Apple delivered wrong iPhones and are not refunding

Hi ahmedr92.

Have you complained to DPD?

I’ve found a lot of instances via Google of deliveries tampered with by couriers and in most cases, the courier has covered the cost of the item.

Its weird that Apple do not tell people immediately to raise it with the courier instead of them.

I’d go back to DPD, confirm that Apple have completed their investigation which found they’d sent you a phone, not chocolate. Then request DPD investigate it themselves as it’s clearly been stolen while in their care.

I Suspect that if I post the email, it’ll be removed by a moderator.

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I’m not sure what else there is to do.

Despite the phone not coming from the UK, is there any reason why it won’t work? Does it still show as having a warranty on it?

Worst case scenario, you’ve got a better phone than you ordered. Options are either keep it, sell it, or trade it in to Apple in exchange for the phone you wanted.

[Edited by Moderator]

I emailed Tim Cook and then the email was picked up by an exec.

now there’s no reply from anyone.

I turned the phone on as instructed by the police and found out that the phone is a fake phone but somehow showing genuine on Apple’s system.

Hi all, this situation just gets crazier & crazier. So the 15promax I didn’t order was fine when it arrived with charge/battery life, but now- no charger works on it. Not mag safe & not a cable. MagSafe actually can’t even magnetically attach to it. So is this a fake phone? And also, I don’t know who I can trust. I’ve supposedly been sent another but I’m worried the apple exec was actually a scammer. I received what looks like a replacement phone, but I just don’t know. I’ve had an invoice with a red, insecure encryption alert & all sorts. My apple trade in has supposedly been restarted, but scared that’s a scammer too. How do we protect ourselves? Seems someone has intercepted our parcels & has our details somehow.

An iPhone 15 should have USB-C. So if the original phone you received doesn’t have that, then it is a fake. No iPhone has mag-safe.

Just to clarify, did you buy the original direct from Apple online store?

The exec I spoke to provided me with his contact details. Did the exec you spoke to provide the same?

If you’ve received a replacement and checked the original order on the Apple website and seen that the trade in has restarted, I think you’ve got nothing to worry about.

Sorry, I was getting confused with the MagSafe thing that MacBooks had years ago!

I guess this is where my case differs. Was definitely a legit, brand new and sealed iPhone 14 Pro Max. I used it for the 2 days between the email saying no replacement and the exec telling me I’d be getting the replacement. Zero issues with the device whatsoever.

I imagine using the fake phones to get people’s iCloud login is a lucrative scam. Only really works if you don’t have multi factor authorisation on though. Someone tries to log in to my account, all of my actual devices get pinged.

How’s the replacement? Any more concerns there?

Got the same issue, ordered a iPhone 15 pro max 256gb but received iPhone 14 pro max 1tb. and the shipping team of Apple refused to provide a refund or replacement for that. Even though i didn’t open the box iPhone 14 pro max…

I've sent an email to TCook email and report the issue to Action fraud. Still waiting for the response.

is there anything else I can do?

Unfortunately, there’s not much more you can do.

At the point you’re at, I’d actually started using the 14, because my trade in couldn’t be extended any further and I had to send my old phone off.

Hopefully the execs come back with the right conclusion for you.

I have seen a few articles in the news about this issue. The customer eventually received replacements in these cases.

Hi everyone,

I am also a victim of this huge scam.

I have received a fake iPhone from Apple and had to deal for a week with the customer service asking me to be patient while they investigate and like most of you they came back to be on Friday evening saying that nothing was wrong with my order.

I called them to have more explication but I had a very rude lady on the phone that advised me to contact the police !

I am £1199 out of pocket with a fake iPhone.

I have emailed the CEO and left a feedback like some members on here recommended.

I hope to get this sorted asap as this situation is causing me a lot of anxiety and stress (I am barely eating or sleeping since Friday).

I have please a question for the members who have been contacted by an exec after emailing the CEO, how long it took for them to call you/email you after you contacted them ?

Thank you in advance x

Hi Ryan,

I have finally received a call this morning from an Exec.

He offered either a refund or replacement, I choose a replacement and now waiting for a shipping email confirmation but I am a bit scared of receiving a fake iPhone again.

I will update you when I will hopefully receive the phone.

how about you, did you hear back from

them ?

Hi Thania, good to hear that they responded to you. But for me I didn’t get any reply from the executive teams… I tried to contact with the customer support again, but still they keep saying they concluded the investigation with no refund or replacement can be offered…

I will try to send another email the executive team again and hope this time they will respond to it.

Thank you for the updates

I read through this thread and followed the actions some of the affected members did. I am hoping for an escalation and resolution as soon as possible.

I didn't take any picture of the package when it arrived as I had no intention of opening it or using it. I would assume a CCTV captured when I dropped it off at the UPS Access Point though.

Also, I have requested for the pictures of the "iPhone 15 Pro Max" that was said to had been returned and they have not been able to provide it. I have asked to know what would be done with it, and I was told it would either be recycled or kept at the warehouse. So that means I would keep paying for a product that is in the possession of Apple, and this shouldn't be legal.

I sent an email to Tim Cook as advised, I am hoping it gets the attention of somebody.

I ordered an IPhone 15 pro max this month and I received a fake white iPhone 15 and I sent the pictures of the package and numbers to Apple and they asked me to send it back and now they said I sent them a fake phone? When I sent them the fake phone they sent me! I don’t understand what’s happening and now I have to pay for something that I don’t have it’s just not fair.

can someone help me on what I can do?

I ordered an iPhone 15 pro-Max on Dec 23 

Received the parcel on Dec 28 

When I opened the parcel, the only thing inside the box was an airpod.

I contacted customer service to get a replacement, but they insisted that the whole delivery process was fine, therefore, they could not provide any refund or replacement. 

The outside of the package was not damaged, and the dpd consignment number is correct. The only explanation for wrong delivery item is that Apple sent the wrong item. But the customer service kept telling me they have no power to solve it.