wrong email used by Apple care repair centre

Question

Level 1

4 points

wrong email used by Apple care repair centre

Note to Admin If there is a more appropriate place to post this please move it. I couldn't find an appropriate category

I live in the UK and own apple products.

I received an email from an Apple store in Canada detailing a repair to equipment I don't own: The email is shown below and I'm pretty sure it's genuine Apple.

I have attempted to contact Apple to tell them that either they or the customer has wrongly used or associated my email address (it's the one which is associated with my Apple ID), or that it's a case of a (their) mistyping the customer's address.. Also I requested that they dis-associate my email address with that repair/equipment.

However my email to Apple at reportphishing@apple.com has seemingly been ignored with no response or acknowledgment (it's the only email address I could find) and a further attempt to support@apple.co.uk has bounced (which I suppose is not surprising as it doesn't exist, I was grasping at straws!).

Is there a mechanism in place (other than having to make an international telephone call!) to help me deal with this scenario?

thanks

warren

P.S. ** I have removed my name and postcode (which were correct) from the email below, my postcode was strangely followed by the letters CAN presumably for Canada, even though it's a UK postcode

email follows........

Thank you for visiting the Apple Store. Below is a copy of your service record.

Apple Store Market Mall
15-Aug-15	403-***-4865

Genius Bar Work Authorization & Service Confirmation

********

Repair No: *****

Customer Information		Product Information
**My real name	Warranty Status: Out of warranty(OW)
**My town and postcode followed by 'CAN'	Model: IPAD AIR WI-FI, CELLULAR
Date of Purchase: 30-Mar-14
IMEI:
Serial No: DM******4YF

Problem Description/Diagnosis

Issue: Multiple cracks on display
Steps to Reproduce: Visual
Cosmetic Condition: No dents
Proposed Resolution: Replace iPad

Employee ****

Repair Estimate

Item Number	Description	Price	Amount Due
661-8176	iPad Air, Wi-Fi + Cellular, 32GB, Space Gray	$ 0.00	$ 0.00
S4770Z/A	IPAD/IPAD AIR FLAT RATE RETAIL	$ 329.00	$ 329.00
Tax	$ 16.45
Total		$ 329.00	$ 345.45

Work Authorization.I agree that the Repair Terms and Conditions on the reverse side of this page will apply to the service of the Product identified above; Apple is not responsible for any loss, corruption, or breach of the data on my product during service; as loss of data may occur as a result of the service, it is my responsibility to make a backup copy of my data before bringing my product to Apple for service; goods presented for repair may be replaced by refurbished goods of the same type rather than being repaired. Refurbished parts may be used to repair the goods.

Parts and Service

Item Number	Description	Price	Amount Due	Customer KBB
Same as described above
Total	$ 329.00	$ 345.45

Thank you for choosing AppleCare for the repair of your Apple Product. To ensure the highest level of quality and reliability, all work is performed by AppleCare certified technicians using genuine Apple parts. Additionally, all repairs are backed by Apple’s 90-day service limited warranty, or the original one-year limited warranty, whichever is longer. Note: The items identified above have been exchanged by Apple for new or refurbished parts or products. Any applicable cost is indicated adjacent to the part(s) or product description. Service parts are subject to tax.

If you need any future technical or administrative assistance, please contact AppleCare Support by calling 1-800-263-3394. Also, answers to many questions regarding the operation of your Apple Product can be found at:www.apple.com/ca/support/

Repair Terms and Conditions and be found at http://www.apple.com/legal/sales-support/terms/repair/retailservice.html.

Posted on Aug 22, 2015 3:16 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

deggie

Level 10

167,177 points

Aug 22, 2015 5:19 PM in response to wrren

Call AppleCare in your country and report it to them.

Reply

Answer 2

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Aug 22, 2015 6:32 PM in response to wrren

Or, print out that email and take it with you when you go to your nearest Apple store - since that might be the fastest way (as long as you know that you did not initiate a repair/replacement). Are they showing the correct serial number and device?

Reply

Answer 3

wrren Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 23, 2015 2:10 PM in response to deggie

Thanks

Reply

Answer 4

wrren Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 23, 2015 2:13 PM in response to babowa

Good idea if I can't sort it by phone. It's not my device, the 'repair' was assigned in error to my Apple ID email address by someone.

thanks

Reply

Answer 5

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Aug 23, 2015 3:27 PM in response to wrren

Yes, I understand that it's not your device - however, you need to address it because of the invoice that you are expected to pay.

Reply

Answer 6

wrren Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 24, 2015 5:43 AM in response to babowa

The invoice was paid by the person who submitted the original repair. That wasn't and fortunately never became an issue.

However when they replaced the ipad the replacement serial wrongly appeared on my support record (at https://supportprofile.apple.com/ ), thus expanding the original error.

Sorting this (I hope!) took a long online chat with Apple Cananda (who seemed unable to solve the problem and suggested I change my password even though I insisted it wasn't about my account being compromised, but on the plus side they did arrange a call from Apple UK support) followed by a long call from Apple support UK. It was a very time consuming process.

A simple link in the original 'service' email saying "If this is not you, or not your device please click here" would have saved a lot of time and effort.

The legal and other ramifications of having other peoples devices linked to ones Apple ID could be quite serious.

Apple should do more to allow correction at an early stage, there is no real mechanism in the support pages for this scenario.

Thanks to all for your help/suggestions.

Reply

Answer 7

ChitlinsCC

Level 7

20,924 points

Aug 24, 2015 9:10 AM in response to wrren

wrren wrote:

SNIP
A simple link in the original 'service' email saying "If this is not you, or not your device please click here" would have saved a lot of time and effort.

The legal and other ramifications of having other peoples devices linked to ones Apple ID could be quite serious.

Apple should do more to allow correction at an early stage, there is no real mechanism in the support pages for this scenario.

Thanks to all for your help/suggestions.

There is a problem, I think, with the "If this is not you..." proposal.

This is the "call to action" in many Phishing emails that start with "[This] App has been charge to your iTunes App Store Account. If you did not make this purchase yourself, Click Here"

Without Apple offering an explanation of this "glitch" - it would have to be repeatable by the coders to be considered a 'bug' - I would write this off to random weirdness.

Thank YOU for getting back to us with what you discovered in your sojourn.

buenos dias

ÇÇÇ

Reply

Answer 8

wrren Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 24, 2015 4:01 PM in response to ChitlinsCC

It could be argued that the real 'glitch' here was that neither the customer nor the staff at the repair facility picked up on the fact that the wrong Apple ID for the person submitting the repair had been entered on the repair documentation. During the process, (which may have been completed in one short time pass at the repair facility), the Apple employee could (or should?) have looked at the registered details of the ID and confirmed that this was either the person submitting the repair or someone known to them and not some random person on another continent (i.e. me).

I had already thought of the reasons Apple might not want to include an "if this is not you" link and although your comments are fair I respectfully disagree. Any link in any email could point to malware, but making things more difficult because of that, is just allowing the malware terrorists to win. Furthermore many mainstream and large companies seem to manage to include such a link. That said, if they are going to stick to the process as it stands, then at least put (searchable) support in place on the Apple support platform to enable people to report what they believe is a GENUINE error.

(There's already an email address for reporting phishing but it wasn't applicable in this case)

regards

w

Reply

Answer 9

ChitlinsCC

Level 7

20,924 points

Aug 24, 2015 4:29 PM in response to wrren

In the main, I agree with you.

Let's assume that this is not Apple's first rodeo - repair event. If this were common - or even thought possible to become so - I am positive they would jump on the issue like a chicken on a June bug.

Let's assume there is indeed a live Apple Body involved in entering some Apple ID data along the line - which seems doubtful - a single keystroke error could cause the misdirection you experienced.

Human error = "s*** happens"

My earlier analysis is my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Sorry you had to waste all this time, though. I know I'm beginning to feel like mine is getting us nowhere - fast.

buenos noches

ÇÇÇ

Reply

Answer 10

Dec 1, 2015 8:41 AM in response to wrren

Just wanted to let you know that this happened to me too. And it is incredibly difficult to get ahold of someone! I had to click my way through pretending I have an iPhone repair to get someone on chat.

Reply