Apple Trade in Partner scam?

Hi all. First of all I’m a little disappointed with myself for not researching the program properly before jumping in.

I’ve just upgrade (my perfectly functioning) Apple XS iPhone and was really impressed how easy it was just to do it through the Apple store app and arrived the next day.

Unfortunately it’s now left a bitter taste as I have received notification from their ‘trade in partner’ that they are revising my £160 trade in value (which is already £50 less than if I had gone down the eBay route) down to £0.

They claim this is because of multiple cracks and a missing camera lens!?!?

The phone had no cracks, no missing camera lens. In fact it’s been in a case and had a screen protector on it since I had it, and was taking perfect photos the day I stopped using it…… the only thing is I have no proof. I didn’t take any photos of the phone before sending it. The only thing I have is some photos I took using the phone the week before that shows it still took perfect photos (despite it missing an imaginary lens!?).

I’m worried now that when they now ship the phone back they will have maliciously damaged the phone to prove it was damaged - leaving me with a now worthless phone.

Anyone have a similar experience and any advice?