Apple acted unfairly in stolen iPhone incident: Calgary woman
Someone else turned the damaged phone in and was given replacement
A Calgary woman in a fight with Apple over a stolen iPhone says the electronics giant should do more to protect its customers.
Not long after Diane Nash bought an iPhone for her 18-year-old daughter it was stolen.
She reported the theft to Apple — which handles her warranty — and to the Telus store where she purchased it.
A month later someone turned up at a local Apple store with her damaged phone and was given a new one.
Yet Apple is refusing to give Nash a new phone, she said.
"I'm out of a phone and whoever took my phone has a new one. I don't think it’s right,” she said.
“I think Apple should have done their due diligence and actually checked into the serial number of that phone to see that I had reported it stolen with the Apple Care."
Tom Keenan, a technology expert at the University of Calgary, says Apple should replace her phone and the company should have better safeguards in place.
"This way you get a brand new phone, which the thief probably thinks does not have that same kind of history, so you know it certainly is a possibility that they're trying to launder it into a brand new phone,” he said.
An Apple spokesperson said iPhones with iOS 7 can activate Find my iPhone, which now includes a lock feature.
"If Find My iPhone is turned on, Apple Retail Stores will not service the phone until it is turned off," said public relations manager Tara Hendela in an email.
Calgary police are investigating the theft but say there is no evidence of a phone laundering scheme.