How to File an Insurance Claim with DISH Network

DISH Network provides a wide variety of telecommunications and cable equipment: TVs, tablets, computers, and more can all be found within their vast catalog and service packages. It’s perhaps not surprising that a company that provides such a plethora of different devices and gadgets also offers some insurance protection for them.

However, the insurance policy for DISH’s products is obtuse at best. Furthermore, the different levels of “Protection” in their main insurance offering make understanding what you actually have covered for your money quite difficult. This guide goes over the steps you need to file an insurance claim with DISH’s insurance providers and will help you know when you qualify for a claim in the first place.

Where Does Your Coverage Come From?

First and foremost, be sure you understand where your insurance coverage originates. Companies like DISH don’t actually insure your products themselves – instead, they pay third-party companies to insure the products, raking in cash when customers treat their gadgets correctly and don’t require a claim to be filed.

In DISH’s case, the company in question is Asurion: a common insurance company that other retailers like T-Mobile use for their small insurance claims. This means that calling DISH themselves when you have an insurance claim question or if you want to file a claim is a waste of time. All your efforts should instead be directed to Asurion.

What Damages Can You File For?

The part where it gets tricky is determining if you have coverage. The way DISH Protect (the insurance program offered by the company overall) works is through different tiers of service. There are three levels in total.

The standard DISH Protect service provides you with:

• $0 technician visits. This essentially boils down to no-cost, in-home service for customer product work orders. This replaces the regular $95 fee, and includes free shipping for replacement equipment (but you do have to pay for replacement equipment otherwise)
• Advanced agent access. This is PR speak for being routed to a slightly faster customer service line whenever you have an issue. It’s a toss-up as to whether this will result in actually better service, however.
• First appointment of the day privilege, meaning you get options to book earlier timeslots whenever you need a technician visit.
• More rooms of service for no additional upfront cost.
• 10% smart home services discounts, including popular products like soundbars, TV installation, and more.
• Free shipping on replacement equipment, which regularly costs $15.
• Identity recovery through EZShield, which comes with 24/7 live support

The Gold tier of protection includes everything above plus:

• Even more identity protection through the same company
• Webroot cybersecurity and antivirus protection
• Real-time tech support

Platinum is the only tier where you get insurance protection. This means that, if you don’t have DISH Protect Platinum, you can’t file an insurance claim under any circumstances. So be sure that you have this tier of coverage before looking to file a claim or you’ll be asked to upgrade.

The insurance coverage is called “Whole-Home Device Protection”, and it’s full terms and conditions can be found on Asurion’s website. It covers:

• parts and labor cost for the repair or replacement of a product resulting from operational failure. However…
• the product has to be owned by you or a member of your household
• it also has to be located at the service address that DISH has on file
• finally, the product has to be covered only by the above insurance policy – third-party policies void the Protect program

The plan also has a list of qualifying products, which doesn’t include the full catalog of stuff that DISH has on offer. Qualifying products include:

• desktops, laptops, and tablets
• the above gadgets can also include one of the most common accessories, including keyboards, mice, home routers and more
• home routers as separate products
• external hard drives
• LCD or LED televisions
• handheld gaming devices and gaming systems
• customer supplied receivers
• home theater soundbars and speaker sets, for home theater amplifiers, subwoofers or tuners
• DVD players, Blu-ray players, and portable DVD players
• remote controls or universal remote controls associated with these devices may also qualify

How Do You Start an Insurance Claim?

Filing an insurance claim through Asurion is, thankfully, fairly straightforward. All claims have to be filed within 30 days after the incident.

• Start by calling them during their operational hours, which are Mon-Fri from 7 AM to 1 AM PST or Sat-Sun from 7:30 AM to 12 AM EST. The phone number is 877-841-0263.
• You may be subject to a service fee if the product requires service.
• Asurion will set up an appointment for someone to make a repair if necessary. In this case, someone 18 or older must be scheduled also be home at the time of the repair appointment.
• Make sure to remove your product from the wall and make it accessible for repair if necessary.

During the phone call, the Asurion rep will ask for identifying information about the product to make sure that qualifies under the plan. This may involve you providing receipt numbers, your DISH account number, and the model or ID numbers for the products in question.

This is all done over the phone, as opposed to entering information through fields online.

What Do You Do if the Insurance Company or Cable/Internet Provider is Denying Your Claim?

Sometimes, insurance companies or cable and Internet providers can deny your claim even if you believe that it qualifies under the terms described above. In this case, you do still have options. Your contract with DISH likely says that you can’t pursue legal actions aside from consumer arbitration or small claims court cases.

FairShake is the perfect resource to help you file one of these claims. We can help fight back against unfair insurance coverage discrimination and use consumer arbitration to ensure you get a valid resolution for your grievance. We make the entire process quick and easy, and, best of all, we can get started right away if you fill out the form below and contact one of our experts.