Stuck in an Iphone Nightmare (activation)

I'm not sure that there is an answer for my situation but I am trying to get this out there to as many people as I possibly can. I will share what I put together to send to Apple Coorprate today. It took a rediculous amount of time but I felt it was necessary. I would love any advice on how to resolve this issue so that my son can finally use his Christmas Present..

On December 17th 2013 we purchased an Iphone 4s off of Craigslist for our 13 year old son for his Christmas Present. He is my soon to be step son who has never even had his mother in his life. He is an understanding and compassionate kid, but this situation is not okay and he should not have to endure a sad Christmas memory because of someone else's inability to help or Apples inability to fix this.

We were given the serial number and all the proper information. We asked if everything was free and clear and unlocked so we would not run into any problems and we were told yes. The phone was working when we purchased it. It is now March 27th, 2014 and we have not been able to use it since.

The previous owners had a lot of phone contacts and other information left in the phone so we naturally reset it to give it a clean start for our son. That was when we found out about the security settings. Apparently with your new security settings when someone sets up a new iphone the phone gets locked in by serial number and cannot be reset or used again unless someone has access to that specific account to physically release the phone.

We of course contacted the people who sold it to us immediately and asked for the information to the account, or if they would please just go in and release the phone. They actually told us we didn't know what we were talking about. We were told we were stupid, lying and have tried everything else they told us to do even though we knew there was no other way. That was last December and we have been fighting this issue ever since.

We have been in contact with Apple support three times now regarding this issue. The previous owners have told us that they would deal with it, and then they do not deal with it. We have been told we would get a refund by February if they could not fix it, and have not received a refund. We have been told some kid named Keegan set up the phone for them but that he cannot be reached. We have given the phone over to the local police department to be checked out for any theft reports or illegal activities and told there are none. We have proof that we were sold this item and hours of text message proof that we have done everything in our power to resolve this issue. Now I am being told that basically I have to throw away a perfectly good iphone that we paid cash for all because it is locked into an account that no one can get access too and that under no circumstances is apple allowed to release the phone.

I have contacted the previous owners so many times I have lost count and even just the other day in regards to case #:591748951. I told them if they could just contact apple and talk to them about this, it could get resolved. I gave them the case number, the phone number and the name of the man at Apple, Eric, who was helping us. I was told that they would help, again. I am now being ignored and nothing is being done. I cannot make someone do something. I have asked nicely, said please. I have begged.

This is by far the worst security feature I have ever seen. When someone has proof that the phone has been legally purchased, proof that law enforcement has looked at the phone themselves and that nothing illegal has been done, proof that communication has been tried multiple times and to still be told there is nothing anyone can do about it? Is terrible customer service. I understand the security issue itself, but there is always circumstances that happen where there needs to be acceptations to things. Like a 13 year old boy not being able to use his Christmas Present even when it was legally purchased and their is proof of the situation.

My fiancé and I have six children together. We both have disabilities. Making Christmas special for our family is not only a huge deal, but a huge expense. We could not afford a brand new phone which is why we bought one used off of Craigslist. It was the one thing Alex asked for and now he has never been able to even use it.

I am not okay with giving up on this issue. I am not okay with basically having a perfectly good phone that should be thrown away apparently because there is absolutely nothing that can be done with it or apparently about it. What kind of message does that send? What do I tell my son?

We have done nothing wrong, illegal or inappropriate to be in this situation. It is not fair that my son should have to suffer because of something we have no control over. Not only is it a financial loss we cannot compensate for, but it is a horrible emotional loss for our son.

So is that your answer to us? Just to throw it away? Just basically, well tough you do have a perfectly fine phone but there is nothing you can do about it, even though you created this feature, programmed it this way and built this mess?

I will be including proof of our circumstances. This is unacceptable and I will continue to tell my story for as long as I need to in order to feel listened too. For my own sanity and for my sons feelings I cannot resolve to just "throw away" this phone.

Please see below for information regarding everything we have done to try to resolve this situation.

The name of the lady who sold it to us is Shar. The phone number used in communications belongs to her partner Steven. The phone number is: ***-***-***. In the Text Messages below I have referred to them in my phone as Iphone Ripoff because that is what has happened.

We were told we had to communicate through his phone because she sold us her phone. I recently got his email as well and have sent him the information Apple gave to me to it. s*****************@yahoo.com.

Shar had the phone set up for her use through Straight Talk phone service and apparently purchased it from there as well though we are unsure. Straight Talk had told us in the beginning we have to get it fixed through Apple, not them.

Device Information Printed out from Police:

Model: Iphone 4 CDMA

Serial Number: ***************

ECID: ***********************

Board: *******

iBoot Firmware Version; iBoot-1940.3.5

Chip ID: ****

This is the text conversation had since January. I can only do screen shots on my phone and it took 7 hours and 46 screen shots to do this. Prior to January my fiancé, Carl, was communicating with them over the phone and they were rude and stopped communicating with him. I start out speaking with Steven and then towards the end of January 7th I am speaking with Shar. There are times I'm not sure who I am speaking too but mostly it has been Steven:

I have noted several points in this conversation. Please read it thoroughly so you can see for yourselves what type of situation we have been in and how they have treated us. I keep getting told by your representatives to contact them to resolve it, and I have many times. This situation has put me in tears. Please note how many times we were told it would be handled, I'll get back to you and no one ever does. We are also called childish and stupid at several points and made to feel guilty for even wanting it resolved, as if it was a favor to be done for us. We want our son to be able to use his Christmas Present. This situation has been terrible for our family and being asked by your people to try to talk to them as the only resolution is even more frustrating after all we have already been through with it.

Warning: There are 46 print screens of text messaging. I had no intention of holding back anything while fighting this issue. My fiance verbally spoke with them for the first several weeks but it didn't help so I took over.

	Thank you for reading all of this and giving your attention to my issue. I really do appreciate it even if you do not have an answer for me. 🙂