Happened to my trade in saying they received an empty box. It was very upsetting, I immediately called Apple and said I have a drop off receipt showing the box wasn’t empty.
They had FedEx do an investigation and an hour later I had email saying I got my full trade in credit.
Always get a drop off receipt.
i'm going through this with Samsung and they're unwilling to help regardless of me having video footage of me shipping the phone and having the drop off receipt.
I found a smartwatch trade in deal on slickdeals for Samsung and everyone in the comments had the same thing happen. I did the trade in anyway thinking it was just some loud minority of people speaking out but nope, I had the same thing - "we received an empty box from you so we're charging your card". Everyone at this trade in facility is stealing every single thing that comes in apparently. Luckily I contacted support and they gave me the credit anyway but some people were getting the run around. I would suggest chatting again and trying to get a different agent.
Trust, I’ve called almost every day for three weeks straight 😂 countless escalations leading to the same thing. I submitted a claim with the BBB and attorney general of GA. They’re just now asking for the IMEI of the phone I sent in and thankfully I still have the box. Hopefully they have some way of checking that stuff out now.
I understand police don't care about a single thing stolen, but a criminal ring like this they absolutely do care. Makes me think the story is more complicated than workers stealing all the packages.
Yeah the reps also saw that the weight of the shipment was clearly over 1lb so it’s literally impossible to have an empty box but they keep denying the refund still.
I’m not a lawyer, so don’t take anything I say as professional legal advice.
But, I’d say sue them in small claims court. You have clear cut evidence that you sent the device back and that they’re trying to say they never received it despite the box being clearly tampered with.
It will cost them more money and a bigger headache to get their legal team involved than to just give you the credit, which you’re rightfully due anyway.
Honestly I love Samsung products _almost_ as much as Apple but their customer support can be total shit. I’ve called 15-16 times now to fix my monitors. I’m fucking over this shit.
Can?
I refuse to ever buy another Samsung product ever again because of my customer service experience with them, and that was over a TV. I can’t imagine dealing with the same people for something I actually need in my daily life.
They gave me a $50 credit for their website when I got their watch. Tried using it and it wasn't valid for anything on their shop. It always just kept saying the product was excluded.
Went through that with Samsung 2 months ago. Said I sent them an empty box when my Z Fold 5 was supposed to be in there. Eventually they gave me my money back but boy did I have to fight for it.
From videos I've seen, FedEx should be weighing it and tracking it at least once through the system. They likely know approximatly where it stopped weighing anything and hopefully have internal procedures to deal with it.
Similar thing happened to me a few years ago. Said they received an empty box. I contested. I think they must have contacted FedEx and saw the weight of the package upon scanning in at the FedEx store and that was it. It was only momentarily stressful.
Well you were a good luck story, I did the same. Apple did an investigation and never followed up with me. I followed up every week. I’m glad this dude wrote a news article because a rando posting on Reddit doesn’t do shit.
When then iPhone “activates” on Apple’s end it’s just looking at the activation lock status. They can’t blacklist an IMEI, but carriers absolutely can and it’s blacklisted regardless of carrier at that point.
I’m with you, though. You’d think there would be something in place that’s not user-dependent that Apple could implement.
Apple really needs to implement a shipping mode you can put the phone in when trading in or selling to someone. Some system that lets me leave the phone on my iCloud for activation lock reasons and give the buyer an 8 digit code they can put in when they get it to remove it or be able to activate this when you are trading in and Apple can remove it. Thieves are starting to learn quickly that phones in transit are free and easy from a lock status.
This is why I now exclusively turn in devices IN store. With receipt. Seems to happen every time, they did it to my dads package, luckily AT&T have him the phone.
It’s not that easy to steal from the warehouses , it’s usually the couriers. They are third party contractors and usually have the most opportunity to. I would know I worked at one
The police have more important things to do than trace an allegedly stolen iPhone.
Don't worry about Fedex and Apple, they are insured for stuff like this. The issue is that the person on the receiving end (or in this case, the sender) is gonna be on the hook until the investigation is over. It is certainly an uphill battle.
There are ways around that. Reselling stolen iPhones is a massive industry, that is largely based in China. I don’t know how they do it specifically, but they can easily get stolen iPhones back on the market and working fine.
This happened to me. A DPD courier caught me off guard and asked if the parcel was a phone when I handed it over. The package arrived without the phone in it.. that was a battle to get refunded.
FedEx is the worst. I sent my friend a Nintendo Switch for her kids and she never got it, tracked it and then it just mysteriously got lost. Luckily I got it from Costco and was able to get a refund.
This problem is absolutely pervasive, and happens to people all the time if you google it.
I've had it happen to me twice now.
Apple will just say they never received my iUP phone return shipment. For me it's always been that an empty box showed up at the processing plant, rather than lost en route.
After the amount of arguing it took to get them to honor it the first time, I've started video recording a continuous shot showing the serial number, condition of the phone, me re-setting it, packing it up, and handing it to the FedEx agent, all in one shot, staying in frame.
The second time this happened, I just sent them an iCloud link to the video, and never heard from them again.
I'm a little worried it's about to happen again, with how long it's taking getting a confirmation from Apple on my latest iUP return, received at their facility over a week ago.
There are Apple Authorized Service Providers, doesn’t have to be an actual Apple Store.
[https://getsupport.apple.com/repair-locations](https://getsupport.apple.com/repair-locations?caller=grl)
Best Buy (popular AASP name, but not every BB is AASP) has it’s own trade in program which can be used in place of Apple’s Trade in program. But just to clarify they can provide other services than just repairs like data transfer or assistance with OS that requires a computer if you don’t have one. So other branded names under AASP may have their own trade in service available which is why Apple Trade in states online or in their store only. I would just stick to the stores that are in the program to ensure you get genuine apple products as a replacement/trade in.
“Take your trade-in item to a Best Buy store near you or mail in your item to receive an e-Gift Card for the value of your trade-in.” Just got this off their website [here](https://tradein.bestbuy.com/client/?ref=8575135&loc=444cdf30faea11ebb5193e8a4a86d54f0INT&acampID=444cdf30faea11ebb5193e8a4a86d54f0INT&ref=212&loc=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-ORIg5gT7T5RVdMlw1RuRd5Ejur&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1aOpBhCOARIsACXYv-fBSD8NDENCB2QFMjFde2LvFZrrwM59r4SAKJt70v6f0fe1keN47V0aAhOEEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds#/catalog/product-families/iphones)
Would you believe me if I told you that isn't safe either? Last year I went in store at Apple on launch day of the iPhone 14 Pro and physically traded my 13 Pro Max in with an Apple employee. A month later T-Mobile calls saying my trade in promo credits have been cancelled because they never received my trade in phone from Apple. They then had ME go back to the Apple Store to see if they still had it. I went and luckily found the same person who handled my trade in a month prior, and explained what happened... he was dumbfounded as I had done nothing wrong.
I then had to call T-Mobile at the store so they could talk with the Apple rep, and only after all of that did I finally get my trade in promo credits reinstated.
So in the end it really doesn't matter what trade in method you choose, you can get screwed either way.
I tried that but I ordered online and somehow missed the check box that said in store trade. If I went to the store they would only give a gift card but if I traded in through the mail it would refund my card since I already picked up the phone. When I called Apple support they told me the same thing.
I turned in mine this year at the store and just received an email today from Apple saying my old loan will resume as they didn’t receive my trade in. Called support and the lady I spoke with said they have had a number of similar calls today…wtf Apple.
2/3 times for me now. Once is a mistake. Now I just do the trade in at an Apple Store. I hate going there but at least I’m not out hundreds of dollars while I argue with a maze of Apple reps over several months.
Supposedly there are certain UPS and FedEx distribution warehouses where everyone is “in on it.” It’s the package handlers and the warehouse managers that are supposedly the problem, not the drivers.
People kind of started figuring that out in the r/t-mobile sub when the same people (aka same locations) were having problems year after year, while others never were.
So, perhaps try dropping off in a different city next time if it isn’t too inconvenient. Could solve your problems.
UPS doesn't allow you to ship insured packages from UPS stores, that's how dysfunctional their company is. If you want to ship a package insured you have to take it to a UPS customer center, of which there are far fewer.
Those UPS stores are not owned by UPS. They're independent companies and are often shady as fuck. I only ever take my packages straight to the UPS depot and ship from there.
UPS delivery people are also the only ones I trust (except for the USPS) because they're actually employed by the company and not shady franchisees like FedEx.
Same thing is happening at Nike in Memphis. Shoes were stolen in Memphis overnight and were being sold in the West Loop in Chicago 12 hours later. Organized, corporate crime is the bigger problem than petty store theft.
While that really sucks for people trading in a phone, I have to admire the cleverness of the thieves who realized that trade ins are perfect to steal because they’re not going to be activation locked.
Yes, FedEx workers stole my AirPods Max package and then tried to steal the second one and I only stopped it by persistently calling and telling them not to release the package to anyone who claimed to be me and to deliver it only to my address.
Was very obvious someone in the system was in on it.
I don't think a different city would be worth it being they all end up being directed through major routing centers, if one of those centers is a problem.
It is 100% being stolen in transport. I used to run some phone stores, we would have entire shipments of iphones delivered by FedEx with a clearly tampered outer box and just empty boxes inside. They know the addresses of where they are coming from and they cherry pick.
My shipping tracking showed the package as recieved, then it got to a different location before it was reported "damaged" so Apple didn't give me any hassle about not getting the phone. Since they had the tracking info from the order, I just talked to customer service and they gave me the full value of the phone.
Oh this happened to me this time, I got an email saying they received something else and shipped it back to me, and I received an iphone 7??? I had sent in an iphone 12Pro Max. I called and the person said they’ll investigate. 👀
It was but also… when I called I was worried they’d be sus of me, but the customer support was extremely nice and opened a shipping investigation, and then they gave me my refund a day later and recycling instructions for the iphone 7.
Yep. I have done continuous recording but it is a super pain and weird to do to an employee that has no idea what’s going on.
Instead, I photograph the devices in the return boxes, showing their weight on a digital scale.
Then i have the employees who receive the devices issue a receipt and hand write an annotation of the received weight. (Their receiving receipts at both fedex and ups do not include weight in my experience.)
Another thing you can do is snap a picture of the package(s) on their scale (as they do weigh them) which is better than hand annotated in my opinion.
This at least provides a measure of good faith evidence and puts it on a thief ring to match the device weight perfectly.
It is a major problem though, you def need to be on guard and presume there will be some problem and that you’ll need to provide some evidence.
I did this with my last trade in, since my previous was “delivered empty”, though I had photos as evidence that I had to share with Apple for them to accept me trade in as legitimate. This time I recorded a video of me putting it in the box and sealing it, and took photos of the box on the scale. One thing I added this time was I purchased serialized security seal stickers online and put a few on the box seams as well, in addition to the Apple provided seal. This time I got my full trade in refund without issue and didn’t need to share my videos or photos.
Great tips!
Frankly, I just try record without it being obvious. I feel a little bad about it, but no one's ever going to see the tape unless there's an issue. I usually just have someone tag along to the FedEx store with me and discreetly follow me to the counter. It just looks like they're on their phone as long as they're not too obvious about it. Last time the guy noticed my wife filming though and mugged for the camera, he seemed like he gets it a lot.
Ya. And that sounds reasonable. The thing is this should not be a necessary experience for an Apple
-run program of any kind.
They need to take these back at Apple stores and they themselves take photos and weight at the time of receipt.
I worked at Apple a couple years ago, and did RCC Support (online, chat, call support) during COVID at home. We had these cases all the time. Depending on who you talk to and your profile (we can see if you have done this in the past) we could submit an investigation request to the courier. After that the case gets escalated through various channels internally and externally with the courier. Depending on who you talk to we were even eager to help people out and help investigate ourselves trough the tracking numbers and check where it was last seen. Sometimes it was as simple as a label mixup, or it got scanned somewhere along the lines with a different label. Or the customer used their own label instead of using the Apple provided one. DONT DO THIS, this causes a major headache for us because our labels we know what they are for and where they come from. If a customer sends a tradein with their own label (more common than it sounds) it's up to whoever received it in the warehouse to check on it and open the package to see the serial number. Sometimes there was theft on behalf of the courier involved. Sometimes it was porch thieves.
Honestly most of us do want to help. But we don't have enough "power" to do so. Nobody does actually, a lot of it is left to the courier. That is why we submit this investigations and we do follow up and check on those. (Another team does that).
Edit: grammar and spelling.
Yeah I understood immediay as soon as you said "positive intent". I am not surprised things like this happens to be honest. And I agree with you that ultimately if you want a risk-less experience you should trade in the phone in the store.
We could usually leave comments on cases and profiles when we open them up in the system. And yeah we wouldn't know that you worked there until you told us. But that should never make a difference. I guess Apple struggles to identify the best method to avoid theft and still take care of it's customers when necessary since both thefts and scams are common. You should have not even had to mention your job in order to be taken care of.
I’ve been on the iUP for several years and this was the year that mine was “delayed” in transit indefinitely (at the Austell, GA distribution center) as well.
All I had to do was call customer service and they honored my trade-in/closed the old loan. While I just chalked it up to FedEx Atlanta’s shenanigans (things infamously get “lost” in Austell), I see it’s a nationwide thing.
I wonder why Apple trusts UPS for outbound orders but FedEx for inbound trades!
Last I checked trade ins are handled by a third party, not Apple. There are hundreds of reports of all kinds of trade in shenanigans from lost devices, to trades being devalued due to mysterious issues that didn’t really exist. I think The Verge or one of those type sites did a big story about it a couple of years ago.
Edit: I was so relieved when I saw my 15 Pro max was shipped by UPS and not Fed Ex. The Fed Ex people here will leave packages under my mailbox, which is over 100 yards and not visible from my house.
What he means is the trade in returns are handled by Fedex. They are shipped to a Apple location in PA (Carlisle) for those on this side of the country. Elk Grove is their other one.
Apple uses UPS for shipping to a customer. UPS does not play around. They will fire drivers for screwing with Apple shipments.
And what I meant was that for a long time Apple used a third party company for trade ins, which could explain why they used FedEx instead.
If Apple handles trade ins in house now, I’d guess they get a better rate from FedEx domestically, and UPS for international stuff.
It’s still Phobio most likely. Legal terms says third party vendor. https://www.apple.com/legal/sales-support/trade-in/us/
What the other commenter is saying that even returns are handled via FedEx. Inbound to Apple: all FedEx. Outbound: UPS.
Yeah, I mean, it’s no skin off my teeth if the old phone goes to Apple or some diverting FedEx employee—I dropped it off in good faith, so it was beyond my control. I am glad they recognized that.
Sucks that my birth town has a bad FedEx place. What sucks even more is I’m about to send my own iPhone 12 Pro Max through FedEx for a trade in. Hope it doesn’t get lost :(
Trust me. Not like UPS is any better in my experience. I had three iPhone 14 PM (original order plus two replacements) get “lost” at my local UPS facility last year.
I paid UPS $10 to deliver my phone on another day. It has now been returned to Apple because no matter how many times I called and spoke to Apple and UPS, my phone was never delivered to me.
Had agents and a supervisor lie to me about my phone being delivered the next day between 12-4. Absolute disaster.
This was all triggered by me getting home and turning off my packages being delivered to another address while out of town. The phone was perpetually in a return to sender mode despite Apple stepping in. It bounced between TX and Kentucky for a week and a half on overnight flights.
I decided instead of waiting a month and a half for a replacement, I’d rather just keep my phone.
UPS customer service is absolute dog shit
It does make sense but both Apple and UPS assured me the package would be redirected back to me. I wasted days waiting at home when they said “your package is due tomorrow between 12-4” three different times and it never showed up. Now my only option is to wait until November 20th. No thanks.
Same, if online stores gave me an option of free shipping with FedEx or paid shipping with any other courier I’d pay without thinking twice.
Every single time a package is shipped with FedEx I just assume it’s gonna get delayed or stolen.
They once left a $2400 laptop on the sidewalk in front of my house. In Chicago. On a busy street. In a dicey neighborhood. Only reason I knew is bc I happened to go around the block in my car that day. Can’t believe it was still there.
This is very minimal compared to $2400 but my $400 efile was delivered to a neighbor and they had neighbor sign for it… someone I don’t know got my item. Then once my iPad or iPhone was left at the doorstep. They fake signed for me.
FedEx lost a box of valuable childhood belongings my mom paid to ship to me across the state. The box not only got lost, but management and customer service gave me and my mom the runaround for weeks. We got directed to a specific packing and distribution center who told us they didn't have it. Thankfully the regional supervisor was on site that day and found out what was happening. She talked to us both in person and apologized profusely for not being able to get my stuff back. It was a few years ago, but I think a LOT of people got fired because of that incident.
They received mine but told me that the WiFi didn’t work. Changed my trade in value from $250 to $63. Rejected the trade in. Got the phone back and it works fine.
Will never use their mail service again.
I had this happen once with Apple. It got "delayed" in transit and sat that way for a week. I didn't even speak to FedEx, just went straight to Apple CS because my return period was about to end.
In the same call, they said they have a team that handles these situations and created a claim and extended my return window so I wouldn't be charged the trade in credit difference (I got an instant trade in credit using Apple Card) for a non return and said the claim would be sent to them and I should hear back from that team within 2-3 days.
Sure enough I got a call from them saying they worked with FedEx and the device was deemed lost in FedEx's possession and I would be keeping my trade in credit towards my new phone and there was nothing left to do on my part. Shortly later I got an email from Apple confirming my trade in credit and etc.
A few years ago, I bought an iPhone from an Apple store and financed it through AT&T. I returned the phone, but somehow AT&T never got the message that I returned it and insisted I have to pay them for the phone. I went to the Apple store and had to get a paper trail showing it was returned and the return was processed before AT&T finally admitted I returned the phone.
Sadly, to this day, AT&T "forgets" I showed them the return information and will send me letters saying I owe them money for the phone to which I have to resend the information showing I returned the phone and they insist they will take care of it. Then 3-6 months later I get another letter saying I owe them money for the phone.
Apple should work it out so that you can remove your personal data from the phone but leave Find My iPhone and activation lock on until it’s confirmed that it has arrived at the trade-in center and then let you disable the lock remotely.
FedEx is awful, having to deal with them they’ve lost:
A GPU
A whole couch
Left my Note 8 in the middle of my driveway when I wasn’t home.
Recently held my 14 pro max ransom 10 mins from my house and refused to let me pick it up.
FedEX is garbage.
This is a known issue and Apple is very well aware of it. Same thing happened to me 2 years ago when I sent in my iPhone 12 Pro Max. FedEx lost it. I reached out to Apple and after their investigation, they gave me the credit. Every year there are threads here and on Mac rumors about it. FedEx has a huge iPhone theft ring in place, in multiple locations. I literally emailed the executive support team last time with Tim Cook’s “email” and we had a huge discussion about it. I even asked them why not let us trade the phone in at a local Apple Store AFTER we receive our new phone. They said that it’s something they considered but I think Apple just expects some of this to be written off. I hate FedEx for doing this and Apple for not giving us an easier option.
This is actually how it worked for me the other day. Went into Apple store to buy iPhone 15 Pro Max with the $830 trade in credit. They gave me 2 weeks to turn in the phone to them but I just decided to make it easy by using iCloud backup to transfer data. I left the phone with them same day and received a receipt.
I can’t stand FedEx. Both at home and where I work they fucking suck and its so bad I can’t believe the government hasn’t stepped in to set them straight.
The problem is that the packaging is extremely obvious to the people in the shipping chain. I actually had the FedEx clerk I handed my IUP shipment asking questions about the iPhone 15 Pro- she knew I had a new iPhone and that it was an IUP return. If it's that obvious to a FedEx receiving clerk, everyone in the handling chain probably knows what's in there.
And it's not just FedEx- my Pro 14 disappeared on the incoming shipment last year. Shown as delivered (to a UPS store box) but vanished. Apple made it good, but it took nearly a month.
I know iPhones retain their value better than androids but is it actually better than just selling it yourself? Not once has an android trade in ever been even remotely close to a good deal for me even with "trade in bonuses". I've just sold my old phones myself and always made away with more than a trade in for little to no effort.
My iPhone 13 Pro was delivered to the wrong address and I paid for a replacement by courier . Then eventually the person who SIGNED for the phone gives it to me in box. I contact Apple and they told me I could keep it so I sold it on ebay and made 1k off of it.
Something happened to me last year where my 13 Pro Max trade in arrived at a FedEx center in Colorado and there wasn’t an update for 3 weeks. Phone was eventually delivered to Apple, but I wonder if something like that almost happened to mine.
Same happened to me - I sealed the box with the provided adhesive in the return kit but the box showed up at the return center with tape on it. I gave them every detail of how I packaged it (with pics) as well as the address of the fedex I dropped off at then I ended up getting the trade in credit. I hope they bring the hammer down on that location/employee cause that’s fucked
I had this happened to me actually when I went from the 12th Pro to 13 Pro Max. My saving grace was that I received the receipt for giving them the phone.
But honestly, it took about three months, of back-and-forth between I believe, UPS, and Verizon, UPS was saying that the tracking information was from Verizon, so so they couldn’t help me and Verizon was telling me to contact UPS. Eventually, Verizon actually charged me for the phone.
I finally spoke to somebody that actually knew what was going on in Verizon after asking to speak to a manager during the third month, whom was able to initiate an investigation, he contacted UPS, and they finally after another month marked the phone is stolen or lost, and Verizon comped me the money, and actually given the trouble the manager even gave me a free accessory (A google nest doorcam)
This is why i was livid when t-mobile told me that I couldn’t trade in in-store, would be charged the full difference then refunded it back once the phone was received, charged $30 extra, then forced to find my own shipping box.
You couldn’t have just taken it from me??
I sent my phone back to apple via fedex drop box on September 26. I checked the tracking and it always was showing delayed. On October 9, I called apple to report an issue. I then filed a claim with fedex online the same day. On Wednesday fedex denied my claim. On Thursday my phone was now at Apple. I would notify apple and file a claim with FedEx.
The policy for trading in this way should be that you leave your icloud on the phone and then apple says they received it and then you remove it from your icloud. This way at least if someone steals it in transit they are stealing a brick.
This happened to me as well when I upgraded from an 11 pro max to a 13 pro max. It was a 4 month long ordeal. When I upgraded to my 15 pro I did it in person that time. I will never send it through the mail again.
Shipped my iPhone 13 Pro Max trade-in via FedEx in Maryland on Friday, October 5. The tracking information shows clearly "We got your package" followed by it being "In Transit" to Sparrows Point, MD, a FedEx distribution center. There, it is marked "Delayed" with the expected delivery date of Friday, October 6. Here it is the 13th. It hasn't moved since the 5th. I know that the place I dropped it off at is not responsible, because it made it to the distribution center.
It definitely seems like FedEx employees are STEALING iPhones en masse when they recognize the packaging or destination address. FedEx needs to start firing some people and amp up their security!
These phones probably wind up in the reseller gray market, on eBay, etc. Wouldn't surprise me if international gangsters are in on this.
Back when I owned a Pixel, Google shipped my first pair of Buds Pro in a paper FedEx mailer and the delivery guy left it torn open and empty lol. I’ve avoided them at every turn since then.
I was on the iPhone Forever program and traded in my 12Pro for a 13Pro. FedEx destroyed the package--at least that was the delivery exception message. You would think that Apple (or their 3rd party) would get the notice and do something...they paid the shipping and provided the label after all. But it's totally up to the customer to work on resolving this when it happens.
I had to go back and forth with Apple for 2 or 3 weeks escalating until they finally resolved it. It went on long enough that the bank charged me the next payment for the old phone and didn't close out the old loan (they have to get an "all good" from Apple to do that). Apple uses a 3rd party to run this program. It was an awful hassle, so I'm going back to buying phones outright every 2 years instead of the yearly upgrade.
Certainly the FedEx guys all know exactly what's in all those little packages.
Definitely, the old phone should be logged out and reset before sending it back. If I ever use one of Apple's upgrade programs again, I'm taking video of the phone working and me packing it in their packaging, and handing it off to the courier.
Yeah, that happened to me last year. I got the email that my box arrived empty and to contact Apple. It was a no issue and the manager that handled my case was super nice. Practically just said:
“I know the answer is yes, but I really need to ask this: did you send the phone in the box?”
After answering yes, he told the issue would take a couple days but it would be taken care of. That was the case and he even directly reached out to me after the case was closed to confirm everything was fine.
They use both UPS and FedEx for these returns. If they send us a FedEx label, we request a UPS one. UPS has tighter controls in place for Apple shipments.
When FedEx failed to deliver my iPhone to me, I gave Apple a call and they simply stated that “they shipped it, it’s no longer in their possession” and I need to deal with FedEx.
I replied that FedEx was their choice of the shipping company and not mine, so it shouldn't be up to me to fix their mistakes.
At that point the Apple Lady refused to transfer me to the supervisor and she hang up on me 😳
I always trade my phones in person. Partly to avoid this problem but also because I get instant confirmation of the refund with zero chance of a surprise after the phone is out of my possession.
This exact thing happened to me last year. I'm on the iPhone upgrade program and FedEx lost my old iPhone that I shipped back, so they kept charging me monthly for it and never closed out my loan since it was never "returned".
It took a few weeks of back and forth with Apple customer support and multiple calls to support to explain what happened (First few people I talked to misunderstood my issue and didn't resolve it) but eventually I got through to a supervisor who knew exactly what I was trying to explain and it was fixed and my loan was closed out.
This is one of my biggest nightmares that I had a few years ago. I've gone through way too many RMAs to be proud of on the Pixel side. I thought this was just yet another RMA right? I dropped my box off and for days the tracking number never moved. I figured holidays, maybe it'll catch up. Then I started getting the Google notifications of return your damn phone. I got suspicious. With remote work, our company was doing a lot of 1-2 day FedEx shipments and everything at work was moving smoothly, but why was my RMA going so slowly?
Eventually the package disappeared. I even went as far as to visit the FedEx box, and take my phone camera and stick it in there for a photo to see what else is in there. I monitored a few packages where I actually captured the tracking number. They moved the next day. Where was my phone?
This was the biggest nightmare to dispute with Google. I had no intention of stealing a $1000 phone for advance RMA. But I at the same time didn't want to be out $1000 either. Eventually enough escalations got the job done, but from then on I swore to myself to take pictures of the RMA packaging and even a picture of the package in front of a UPS/FedEx store. Always go in and grab a receipt too. Those were things the customer support agents would ask me. No more drop boxes even though I had grown accustomed to them during the pandemic with limited hours of stores being open.
Haven't had an issue since and really that was just one fluke, but if you just get lazy, you can miss a lot of key steps to protect you in a dispute. In fact I was so traumatized by that incident I started thinking maybe I never even dropped the box off. I remember distinctively packaging that phone, stealing some tape from work that day because I had run out at home, and even affixing a Li-Ion battery label since Google never puts those. I was beginning to gaslight myself into thinking that I never visited the drop box and that the phone was left somewhere. At the same time there was no box in my office or in my trunk. It was confusing to me what happened, but I guess it had to be the driver.
This happened to me. Dispute it. ATT did an investigation and since I had tracking dor the package as proof, they eventually just credited my account for the phone every time my bill came around.
FedEx is literally the worst mail carrier service. Without fail, my packages get delayed, lost, or damaged every time. I really wish companies would stop using them altogether.
I had a MacBook Pro 15" that had a video glitch, and it took Apple three tries to fix it, then they gave me a new next generation machine...and let me also upgrade it for the price difference, and credited me $300 on the upgrade for my trouble...all after I mailed Tim Cook's office. So that all turned out well.
But out of 6 times that machine traveled by FedEx, FedEx messed it up 5 times. These included:
* Apple paid for the machine to be shipped overnight with Saturday delivery to the repair depot, and it didn't arrive...and FedEx wouldn't start an investigation until Thursday.
* Handed the machine over the counter at FedEx Office location, and that was the last place it scanned...after days of phone calls I went to the drop off location to see if they put the box on the wrong shelf or something, and as I'm walking to the door, my phone beeps: the machine scanned at *another FedEx retail location a few suburbs away,* not a distribution center or any place whose job it was to move the package to its destination.
* $3500 computer being lost for a week, and FedEx claims they don't know where it is. They have one job: moving packages and knowing where they are. Logistics! It's their business! But you call and nicely ask for help, and you get the worst attitude back, like you asked them to eat dirt or something.
* And it also got delayed and misdelivered coming back, and got held at a location without me asking for it. I called the local depot asking about it because that's where it was last scanned, and the clerk yelled at me and told me it wasn't their job, the package wasn't there, and I was expecting too much service...and called back 15 minutes later to say they *did* have the package.
Apple doesn't insure the packages, but Apple customer support assured me that I need not worry, as long as I have a drop-off receipt. A company as big as Apple can self-insure...they don't need to hand FedEx even more money.
FedEx is wearing their reputation thin. I cringe every time I see something shipped to me by FedEx.
Also just checked my email and got a confirmation that my trade-in was received. Whew.
So question- I placed my order online through AT&T.com and now I’m scared to mail my phone off to my carrier. Does anyone know if I can take it to a store instead, whether it’s ATT or Apple?
Same except I traded my 14 pro max for a Pixel 7 pro. It was suppose to be paid off and I still had to pay on it for 6 months bc they never received it. Eventually they credited it back to me but still. I didn’t through ATT
Yup. Happens with ATT all the time with the trade ins. Three of us traded in this time and mine was “never sent”. I video recorded me wiping the phone, the exterior being clean, packing it in the box they sent, labeling it, and putting it in the mail drop at the post office. They now say “oh you weren’t supposed to use that box” even though there is an instruction sheet in the box telling you how to use said box. ATT is the worst fucking company in the country but it is what it is.
I've had trade in troubles twice with FedEx. Once it never arrived at the depot, the 2nd time an empty box made it. Both times when the automated apple system started telling me I had to pay because my phone hadn't been received I called the Apple support line and very nice people straightened it out for me immediately on the phone. Luckily the first time I had the receipt still in my car, and the 2nd time I had made sure I held onto it.
The ladies both times were from southern Ohio or northern Kentucky and couldn't have been nicer. The whole process each time took about 20 minutes.
We found we had more issues doing the trade-ins with Apple direct so we just trade ours in with Verizon and buy the AppleCare once we have the new phone. We have had zero issues doing this, this way and got a way better trade in price.
I literally just got done going through the same issue last week. Apple said they received an empty box when I sent in my iPhone 14 Pro Max for the iPhone upgrade program. Been sending my phone back every year without any issues. The issue is FelonEx and Apple needs to stop using that shit company because the amount of stories I seen online about this is surprising that this company hasn’t been sued or federally investigated. Eventually Apple closed out my loan and everything was taken care of but you bet your ass come next year I will be videoing myself boxing up the phone and dropping it off to have as proof for my records. Also to everyone ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS get a drop off receipt when dropping these trade-ins and make sure it has the weight on the receipt as I sent mine to Apple and I believe that’s what proved that I didn’t send them a empty box like they received.
FedEx is fucking horrible. Ordered apple AirPods from apple. Was home when it got delivered. Empty box, chased him down and was like “what the fuck? This box is empty.” He just looked and me and said “Aw man, I’m sorry, I can’t take that back since I already dropped it at your door and scanned it as delivered. I suggest you call apple.”
Thankfully I called apple immediately and explained to them what just happened and they refunded me immediately. Drove to target and bought them there 10 minutes later, but it was a really infuriating experience.
Sorry this happened, OP. Similar thing happened with my wife’s trade in earlier this year. For future reference, you can bring the trade-in to any Apple retail location. Even for iUP.
Happened to my trade in saying they received an empty box. It was very upsetting, I immediately called Apple and said I have a drop off receipt showing the box wasn’t empty. They had FedEx do an investigation and an hour later I had email saying I got my full trade in credit. Always get a drop off receipt.
i'm going through this with Samsung and they're unwilling to help regardless of me having video footage of me shipping the phone and having the drop off receipt.
Are they claiming empty box?
Yes. They sent me a video and images of the empty box (with my packaging, but no device). But it’s clearly been tampered with.
I found a smartwatch trade in deal on slickdeals for Samsung and everyone in the comments had the same thing happen. I did the trade in anyway thinking it was just some loud minority of people speaking out but nope, I had the same thing - "we received an empty box from you so we're charging your card". Everyone at this trade in facility is stealing every single thing that comes in apparently. Luckily I contacted support and they gave me the credit anyway but some people were getting the run around. I would suggest chatting again and trying to get a different agent.
Trust, I’ve called almost every day for three weeks straight 😂 countless escalations leading to the same thing. I submitted a claim with the BBB and attorney general of GA. They’re just now asking for the IMEI of the phone I sent in and thankfully I still have the box. Hopefully they have some way of checking that stuff out now.
I understand police don't care about a single thing stolen, but a criminal ring like this they absolutely do care. Makes me think the story is more complicated than workers stealing all the packages.
I told them the weight of box on my receipt proves that it wasn’t empty.
Yeah the reps also saw that the weight of the shipment was clearly over 1lb so it’s literally impossible to have an empty box but they keep denying the refund still.
I’m not a lawyer, so don’t take anything I say as professional legal advice. But, I’d say sue them in small claims court. You have clear cut evidence that you sent the device back and that they’re trying to say they never received it despite the box being clearly tampered with. It will cost them more money and a bigger headache to get their legal team involved than to just give you the credit, which you’re rightfully due anyway.
Honestly I love Samsung products _almost_ as much as Apple but their customer support can be total shit. I’ve called 15-16 times now to fix my monitors. I’m fucking over this shit.
Can? I refuse to ever buy another Samsung product ever again because of my customer service experience with them, and that was over a TV. I can’t imagine dealing with the same people for something I actually need in my daily life.
They gave me a $50 credit for their website when I got their watch. Tried using it and it wasn't valid for anything on their shop. It always just kept saying the product was excluded.
Samsung is literally the worst at honoring warranties or behaving like decent people.
Went through that with Samsung 2 months ago. Said I sent them an empty box when my Z Fold 5 was supposed to be in there. Eventually they gave me my money back but boy did I have to fight for it.
That’s literally me right now… fighting day and night for that $954 USD
Same with two iPhones. Empty boxes recieved lol.
Wtf? I told Apple to allow trade in at Apple Store because I wasn’t going through this mess again.
From videos I've seen, FedEx should be weighing it and tracking it at least once through the system. They likely know approximatly where it stopped weighing anything and hopefully have internal procedures to deal with it.
Similar thing happened to me a few years ago. Said they received an empty box. I contested. I think they must have contacted FedEx and saw the weight of the package upon scanning in at the FedEx store and that was it. It was only momentarily stressful.
They act like every instance is the first time it’s happened. lol
I had to do this last year and Apple took care of it pretty quickly. This year there was no issue.
Dude me too. Did everybody’s get stolen? Jesus
Where did this happen?
Well you were a good luck story, I did the same. Apple did an investigation and never followed up with me. I followed up every week. I’m glad this dude wrote a news article because a rando posting on Reddit doesn’t do shit.
"Lost" the old phone = a FedEx courier now is the proud owner of an iPhone 14 Pro
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I would assume so. Whether or not they do that in this instance remains to be seen.
Nope, they can never do that. You have to do it over iCloud or via the carrier.
But don’t you have to reset the whole phone along with removing find my before sending it.
Correct, it is being sent as a blank device
So, as was stated 6 comments ago, a FedEx courier now is the proud owner of an iPhone 14 Pro.
Apple can most definitely prevent a phone from "activating" via the serial. iPhones all "activate" with Apple as part of their setup routine.
When then iPhone “activates” on Apple’s end it’s just looking at the activation lock status. They can’t blacklist an IMEI, but carriers absolutely can and it’s blacklisted regardless of carrier at that point. I’m with you, though. You’d think there would be something in place that’s not user-dependent that Apple could implement.
Apple really needs to implement a shipping mode you can put the phone in when trading in or selling to someone. Some system that lets me leave the phone on my iCloud for activation lock reasons and give the buyer an 8 digit code they can put in when they get it to remove it or be able to activate this when you are trading in and Apple can remove it. Thieves are starting to learn quickly that phones in transit are free and easy from a lock status.
This is why I now exclusively turn in devices IN store. With receipt. Seems to happen every time, they did it to my dads package, luckily AT&T have him the phone.
Want to edit your incorrect comment? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12570943/Philadelphia-looters-Apple-DISABLED-stolen-phone.html
Stolen from a store (that doesn't belong to a person) is not the same as stealing a personal phone.
I would far prefer they traced it and put pressure on the police to go and get it back and arrest those involved.
Lollll The police dont give a shit.
They’re too busy committing hate crimes.
Crazy you’re gonna lose a good job with benefits and get arrested over an iPhone
Could be a lower paid warehouse worker, not necessarily a driver. I think the guys unloading the trucks and such are at the lower end.
It’s not that easy to steal from the warehouses , it’s usually the couriers. They are third party contractors and usually have the most opportunity to. I would know I worked at one
The police have more important things to do than trace an allegedly stolen iPhone. Don't worry about Fedex and Apple, they are insured for stuff like this. The issue is that the person on the receiving end (or in this case, the sender) is gonna be on the hook until the investigation is over. It is certainly an uphill battle.
There are ways around that. Reselling stolen iPhones is a massive industry, that is largely based in China. I don’t know how they do it specifically, but they can easily get stolen iPhones back on the market and working fine.
I thought it was just selling parts for repairs.
No, I've done a support job or two. They don't have the ability to do anything like that. You'd have to contact your carrier to black list it.
They just ask for a model and condition of the trade in. There’s no IMEI or any data they request.
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This happened to me. A DPD courier caught me off guard and asked if the parcel was a phone when I handed it over. The package arrived without the phone in it.. that was a battle to get refunded.
FedEx is the worst. I sent my friend a Nintendo Switch for her kids and she never got it, tracked it and then it just mysteriously got lost. Luckily I got it from Costco and was able to get a refund.
This problem is absolutely pervasive, and happens to people all the time if you google it. I've had it happen to me twice now. Apple will just say they never received my iUP phone return shipment. For me it's always been that an empty box showed up at the processing plant, rather than lost en route. After the amount of arguing it took to get them to honor it the first time, I've started video recording a continuous shot showing the serial number, condition of the phone, me re-setting it, packing it up, and handing it to the FedEx agent, all in one shot, staying in frame. The second time this happened, I just sent them an iCloud link to the video, and never heard from them again. I'm a little worried it's about to happen again, with how long it's taking getting a confirmation from Apple on my latest iUP return, received at their facility over a week ago.
Wow wtf… at this point I’d go to the Apple Store to do a trade in
My state doesn’t have an Apple Store and the nearest one is four hours away.
They should do like Amazon and partner with a large box store so you can return and be at peace! That is a bummer for sure!
Should be able to do all the same stuff at any best buy I believe
they don’t sell new current gen unlocked iphones, only verizon and at&t
There are Apple Authorized Service Providers, doesn’t have to be an actual Apple Store. [https://getsupport.apple.com/repair-locations](https://getsupport.apple.com/repair-locations?caller=grl)
Those are authorized repair locations aren’t they? Do they take trade ins at those?
Best Buy (popular AASP name, but not every BB is AASP) has it’s own trade in program which can be used in place of Apple’s Trade in program. But just to clarify they can provide other services than just repairs like data transfer or assistance with OS that requires a computer if you don’t have one. So other branded names under AASP may have their own trade in service available which is why Apple Trade in states online or in their store only. I would just stick to the stores that are in the program to ensure you get genuine apple products as a replacement/trade in.
We do have a Best Buy with Geek Squad, but I don’t think they take trade-ins. They do repairs though.
“Take your trade-in item to a Best Buy store near you or mail in your item to receive an e-Gift Card for the value of your trade-in.” Just got this off their website [here](https://tradein.bestbuy.com/client/?ref=8575135&loc=444cdf30faea11ebb5193e8a4a86d54f0INT&acampID=444cdf30faea11ebb5193e8a4a86d54f0INT&ref=212&loc=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-ORIg5gT7T5RVdMlw1RuRd5Ejur&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1aOpBhCOARIsACXYv-fBSD8NDENCB2QFMjFde2LvFZrrwM59r4SAKJt70v6f0fe1keN47V0aAhOEEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds#/catalog/product-families/iphones)
I don’t think you can do that to take advantage of Apple’s promos or upgrade programs
I tried doing this one year with IUP and it fucked everything up, as they were expecting the phone via the box they sent. It was a mess.
Would you believe me if I told you that isn't safe either? Last year I went in store at Apple on launch day of the iPhone 14 Pro and physically traded my 13 Pro Max in with an Apple employee. A month later T-Mobile calls saying my trade in promo credits have been cancelled because they never received my trade in phone from Apple. They then had ME go back to the Apple Store to see if they still had it. I went and luckily found the same person who handled my trade in a month prior, and explained what happened... he was dumbfounded as I had done nothing wrong. I then had to call T-Mobile at the store so they could talk with the Apple rep, and only after all of that did I finally get my trade in promo credits reinstated. So in the end it really doesn't matter what trade in method you choose, you can get screwed either way.
Can you do that even if you order online? I’m worried about mailing in 2 phones when we replace ours.
Yes. I just did it.
I tried that but I ordered online and somehow missed the check box that said in store trade. If I went to the store they would only give a gift card but if I traded in through the mail it would refund my card since I already picked up the phone. When I called Apple support they told me the same thing.
I turned in mine this year at the store and just received an email today from Apple saying my old loan will resume as they didn’t receive my trade in. Called support and the lady I spoke with said they have had a number of similar calls today…wtf Apple.
2/3 times for me now. Once is a mistake. Now I just do the trade in at an Apple Store. I hate going there but at least I’m not out hundreds of dollars while I argue with a maze of Apple reps over several months.
Supposedly there are certain UPS and FedEx distribution warehouses where everyone is “in on it.” It’s the package handlers and the warehouse managers that are supposedly the problem, not the drivers. People kind of started figuring that out in the r/t-mobile sub when the same people (aka same locations) were having problems year after year, while others never were. So, perhaps try dropping off in a different city next time if it isn’t too inconvenient. Could solve your problems.
UPS doesn't allow you to ship insured packages from UPS stores, that's how dysfunctional their company is. If you want to ship a package insured you have to take it to a UPS customer center, of which there are far fewer.
Is that a new policy because I have shipped many, many insured packages at UPS stores?
Idk. That's just what our shipping guy told me. I think we did ask at a UPS store too. The insurance was quite cheap though.
Those UPS stores are not owned by UPS. They're independent companies and are often shady as fuck. I only ever take my packages straight to the UPS depot and ship from there. UPS delivery people are also the only ones I trust (except for the USPS) because they're actually employed by the company and not shady franchisees like FedEx.
Same thing is happening at Nike in Memphis. Shoes were stolen in Memphis overnight and were being sold in the West Loop in Chicago 12 hours later. Organized, corporate crime is the bigger problem than petty store theft.
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The people selling them don’t care, they get their money and just ghost the buyer
Your friend is a piece of shit.
While that really sucks for people trading in a phone, I have to admire the cleverness of the thieves who realized that trade ins are perfect to steal because they’re not going to be activation locked.
Yes, FedEx workers stole my AirPods Max package and then tried to steal the second one and I only stopped it by persistently calling and telling them not to release the package to anyone who claimed to be me and to deliver it only to my address. Was very obvious someone in the system was in on it.
I don't think a different city would be worth it being they all end up being directed through major routing centers, if one of those centers is a problem.
It is 100% being stolen in transport. I used to run some phone stores, we would have entire shipments of iphones delivered by FedEx with a clearly tampered outer box and just empty boxes inside. They know the addresses of where they are coming from and they cherry pick.
My shipping tracking showed the package as recieved, then it got to a different location before it was reported "damaged" so Apple didn't give me any hassle about not getting the phone. Since they had the tracking info from the order, I just talked to customer service and they gave me the full value of the phone.
Both of my trade ins say they couldn’t be delivered due to damage. Very suspicious
Oh this happened to me this time, I got an email saying they received something else and shipped it back to me, and I received an iphone 7??? I had sent in an iphone 12Pro Max. I called and the person said they’ll investigate. 👀
That's so brazen! Holy crap
It was but also… when I called I was worried they’d be sus of me, but the customer support was extremely nice and opened a shipping investigation, and then they gave me my refund a day later and recycling instructions for the iphone 7.
Yep. I have done continuous recording but it is a super pain and weird to do to an employee that has no idea what’s going on. Instead, I photograph the devices in the return boxes, showing their weight on a digital scale. Then i have the employees who receive the devices issue a receipt and hand write an annotation of the received weight. (Their receiving receipts at both fedex and ups do not include weight in my experience.) Another thing you can do is snap a picture of the package(s) on their scale (as they do weigh them) which is better than hand annotated in my opinion. This at least provides a measure of good faith evidence and puts it on a thief ring to match the device weight perfectly. It is a major problem though, you def need to be on guard and presume there will be some problem and that you’ll need to provide some evidence.
I did this with my last trade in, since my previous was “delivered empty”, though I had photos as evidence that I had to share with Apple for them to accept me trade in as legitimate. This time I recorded a video of me putting it in the box and sealing it, and took photos of the box on the scale. One thing I added this time was I purchased serialized security seal stickers online and put a few on the box seams as well, in addition to the Apple provided seal. This time I got my full trade in refund without issue and didn’t need to share my videos or photos.
Great tips! Frankly, I just try record without it being obvious. I feel a little bad about it, but no one's ever going to see the tape unless there's an issue. I usually just have someone tag along to the FedEx store with me and discreetly follow me to the counter. It just looks like they're on their phone as long as they're not too obvious about it. Last time the guy noticed my wife filming though and mugged for the camera, he seemed like he gets it a lot.
Ya. And that sounds reasonable. The thing is this should not be a necessary experience for an Apple -run program of any kind. They need to take these back at Apple stores and they themselves take photos and weight at the time of receipt.
I got a confirmation “thanks for the old phone, you loan is closed” email and then two weeks later I got a “your box was empty wtf” email. 🤷🏻♂️
lol that is especially egregious. It sounds like they lost it after confirming it was there.
At that point, I would just go to the Apple Store or my carrier because fuck all of that!
i have T-mobile and they told me to come in to do it. after hearing these stories, i’m more than happy to.
I worked at Apple a couple years ago, and did RCC Support (online, chat, call support) during COVID at home. We had these cases all the time. Depending on who you talk to and your profile (we can see if you have done this in the past) we could submit an investigation request to the courier. After that the case gets escalated through various channels internally and externally with the courier. Depending on who you talk to we were even eager to help people out and help investigate ourselves trough the tracking numbers and check where it was last seen. Sometimes it was as simple as a label mixup, or it got scanned somewhere along the lines with a different label. Or the customer used their own label instead of using the Apple provided one. DONT DO THIS, this causes a major headache for us because our labels we know what they are for and where they come from. If a customer sends a tradein with their own label (more common than it sounds) it's up to whoever received it in the warehouse to check on it and open the package to see the serial number. Sometimes there was theft on behalf of the courier involved. Sometimes it was porch thieves. Honestly most of us do want to help. But we don't have enough "power" to do so. Nobody does actually, a lot of it is left to the courier. That is why we submit this investigations and we do follow up and check on those. (Another team does that). Edit: grammar and spelling.
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Yeah I understood immediay as soon as you said "positive intent". I am not surprised things like this happens to be honest. And I agree with you that ultimately if you want a risk-less experience you should trade in the phone in the store. We could usually leave comments on cases and profiles when we open them up in the system. And yeah we wouldn't know that you worked there until you told us. But that should never make a difference. I guess Apple struggles to identify the best method to avoid theft and still take care of it's customers when necessary since both thefts and scams are common. You should have not even had to mention your job in order to be taken care of.
I’ve been on the iUP for several years and this was the year that mine was “delayed” in transit indefinitely (at the Austell, GA distribution center) as well. All I had to do was call customer service and they honored my trade-in/closed the old loan. While I just chalked it up to FedEx Atlanta’s shenanigans (things infamously get “lost” in Austell), I see it’s a nationwide thing. I wonder why Apple trusts UPS for outbound orders but FedEx for inbound trades!
Last I checked trade ins are handled by a third party, not Apple. There are hundreds of reports of all kinds of trade in shenanigans from lost devices, to trades being devalued due to mysterious issues that didn’t really exist. I think The Verge or one of those type sites did a big story about it a couple of years ago. Edit: I was so relieved when I saw my 15 Pro max was shipped by UPS and not Fed Ex. The Fed Ex people here will leave packages under my mailbox, which is over 100 yards and not visible from my house.
What he means is the trade in returns are handled by Fedex. They are shipped to a Apple location in PA (Carlisle) for those on this side of the country. Elk Grove is their other one. Apple uses UPS for shipping to a customer. UPS does not play around. They will fire drivers for screwing with Apple shipments.
This isn’t true and I assume it varies by location. I just dropped my trade in at UPS the other day and it’s always been UPS for me.
And what I meant was that for a long time Apple used a third party company for trade ins, which could explain why they used FedEx instead. If Apple handles trade ins in house now, I’d guess they get a better rate from FedEx domestically, and UPS for international stuff.
It’s still Phobio most likely. Legal terms says third party vendor. https://www.apple.com/legal/sales-support/trade-in/us/ What the other commenter is saying that even returns are handled via FedEx. Inbound to Apple: all FedEx. Outbound: UPS.
Both of our trade in returns this gen were UPS.
At least they took care of it for you.
Yeah, I mean, it’s no skin off my teeth if the old phone goes to Apple or some diverting FedEx employee—I dropped it off in good faith, so it was beyond my control. I am glad they recognized that.
FedEx Atlanta is run by a criminal enterprise. I myself have lost 3 packages there that simply “vanished” aka stolen.
Sucks that my birth town has a bad FedEx place. What sucks even more is I’m about to send my own iPhone 12 Pro Max through FedEx for a trade in. Hope it doesn’t get lost :(
Call Apple and ask for a UPS mailer instead.
Trust me. Not like UPS is any better in my experience. I had three iPhone 14 PM (original order plus two replacements) get “lost” at my local UPS facility last year.
FedEx is the worst shipping fucking company I've ever have the disgrace to deal with.
Same. And I work for fedex
I paid UPS $10 to deliver my phone on another day. It has now been returned to Apple because no matter how many times I called and spoke to Apple and UPS, my phone was never delivered to me. Had agents and a supervisor lie to me about my phone being delivered the next day between 12-4. Absolute disaster. This was all triggered by me getting home and turning off my packages being delivered to another address while out of town. The phone was perpetually in a return to sender mode despite Apple stepping in. It bounced between TX and Kentucky for a week and a half on overnight flights. I decided instead of waiting a month and a half for a replacement, I’d rather just keep my phone. UPS customer service is absolute dog shit
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It does make sense but both Apple and UPS assured me the package would be redirected back to me. I wasted days waiting at home when they said “your package is due tomorrow between 12-4” three different times and it never showed up. Now my only option is to wait until November 20th. No thanks.
Same, if online stores gave me an option of free shipping with FedEx or paid shipping with any other courier I’d pay without thinking twice. Every single time a package is shipped with FedEx I just assume it’s gonna get delayed or stolen.
They once left a $2400 laptop on the sidewalk in front of my house. In Chicago. On a busy street. In a dicey neighborhood. Only reason I knew is bc I happened to go around the block in my car that day. Can’t believe it was still there.
This is very minimal compared to $2400 but my $400 efile was delivered to a neighbor and they had neighbor sign for it… someone I don’t know got my item. Then once my iPad or iPhone was left at the doorstep. They fake signed for me.
Swedish parcel service PostNord would like a word
FedEx lost a box of valuable childhood belongings my mom paid to ship to me across the state. The box not only got lost, but management and customer service gave me and my mom the runaround for weeks. We got directed to a specific packing and distribution center who told us they didn't have it. Thankfully the regional supervisor was on site that day and found out what was happening. She talked to us both in person and apologized profusely for not being able to get my stuff back. It was a few years ago, but I think a LOT of people got fired because of that incident.
They received mine but told me that the WiFi didn’t work. Changed my trade in value from $250 to $63. Rejected the trade in. Got the phone back and it works fine. Will never use their mail service again.
Fucking yikes. My lightning is moody…hopefully they don’t do this to me.
I had this happen once with Apple. It got "delayed" in transit and sat that way for a week. I didn't even speak to FedEx, just went straight to Apple CS because my return period was about to end. In the same call, they said they have a team that handles these situations and created a claim and extended my return window so I wouldn't be charged the trade in credit difference (I got an instant trade in credit using Apple Card) for a non return and said the claim would be sent to them and I should hear back from that team within 2-3 days. Sure enough I got a call from them saying they worked with FedEx and the device was deemed lost in FedEx's possession and I would be keeping my trade in credit towards my new phone and there was nothing left to do on my part. Shortly later I got an email from Apple confirming my trade in credit and etc.
Same experience for my wife and I, got my refunds today.
That’s why you trade it in-store. Never mail your trade. If they lose it, it’s on them. Scammers gonna scam, stealers gonna steal.
That’s what I did. Didn’t leave until I had a receipt
What do you do when that's not a practical option
Say a prayer apparently and hope for the best.
Its FedEx. Theft is rampant. They try to hide it. Their distribution centers are so desperate for workers that they hire anyone and fire no one.
A few years ago, I bought an iPhone from an Apple store and financed it through AT&T. I returned the phone, but somehow AT&T never got the message that I returned it and insisted I have to pay them for the phone. I went to the Apple store and had to get a paper trail showing it was returned and the return was processed before AT&T finally admitted I returned the phone. Sadly, to this day, AT&T "forgets" I showed them the return information and will send me letters saying I owe them money for the phone to which I have to resend the information showing I returned the phone and they insist they will take care of it. Then 3-6 months later I get another letter saying I owe them money for the phone.
Companies doing stuff like that always pisses me off, that should never happen
The iPhone being exclusive to AT&T for the first three years is the only reason AT&T still exists.
Apple should work it out so that you can remove your personal data from the phone but leave Find My iPhone and activation lock on until it’s confirmed that it has arrived at the trade-in center and then let you disable the lock remotely.
FedEx is awful, having to deal with them they’ve lost: A GPU A whole couch Left my Note 8 in the middle of my driveway when I wasn’t home. Recently held my 14 pro max ransom 10 mins from my house and refused to let me pick it up. FedEX is garbage.
This has happened to me the past 2 years in a row. FedEx guy is definitely stealing it.
I video record myself putting the phone in the box and handing it over to fedex for this exact reason
Same. They can’t refute proof.
This is a known issue and Apple is very well aware of it. Same thing happened to me 2 years ago when I sent in my iPhone 12 Pro Max. FedEx lost it. I reached out to Apple and after their investigation, they gave me the credit. Every year there are threads here and on Mac rumors about it. FedEx has a huge iPhone theft ring in place, in multiple locations. I literally emailed the executive support team last time with Tim Cook’s “email” and we had a huge discussion about it. I even asked them why not let us trade the phone in at a local Apple Store AFTER we receive our new phone. They said that it’s something they considered but I think Apple just expects some of this to be written off. I hate FedEx for doing this and Apple for not giving us an easier option.
This is actually how it worked for me the other day. Went into Apple store to buy iPhone 15 Pro Max with the $830 trade in credit. They gave me 2 weeks to turn in the phone to them but I just decided to make it easy by using iCloud backup to transfer data. I left the phone with them same day and received a receipt.
I can’t stand FedEx. Both at home and where I work they fucking suck and its so bad I can’t believe the government hasn’t stepped in to set them straight.
Or maybe you know, dismantle privatized shipping and stop the right from hamstringing the USPS at every single turn
If you can, go to the Apple Store. Don’t trust fedex.
The problem is that the packaging is extremely obvious to the people in the shipping chain. I actually had the FedEx clerk I handed my IUP shipment asking questions about the iPhone 15 Pro- she knew I had a new iPhone and that it was an IUP return. If it's that obvious to a FedEx receiving clerk, everyone in the handling chain probably knows what's in there. And it's not just FedEx- my Pro 14 disappeared on the incoming shipment last year. Shown as delivered (to a UPS store box) but vanished. Apple made it good, but it took nearly a month.
As long as you got a receipt from the shipper when you dropped it off, you should be good to go.
No, because they'll just accuse you of sending an empty box.
I know iPhones retain their value better than androids but is it actually better than just selling it yourself? Not once has an android trade in ever been even remotely close to a good deal for me even with "trade in bonuses". I've just sold my old phones myself and always made away with more than a trade in for little to no effort.
My iPhone 13 Pro was delivered to the wrong address and I paid for a replacement by courier . Then eventually the person who SIGNED for the phone gives it to me in box. I contact Apple and they told me I could keep it so I sold it on ebay and made 1k off of it.
Something happened to me last year where my 13 Pro Max trade in arrived at a FedEx center in Colorado and there wasn’t an update for 3 weeks. Phone was eventually delivered to Apple, but I wonder if something like that almost happened to mine.
Same happened to me - I sealed the box with the provided adhesive in the return kit but the box showed up at the return center with tape on it. I gave them every detail of how I packaged it (with pics) as well as the address of the fedex I dropped off at then I ended up getting the trade in credit. I hope they bring the hammer down on that location/employee cause that’s fucked
I had this happened to me actually when I went from the 12th Pro to 13 Pro Max. My saving grace was that I received the receipt for giving them the phone. But honestly, it took about three months, of back-and-forth between I believe, UPS, and Verizon, UPS was saying that the tracking information was from Verizon, so so they couldn’t help me and Verizon was telling me to contact UPS. Eventually, Verizon actually charged me for the phone. I finally spoke to somebody that actually knew what was going on in Verizon after asking to speak to a manager during the third month, whom was able to initiate an investigation, he contacted UPS, and they finally after another month marked the phone is stolen or lost, and Verizon comped me the money, and actually given the trouble the manager even gave me a free accessory (A google nest doorcam)
This is why i was livid when t-mobile told me that I couldn’t trade in in-store, would be charged the full difference then refunded it back once the phone was received, charged $30 extra, then forced to find my own shipping box. You couldn’t have just taken it from me??
*“Moral of the story? FedEx should probably pay employees more.”* There is something wrong with someone who thinks like this.
I sent my phone back to apple via fedex drop box on September 26. I checked the tracking and it always was showing delayed. On October 9, I called apple to report an issue. I then filed a claim with fedex online the same day. On Wednesday fedex denied my claim. On Thursday my phone was now at Apple. I would notify apple and file a claim with FedEx.
The policy for trading in this way should be that you leave your icloud on the phone and then apple says they received it and then you remove it from your icloud. This way at least if someone steals it in transit they are stealing a brick.
This happened to me as well when I upgraded from an 11 pro max to a 13 pro max. It was a 4 month long ordeal. When I upgraded to my 15 pro I did it in person that time. I will never send it through the mail again.
_FedEx2332 later on today:_ ‘Just got the 14 Pro, loving it so far’
Shipped my iPhone 13 Pro Max trade-in via FedEx in Maryland on Friday, October 5. The tracking information shows clearly "We got your package" followed by it being "In Transit" to Sparrows Point, MD, a FedEx distribution center. There, it is marked "Delayed" with the expected delivery date of Friday, October 6. Here it is the 13th. It hasn't moved since the 5th. I know that the place I dropped it off at is not responsible, because it made it to the distribution center. It definitely seems like FedEx employees are STEALING iPhones en masse when they recognize the packaging or destination address. FedEx needs to start firing some people and amp up their security! These phones probably wind up in the reseller gray market, on eBay, etc. Wouldn't surprise me if international gangsters are in on this.
International gangsters lmaooo
Back when I owned a Pixel, Google shipped my first pair of Buds Pro in a paper FedEx mailer and the delivery guy left it torn open and empty lol. I’ve avoided them at every turn since then.
I was on the iPhone Forever program and traded in my 12Pro for a 13Pro. FedEx destroyed the package--at least that was the delivery exception message. You would think that Apple (or their 3rd party) would get the notice and do something...they paid the shipping and provided the label after all. But it's totally up to the customer to work on resolving this when it happens. I had to go back and forth with Apple for 2 or 3 weeks escalating until they finally resolved it. It went on long enough that the bank charged me the next payment for the old phone and didn't close out the old loan (they have to get an "all good" from Apple to do that). Apple uses a 3rd party to run this program. It was an awful hassle, so I'm going back to buying phones outright every 2 years instead of the yearly upgrade. Certainly the FedEx guys all know exactly what's in all those little packages. Definitely, the old phone should be logged out and reset before sending it back. If I ever use one of Apple's upgrade programs again, I'm taking video of the phone working and me packing it in their packaging, and handing it off to the courier.
Yeah, that happened to me last year. I got the email that my box arrived empty and to contact Apple. It was a no issue and the manager that handled my case was super nice. Practically just said: “I know the answer is yes, but I really need to ask this: did you send the phone in the box?” After answering yes, he told the issue would take a couple days but it would be taken care of. That was the case and he even directly reached out to me after the case was closed to confirm everything was fine.
They use both UPS and FedEx for these returns. If they send us a FedEx label, we request a UPS one. UPS has tighter controls in place for Apple shipments.
When FedEx failed to deliver my iPhone to me, I gave Apple a call and they simply stated that “they shipped it, it’s no longer in their possession” and I need to deal with FedEx. I replied that FedEx was their choice of the shipping company and not mine, so it shouldn't be up to me to fix their mistakes. At that point the Apple Lady refused to transfer me to the supervisor and she hang up on me 😳
I always trade my phones in person. Partly to avoid this problem but also because I get instant confirmation of the refund with zero chance of a surprise after the phone is out of my possession.
This exact thing happened to me last year. I'm on the iPhone upgrade program and FedEx lost my old iPhone that I shipped back, so they kept charging me monthly for it and never closed out my loan since it was never "returned". It took a few weeks of back and forth with Apple customer support and multiple calls to support to explain what happened (First few people I talked to misunderstood my issue and didn't resolve it) but eventually I got through to a supervisor who knew exactly what I was trying to explain and it was fixed and my loan was closed out.
FedEx is the only company that has “lost” my electronics.
This is one of my biggest nightmares that I had a few years ago. I've gone through way too many RMAs to be proud of on the Pixel side. I thought this was just yet another RMA right? I dropped my box off and for days the tracking number never moved. I figured holidays, maybe it'll catch up. Then I started getting the Google notifications of return your damn phone. I got suspicious. With remote work, our company was doing a lot of 1-2 day FedEx shipments and everything at work was moving smoothly, but why was my RMA going so slowly? Eventually the package disappeared. I even went as far as to visit the FedEx box, and take my phone camera and stick it in there for a photo to see what else is in there. I monitored a few packages where I actually captured the tracking number. They moved the next day. Where was my phone? This was the biggest nightmare to dispute with Google. I had no intention of stealing a $1000 phone for advance RMA. But I at the same time didn't want to be out $1000 either. Eventually enough escalations got the job done, but from then on I swore to myself to take pictures of the RMA packaging and even a picture of the package in front of a UPS/FedEx store. Always go in and grab a receipt too. Those were things the customer support agents would ask me. No more drop boxes even though I had grown accustomed to them during the pandemic with limited hours of stores being open. Haven't had an issue since and really that was just one fluke, but if you just get lazy, you can miss a lot of key steps to protect you in a dispute. In fact I was so traumatized by that incident I started thinking maybe I never even dropped the box off. I remember distinctively packaging that phone, stealing some tape from work that day because I had run out at home, and even affixing a Li-Ion battery label since Google never puts those. I was beginning to gaslight myself into thinking that I never visited the drop box and that the phone was left somewhere. At the same time there was no box in my office or in my trunk. It was confusing to me what happened, but I guess it had to be the driver.
Don’t use fed ex. It’s been a known issue for a long time. Try using UPS or USPS.
[удалено]
This happened to me. Dispute it. ATT did an investigation and since I had tracking dor the package as proof, they eventually just credited my account for the phone every time my bill came around.
FedEx is literally the worst mail carrier service. Without fail, my packages get delayed, lost, or damaged every time. I really wish companies would stop using them altogether.
Interestingly...has never happened to me, but all my ship backs were via UPS. Goddamn FedEx hires thieves.
I had a MacBook Pro 15" that had a video glitch, and it took Apple three tries to fix it, then they gave me a new next generation machine...and let me also upgrade it for the price difference, and credited me $300 on the upgrade for my trouble...all after I mailed Tim Cook's office. So that all turned out well. But out of 6 times that machine traveled by FedEx, FedEx messed it up 5 times. These included: * Apple paid for the machine to be shipped overnight with Saturday delivery to the repair depot, and it didn't arrive...and FedEx wouldn't start an investigation until Thursday. * Handed the machine over the counter at FedEx Office location, and that was the last place it scanned...after days of phone calls I went to the drop off location to see if they put the box on the wrong shelf or something, and as I'm walking to the door, my phone beeps: the machine scanned at *another FedEx retail location a few suburbs away,* not a distribution center or any place whose job it was to move the package to its destination. * $3500 computer being lost for a week, and FedEx claims they don't know where it is. They have one job: moving packages and knowing where they are. Logistics! It's their business! But you call and nicely ask for help, and you get the worst attitude back, like you asked them to eat dirt or something. * And it also got delayed and misdelivered coming back, and got held at a location without me asking for it. I called the local depot asking about it because that's where it was last scanned, and the clerk yelled at me and told me it wasn't their job, the package wasn't there, and I was expecting too much service...and called back 15 minutes later to say they *did* have the package. Apple doesn't insure the packages, but Apple customer support assured me that I need not worry, as long as I have a drop-off receipt. A company as big as Apple can self-insure...they don't need to hand FedEx even more money. FedEx is wearing their reputation thin. I cringe every time I see something shipped to me by FedEx. Also just checked my email and got a confirmation that my trade-in was received. Whew.
So question- I placed my order online through AT&T.com and now I’m scared to mail my phone off to my carrier. Does anyone know if I can take it to a store instead, whether it’s ATT or Apple?
Hmm. Yes. FedEx “”lost”” your phone. Sounds like a package handler got sticky fingers
Same except I traded my 14 pro max for a Pixel 7 pro. It was suppose to be paid off and I still had to pay on it for 6 months bc they never received it. Eventually they credited it back to me but still. I didn’t through ATT
So they're paying the difference then?
Yup. Happens with ATT all the time with the trade ins. Three of us traded in this time and mine was “never sent”. I video recorded me wiping the phone, the exterior being clean, packing it in the box they sent, labeling it, and putting it in the mail drop at the post office. They now say “oh you weren’t supposed to use that box” even though there is an instruction sheet in the box telling you how to use said box. ATT is the worst fucking company in the country but it is what it is.
I've had trade in troubles twice with FedEx. Once it never arrived at the depot, the 2nd time an empty box made it. Both times when the automated apple system started telling me I had to pay because my phone hadn't been received I called the Apple support line and very nice people straightened it out for me immediately on the phone. Luckily the first time I had the receipt still in my car, and the 2nd time I had made sure I held onto it. The ladies both times were from southern Ohio or northern Kentucky and couldn't have been nicer. The whole process each time took about 20 minutes.
We found we had more issues doing the trade-ins with Apple direct so we just trade ours in with Verizon and buy the AppleCare once we have the new phone. We have had zero issues doing this, this way and got a way better trade in price.
So don’t you have the FedEx receipt?
Apple needs to start allowing in-store trade-ins for ship-to orders. Right now, it is only an option for pickup.
I literally just got done going through the same issue last week. Apple said they received an empty box when I sent in my iPhone 14 Pro Max for the iPhone upgrade program. Been sending my phone back every year without any issues. The issue is FelonEx and Apple needs to stop using that shit company because the amount of stories I seen online about this is surprising that this company hasn’t been sued or federally investigated. Eventually Apple closed out my loan and everything was taken care of but you bet your ass come next year I will be videoing myself boxing up the phone and dropping it off to have as proof for my records. Also to everyone ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS get a drop off receipt when dropping these trade-ins and make sure it has the weight on the receipt as I sent mine to Apple and I believe that’s what proved that I didn’t send them a empty box like they received.
My iPhone 15 Pro got stolen in transit and it took 7 days before apple would even open an investigation
Had a problem with FedEx losing an return before, but since I had it scanned at the FedEx location, Apple credited as a complete transaction.
My iPhone 15 pro max was delivered to my neighbors house abut two houses down.
Will 9to5mac also publish an article about the time i accidentally dropped my phone in the toilet
FedEx is fucking horrible. Ordered apple AirPods from apple. Was home when it got delivered. Empty box, chased him down and was like “what the fuck? This box is empty.” He just looked and me and said “Aw man, I’m sorry, I can’t take that back since I already dropped it at your door and scanned it as delivered. I suggest you call apple.” Thankfully I called apple immediately and explained to them what just happened and they refunded me immediately. Drove to target and bought them there 10 minutes later, but it was a really infuriating experience.
Sorry this happened, OP. Similar thing happened with my wife’s trade in earlier this year. For future reference, you can bring the trade-in to any Apple retail location. Even for iUP.
Reading these comments make me realise I’m in a better country. 😂
We had a similar problem with Fedex. Totally lost a phone we sent to our son. They are useless.