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need help

H

hargate

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 16, 2009
8
0
I am a long time blackberry user who just upgraded to the new storm and signed a 2 year plan

I have a 1st gen ipod touch 16gig and a 80gig classic.

I found an iphone. have no idea what kind. it says 16 gig on the back and has a white back cover. The screen is shattered with some of the pieces missing. I found it on the floor of a bar in SC. Bar name "village idiot" ( I think ) I live in NC and was in SC for the Florida South Carolina football game on November the 14th. I tried to turn it in to the bar but they took one look and said "not gonna be responsible. It looks ruined anyway. Give it to a cop"

Long story short I am home now and am trying to do the right thing. Apple Care told me to call ATT after holding forever. ATT could not process the number on the SIM after telling me how to get it out and directed me to a local factory store. I called them and they said to drop it off and maybe they could find the owner.

I am not going to drop it off only to have it repaired/resold/stolen by staff. I left them my contact number and the sim card number.

I have posted this story on some "lost iphone/found iphone" and heva yet to hear anything.

I am sure I could call someone in the library if I could get into it. It was dead (battery) but I charged it on my docking.

I don"t want to try too much on my PC because I am terrified that a red flag will go up and someone may get the wrong idea. I have lost my BB before with hundreds of contacts that i could not restore and am REALLY trying to do the right thing.

Is there another site or anything else I can do to try to return this phone outside of giving it away to employees of an att store? Trying to be honest and nice is becoming a hassle.

Thanks for help and forgive the long post
 
jmann said:
No "red flag" is going to happen. Charge the phone and look through the library. Problem solved.
Click to expand...

OK. If you say so. How do you recommend I go around the little "disabled" problem. I have charged it but it just tells me to plug it into Itunes. I have Itunes and was afraid a phone on the wrong Itunes would trigger a "stolen" phone trying to be activated. That is my concern.
 
Well it should unlock when you plug it in. It might want to be plugged into it's original computer. But it is worth a try. If they had a "red flag" type thing. People wouldn't need the "find my iphone" mobile me feature and wouldn't be crying about their lost phones. Unfortunately Apple nor AT&T offer something like that.
 
jmann said:
Well it should unlock when you plug it in. It might want to be plugged into it's original computer. But it is worth a try. If they had a "red flag" type thing. People wouldn't need the "find my iphone" mobile me feature and wouldn't be crying about their lost phones. Unfortunately Apple nor AT&T offer something like that.
Click to expand...

I will try it and let you know. Without finding the original owner and original Itunes is the thing junk? Is it worth anything to the hourly paid college dropouts working the floor at the local ATT wireless showroom.
 
well it lights up and I se the same slide to unlock mechanism that is on my ipod touch but it says phone is disabled at the top and will only go to the "emergency call" screen.

I guess I should trash it or drop it off at ATT for some kid to hack, repair, and sell to somebody.

I guess I would use it as another ipod for the boat or something if the owner does not contact me after a certain amount of days but this thing is so locked up it looks to be useless now.
 
First: You're to be commended.

Next: I'd take it to the AT&T store and stand right there while they look up the owner. Then call him/her yourself and arrange for them to retrieve the phone from you.

I'd expect AT&T would be more than happy to do this for you as a service to their customer. Go during a non-peak hour so they're not stressed for time. Just be firm that you want to be sure it gets back to its rightful owner and will hold onto it until then, thankyouverymuch.

Having had an iPhone stolen myself, on behalf of the owner: thank you for your conscientiousness and the time you're putting into this. Good on ya'.
 
The disabled probably means it was reported stolen by the owner.

So, go to the AT&T store. They may already have a notation in their system about this phone.

I would not do the restore-from-new thing unless you intend to keep the phone, in which case you'll still need to deal with AT&T, and that might indeed raise red flags.
 
sjinsjca said:
First: You're to be commended.

Next: I'd take it to the AT&T store and stand right there while they look up the owner. Then call him/her yourself and arrange for them to retrieve the phone from you.

I'd expect AT&T would be more than happy to do this for you as a service to their customer. Go during a non-peak hour so they're not stressed for time. Just be firm that you want to be sure it gets back to its rightful owner and will hold onto it until then, thankyouverymuch.

Having had an iPhone stolen myself, on behalf of the owner: thank you for your conscientiousness and the time you're putting into this. Good on ya'.
Click to expand...

I will have time to stop by tomorrow and try this. will update.
 
sjinsjca said:
The disabled probably means it was reported stolen by the owner.

So, go to the AT&T store. They may already have a notation in their system about this phone.

I would not do the restore-from-new thing unless you intend to keep the phone, in which case you'll still need to deal with AT&T, and that might indeed raise red flags.
Click to expand...

I do not intend on doing anything that would erase the data until some time has passed. The data is the inly thing worth anything here (or possibility of data anyway) the phone looks like it has been put through hell.
 
still no luck

ok so I visited att factory store and they wanted me to leave them the phone. I didn't. Didn't even carry it with me. I left my contact info and the SIM number off the card and told them to not call me but gladly hand my contact info. to the owner if the owner was located.

I guess we'll see.
 
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