An employee was issued a iphone, they have since been fired, however they did not delete thier apple id. they refuse to unlock or delete the device from thier account. The cellular provider said they can not activate the phone for use until the apple id is deleted.
Does apple provide a legitimate way to sever the apple id to device link or is the phone junk?
iPhone 4, iOS 7.0.3
Read this (about midway through)...
http://www.cultofmac.com/246755/why-ios-7s-activation-lock-is-a-disaster-waiting -to-happen/
UPDATE,
After talking to apple and the cell phone provider it is confirmed that phone is rendered completely and utterly useless. Apple was less then helpful or sympathetic. My argument was that my company bought the phone and pays the bill. Ownership is clearly established. Apple refuses to provide a solution. Cell phone provider will not offer a replacement, the phone is on a plan contract. I have to buy, at full price, a replacement phone for the new employee!
End result, the new employee is getting an low tier used android and any new phones will not be apple. I can not afford for this to happen again. I have never been disappointed with apple up until this point, however this feature, however well intentioned has drastic customer altering consequences.
Business user beware!!
Ohh and thanks Pvonk!! the article was helpful!!
If you feel that your employee did something illegal and rendered your property useless you can take him to court.
You will need to establish that phone belongs to you before the judje and if you can, you should have no problem. But you will have to prove that the phone is yours. And not to Apple, cause Apple has no legal precedence over court of law. We are users like you and happy with every decision about your future purchases that you will make.
But to make sure you understand what happens now: starting with ios7 iphones are more secure. You are not convinced - I know, but here are the numbers.
First weekend sales iphone 4s - 2 million units
iphone 5 - 4 million units
iphone 5c/5s 9 million units.
The legal fees will outweigh the reward. We are out 600 bucks. Thats enough for me.
The phone is secure for the personal use, just not completely functional for the business user. If apple fixes that with an admin profile or something similar then we can talk.
I am aware of the numbers and the product performance, which is why I buy Apple and will continue to. Just not buying it for my employees anymore...and I doubt Im the only babe in the woods on this one. I am confident apple will have a remedy someday, which is why the phone is going into the drawer for now, and not to the target range.
I just went through a few layers of support but was able to get a resolution. You will need to do the following:
1. Speak with a Senior Advisor/Supervisor
2. Have proof of ownership that you can provide to the rep. I had the original Apple Store receipt pdf, phone serial #, AT&T bill showing the phone was being billed to me, credit card receipt info.
3. They can enter the info into some system to create a case for purchase/ownership verification.
4. You get a case number and email address to provide your documentation of ownership too. They claim that in 2 business days or less from receiving your valid proof of ownership, they will allow the phone to be activated.
Please let us know what happens, this is not my understanding of how things should work out, but if it's correct it may help others.
Im glad I checked back on this, I will follow up with apple and post the results, Thanks!!!!
I was active in 24 hours or so. Be persistent, they legally have to let you activate your property if you can show proof of ownership.
apple id, fired employee
