Why do we have to spend so much time working for every corporation we do business with?

Can you get the phone number on there? I'd think it would already be linked.

The phone number isn't anchored to the phone, especially now when sim cards are electronic and not physical.

But good grief, what are these techs for anyway? Why couldn't they just do that?

Apple's another universe from me, but I thought it was supposed to be easier. I know I could walk into my Verizon store and get them to tell me how to make this work.
Maybe you should deal with your service provider, not Apple, at this point. Call ATT (or whoever) and see what they suggest?

Thanks, viva! I'll suggest that when we go to the store.

Be prepared for this path not to work. I suspect adding an iPad as a trusted device to the Apple account requires confirmation from an existing trusted device. I.e. you'll need a time machine to do this before the phone was lost.

I'd love to be wrong, but ... my 2-cents

Surely this problem comes up all the time, because phones get lost or stolen or break. So the provider deactivates the number right away, right? So it's no longer tied to the phone?

Well, I guess these days expecting the usual to work isn't sensible. Nothing seems to go as I think is logical, LOL.

Ah, yes if the iPad has cell capabilities then you should be able to move the number to it. But if it's a dumber iPad (WiFi only), then that's likely not going to work well. I was thinking the iPad was a cheaper WiFi only version.

NOPE

seems to be prepping for a position at the DMV..... don't get me started.

Last week it was the internet on Tuesday and DirecTV on Thursday...because the internet cut the cable from DirecTV's satellite when the (new and higher speed) internet came back to bury the 400 feet of cable from the road to the house. Both were almost, but not quite, as frustrating as this Apple ordeal.

They make it so hard people give up

No help at all.

dear Liza, dear Liza. Wtf?🤬🤯

I've had so many episodes like this, they're too numerous to count at this point. My husband is 72. What he knew about computers went out with the dementia that's possessing him. I've tried to reroute as much as I can through my own phone and/or computers, but there are some things that are just impossible.... like no way to edit information to direct it to another number, etc. The last situation where I got into a round robin of bullshit was on trying to pre-register him for a doctor's appointment. At that point, he didn't have a phone, so I put in my phone number to direct any and all texts... since I'd be the one responsible for each, anyway. Except, we have the same insurer, the same doctor's office and they kept wanting to change MY account. Two hours into every trick I could think of had me shutting everything down and saying "forget it."

I realize things are more complex today than they were even a decade ago. But NOTHING is easy when you're dealing with the diminishing returns of old age and today's technology. And no one has a lick of pity for the position you get placed in. I feel your frustration, every day it seems. I've already lost the intelligent, intellectual, fun loving man I married. And as I get older and less able to keep up with all this crap, I'm wondering how in the hell we're suppose to "carry on."

As millions of us continue to age, and things become more and more standardized for younger people, or people our age who have been working with computers since the beginning, I don't know what's going to happen. But with a republican party that has shown it has no compassion for ANYONE, (except trump, of course) it's probably going to get more difficult. At a time when all the boomers are getting up in age, that's a huge group of people who will be lost as to how to cope with the tech-NO issue.

A great money making opportunity for an organization that can step in and help out!

message is crazy. They ask for a verifying email to recover email account. I have only one email. They have to use my phone number instead. They keep asking.

It kinda does make sense to me, BC. Apple insured and replaced my phone back in 2010. But since then I've heard and read that most carriers won't insure most phones anymore
(State Farm won't insure mine), the liability levels being too high because too many consumers' phones have gotten either lost or stolen during their first decade of use.

But if you have Apple product insurance, there's probably no sense getting upset about Apple, which probably will make good on your coverage. Insuring electronics is a matter of confirming ownership, and the insurance company's policies, that's all. Seems logical that if you want your phone coverage, you'll have to take the time to do what's needed. It's frustrating on a federal holiday weekend, but try to be patient and try tomorrow.

And it's been a run-around the entire time.

But, you're right! It definitely takes time and patience.

thing to keep in mind. You're now in a tech period where by and large, phones just aren't insurable anymore. It's the insurance world's decision and out of our control as consumers.

Hope you take your laptop with you when you next visit Apple or....? Have your phone carrier bill, purchase dates, receipts, etc. and all the deets with you for all the confirmation help you might need.

Sure, Apple can be expensive, but its security and ease of use more than make up for the costs and problems that come with Android world.
Also, and not for nothing, a lost iphone is one of those "live and learn" lessons about how to prevent loss/theft again, right?
I've bought many iPhones (for me & as gifts) since 2010 and have never lost one again, having habitually found a way to keep it on me without holding it. (Holding a phone is asking for trouble. Keep it in a hip pocket. or ANY pocket. I don't buy or wear anything that doesn't have pockets; men invented them centuries ago for important reasons)
Ask techies how to prevent this from happening again; this is their world and they will help you.

what to do, but, yeah, it's been going on for over a week. I've always been extremely careful with my phone, but my husband wasn't born with my OCD tendencies.

I really do like Apple products, and I have everything but the watch that is Apple. When my husband bought his new iPhone in February, I was glad the sales person suggested the insurance, because I know how my husband rolls. The Apple products, to me, are a world above the windows/android type alternatives, but I've only been on Apple since 2011. Before that I dealt with Windows PC's due to my work. I still have a a Windows laptop for some things.

I think my problem is with a corporate culture that requires their customers to spend inordinate amounts of time trying to get help or service, and then an inordinate amount of time trying to correct that service when it doesn't go as described.

Apple's strengths. There's a reason they're the largest tech firm in the world. Hope your husband learns from this loss, and comes to accept that taking care of expensive stuff isn't OCD at all, but common sense (no offense), cuz with new tech come new habits, right?

In my house, we're breathing a sigh of relief because it's the last hours of the holiday and we haven't had a plumbing emergency like we did on Memorial weekend AND President's day.

I do try not to get superstitious, but I definitely knocked on wood just now.

been for the Apple employee to just type in the claim on one of the computers at the store?

and they told us they made us an appointment and for us to come in. I'm here to tell you, someone in that Apple store could have helped us if they cared about anything but sales.

We have been having very poor signal quality on our cable.
After giving us new hardware, thinking that would fix it, they set up a tech appointment to check signal strength. (About 15 years ago, this happened and they found a bad amplifier on the line outside.)
Well, I got an email confirming the appointment fir today between 1 & 3.
At 2:50, with no text informing us they were on the way, I went back to the email.
There is a link to "Manage our appointment.".
I clicked it and it says we have no appointment. The link on the email confirming the appointment says I have no appointment.
I screenshotted that message & saved the email. Now I have to drive there again to show them those 2 things on my phone. Not as long a drive as you, but it's not just down the street either.
So, I get your irritation.

On the same complaint! I know exactly how frustrated you had to be.

It's clearly a scam. You might consider reporting it to your state AG.

I think I will. Our AG's a democrat! At least we know he'll listen.

...or whatever it is called. With everything going online -- made worse by the trumpist obsession with surveillance technology -- and scammers getting savvier, making it possible for spouses, relatives, and caregivers to be vetted for some forms of access is essential. Companies expect us to be trapped into using a whole suite of their company's devices, to "upgrade" them, and stay locked into their particular cloud storage...until they choose to lock you out.

There was a class action lawsuit against Apple in California, dealing with some of this territory. California has some of the best protections of consumers as far as internet rights, and the consumers still lost. I am one of many (not in CA) locked out of years of files, info, photos and everything -- becausey account got hacked and Apple nullified my ID. For all the extra money I paid as an Apple user each month, there was no recourse.

But things like this drove me away.

They need to know their ridiculous "rules" will cost them customers. After hearing your tale, I wouldn't get an Apple phone if you paid me!

ask for an explanation and apology in writing

go to the apple store and ask for an apology in writing

go to local tv channel and give them the details

video everything

They used to have higher tier support personnel address those concerns. I don't know if that's still the case and it's not as helpful for immediate needs, but there's never anything wrong with a paper trail.

person in possession probabaly can't open the phone they should see a banner on the lock screen that could say "call ###-###-#### for a reward!"

Daughter’s phone died after my husband placed it in a bag with wet gear. Went to Verizon to get replaced since it was insured. But needed her Apple ID, which of course she didn’t remember. She could only reset it using a code sent to her dead phone. 🙄

Got it figured out by adding a new line to my account (there was a promotion so no extra charge) so the new number could be switched to the dead phone and her number put on the new phone.

Took another week or so to reset the Apple ID though.

I hope you get this resolved soon, and then send Apple a scathing letter. Best of luck

It is, on an almost daily basis, something that continues to drive my depression and disgust with the modern world ever deeper. This will not be fixed. It will only get worse. I too am 70 and every time I encounter this level of frustration I get one step closer to stepping in front of a train. I've had a nice life so far. I am quite convinced that things will not get better. Might as well just cut it off now.
(Not ready to take that awful step yet, but it is on the list of possibilities.)