The Student Room Group

Warranty - tracking legal?

So for my Switch I have warranty. It's £3.49 a month (from January 2018 to December 2018, then free throughout 2019, then from January 2020 it's £3.49 a month again, cancel anytime).

I am going on holiday on Friday. I thought I would take my Switch with me although I decided to contact the company my warranty is with. Apparently, taking the console out of the house is against the policy. I was also told they track the IMEI number of the Switch, and the warranty is cancelled if the Switch has left the household for over an hour unless the company has been notified where exceptions are made, for example moving house.

I understand the terms and conditions of the warranty and I won't be taking the Switch on holiday now, but is it even legal for this type of tracking? I have no idea, just curious.
Reply 1
The Switch does not have an IMEI number, that's used to identify mobile phones and other cellular devices. Even if it did have one, they aren't traceable. The IMEI is reported to the GSM (mobile network) provider when connecting to a cell tower, but no private company other than the GSM provider would have that info.

This warranty program sounds like a scam to me. You're paying a lot of money for it, given that the Switch already has a 1-year manufacturer warranty from Nintendo anyway. Your home insurance would also probably cover any theft or fire damage to the device. If you're going abroad, you may be able to get your devices covered under a travel insurance policy.
Reply 2
Original post by Dez
The Switch does not have an IMEI number, that's used to identify mobile phones and other cellular devices. Even if it did have one, they aren't traceable. The IMEI is reported to the GSM (mobile network) provider when connecting to a cell tower, but no private company other than the GSM provider would have that info.

This warranty program sounds like a scam to me. You're paying a lot of money for it, given that the Switch already has a 1-year manufacturer warranty from Nintendo anyway. Your home insurance would also probably cover any theft or fire damage to the device. If you're going abroad, you may be able to get your devices covered under a travel insurance policy.


It's with Argos the warranty. And wow that is odd what they said then, probably told me that to make me think what they said is true so I don't take it on holiday.

The manufacturer warranty doesn't cover accidental damage, and theft, which is what mine covers. Sadly the home insurance we have doesn't cover more than one games console, and someone else in the house already has one that's covered by it. I'm not going abroad, but I'll just manage without it for a few days I guess.

The person on the phone also mentioned something about cameras, but was mumbling when he said it and I couldn't quite figure out what he said. I should've asked him to say that again, but I didn't.

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