Filing Claims
How customers file warranty and shipping protection claims through the multi-stage claim form.
Filing Claims
Umbrella provides a customer-facing claim form that guides buyers through submitting a warranty or shipping protection claim. The form adapts its steps based on the policy type and your configuration.
Form Modes
The claim form can be accessed two ways:
- Standalone Mode — Customers visit
/claims/filedirectly. The full form displays with the Umbrella header, logo, and step tracker. - Embedded Mode — The form is embedded in your storefront or customer portal. It inherits your store’s theme, and you can toggle visibility of the header, logo, and step tracker, plus set a custom title and description.
Claim Form Stages
The form uses a dynamic step tracker. Not all stages appear for every claim.
- Find Order — Customer enters order number and email.
- Select Policy — Only shown when the order has multiple protected items.
- Select Items — Only shown for shipping protection claims; customer picks affected items and a reason for each.
- Claim Details — Customer selects a claim type, describes the issue, and picks the date of incident.
- Evidence — Only shown when the warranty plan requires photo or video uploads.
- Additional Info — Optional extra details and terms agreement.
- Review — Summary of all entered information before submission.
Stage 1: Order Lookup
The customer enters their order number and email address. The system identifies all line items with active warranty or shipping protection policies.
If the customer was pre-authenticated (e.g., from a customer portal link with a customer ID), the email field is optional.
Stage 2: Policy Selection
When the order has multiple protected items, the customer selects which policy to file against. Each item shows the product name, warranty details, and status. If only one protected item exists, this stage is skipped.
Stage 3: Line Item Selection (Shipping Protection Only)
For shipping protection claims, the customer selects which items are affected and provides a reason for each:
| Reason | Description |
|---|---|
| Damaged | Item arrived damaged during shipping |
| Missing from package | Item was not included in the shipment |
| Wrong item received | A different item was sent |
| Never arrived | The entire package never arrived |
| Package stolen | Confirmed delivered but stolen |
The customer can adjust the quantity for each affected item up to the original order quantity.
Stage 4: Claim Details
The customer selects a claim type, writes a description (minimum 10 characters), and picks the date of incident. The claim type dropdown only shows coverage types enabled on the policy (e.g., Manufacturer Defect, Accidental Damage, Wear and Tear, Spill or Stain, Theft or Loss).
Stage 5: Evidence Upload
This stage appears when the warranty plan requires photo evidence, video evidence, or both.
- Photos: JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP — up to 5 files
- Videos: MP4, MOV, WebM — up to 2 files
If evidence is marked as required, the customer cannot proceed without uploading at least one file of that type.
Stage 6: Additional Information
The customer can add extra context and must agree to the terms and conditions before proceeding.
Stage 7: Review and Submit
A summary of all entered information is displayed for review. On submission, the claim enters Pending status in your dashboard.
Direct Policy Link
To skip the order lookup and policy selection stages, pass a policyId parameter in the URL. This takes the customer directly to the claim details step — useful for customer portal integrations and post-purchase emails.
Related
- Claim Review — How merchants review submitted claims
- Claim Evidence — Evidence management and requirements
- Agent-Filed Claims — Filing claims on behalf of customers