Square Trade squaretrade.com That 2-year Warranty You Bought on Ebay? Worthless! San Francisco California

HI had bought a 2-year warranty on ebay last 9/2012 for a new Samsung captivate smartphone

. Started having problems (had to be on speaker to talk/be heard) in July. Filed a claim with Square Trade and Square Trade stated it would be covered by manufacturer's warranty. I went to the Samsung website and the manufacturer's warranty had expired that past January, so I continued to use it as it slowly died. For a while, it would come on only when someone texted or emailed me.  Finally would not turn on anymore. I tried a new battery, nothing. I filed a new report and this time the claim was authorized. I sent the phone in. After receiving an email that the phone had been received on the 13th, I continued to check the site for updates. The site had only that I had shipped it to them.

After 5 days, I wrote an email inquiring about my phone. The next day (yesterday) I received a phone call that my claim had been denied because of "water damage." I put "water damage" in quotations because my phone had at no point been in water, under water, or around water. I cannot be more emphatic. I spoke to a supervisor named Francisco who said he would get pictures from the service department and for me not to worry (I was a bit steamed --- does that cause "water damage?") that this was by no means, the final step. This could always be overridden and I could get my money back.

This morning I get a phone call from Square Trade -- left no message. After work, I call back and talk to someone named Simmi who has no clue. She is just reading screens and saying things like, "I'm showing you shipped the phone to us." "Oh. here is something." "Let me read this." I asked why someone had called me and she said she was showing that an audit from 2 days ago said my claim was denied for water damage. Uhhhh, I talked to someone yesterday. What is new?  Basically, she just told me that my claim has been denied because of "excessive water damage" which is strange because, again, the phone was never exposed to water before or after.

She then said she would send my phone back and Offered to Help Me Find a Company in My Area That Would Repair My Phone. Isn't that what I have a freaking warranty for? Seriously. And, if my phone is so "water damaged", why can another company repair it? Thanks a lot for absolutely nothing.

Right now in my email inbox I have 2 new offers to buy warranties on other electronics I recently purchased on ebay. I am going to pass and I would urge anyone else to do the same because, after searching the internet-- including this site (no joke, that is how I got here)-- I am not the only one.