an error occurred during activation ipad

This has been exactly my issue now for almost a month with a brand new iPod. I bought it strictly to communicate via iMessages with my elderly mother. I've been tied up in tech "support" now for 3 weeks, and it has supposedly been escalated twice to different engineering echelons . . . still to no avail, other than to tell me the iPod device if fine, and that the problem is on their end, with my account. So today, on one senior support person's advice, i stripped it down to the factory default settings again, created an entirely different account with apple as well as a new email account for their use, and have the exact same issues. No activation. I used my maiden name, so that even that would be different than my previous account. Nada. Now let's see if they'll just let me return it for a refund. I'm out 200 bucks with a device that doesn't do what i bought it for. Lord knows i'm well past their return date policy, due to their stringing me along in "support."

Yes, exactly! We tried three different "new" Apple ID's for my wife and also had to go through a nightmare just to delete the old ones (the support person insisted on wasting even more time reading a bunch of legalese BS just to get to the point of deletion for throwaway accounts only made for this issue and with no purchases at all), which was another reason the call was a full work-day equivalent of wasted time for their spurious, arbitrary and silent blocking of the device(s). I had to provide serials to get them cleared, and the best they can do is this absolutely useless error. I got dozens of emails working with any facet of the Apple IDs, but they could not be bothered to send even one single email to alert that they had hijacked the core capabilities of these devices?!

Apple should be utterly ashamed and has seriously lost their way in so many ways...sad, really to think calls to Microsoft support are so much better (which is not saying much) these days. Ineptitude, appropriating legally purchased/owned devices and forcing customers to jump hoops does not just work.

Well, i just got off the phone (yet again) with "support" and he advised me to take it to an Apple store (40 miles from my home) to get a refund under warranty repairs. There is nothing wrong with the device. I'm sure it's everything you and your wife have experienced. I explicitly told him that i thought they may have black-balled my account somehow, but he was vague and evasive on that front. I asked if there was any movement in the case, as he was looking over the notes, and he simply stated that they never actually get closed out, so "yeah, i guess it's still in motion." Oh my God!!!! This is really nuts. But i DID create another account, under a different name. The only thing i can think of that has stayed consistent is my IP address that i'm working from . . . I mentioned that to him as well, and was met again with vague evasion. NEVER again will i purchase an Apple product. Never.

Wow, yeah, the Apple store can't help here - it's the toolboxes running the Messages and FaceTime servers with your device serial blocked, which is why calls or visits have to be escalated to those black box hoodlums.

The Apple ID itself is also fine, since logins to the iCloud website are fine. It's all about blacklisting devices under their frighteningly secret McCarthyistic assumptions and decisions - mostly thanks to Hollywood twits losing nudie pics. I'm not sure why your called reps can't seem to do what at least my support person did, which was escalate to then unlock our devices 2 "business days" later, even though it's totally ridiculous that they could/would lock them -and in this unacceptable manner- the way that they did. You should NOT have to drive 40 miles to a store just for their idiocy...

SHAMEFUL!

In your case, it sounds like your rep is pretty useless/clueless and never escalated it properly all this time. You might start a "new" case and just ask that your device be unlocked and see if they get it right - demand a supervisor if they get dodgy or stupid (my rep did have to speak to a supervisor to confirm my devices were locked). If you don't have time to get to the Apple Store until mid/late week, that may be a better bet. Just cut right to the chase with a new rep and say you know they lock devices on Messages and FaceTime and then tell them that you can prove you own the (latest) AppleID and the device (give them the serial) and then tell them to get on with it already. That could save you a drive and get you up and running. "No motion" really means your rep did not handle this issue correctly, since it's all about getting the issue to the overlords of the Messages/FaceTime servers.

I've been through 3 junior, and 2 senior analysts now . . . this one was a newby and i'm pretty sure was exactly what you just described. BUT - in his defense i will say that my call there was primarily to check into a way to get this returned to them and my full refund back. So maybe that's why he was so useless.

The first few times i was dealt with, they did ask for the serial number. Later, i was told by one analyst that changing id's wouldn't help, and then yesterday, heard back from another who told me that the device was fine, and that it was with my id, so strip the device back down and start anew. I've done that today and nada. I'm going to try to do this again with another phone call, telling them to unlock my device. Thanks for the tip. I'll let you know how it goes. I really do not want to drive there today!

Yes, the second rep was completely right, but completely clueless. The device is fine, which is why everything works great (even after reset) except Messages/FaceTime and the worthless error they generate when trying to authenticate. So, the first rep blew you off, the second was clueless and the latest was not all-in on this topic. Again, demand a supervisor confirm the device is locked and then demand that they escalate to the Messages/FaceTime server admins who are the only ones who can remove a device from their arbitrary (YES, indeed, until/unless Apple fesses-up with real info. and outreach about it and a much more useful error message!) blacklists.

Good luck and fingers crossed (otherwise, give them the middle-up and enjoy your new Android device)!

BINGO!!!!!!!!! Precisely what you've described. The next senior analyst (Mark) informed me that engineering made a determination 10 days ago (much to my ignorance due to their abject failure to notify me) that this device had been used for some kind of fraudulent spamming activity, and therefore was locked out of commission. I told him that i bought the device directly from the online Apple Store, and that i've never used it for ANY sort of communications because it never activated!!!!!!!!!! Apparently, someone hacked my icloud account (this is conjecture, actually) and sent out spammy stuff to the point that Apple picked up on it. I have no idea . . . honestly, i used the old iPod to text with my mother. Period. No iTunes, no gaming . . . not my thing. I'm a Windows/Android person. Apple is not a big part of my life. At least i got the straight scoop from this guy, and that's what he said happened. He also told me that not one of the other senior analysts involved in this case replied back to engineering on my behalf with any information to "defend" me, so there it sat. So . . . he's going to reply to engineering, (he read back to me what he wrote) and he also initiated a complete mail-order exchange process for a different device if they won't release the lock. Crazy, i know, but at this point, i'll take it. I described your situation, regarding three different devices that possible fell victim to someone hijacking your wife's account and sending out spamming material, and let him know that Apple engineers finally did relent and unlocked her devices. It was funny . . . he actually wanted to know how you did that! I said that you sounded lawyerly! He laughed and said he didn't think that was it . . . anyway, he seems to be trying, and i have more information now than i've had at all. Returning/exchanging a brand new iPod is much cheaper/easier for them than the 2 older devices your wife was locked out on, so we'll see. Thank you so much for your help today. You have no idea the calm you've lent me!!!

Congrats on finally getting the truth! Sorry this was your majority experience with Apple. Instead of being a bridge to changing your mind about their presence in your life, they cemented your lack of them in same. That is abject failure on their part (and with this whole device-blocking BS system). Apple should be utterly disgusted by this lapse and do something meaningful about fixing it ASAP, b/c it is so utterly broken in its current incarnation. If not, they'll disgust not only newer customers like you, but lose longstanding customers like me, and mine. I wonder how many more people (this same error is all over the internet with no final answer, except for this one) have given-up in silence after being hobbled so unfairly (if not contractually/illegally?) by this disgraceful lockout system that robs people of basic features of their purchase and usage agreements. Again, I cannot say it often or loud enough, SHAME ON YOU, Apple.

Honestly, if i hadn't stumbled upon this forum today, i never would have known this was even possible, mainly because it just doesn't seem plausible. No other service provider does this to my knowledge. I mean, this is not the deep web, and doo-doo happens with our accounts. I can't count the number of times i've seen emails from stray acquaintances with the one-line link to stupid crap (i'm not sure how many erection enhancers this little woman needs!), so really Apple . . . is this reason to shut down entire devices??? I have no idea what was said/done/transmitted over this stupid iPod before i even received it from their own store, but it sure didn't come from me to my 85 year old mother. I'm betting a lot of people out there are hobbled by this tactic, and hopefully we can educate them with this post. Yikes. Thanks again.

Well, it's a week later, and while i felt pretty good about this stupid problem last weekend, nothing has changed. Apple sent me a return box for a "repair" that will expire by Thursday of this coming week . . . the analyst's last words were "be patient; i'm still working with the engineers on unlocking your device." But he initiated this "repair," which was in case they'd just exchange it, or so i thought. What a complete nightmare. Thank God it was only an iPod and not something more expensive in their line. I'm done. I can't keep fighting this. I honestly don't know who to even take it to if i could fight anymore. I feel completely defeated by them . . . the thing is 5 weeks old and can't do what i bought it for. I never got it to work in the first place. Not sure how i could have inflicted nefarious activity on the world; my Apple account is up and running just fine. I honestly wonder if some unscrupulous, underpaid factory worker tinkered with this device before sending it. I just don't know what else it could be. Brand new, from the Apple store. No messaging or facetime. Unreal.

Just thought I'd add a solution that just worked for me. After switching my iphone to Freedom Mobile and getting a new sim with temporary number, and then porting my old phone number over, the imessage and facetime would not activate. I tried all advised tricks and ideas on apple support, I talked with Freedom store and they said turn off imessage/facetime for two days (seriously did not work), then contacted apple support and spent 98 minutes with an advisor and then a senior advisor who also launched a ticket with a softwear engineer. You need to confirm with apple support that your number is working in the icloud and it's all clear/working there. The temp sim card phone number was still loading and not completing the activation for over a week - with everything I tried. I was advised to call my carriers' technical support - and they just forwarded me back to apple support without my knowledge and this time another advisor told me to do a hard restart. This was new to me. Hold the Home button down simultaneously with pressing and holding the on/off button. Hold until the iphone turns off AND wait until the apple logo lights up. Then release the buttons. Tried a few more tricks of turning imessage on and off as well as facetime, and at some point it activated - but with the old temp sim card phone number, and then promptly unactivated when I tried something else. So... someone at work told me the next step and it worked: log out of the apple id on the facetime, turn off the facetime, log out of the apple id on the imessage, turn off imessage, log out of the apple id in the main phone setting. Then LOG OUT of apple id ON ALL OTHER DEVICES using the same apple id (i.e. laptop, ipad, ipod, etc.). Then go to apple and log into your apple id and change the password. Then resign in to all devices and the iphone in the reverse order as I signed out. Once it connected with the changed apple id the activation was instant with the correct phone number. Problem solved for me. Hope this helps someone else, as this has been a very frustrating experience and glad to have a resolve!!

Good Idea, Sorry l couldn't be of any assistance