Hello, I am Lorna Lardizabal Dietz, writing to all of you from the San Francisco Bay Area. I have good news for USA residents only! Scroll below to the end of my blog post to help me decide which TABLET I will be buying soon! I cannot make up my mind. A gift of two-year gadget insurance will be given by me to one lucky reader. The gadget needs to be purchased within the past 12 months.
You can log in to your Facebook account and/or use your email address to enter starting Saturday, October 12, 2013 at 12:00 am Pacific Daylight Savings Time! JUST CLICK HERE TO ENTER! I will announce the lucky reader’s name as an update on this blog post about “Protect Your Bubble with Gadget Insurance” at http://techiegadgets.com on Saturday, October 19, 2013 at 12:00 am, Pacific Daylight Savings Time.
Digitally Connected Sisters: Lorna (left) and Noemi (right)
MY STORY:
In my line of work, as a marketing consultant and ethnic community publicist/public relations practitioner with an emerging company which I named “RadiantView Group, Inc.”, I am either found on cyberspace or on a plane, train, or automobile — visiting my clients or affiliates. I walk a lot in the places that I go to — my only real exercise!
I’m a road warrior who believes in lessening the “carbon footprint” by using public transportation. Yes, only those who commute in places such as the San Francisco Bay Area (where I live), New York, Boston, Chicago, and Washington DC would understand what I’m talking about.
One of my mentors once told me: “You get to see places that people don’t usually see!”
I have to agree with her. Yet, I am always very cautious, a “mind your own business!” woman. I like to blend in the crowd.
Many, many years ago, as a new immigrant in the United States, I was mugged at about 2:00 am in one of the more at-risk neighborhoods of San Francisco because I didn’t want to spend for a $20 cab fare after a late swing shift at work. I should have asked the bus driver to wait for me as I ran across the street to the house where I rented a room. By chance, I had my passport and checkbook inside my tote bag when a stranger grabbed my bag while I was opening the front door. My cry of terror — “Nooooohhh!!!” — must have woken up the whole neighborhood. However, God and the Universe had other plans for me. My friend, Ricci, whose contact information was found among my belongings, called me to say that my fake designer bag (with its contents minus my $20) was found close to a public housing project in San Francisco.
Whenever I take public transportation, I wear very practical clothing, mostly jeans and my orthotic shoes (to remind me that I am not a “Jimmy Choo”-heeled “Sex and The City” type of woman). My somewhat-battered, wheeled Samsonite laptop bag carries my “virtual office” and toiletries while my backpack is the receptacle for my office outfit or cocktail dress.
Maybe you can relate to my lifestyle.
I’m still in transition, a new widow trying to make sense of being independent and self-sufficient. My family and friends are tremendously supportive — yet I know “I am my only best friend.”
For the past two weeks, I’ve been shopping for the right tablet to suit my needs.
I have a $69 generic tablet with an optional USB-powered keyboard which costs under $100. However, you get what you pay for. My cheap tablet is better suited as an e-reader.
Since I have a laptop that runs on Windows 8, I started looking at the Microsoft Surface Pro and Microsoft Surface RT models. I fell in love with the price of Microsoft Surface RT as well as its features because it may not have all the bells and whistles of the Surface PRO but it has a USB to plug in any of my gadgets, from my terrabyte external hard drive to my Sprint mobile hotspot device.
My sister, Noemi L. Dado, the techiegadget.com guru, recommended that I purchase the Samsung Note 3 + Gear.
Lorna Dietz checks out the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 in the Philippines
GADGET INSURANCE?
As you can see, I am getting ready to enhance my virtual office’s capabilities.
However, the cold water of reality started to sink in.
As I wrote down my inventory of office equipment and gadgets in my home office and laptop bag, I started feeling depressed. All of my Sprint-enabled devices were insured in-house. Best Buy’s cashier had helpfully suggested a limited warranty on my Go Pro Hero camera a couple of years ago. But everything else wasn’t insured. Not my two printers (with fax/scanner functions), mobile scanner, two DVD players sitting pretty in their boxes, my two laptops, a netbook, and my cheap tablet. I didn’t mention that I also have a couple of cameras and the soon-to-be-extinct Flip Video and my external hard drives and USB memory sticks.
I started to sort out what gadgets always travelled with me.
It was time for more research. I looked into different types of business insurance.
1. I currently do not have renter’s insurance or homeowner’s insurance. A rider to an existing policy for a home-based business could work for people with minimal office equipment.
2. A home business insurance policy might work. If documents are not stored in a cloud drive, this could be a good option.
3. The third choice: Insure the gadgets I travel with and use travel insurance whenever I can.
I continued to daydream about my soon-to-be acquired tablet and how it would prevent back pain.
Serendipitously, I got a phone call from a business contact of a friend to review the ProtectYourBubble.com website and its product offerings. I read — and I read and I read — and I said to myself, “Lorna, with your limited funds while your business is still growing, give yourself some protection!”
I figured that there must be a lot of business owners out there who want to expand their insurance as their business grows. I know I’m one of them.
I am sharing with you what I found out about Protect Your Bubble.
The information the company provided was important in my decision-making process.
1. Protect Your Bubble is an online insurance agency brand with expertise in specialty insurance products.
2. A One-time cost for a 2-year gadget insurance policy is $143.99.
3. Protect YourBubble.com is domiciled in Pennsylvania and the company has non-resident licenses to do business in all 50 states.
My last question to my new business contact was: “If I insure my tablet — which I will buy within the month — for two years at $9.99 per month (for example), how does the insurance work if accidental damage occurs?”
The answer: “We’ll do everything we can to replace your device with the exact same model. Your device can be replaced with new or refurbished equipment. If we can’t replace with the same model, we provide customers with a reimbursement check that will cover buying a new device, minus the deductible amount.”
My reply: “You got me! I’ll be insuring my new tablet with you! If I buy an unlocked smart phone for my overseas travels, and it isn’t insured by a US mobile phone provider, I’ll be insuring my phone with you, too. I’ve heard too many horror stories about a smart phone being aggressively snatched from a person texting in a crowded public place.”
MY SPECIAL GIFT!
Here’s my message to all you wise and savvy road warriors on a budget!
Your indispensable gadget can easily get lost when you’re traveling. Remember to insure your phone and other gadgets before you travel. There are a lot of great insurance companies out there, and a third-party company like Protect Your Bubble is a great option. Protect Your Bubble provides coverage for damage, loss and theft. It also provides a replacement phone quickly. Before you travel, remember to insure your phone.
You can ask for a quote here. The monetary values differ for every gadget.
Here’s more happy news! Who’s the lucky person going to be? A gift of two-year gadget insurance will be given by me to one lucky reader. U.S. residents only. The gadget needs to be purchased within the past 12 months. Or if you plan to purchase the iPhone 5s, you are qualified too!
Hurry! You can log in to your Facebook account and/or use your email address to enter starting October 12, 2013 at 12:00 am Pacific Daylight Savings Time!
Just click HERE to enter my special gift drawing!
The special drawing will take place on Friday, October 19, 2013 at 12:00 am Pacific Daylight Savings Time — and I will announce it here on the updated blog post as well as on Twitter.
Here are my FOUR choices for the tablets that I like. Check out my choices here. Please help me out! Which tablet will I buy? Choose ONE.
(A) Samsung Galaxy Note 3 + Gear
(B) Microsoft Office RT
(C) Microsoft Surface 2
(D) Microsoft Surface PRO 2
Here is my content curation about ProtectYourBubble.com. Enjoy!
