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My Friend Lost My iPhone 4

I

irDigital0l

Guest
Original poster
Dec 7, 2010
2,901
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So I let my friend use my iPhone today, he put it on top of his locker, when he turned around it was gone.

I've contacted the police, Verizon, going to talk to Apple support real soon; my friends, parents, teachers, all know.

I have Find My iPhone, but I turned off Service Location to save battery. I did have a passcode set and Verizon already has already cut the service for my iphone.

Thing is I still have to pay $30 for 20 months because I have a dataplan 2 year contract. Thats $720 and my iPhone costs $300, case costs $30. Thats $1050.

Should I make the guy that lost my phone pay for something or would that be messed up?

Also can the person why stole my iphone be able to restore it from his PC? Even when I have a passcode?
 
Make him buy you a new phone. Also iTunes will tell you to unlock the phone before doing anything but I'm sure if you put it in dfu mode iTunes will restore it even though it has a passcode.
 
Yeah, agree he owes you a new phone... no excuse to be that careless with a borrowed iPhone.

But then again... better not to loan things you can't afford to lose.
 
Actually if Im going to buy a new iPhone it would cost $749.99, iPhone 4 without 2 year contract is that much so all totaled up would be.... $1,500
 
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Exactly. Or sold it.
 
Well... Sure, it's his fault for being careless. But it's also yours as you should know that you can't control other people's responsibilities. Forcing someone to pay you is never a pleasant experience, it should come right out of him to at the very least compensate you in some way, instead of just having lost it and let you deal with all the trouble. Good luck man :/
 
irDigital0l said:
Actually if Im going to buy a new iPhone it would cost $749.99, iPhone 4 without 2 year contract is that much so all totaled up would be.... $1,500
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No, I say he just owes you the cost of the new iPhone, and not the rest of your Verison contract. But maybe it is cheaper to buy a new one under contract and then pay off the data plan on your old contract.
 
eagleglen said:
No, I say he just owes you the cost of the new iPhone, and not the rest of your Verison contract. But maybe it is cheaper to buy a new one under contract and then pay off the data plan on your old contract.
Click to expand...

Yea $1500 is just the money that I have to spent if he doesnt pay for anything.
 
irDigital0l said:
Yea $1500 is just the money that I have to spent if he doesnt pay for anything.
Click to expand...

Um, I don't get it. Why does he have to pay for the service too? He didn't lose that service, you don't have to pay double for the service, you still have it and can use it long as you have a phone and you aren't going to have to pay for a new contract just cause you changed phones, if he gets you a phone, then you can use that service so you aren't losing that money.

The only possible thing I could see is paying for the service you didn't get to use until he gets you a new phone.
 
I guess it goes without saying that incidents like these potentially terminate friendships >.<
 
If you're not using the iPhone you can call and cancel the data plan. But the line is still under contract so you can't cancel the voice part.
The good thing with the CDMA iPhone is that noone can use or activate it with another account so it won't do any good to the thief.
 
tigress666 said:
Um, I don't get it. Why does he have to pay for the service too? He didn't lose that service, you don't have to pay double for the service, you still have it and can use it long as you have a phone and you aren't going to have to pay for a new contract just cause you changed phones, if he gets you a phone, then you can use that service so you aren't losing that money.

The only possible thing I could see is paying for the service you didn't get to use until he gets you a new phone.
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Im just saying if he doesnt pay for anything then I have to pay $1500, if he pays for the iPhone ($750) I can save $800 or else I have to pay for everything.
 
Who the hell puts their $800 smart phone down ANYWHERE but in their hand, pants, or in a hidden/locked area let alone one that is not their's? Honestly when I hear about lost/broken phones I always think "They better have a damn good reason". I cringe when I see people set their iPhone down on a table and walk away for even 10 seconds!
 
Apple replaces damaged iPhones for far less than the $750 advertised retail price of the device. I don't remember the number off hand. Search these forums and you'll find many people rejoicing that Apple replaced their toileted iPhone for something like $433 or $344 or something.

Maybe they'll do the same for a stolen one? Worth a try. Since you contacted the police, be sure to get a copy of the police report.

Still, I realize that's a lot of $$$. It sounds like you're maybe in high school? (assuming that from mention of lockers) So, $300 or $400 is really a lot of money.

I think your friend owes you. I don't know what your relationship with your friend was like... but what are the chances he's just "cool" about it and pays you? Do his parents know what happened? (If my son lost or broke somebody's $400 thing, I'd actually be pretty much DIEING to settle up, financially.)

Just my two cents' worth...
 
nateo200 said:
Who the hell puts their $800 smart phone down ANYWHERE but in their hand, pants, or in a hidden/locked area let alone one that is not their's? Honestly when I hear about lost/broken phones I always think "They better have a damn good reason"!
Click to expand...

I was VERY lucky this past weekend. I was at a charity event (maybe there are only nice/good people there?) and sat down for a few minutes. Combination of low (beach) chair and fact I was wearing shorts with slickly-lined pockets was bad. My iPhone 4 fell out of my pocket! I didn't realize it for at least 30 minutes. Had that moment of panic. Ran back to where I was sitting and found it literally just sitting there on the ground!

Lucky me. I figure at least 1,000 people walked right past that phone.

Anyhow, just wanted to share that as I read nateo's post (which, btw, I totally agree with).
 
irDigital0l said:
Cant they just sync it to their computer and restore it?
Click to expand...

With CDMA phones, the carrier needs to activate the phone on their side. When you called Verizon, they flagged the phone. So when that person trys to activate it, Verizon will see that it is flagged, and refuse to activate it.

Sorry to hear about your phone being stolen. It's up to you if you want to make your friend pay for it or not. It depends how you look at things. Some people believe that it's your friend's fault for losing your phone so he should pay for it. Other people like myself believe that giving the phone to your friend meant that you took responsibility for everything he does with it.

I'm not telling you whether or not you should ask your friend to pay, but rather that you'll get mixed responses.

Luckily though, you can cancel the data plan if you start using a dumb phone. Maybe you should look on eBay for a Verizon iPhone. Just make sure it has a clean ESN (so you can activate it).
 
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Take him to small claims court if he doesn't pay you for his irresponsibility. He will lose, and if he doesn't pay, put a lien on his property.
 
Sadly, if he doesn't offer to compensate you the chances of this turning into a chase are high. I know it's a lot of money but if you value your friendship the best thing would be to let it go.
 
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