Account Recovery Unacceptable Delay
I am posting this from my husband's account as I do not have access to mine. On 18th February, my iphone6, just 18months old, completely stopped working. It had been carefully used, never dropped or dampened and none of the usual resets or battery charging made any difference - it was dead as a dodo. At the same time, perhaps related to the dying phone, I was blocked out of my icloud account which I tried to access from my laptop, so did not have access to my contacts calendar and other data stored in icloud.
After checking apple support, I found that the only way to reset the account was getting a verification to my iphone - which had died a death. The only alternative seemed to be to request account recovery which I duly did, being advised it would take a few days. On 22 February I was asked to confirm that I really did want Account Recovery.
I arranged to take the dead iphone6 the 20 miles to our nearest Apple store to arrange a repair or replacement. They rapidly confirmed that it was completely dead, irreparable and only 18 months old, I could have a replacement at a reduced price. However, they advised that the process of transfer from my dead iphone to the new one required access to my icloud account and that nothing could be done until account recovery was completed. They made an appointment to change the phone over. I have rearranged this appointment 3 times. I have heard nothing further from account recovery and it is now 17 days since my expensive iphone6 died, I was blocked out of my account and have no access to all my data.
The same day I was blocked out of my account, I was blocked out of my UK tax account for the same reason. However, their website has an option if the trusted phone is not available. I called a number, was taken through 4 layers of security checking and was back into my tax account in less than 1 hour. I find it mind boggling that a major IT firm like Apple who charge top prices for their products need to take weeks to reestablish an account. I still have no idea when the account will be available to me again so that I can finally replace my iphone6. I also note several other discussions raising the same point.
Perhaps it is worth making all Apple users aware that Samsung Galaxy phones now get higher review ratings, are much less expensive, have two years warranty, not one, and are much more rapid in their support. I will think long and hard before purchasing another Apple product.
iPhone 6, iOS 10.2, Account Recovery
