How a VISA signature card could have saved my ass when my laptop got stolen

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Last fall, I was on a crazy back and forth traveling marathon in the US interviewing for residency.  An idiot of a person that I was, I decided to check in ALL of my luggage including the one with my laptop in it because I had a 7 hour layover in Reagan airport in DC.  I wanted to spend some time in Old Alexandria without carrying my stuff around.  When I arrived in La Guardia airport in new york, my bags were rummaged through and my zippers were open as my bag came out into the baggage carousel.  My laptop and my cables were missing.  Someone from baggage handling stole my laptop.  No one was willing to claim responsibility.  TSA said it wasn’t their fault and American Airlines stated that they weren’t at fault because they had such an extensive list of things that they were not responsible for if it was damaged or stolen.

The sad part about all of this is that if i had bought my airplane ticket with my VISA signature card or if i had renters insurance, I would have been covered.  For those of you who are in the process of traveling, your VISA signature card can save you a lot of headache and there are a lot of perks of having a VISA signature card.  You may actually already have one and not know it so what i’d like to do here is cover the important aspect of your VISA signature card and hopefully you can use these to your benefit

These are the various reasons why I like my VISA signature card.

• Zero Liability: if you get any fraudulent charges or if you don’t get what you think you’re getting from whereever you bought something, you are not responsible.  Just let them know.
• Warranty Manager Service: by spending on your visa, you get an extension of your warranty.
  • You can double your original manufacturer’s warranty up to an additional 1 year on warranties of 3 years or less.
  • Remember that this doesn’t cover boats, cars, planes, or anything with a motor or trailer, any items used for commercial use or resale, real estate, computer software, and medical equiptment.
  • Make sure you keep your receipt and information on your original manufacturer’s warranty and you can register your product (i did this for my digital camera) at visa.com.
  • gifts are covered
  • to file a claim you call the benefit Administrator at 1800882 8057 - they will then send you a claim form and tell you about a repair facility nearby which must be completed in 90 days.  You can also file claims at www.visa.com/eclaims.
  • what do you need when you claim? your receipt, your visa statement, you original manufacturer’s receipt, serial number or description of item, the repair order you got from the administrator you called or eclaimed.
  • they can either replace or repair your defective item.
• Purchase security: in first 90 days of purchase, you are covered from theft, fire, vandalism, accidental water discharge, “certain weather conditions” to be replaced, repaired, or reimbursed.  This is a nice 90 day insurance for things like your laptop or plasma TV or iPOD
• Travel Accident insurance: you are covered a minimum of 250,000 dollars including not only on the plane but while traveling to and from the terminal by taxi, bus, train, airport limo.
• Lost Luggage reimbursement:  reimbursement for checked in and carry on luggage and its contents up to 3000 dollars per trip due to theft or misdirection by carrier.  This is what could have saved my but when my laptop got stolen.
• Auto Rental Collision damage waiver: this is for damage due to theft or collision.  You have to when you rent your car, decline the collision damage waiver or CDW.  This insurance is in excess of any other insurance that you may have.  This only applies to rentals less than 15 days in the US or 31 days if you are outside the US.  When you do get into an accident you have to call the benefit administrator at 1800 397 9010 to report the theft or damage.
  • this doesn’t cover liability for injury.  So any injury of anyone outside or inside the car. - this is the big thing, you won’t get your butt covered if you hit somebody and someone gets injured.
  • doesn’t cover any personal liability - (i’m not sure what this means exactly)
  • doesnt’ cover “diminished value”
  • doesn’t cover if you are drunk or intoxicated
  • doesn’t cover if you are off-road
  • doesn’t cover if you rent an expensive, exotic vehicles; vehicles with open cargo beds, trucks, cargo vans, motorcycles, mopeds, motorbikes, limos, recreational vehicles –> they write this includes: aston martin, bently, ferrari, lamborghini, lotus, maserati, porsche, rolls royce.  However, select BMW, Benz, Cadillac, and Lincolns are covered.
  • to file a claim you need a copy of the accident report and claim document (you got this from the administrator), initial and final auto renters agreement, repair estimate or itemized repair bill, 2 photos of damaged vehicle if available, a police report if obtainable, a copy of your card statement to show that your entire rental was billed to visa

Besides these items, there are many other benefits that are provided by visa signature, but the other services actually cost you money.  They facilitate things like concierge service, emergency roadside, etc…but the ultimate costs that are incurred are your responsibility.  So the items listed above are the ones that I like to keep in mind when I use my card because these items are the most likely benefits I would take advantage of.

note: I get no money from visa by telling you about their benefits.

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