Wanting to know where I stand with missing IPhone delivery

Kallaloueye

I ordered an iPhone 16 from Apple 2 weeks ago on a whim (from their official refurb store). I returned it the day I received it, didn’t open it, literally place a printed postage document on and dropped of at my local US collection shop.

Apple emailed me to say that no phone was found in the box upon inspection, they opened a case with only a photo of the drop of receipt I had and now they’ve closed the case stating that they will not be refunding me.

The reason for returning the phone was because I was offered a friends cheap iPhone 15 due to them upgrading, I was literally trying to save money but now I’m almost £700 out of pocket.

Can anyone offer some advice on what I do now? Or do I stand zero chance? The phone was purchased via PayPal pay in 4 interest free if this helps.

Grumpy_chap

my local US collection shop.

What is a US collection shop?

Are you located within the UK?

Do you or Apple have a record of the device details for the iPhone that has gone missing? It should be possible to locate using the 'find my' feature or the device can be blocked.

Jemma01

Oh dear, do you have evidence of the weight of the item you returned?

Ergates

Is "US collection shop" meant to say "UPS collection shop" ?

Did you get a receipt when you dropped it off? Does this receipt include a parcel weight?

Was this a pre-paid returns label provided by the retailer?

Kallaloueye

sorry that was a typo. Meant to say UPS. I do have the drop off confirmation receipt with tracking but doesn’t mention weight.
Yes a pre paid returns label printed at home.

Update: Paypal credit have opened a dispute with Apple, whether this will help or not, who knows.

Ergates

There are two aspects to this:

1. as the courier was arranged and paid for by Apple, then anything that happened to the parcel whilst in transit is their problem - as responsibility for the parcel transferred to them the moment you handed it over to their nominated representative.
2. Unfortunately, whilst the receipt proves you handed it over (so the parcel became their responsibility) it doesn't prove the phone was in the parcel at the point you handed it over (or rather, it doesn't prove that the parcel changed weight whilst in transit). Apple will simply argue that the phone was never in the box.