Why won't Apple let me return a found iPod Classic?

So I am stuck.

Yes, you are. You could report it to the police but I don't know what country you would use. Although possible, it is unlikely the person who lost it has reported the loss.

But I don't see why Apple cannot send an email saying "Recently we were contacted by someone who believes they may have found an Apple device registered to you in our records. May we have your permission to make a Data Protection Act exception and provide you with that person's contact information?"

Big corporations (not just Apple) don't utilize logic or common sense. Instead, they have rules, regulations, and procedures. What you are asking them to do falls outside what their corporate rules allow them to do.

You could try utilizing social media and require that someone in some manner could verify and confirm that it was their iPod. I for one, will congratulate you on at least attempting to do the right thing. You can go forward with a clear conscience.

bobfromlosangeles wrote:

Actually, I was looking for more of a response on the legalities of the Data Protection Act.

Then this isn't the arena to do that. This forum is here so that one iPod user can help another get the best from their iPod.

I found a 7th Gen iPod Classic in Europe

... and yet, from what you say, you didn't hand it in to the authorities in the area where you found it, which would have been the logical thing to do. After all, if I lost my iPod in (for example) my local shopping centre, I wouldn't then expect my iPod to then turn up in Los Angeles. I would however, ask the Lost Property Office of that shopping centre to see if anyone had handed it in. Similarly, if I lost it in the street I had been in, I would ask at my local police station.

But I don't see why Apple cannot send an email saying "Recently we were contacted by someone who believes they may have found an Apple device registered to you in our records. May we have your permission to make a Data Protection Act exception and provide you with that person's contact information?" Wouldn't that work?

No.

Good luck with that.

As far as Apple are concerned, the only thing they can ascertain as completely true is you have a valid serial number for an iPod Classic. That's all. It could have been found on a box, on a receipt or potentially on a nefariously intercepted email. There is an iPod with that serial number - they know that. But as for you actually having it in your possession? Who can say.

The fact is they simply don't have the time to be able to validate your story (Something that they will never actually be able to do) and even if they did, to do so would be a ridiculous task. There are no *exceptions* in Data Protection Law, you either have permission and a legal, valid reason to view/disclose the data or you don't. And unfortunately, a serial number is not enough for Apple to think that there is a valid reason. With little more than that, they could potentially open up that customer's personal data to be used fraudulently, no matter how good your motives and they can get fined A LOT for that, both on a corporate level as well as the customer service advisor you spoke to at Apple Care UK. Who would almost certainly lose their job over something like this.

That you want to return the iPod is commendable, but it has been suggested that perhaps the power of Social Media is a better tool to use. I would suggest this - look on the iPod for the most played song(s) - there should be a default playlist. Find a Facebook page(s) or profile(s) for the artist(s) in question (Whoever recorded the most played songs); put a post on that page explaining where you found the iPod and when; ask other followers to share your post. Then let karma take care of the rest.