This was in the New York Times today (April, 5 2001).  This from a hit off my wireless webpage, about the loss of my (Time Port 8767) cell phone.

              ".... Bruce Hawkins of Santa Cruz, Calif., got a similar reaction when he lost his cell phone on a trip to Los Angeles and tried to file a police report. When he called the police station in the area where he had lost the phone, he said, "they said, `We don't do this, so maybe you want to try your local police.' "  He added, "So I called the local police, and they said, `That's outside our jurisdiction, so call the area you were in.' "  After another phone call to the police in Southern California, Mr. Hawkins finally got a case number to give his insurance company, only to discover that the phone he had lost was not in stock at the time.    "They were really heavily trying to pressure me to accept this cheaper phone," he said, explaining that since he had a backup phone, he had kept calling back until the same model was in stock. "It's amazing how many little hoops you have to go through with these companies."
              Even so, Mr. Hawkins said he still paid for insurance coverage — on the theory that if he could not reach into his pocket and come up with the cash to replace whatever he might lose, then the insurance was probably worth some hassle."