@dtcb67 - my dreams of awesome Apple products, software and service died a long time ago. My faith in a brilliant closed, tight, eco system that was finely tuned for high end performance that seamlessly integrated both hardware and software from the same company, to remove any third party issues, also died a long time ago. My faith in the 'Genius' bar that simply swaps items, rather than trying to solve problems, also died a long time ago.
As mentioned, I'm a former fully certified Apple Technician. Had to sit exams every year at Apple. Still have all my certificates and Apple I.D. So I'm no 'beginner' with technology or Apple products. I have sat here (quietly) for the last few years and seen poor Mac and iOS versions dumped on us that are, frankly, rubbish. As a business owner, with a large investment in Apple products and related software, I am more susceptible to these 'issues' than a casual iPhone user. That doesn't make me any more important or special, but it does make me more experienced and rounded with my use, knowledge and the impact these issues have. What is frustrating for you - costs me money.
What used to be a trim fast (not perfect, no) efficient way of doing high end work, has become bloated, buggy and for all intents and purposes, redundant. The 'premium' simply isn't there anymore.
I couldn't give about handoff, or airdrop, or location services or wifi tracking or taking calls through my mac or any of it - all I need is a system that networks fast, is stable, reliable and gives me access to the third party software I need to run my business so I can make a profit. Apple, sadly, isn't there any more - in my opinion. As such, for the last 12 months, we have actually been doing a cost analysis to switch to either linux or windows (probably windows). This wouldn't be a straight swap, but a gradual change. I hate PC's. Yet I'm actually seriously considering changing completely. No more app purchases, no more upgrades, no more laptops. The flow on? I also 'guide' about 50 people (clients, friends, family etc) to use Apple products - because I help them. That will go too. Not that this incy wincy tiny financial impact will make one difference - this too I am completely aware of.
Fun story: last week one of my clients asked me for a favour (I get this a lot) - his daughter in law had a mac book pro with a dead hard drive. Under AppleCare. She contacted Apple support and they walked her through disk utility. When that failed, they said "nothing more can be done, bring it in and we'll change the HD under warranty". Well, she had no backups (typical) and was devastated she had lost years of photos, videos and business info. My client asked me to take a look as a favour. Within 20 minutes, I had the HD up and started to backup all her data. A simple google search showed the error to be related to the filesystem (fsck_hfs). So the HD was not "dead", but the error was past what disk utility could do. I used Disk Warrior, Google and my brains. Ergo - anyone that takes what Apple support says as being the ultimate truth - is gonna have a bad day.
I can go on about these kind of encounters - with my own and via associates, that I have helped over the years.
But I digress. @dtcb67, I have little confidence that the logging I am doing and submitting to Apple will in anyway solve the issue. It might, but I doubt it too.
Does that mean we shouldn't try? No. We have to try. Does this mean what you did didn't matter? Of course not. Its quite possible they link your results to mine and finally see the problem clearly. What we do know, is that this probably isn't one issue. There is arguably quite a few things going on here that effect different people in different ways. No two setups are the same.
That Apple has taken the time to contact me and try to solve this - helps me. It helps rebuild that shattered confidence. I'll at least give them a shot - they deserve that because they did used to give us great things. This is the last shot though.
I am due to receive the follow up call in the next hour. I will update after that.
<Edited by Host>