Hi, advice please? I have made a claim on my contents insurance (1st claim in over 5 years), my son lost his mobile phone at a music gig, it is nearly 2 years old so he has not got the receipt just the box with iem number and charger and earphones. They say without proof of ownership they won'y pay! It doesn't mention this on my certificate nor did they say this when I took the policy out, and after thinking about it, I don't have receipts for over 90% of my possessions and home contents! so this makes my whole policy useless, it can't be legal surely?

Just a suggestion. Did he ever register it with either the manufacturer of the network. That might be enough for proof of ownership

As for the legality I think it probably is but to be sure read the fine print in your policy

How did you or your son buy it?

If it was by ebay or a card payment these will normally be enough.

Alternatively a lot of the High St chain stores can print a duplicate receipt if you ask them and they took your name and / or post code

Thanks for your reply, unfortunately it ws nearly 2 years ago and bought it with his birthday money, cash and he is not even sure which shop, but thinks it was a Comet! which is closed down, my point is, as I said that I only have proof of ownership of about 2% of my possessions, the ones I bought recently so my insurance is useless if they won't pay out!

Contact the network and see if they can provide proof of usage with the IMEI number - this should match up to the box and should be enough.

I deal with contents insurance, and you are expected to be able to evidence some things - mobile phone claims are one of the biggest areas for fraud which is why insurers often place a higher burden of proof on claims for them.

I would suggest though that you do a full inventory of your property (particularly the high value items), with photos in the event you need to make a claim.