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Sign up with GoogleiPhone repairs at CellC require your AppleID and Password...apparantley
If it happened as you said,revealing the store is not a problem, you are reporting a fact. They may not like it, but a fact none the less.
If a dispute, request they produce the book/form: It needs to be complete, with your page entry, and if forms, yours and all past forms ....anything missing or deletions indicate some issues ......records will need to have been kept.
It may be worth bringing this to the attention of Apple...some SA iTunes account holders may have reported issues with their accounts?
If a dispute, request they produce the book/form: It needs to be complete, with your page entry, and if forms, yours and all past forms ....anything missing or deletions indicate some issues ......records will need to have been kept.
It may be worth bringing this to the attention of Apple...some SA iTunes account holders may have reported issues with their accounts?
Yes, beginning to appear as a fabrication. OP is afraid of legal action, but didn't have a problem in naming the company. Now all the stores are suspect?
Wow, talk about jumping to conclusions guys, take it easy. No fabrications here or sinister inter-company espionage, being totally truthful about the whole story. (Somebody's been playing too much Syndicate - joke)
Maybe the way I relayed the experience has given rise to suspicion, I cannot account for every conclusion that might arise and I've tried to be as objective as possible here. My intent was to relay an experience that made me feel uneasy and to possibly create some awareness to what's going on and maybe somebody that's not technically minded or conscious of security implications might see this post and it could've enlightened them to what's going on out there and to just be aware of this. My intent was certainly not to create the impression that every single CellC store is doing this or to create mistrust of CellC as a whole.
Actually, aside from this experience, I have had very good service from CellC, I've been a customer of their's for just over 7 years now and I have not thought of leaving them due to any form of poor service. I'm also not one of those people that say nothing when I experience good service and then jump on a forum to complain and rant at the first sign of bad service. I compliment and acknowledge good service when I experience it, just the same.
Certainly, what is evident about my experience is that somebody, somewhere suggested or thought that it would be a good idea to ask customer's for their Apple ID's and passwords without fully realising or understanding the implications or possible security incursions that might occur to a customer or to their image/brand.
Anyway, now that I think I have cleared up my intentions and sufficiently explained myself...here's the conclusion of my experience...if you're still interested.
I escalated the matter to the store manager (at least I think she was the manager on duty at the time, it was a Saturday) and I informed her of all the different things that people store on their Apple ID's and what info somebody might have access to if they were to attain somebody's Apple ID, she informed me that they were unaware of the level of complexity that Apple ID's actually carry and that they were not aware that so much info and types of data is actually stored on and Apple ID & iCould and so on.
She informed me that the reason the technical/repair teams request the Apple ID's is so that they are able to backup the iphones prior to working on them and then if need be, restoring the backups. Also, if a phone cannot be repaired, then they are able to give the customer a refurbished phone with all their apps etc. in place.
After I explained all of this to them they agreed that while the intention might be an innocent one, asking people for that security info is something that shouldn't be taken for granted. I suggested that what they could do was instead of asking people for that info, explain to them that they need to backup all their data first, or if they need assistance in backing up their phone, point them in the right direction for assistance ~ that way you're educating your customer base and showing that you know what the implications are, I think as a service provider, you would get more respect with this approach...but then you also get those customers that "just want the job done no matter what" for them, I feel it should be explained to them what they're actually relinquishing first, and then if the customer doesn't care and wants to give it over, then fine, sign a waver form and off you go...but to outright ask for it is a bad idea.
So after everything is said and done, it would seem that the intention, even though careless, might not have been sinister.
And that what might have started out as a suggestion or process by somebody to assist customers, has led to this.
Again, I feel it boils down to many things, corporate policy and education being 2 of the leading ones.
I doubt I would've had this experience if I had taken my phone to an iStore because for them, brand & support for Apple products, is top priority.
But I can't take my iPhone to an iStore because my warranty is held by CellC, basically Apple and Apple iStore won't even look at it ~ they told me this on the phone. So while CellC is trying to assist customers as best they can, and try to learn as much as they can about every single handset, configuration, online cloud service etc. these things are gonna happen.
I think now that I've had time to cool off, I can understand that reasoning...but I don't think it should be ignored.
I try to see both sides of the story and if I can, I always try to see an opportunity to better it.
If anybody from CellC see's this, I think that what they can take from this, is that, in the heat of the moment, especially in repair and aftersales queries, you need to have a strict process in place that shows the customer you are ON IT, and then deliver on it.
My experience was broken, I was mis-informed along the way, I never trusted that the people dealing with me, knew more than me, which I think is extremely important. When I take my car to a mechanic, I must at least feel that he knows exactly what he's doing and that it's the best course of action...I don't want to have to explain things to him that he should know...same thing here.
Anyway, that was a helluva long post, if anybody reads it I hope it adequately relays not only that I'm not a fraud, but that I'm just another customer that has an opinion of something that could be handled differently so that processes can be improved upon and the next person might not have to fight the same battle I had to.
Thanks for reading.
Maybe the way I relayed the experience has given rise to suspicion, I cannot account for every conclusion that might arise and I've tried to be as objective as possible here. My intent was to relay an experience that made me feel uneasy and to possibly create some awareness to what's going on and maybe somebody that's not technically minded or conscious of security implications might see this post and it could've enlightened them to what's going on out there and to just be aware of this. My intent was certainly not to create the impression that every single CellC store is doing this or to create mistrust of CellC as a whole.
Actually, aside from this experience, I have had very good service from CellC, I've been a customer of their's for just over 7 years now and I have not thought of leaving them due to any form of poor service. I'm also not one of those people that say nothing when I experience good service and then jump on a forum to complain and rant at the first sign of bad service. I compliment and acknowledge good service when I experience it, just the same.
Certainly, what is evident about my experience is that somebody, somewhere suggested or thought that it would be a good idea to ask customer's for their Apple ID's and passwords without fully realising or understanding the implications or possible security incursions that might occur to a customer or to their image/brand.
Anyway, now that I think I have cleared up my intentions and sufficiently explained myself...here's the conclusion of my experience...if you're still interested.
I escalated the matter to the store manager (at least I think she was the manager on duty at the time, it was a Saturday) and I informed her of all the different things that people store on their Apple ID's and what info somebody might have access to if they were to attain somebody's Apple ID, she informed me that they were unaware of the level of complexity that Apple ID's actually carry and that they were not aware that so much info and types of data is actually stored on and Apple ID & iCould and so on.
She informed me that the reason the technical/repair teams request the Apple ID's is so that they are able to backup the iphones prior to working on them and then if need be, restoring the backups. Also, if a phone cannot be repaired, then they are able to give the customer a refurbished phone with all their apps etc. in place.
After I explained all of this to them they agreed that while the intention might be an innocent one, asking people for that security info is something that shouldn't be taken for granted. I suggested that what they could do was instead of asking people for that info, explain to them that they need to backup all their data first, or if they need assistance in backing up their phone, point them in the right direction for assistance ~ that way you're educating your customer base and showing that you know what the implications are, I think as a service provider, you would get more respect with this approach...but then you also get those customers that "just want the job done no matter what" for them, I feel it should be explained to them what they're actually relinquishing first, and then if the customer doesn't care and wants to give it over, then fine, sign a waver form and off you go...but to outright ask for it is a bad idea.
So after everything is said and done, it would seem that the intention, even though careless, might not have been sinister.
And that what might have started out as a suggestion or process by somebody to assist customers, has led to this.
Again, I feel it boils down to many things, corporate policy and education being 2 of the leading ones.
I doubt I would've had this experience if I had taken my phone to an iStore because for them, brand & support for Apple products, is top priority.
But I can't take my iPhone to an iStore because my warranty is held by CellC, basically Apple and Apple iStore won't even look at it ~ they told me this on the phone. So while CellC is trying to assist customers as best they can, and try to learn as much as they can about every single handset, configuration, online cloud service etc. these things are gonna happen.
I think now that I've had time to cool off, I can understand that reasoning...but I don't think it should be ignored.
I try to see both sides of the story and if I can, I always try to see an opportunity to better it.
If anybody from CellC see's this, I think that what they can take from this, is that, in the heat of the moment, especially in repair and aftersales queries, you need to have a strict process in place that shows the customer you are ON IT, and then deliver on it.
My experience was broken, I was mis-informed along the way, I never trusted that the people dealing with me, knew more than me, which I think is extremely important. When I take my car to a mechanic, I must at least feel that he knows exactly what he's doing and that it's the best course of action...I don't want to have to explain things to him that he should know...same thing here.
Anyway, that was a helluva long post, if anybody reads it I hope it adequately relays not only that I'm not a fraud, but that I'm just another customer that has an opinion of something that could be handled differently so that processes can be improved upon and the next person might not have to fight the same battle I had to.
Thanks for reading.
Scorpse,
The store managers response is a crock of rubbish
If she doesnt realise the implication of asking people for their apple id etc., then she should be managing a pizza shop.
Its the customers responsibility to back up the phone.
Anyone who sends their phone into that store is taking a risk with their privacy.
Like giving your bank details to some stranger in Nigeria so that they can depost "a lot of cash" into your account.
A lot of gullible people about it seems.
With an applie id and the password, you can hijack someomes apple id and have access to their purchase items. And you can buy a few items on their apple id before they realise whats happening and download it to a pc. Lots of sites which tell you how to do this to "back up your itunes library".
I wonder how many apple id's the techies have harvested
The store managers response is a crock of rubbish
If she doesnt realise the implication of asking people for their apple id etc., then she should be managing a pizza shop.
Its the customers responsibility to back up the phone.
Anyone who sends their phone into that store is taking a risk with their privacy.
Like giving your bank details to some stranger in Nigeria so that they can depost "a lot of cash" into your account.
A lot of gullible people about it seems.
With an applie id and the password, you can hijack someomes apple id and have access to their purchase items. And you can buy a few items on their apple id before they realise whats happening and download it to a pc. Lots of sites which tell you how to do this to "back up your itunes library".
I wonder how many apple id's the techies have harvested
Last edited:
tRoN
Executive Member
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2007
- Messages
- 6,739
I am still skeptical about the OP experience. Either he is lying or the store is really running a scam and everyone is in on it including the manager.
I still don't buy the fact that the techs want to go through the the trouble of backing up and restoring the device.
In situations I have had the store actually makes u sign a disclaimer that all data on the device will be lost.
I still don't buy the fact that the techs want to go through the the trouble of backing up and restoring the device.
In situations I have had the store actually makes u sign a disclaimer that all data on the device will be lost.