Cellular Telephone Protection is now a benefit offered by many credit cards, especially as a replacement for trip delay protection, which can be very expensive for banks and insurers.
At the end of last year, while I was back in China in quarantine, I accidentally cracked my phone screen so badly that the display stopped working. I then used the Cellular Telephone Protection benefit from a US credit card to get reimbursed for the repair cost in China.
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Background
- The phone was a OnePlus 7T, purchased from the US official website. My son knocked it onto a hotel tile floor, and the screen immediately went black, but it was only a screen issue.
- I don’t remember which credit card I used to buy the phone, but I had already been using it for more than a year, so that was irrelevant.
- The credit card I used for Cellular Telephone Protection was the old Chase IHG card, the version with the $49 annual fee.
The Story
About the phone repair
First, I checked online to see how much a screen replacement would cost.
Third-party shops generally need to inspect the phone first before giving an estimate.
Official service had fixed pricing and three repair options:
- In some major cities in China, you can book same-day service at a OnePlus service center.
- You can mail the phone to an assigned repair center and get it back in 3-5 days.
- You can have it repaired at an OPPO service center in your city, but you need to reserve the screen first. OnePlus ships the screen to that OPPO service location, and the price is the same. (So now you can see the relationship between OPPO and OnePlus.)
Screen repair is really expensive....
I actually repaired this phone twice, which I’ll explain below.
I live in a smaller city without a direct OnePlus service center, but there was an OPPO location, so I reserved a screen there. About a week later, the screen arrived and they asked me to come in for the repair.
I waited there for two hours before it was finally fixed. They let you choose whether to take the old screen back, and I’m very glad I did...
Right after the repair, while still in the store, I noticed that the in-display fingerprint sensor no longer worked. Re-enrolling fingerprints didn’t help. The technician said that because my phone was the US version, the China-market screen might have a software conflict, and reflashing the phone could supposedly fix it. I found that explanation hard to understand. They only replaced the screen; the fingerprint sensor itself was never broken or repaired. The technician said that if I wasn’t satisfied, they could put the broken screen back on and I could have it repaired in the US later. But my phone contained all my passwords and photos of various cards, so I couldn’t wait that long. I had no choice but to leave it as-is for the moment.
Then another problem came up when it was time to pay. After payment, they needed to enter the IMEI into the repair system, but because mine was a US model, it couldn’t be entered, so they were unable to issue me an invoice. Without an invoice or similar documentation, I wouldn’t be able to file for reimbursement from the credit card benefit or prove the repair cost. At that point, the person in charge said they would try to get the IMEI added on the backend and contact me later.
The next day, I got a call from OPPO saying they still couldn’t enter it into the system, and they even asked me to mail the phone back so they could reinstall the old broken screen and remove the new one. WTF?
Fortunately, by then I had already extracted the data I needed from the phone, so it was fine to switch back to the old screen. I sent it back to OPPO via SF Express, cash on delivery, and had them reinstall the broken screen. After I got the phone back again, I submitted a mail-in repair request through the OnePlus China official website and noted that it was a US model. From Zhejiang, it was sent to the repair center in Nanjing. The process was fast: I shipped it out with SF Express, they received it the next day, called to confirm details on the third day, and mailed it back by the fifth day.
When I received the repaired phone from OnePlus, the fingerprint sensor and everything else worked perfectly. So the earlier issue was very likely caused by something that went wrong during the OPPO repair.
When they mail the phone back, they include a repair receipt, which you need to submit for reimbursement. 
It lists the repair items and charges in detail, and it looked quite official.
About the credit card
I used the old Chase IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card, the one with the $49 annual fee ↓
Not many people mention that this low-annual-fee Mastercard also comes with cell phone protection, but Chase’s website does show that this card includes the benefit.
The original wording is:
“Get up to $800 per claim and $1, 000 per year in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for phones listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your eligible credit card. Maximum of 2 claims in a 12 month period with a $50 deductible per claim.”
So you can file up to 2 claims in a 12-month period, with a $50 deductible each time. Each case is covered up to $800, with a yearly maximum of $1,000. The key requirement is that your monthly cell phone bill must be paid with this card.
For a $49-annual-fee sock-drawer card, that’s really impressive.
I dropped the phone in December, so I used this IHG card to pay my $20 monthly Visible bill in both December and January.
Visible doesn’t provide a monthly statement, but you can ask customer service for a payment history, and that is also an eligible document. See below ↓
File a Claim
There is a dedicated Mastercard website for filing the claim; you do not go through Chase.
First, it asks you to choose the card-issuing country, so naturally I selected the United States 
Next, choose the Cellular Telephone Protection benefit 
Then choose to file the claim online (of course, you can also call to file...) 
After that, just follow the steps on the webpage. There are a few steps as shown below ↓
One important thing to note: you do not upload supporting documents at this stage. At this point, you are only opening a claim and entering some basic information. Afterward, you will receive an email from the Mastercard Assistance Center, and that is when they ask you to provide the documents.
Support Docs
You will receive an email from [email protected] with your claim number, and it will list in detail the documents you need to provide.
One reminder: the deadline to upload documents is 120 days, which is very generous.
“Please note that you have 120 days from the date of claim report to submit all required documentation. ”
There are 3 main documents:
- Your credit card statement. PDF or screenshots are both acceptable. It needs to show that you used this card to pay your monthly cell phone bill, including the month when the phone was damaged. I provided two months of statements to show that I used this card to pay the bill every month.
- Your cell phone service statement. PDF or screenshots are both acceptable. It needs to show that you used this card to pay your monthly cell phone bill, including the month when the phone was damaged. I provided Visible’s payment history, which included the last four digits of the card and payment records for multiple months.
- A repair estimate or repair receipt. I provided the Chinese OnePlus repair receipt, which showed the amount in RMB. I also provided a screenshot of the repair pricing list from the US OnePlus official website, which showed the information in English and US dollars.
These supporting documents can be submitted in 4 ways:
- Reply directly to the email. [email protected]
- Mail. Mastercard® Assistance Center,
c/o Program Administrator at Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc, P.O. Box 89405, Cleveland, Ohio 44101-6405 USA
or Courier or Registered Mail: Mastercard® Assistance Center,
c/o Program Administrator at Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc., P.O. Box 89405, Cleveland, Ohio 44101-6405 USA - FAX. 1-216-617-2910
- Upload online. www.mycardbenefits.com
Final result
Then it was just a matter of waiting. I received the reimbursement in about two weeks.
If there is any issue, they will email you directly, and you can communicate with them by email.
You can choose either a credit to your card account or a paper check.
Of course, the $50 deductible will be subtracted.
Summary
Cellular Telephone Protection can be used worldwide. The process is not complicated, and it is a great way to cover phone repair costs.
That said, I hope everyone won’t abuse this benefit.