The SIM card inserted in this iPhone does not appear to be supported

Welcome

I would like help solving a problem I've had since October last year with an iPhone 5 that I purchased from the Apple Store in Watford.

I had paid full retail price for a new item in August 2013 and the store staff helped me set the phone up with my Giffgaff SIM card.

My intention was to use it for a year then give it to my daughter to use when I bought a new phone.

So, come last October, I bought an iPhone 6 for my use and gave the iPhone 5 to my daughter.

To our annoyance it will not accept her Vodafone SIM, displaying the message: "The SIM card that you currently have installed in this iPhone is from a carrier that is not supported under the activation policy that is currently assigned by the activation server "

I've tried connecting it to iTunes and restoring to factory settings but the message in iTunes is "The SIM card in this iPhone does not appear to be supported".

When I've been to the Apple store they have told me that the iPhone became locked to Tesco mobile on the day I bought the unit and I know that Giffgaff piggy back on Tesco.

Giffgaff deny responsibility and although I managed to get one of the technical assistants in the Watford Apple Store to "escalate" the problem with Apple via email as of today I have not had a response to that action. Incidentally, it took three trips to the store before I got any acknowledgement that it was anything to do with Apple. The first 2 trips I was just told that they didn't lock iPhones. On the third trip the assistant acknowledged that if the iPhone wasn't set up correctly it could cause the phone to lock to the SIM.

It's totally unacceptable that I paid full retail price for an unlocked unit and Apple won't respond and unlock it for me in a timely fashion.

It is now 4 months since my phone became unusable and I still haven't had the problem resolved.

Can someone advise me how to get this sorted.

Regards,

willsie01

The only way to get a resolution is through the Store manager of the Store who caused the issue

If Apple admit they set it up incorrectly causing it to lock to tesco then they are the ones to give you a resolution

They cannot unlock it ,so suggest to them that if that is indeed correct they replace your locked to Tesco device with an Out of warranty device and this time ensure they do not hit the wrong key on setup

You would have been better served creating a new thread rather than drag up a 2 year old dead thread

Thanks for your reply

If Apple admit they set it up incorrectly causing it to lock to tesco then they are the ones to give you a resolution

I'm sorry I've given the impression they did: the assistant acknowledged that if the iPhone wasn't set up correctly it could cause the phone to lock to the SIM, he didn't actually admit they did - only that it could have happened.

suggest to them that if that is indeed correct they replace your locked to Tesco device with an Out of warranty device

Sorry, but I don't want another device I want mine unlocked, which the techie assistant in the shop told me Apple can do. and why he escalated the issue to them.

You would have been better served creating a new thread rather than drag up a 2 year old dead thread

It's usual to advise forum users to look and see if their issue has been addressed before creating a new thread. I thought it would be better to keep all the posts in similar issues together. I know I hate it when I'm faced with having to investigate multiple threads when looking for solutions to a problem.

best of luck then ,you seem to have all the answers

Well, not quite.

I know what my problem is but I don't know how to get it sorted. I don't even know who's responsible - Apple or Giffgaff.

Giffgaff say Apple did it and Apple aren't doing or saying anything since the store techie emailed to escalate the problem ages ago.

My first post ended up asking if someone could advise me how to get this sorted and by that I mean establishing who caused my phone to be locked and getting them to unlock it.

Is there anyone on this Apple Support Community who can do that?

I would be extremely grateful.

This is a user-to-user support site so no one here can do anything for you. Call AppleCare, ask to be transferred to Customer Relations and work you way up the chain.

Just curious, how much was the full retail price that you paid? And do you have your receipt?

£529 and I do have the receipt with the details of the Part Number, IMEI number and Serial number.

All this information was emailed by the store techie weeks ago when I was told I'd have a response within a couple of days now that the problem had been escalated.

And your receipt does not show any particular carrier?

No, it doesn't have the name of any carriers