would provide maximum cover for our belongings in the event of accidental damage. Last week my wife accidentally dropped her mobile phone when trying to open our front door. She took her phone to Apple, who inspected it and gave her a quote for repairs. All under £500. I knew our policy had a £250 excess so any claim would, in effect, be reduced by this amount. So, with this in mind, I went online to make a claim for accidental damage with John Lewis, and that is where the issues began. If you are expecting the traditional "no quibbles, customer-centric approach" from John Lewis, then you are in for disappointment. The online claims portal doesn't work. I tried many times to raise a claim online, and the portal (provided by a third party) just did not pick up my policy details and failed. So I picked up the phone and waited 30mins before speaking to someone. They explained a very straightforward process: 1) Send photos of the damaged phone, 2) Send details of the repaid quote from Apple, and 3) Send the original purchase receipt. I duly sent all these documents and photos in as instructed. The damage is very clear for anyone to see - it was not minor scratches, but a clearly broken glass back on the phone and one of the camera lenses smashed. The next day, as advised by JL, I called back to check on the status of my claim. I was then told there was a completely different process and that, actually, JL require inspection of all gadgets by their own third-party repair and replacement service provider - who they assured me over the phone was "fully authorised by Apple" and therefore, any repairs would not invalidate the warranty or reduce the value of the phone with Apple. However, I was now told this third party would have to arrange for the collection of my phone, send it to their centre for inspection, and then would make a decision on whether the phone could be repaired or whether that was not "economically viable". This is despite Apple already providing a written assessment that the phone could be repaired for a reasonable fee. Apparently, the JL third party is more adept than Apple at assessing repairs to their own products..... "How long will this take?" I ask - it could be up to a week before I hear whether the phone can be repaired. "What if they say it cannot be repaired?" - well they will recommend a "reasonable" replacement. "What is a reasonable replacement?" - a phone of equal value to the value the third party determines your phone is now worth. So, basically, the JL Home Insurance policy with Premium Contents Covers is no such thing when it comes to accidental damage. It is actually a repair and replacement service disguised as Insurance. It is a clever way of minimising the financial payout to you as a customer by getting a third party to undervalue your items, tell you repairs are not economically viable, and then offer you a cheap replacement which will cost them less than just paying out on the policy. As I say, be warned, taking out the policy is very simple - but when you come to claim, be under no illusion, the JL Home Insurance policy is just as awful in terms of customer service as many other policies that don't live up to the marketing hype or brand promise.