Apple supports helps everyone, including thieves

Unlike many smartphone manufacturers in the market, the after sales service of Apple is one of the best in the world. Apple users have always had a word of praise for them for cooperating with them and helping them resolve issues without any hassles. The Apple support team also helps in replacing handsets that are broken, as Apple’s warranty for their iPhones allows consumers to replace the handsets or pay a discounted amount for their affected iPhones. However, this warranty is associated with only the iPhone and not the owner of the smartphone. But what happens when a person’s iPhone is stolen? Apparently the same rules apply and if a person’s handset is stolen, a thief can take advantage of these Apple privileges the same way the owner could, according to reports.

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Robert Siciliano, a consultant for Intel Corp’s technology security unit, McAfee and an identity theft expert says, “Apple seems to have not considered stolen devices and instead is relying on the honor system. The honor system is devised with the mindset that we are all sheep and there are no wolves.” He goes on to state that he has been aware of this problem from some time and he does not foresee anything being done about it immediately, not until consumers collectively raise their voices about it.

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Kayla Mernard, was one such affected iPhone user. She claims that while she was sending a text message, while waiting for a train at Boston’s Park Street Station, someone snatched her three month old iPhone. A few days later she had received an e-mail stating that her damaged phone had been repaired at the Apple store. She then went to the store to try and claim it back, but the employees at the store would not hand it over to her and said that there was nothing they could do about it. She states, “Because I don’t have possession of the phone, they won’t help me at all.” She was taken aback by Apple and their refusal to help her even though they had her iPhone in their possession. She claims that because someone else brought in her phone, they could not return it to her.

As of now, there may be no solution for this problem, but due to the rise in the number of iPhones being stolen, several developers have come up with apps to address the issue. One such app is the iGotYa, where if a person incorrectly types in a wrong password on a locked iPhone, a picture of the person is clicked automatically and emailed to the owners e-mail address, along with the location where the password was incorrectly put.

While this may not be a concrete solution to address the problem, Apple certainly has to have work arounds in place for their warranty as many people tend to have their handsets stolen or lost, thereby allowing others to wrongly avail their Apple support benefits.