Activation Lock on MacBook Air M2

Hello All.

Apologies, but this is kinda long.

I have an issue which I can’t seem to resolve with the help of Apple Support.

I manage Apple devices with an MDM (Mosyle) solution.

I have a brand new MacBook Air M2 that I bought from Argos. So I added the MacBook Air to my Apple Business Manager and MDM. it is configured with MDM lock and signed in with a managed Apple ID for iCloud. I’ve had it running for a year with no issues. I then decided to erase the MacBook Air from MDM console, deleted the device and released the device from Apple Business Manager. So it’s standalone as a consumer device rather than business device.

When the Mac boots up, I see Activation Lock Screen. So I enter the MDM Lock Apple ID but errors with “could not connect to server try signing in again”.

I contacted Apple and they advised that I need to submit a request with proof of purchase for their validation team to investigate and remove the activation lock.

So, I submitted the request from my business email domain and proof of purchase. Argos do not send a separate PDF invoice, the receipt is within the email. Apple have rejected the activation lock removal based on the following:

1. The required Statement of Ownership & Authority was missing or incomplete.
2. We weren’t able to validate this as a business request as the request was not submitted from a business email domain.

The statement of authority, I have uploaded the receipt including the serial number on the receipt 4 times via their website. I’ve also used my business email domain otherwise I wouldn’t have received their email to follow the link to submit the request.

The issue I have based on the their first point. When I upload the receipt in PDF format, it only shows half of the image. I’ve told Apple on many occasions that the website isn’t accepting the full image. They even did a screen share and saw it themselves. However they advised me to go into store. Same issue but the guys in store uploaded the receipt to the case.

I rang Apple Support to advise that I went into store. But they said not sure why my previous colleague advised of that as they cannot submit the request. But told me to submit another request. I’m losing my patience as I’ve been doing this since 30 August and got no where with it. I’ve submitted 4x requests and Apple reject saying the same thing as above.

I’m stuck and don’t know what else to do. I have a £1200 MacBook Air that’s sitting on my desk and Apple will not be able to escalate as the validation team are not approachable by phone.

Apple support told me to do a feedback on their website but no guarantee you will get a response.

I don’t know what to do. Can someone please advise.

Thanks