
We want to help you understand the difference between homeowners insurance and home protection plans.
You may already be aware that power surges can seriously damage your electronic devices. However, many people don’t realize that surge damage can stem from sources beyond just thunderstorms. Appliances like your furnace or refrigerator — anything that cycles on and off — can also affect your electronics. Additionally, restoring power after an outage can lead to further damage.
The Surge Protection Plan offers financial protection for your home’s electronics and electric appliances valued at $100 or more. This includes mobile phones with their original charging devices, stereo systems, TVs, computers, gaming consoles, kitchen appliances, laundry room appliances, and more.
Columbia Service Partners™* offers optional repair and maintenance plans to homeowners. These plans are administered by Oncourse Home Solutions, one of the nation's leading providers of optional protection programs. The plans provide piece of mind for customers by helping protect them from the costs associated with unexpected repairs. Columbia Service Partners™* is not affiliated with Columbia Gas®.
The plan provides financial reimbursement for the repair or replacement of your electronics and electric appliances valued at $100 or more if they are damaged by an electrical surge inside your home. For more information, please refer to our Customer Agreement.
Standard homeowners insurance typically excludes electrical surge damage to your home’s electrical items, leaving you to handle repairs or replacement on your own. Enrolling in the Surge Protection Plan provides you with financial protection that goes beyond what homeowners insurance offers.
The plan offers you financial reimbursement for repairs or replacements in the event your valuable electronic items are damaged by an electrical surge. If you needed to pay for repair or replacement of damaged items out of your own pocket, the costs could add up quickly — that’s why it’s good to have protection and peace of mind.
If you suspect that an electrical surge has damaged a qualifying item, let us know within 30 days of the incident and ask for a claim form. Within 30 days of receiving your claim form, complete it and return it to us with a copy of a qualified service provider’s invoice that indicates that the damages and associated repairs resulted from an electrical surge incident. If an item cannot be repaired, we’ll reimburse you for the replacement value of the product. Annual limits and other restrictions apply.
The Surge Protection Plan covers electrical appliances, in-home electronics, electrical systems and other electrical devices valued $100 or more. Limitations and exclusions apply; see the Customer Agreement for details.
Your protection begins 30 days after your enrollment is processed. You’ll find detailed information in the welcome packet that will be sent to you upon enrollment.
The Surge Protection Plan includes reimbursement of up to $2,000 annually for the repair or replacement of qualifying residential electronics, electrical systems, appliances and other electrical devices valued at $100 or more within your residence that fail due to electrical surge.
If you decide you no longer want to maintain your protection with us, there are multiple ways for you to cancel it.
By phone: This is typically the easiest and fastest way to cancel your program(s). You can call 888-717-5432 any time, day or night, and select the option to cancel your protection. When you are connected to one of our agents, tell them that you wish to cancel your protection. The agent will ask you some questions to verify your account information and will be able to assist you with the cancellation.
Through your online account: There a few simple steps to follow if cancelling your protection online:
Online chat: To initiate an online chat with one of our agents, click on the Chat prompt on the right edge of one of our website pages. Select "Billing Question" as the nature of your inquiry and click Submit, then let the agent know you would like to cancel your coverage. (Or, if prompted, please enter your name and "Cancel coverage" as the reason for your chat.) The agent will assist you from there.
If you cancel your protection within the first 30 days after your new program enrollment was processed, you will be entitled to a full refund of all program fees you have paid. This refund will be issued within 30 days of cancellation.
For all other customers:
If you are paying monthly for your protection, your program cancellation will take effect at the end of your monthly billing cycle and you will not receive money back. Protection under your contract will continue through the end of your monthly billing cycle, regardless of when you cancel within the cycle.
If you are paying annually for your protection, your program cancellation will take effect at the end of the current billing month within your annual term, and you will receive a refund for the remainder of your annual term. Your refund will be credited to the same payment method you used to make your annual payment.
If you pay your Columbia Service Partners™* charges through your utility company's monthly bill and wish to cancel your protection, let us know of your cancellation request by phone or in your online account with us (see specifics above). Once we process your cancellation request, we will notify your utility company that we are no longer requesting payment from them for your cancelled protection. Depending on how Columbia Service Partners and your utility company's billing cycles align and whether your utility company bills for services after they are provided, a charge may still appear on your next one to two utility bills. Rest assured that once we have processed your cancellation request, we will not ask your utility for any additional payments for your protection, and you will only be charged for months you received protection.
Note: If you close your utility account, or if you do not pay your utility bill in full each month, your coverage with us may be canceled as a result.
After your protection cancellation request is processed, the cancellation will take effect at the end of your current monthly Columbia Service Partners™* billing cycle. Until that date, your protection will remain active and you will be eligible to make a claim if needed.
Yes. If you change your mind and want to re-enroll in protection, just let us know. Depending on your selected program(s), you may need to wait 30 days for your new protection to become effective, and pre-existing conditions are not covered.
If you do not have an automatic payment method on file, or if your account is not set to automatically renew, you may receive a notice requesting you to renew your coverage for another year. Please respond to your notice to renew your coverage. Not responding will result in your coverage being canceled.
If you received a piece of mail, email, or postcard indicating you had a failed payment, it is because we were unable to successfully process your payment using the method we have on file. To avoid a lapse in your coverage, please contact us and set up another payment method.