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Apple Stole my SIM Card. :(

D

Doju

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 16, 2008
1,510
1
I dropped my iPhone in water last week, and today I got my replacement ($291.54 later...) today.

I turned it on, to be greeted with "No SIM Card Installed". Okay, looking around in the package for a SIM Card, I don't find one. Huh? Where's my new SIM Card?

I call Apple. After literally being transferred through four departments, the last being the one I started on, the guy said "Oh, you were supposed to take the SIM Card out of the broken phone before you ship it back."

What? I was never told that. The guy I talked to about the replacement gave me my order number and told me to expect the phone in by next week. Nothing else. Definitely nothing about keeping the SIM Card.

And even if I did, I dropped it in a pool, if it fried the phone it definitely friend the SIM Card, keeping it would have done me no good.

I tell the guy this, he says to go to an AT&T Store. I then ask what he's talking about... I called Apple Canada... we have no AT&T. He says "Oh yeah, Rogers."

So I go to a Rogers store, and they want $40 for a new SIM Card.

I am not paying $40 for a new SIM Card that Apple messed up about. I already paid near $300 for a new phone, I'm not exactly happy about spending money on their mistake.

What are my options? Can I use it without the SIM Card (WiFi, camera, etc.) for now?
 
In the sates a lot of customers like calling customer care and having them note the account ordering the sales rep to give the customer a new sim card free of charge.
 
Man sorry to hear that, but imo you SHOULD have kept back the sim card.. in most cases the sim would still be ok, even if the phone as you said was fried.
 
OutSpoken said:
Man sorry to hear that, but imo you SHOULD have kept back the sim card.. in most cases the sim would still be ok, even if the phone as you said was fried.
Click to expand...
I guess I realize that now, but considering Apple didn't tell me to... :/

And thanks Small White Car, I may try that.
 
Small White Car said:
That sucks. I went to AT&T and said I was getting a lot of dropped calls and they gave me a new SIM for free.

I don't know if that was AT&T policy or if they were being nice to me.

$40??
Click to expand...

That's just AT&T's policy. SIM cards are free. I've had two replaced because I thought they were faulty. No problem.

Apparently, Rogers is ridiculous.
 
jaw04005 said:
That's just AT&T's policy. SIM cards are free. I've had two replaced because I thought they were faulty. No problem.

Apparently, Rogers is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Thats only AT&Ts policy if you return the old one, I had to get mine replaced because it wouldn't activate in an iPhone. But if you loose your old one, they will charge you for the new one.

I would call apple and have them put a note to say to give the old one back.
 
what you do is call Rogers and tell them that Apple forgot to send you a sim card with your replacement iphone. tell them that you were told by apple to come to a rogers store and pick one up at no additional cost. see what happens
:)

most places have extra sim cards laying around, so they can just avtivate one for yah

*i used to be a rogers rep*
 
No way.

You FORGOT your sim card and now blame Apple for your own mistake.
In the instruction manual they send you with the empty box, it is clearly stated that you should remove the SIM and send the iphone as is, with no accessories.

They even send you a replacement "SIM extraction tool" a.k.a plain old paper clip.
 
Sorry Doju and no offense, but surely you'd want to use your SIM Card in a different phone while your replacement was on its way? Then it would occur to you to remove your SIM.

When I sent my iPhone in for repair, I received a replacement as it was "beyond repair"; minus my screen cover :) It was no biggie, I expected them to remove it, as I believe they have no system of making sure each SIM is returned to its owner as I'm sure they process thousands of iPhones a week.

Did you honestly think Apple would ship you a new SIM or take your SIM out and pre-load your new iPhone?
They ship out the replacements like the originals. Boxed. No SIM. And minus the accessories for the replacements.

But sorry man.
 
Apple didn't steal your sim, you gave it to them.

When I dropped my iPhone in water the sim was fine. Used in an old phone until I got my replacement, then the same sim went in the replacement iPhone.
 
I don't think you need anymore bashing for forgetting to remove and keep your SIM card, so i'll bypass my standard snarky comments.

I would call AppleCare, say you made a mistake and left the SIM in there and that Rodgers now wants CD$40 and see what they say, they are customer service oriented so they may help you.

To those talking about AT&T, I went into AT&T and told them that I wanted to try a new SIM because my service was spotty at home and the girl told me "No Problem, that's easy". She then told me that they had recently upgraded SIM cards and that she would give me the new, "better" one. I put it in quotations because that's debatable. Anyway, she activated the new one, put it in my iPhone, then she taped my old one to the card the SIM comes on and gave it back to me. Yes, she let me keep my old SIM. I don't know what good it does to have it, maybe if I had contacts on it ... but I have both.
 
I think charging for a new sim is ridiculous, you pay for the service and the sim is needed to access the service so they should replace it for free.
I live in the UK and when I lost my phone O2 replaced my sim and posted it to me for free.
 
mackmgg said:
Thats only AT&Ts policy if you return the old one, I had to get mine replaced because it wouldn't activate in an iPhone. But if you loose your old one, they will charge you for the new one.

I would call apple and have them put a note to say to give the old one back.
Click to expand...

Nope, I've gotten them replaced without the old one on separate occasions in two different states.
 
Doju said:
And even if I did, I dropped it in a pool, if it fried the phone it definitely friend the SIM Card, keeping it would have done me no good.
Click to expand...

Actually, SIM cards are quite resilient. Takes a lot to kill one. Probably would have been fine.
 
sallythemac said:
Actually, SIM cards are quite resilient. Takes a lot to kill one. Probably would have been fine.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it seems unlikely to me that it would have been destroyed, although playing along with the OP's argument, as dropping the iPhone in the pool was negligence and the OP was responsible for destroying the iPhone, were the claim that the SIM were destroyed also true, I'm not sure why it would be Apple's fault for taking your self-destroyed SIM and not giving it back to you, since it appears the Rogers rep would have tried to charge you anyway. :p

But just keep badgering customer care and they'll probably eventually relent and just give you the SIM. :p
 
Here in the U.S I just walk into a store and tell them I've lost my Sim card, and they would just give me one FREE
 
mackmgg said:
Thats only AT&Ts policy if you return the old one, I had to get mine replaced because it wouldn't activate in an iPhone. But if you loose your old one, they will charge you for the new one.

I would call apple and have them put a note to say to give the old one back.
Click to expand...

Regardless of whats AT&T's official policy is, I have always been able to get a replacement SIM card for free without the old one, but this changes store to store, so you may have to call around. My suggestion to the OP is to try multiple Rogers stores and see if you can find one store that is lax on the SIM card policy.
 
jmmo20 said:
No way.

You FORGOT your sim card and now blame Apple for your own mistake.
In the instruction manual they send you with the empty box, it is clearly stated that you should remove the SIM and send the iphone as is, with no accessories.

They even send you a replacement "SIM extraction tool" a.k.a plain old paper clip.
Click to expand...
Wrong.

They gave me the box, and the guy wanted the phone to return right then and there. I didn't have time to read it, I just gave him my old phone and went to play with my new one.

To the person saying that I put it in another phone... what if I didn't have another phone... Which I didn't, so I had no reason to take it out.

All I'm saying, is if Apple told me to take it out, that'd be great. They didn't.

Apple was useless, said to go into an AT&T store and get one free. That'd be awesome, but I'm Canadian.

So I called Fedex and they're bringing the guy back.
 
mkrishnan said:
I'm not sure why it would be Apple's fault for taking your self-destroyed SIM and not giving it back to you, since it appears the Rogers rep would have tried to charge you anyway. :p
Click to expand...

Doju said:
Wrong.

They gave me the box, and the guy wanted the phone to return right then and there. I didn't have time to read it, I just gave him my old phone and went to play with my new one.

To the person saying that I put it in another phone... what if I didn't have another phone... Which I didn't, so I had no reason to take it out.

All I'm saying, is if Apple told me to take it out, that'd be great. They didn't.
Click to expand...

So you handed the phone in thinking that because the SIM card was destroyed (correct?) Apple would replace the phone and the SIM at the same card.
I also trust you were unaware that you needed to exchange your iPhone immediately given that from what you said, "right then, right there" it was "all of a sudden" event.
Had you had prior talks and checked with Apple and were aware your phone would be exchanged on the spot you might have come armed with your SIM removed and data wiped and all accessories removed.

Although, following on from what mkrishnan said, if your sim was destroyed by you, no-one else is liable and Rogers would have charged you anyway for a new SIM.
 
Apple didn't steal anything, you forgot it..
And water has no effect on SIM cards, as long as it's dry when you put it in the phone (Obviously).
 
Small White Car said:
That sucks. I went to AT&T and said I was getting a lot of dropped calls and they gave me a new SIM for free.

I don't know if that was AT&T policy or if they were being nice to me.

$40??
Click to expand...

Totally normal in my experience, especially after a big tower update in the area. When I was in school, AT&T did a massive 3G/tower update/rollout in the area. My older SIM couldn't talk to any of the newer towers so I was stuck with 1-2bars while my g/f had 5 everywhere. One trip to the AT&T store in town and I had 5-bar coverage for $0 :)
 
Duh, your SIM card is in your other iPhone. For future reference, anytime you get a replacement, make sure you take out the SIM card. Same thing if you decide to sell an iPhone, "Take the SIM card out!" It doesn't benefit anyone but yourself....:rolleyes:
 
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