A 68-year-old pensioner is suing Apple for “[wiping] away his life” after staff at the Regent Street Apple Store in London accidentally deleted his photos and contacts while fixing his iPhone 5.
Londoner Deric White lost photos from his honeymoon, along with 15 years’ worth of contact numbers.
“My life was saved on that phone,” he said. “I lost my favorite video of a giant tortoise biting my hand on honeymoon in the Seychelles.”
White took his iPhone 5 into the Apple Store after it suffered an unspecified fault. Staffers fixed it, but after they handed it back to White, he discovered his data had been wiped. According to White, “It was only after staff fiddled around they asked if I’d backed my things up.”
He says that he and his wife burst into tears when they realized what had happened. White’s case will be heard today. He is asking for £5,000 ($7,500) in damages, which he says he will spend on a second honeymoon in the event that he wins.
Apple argues that, “The claimant has not demonstrated how he suffered any loss.”
While I definitely feel for White (who among us doesn’t have an older family member who struggles with gadgets?), it’s tough to see why Apple is at fault here. There are various ways of backing up your iPhone contacts and photos, which are far easier than they were in the past.
Still, it’s another reminder of just how important our mobile devices are in terms of documenting our lives here in 2015!
Source: The Sun
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
49 responses to “Unhappy customer sues Apple for deleting his iPhone photos”
It is literally your responsibility to make sure your important things are safe and backed up. Apple’s customers are so spoiled. It’s like a cultural thing with us, I think. Everyone wants to blame Apple instead of taking responsibility or having common sense.
Somewhat disagree.
The “You had a back-up, right?” is the kind of statement I expect some neophyte to make–not a professional technician. If there’s a chance that the service will cause me to lose data, I expect to know before the service is started, not after. If I give the phone to “Joe’s iPhone Repair and Vinyl Siding,” I might understand this kind of poor service.
While I agree that I should have a back-up in the event that the phone is destroyed–and, personally, I do–when I go in for service at Apple, I expect them to at least warn me that this is a possibility. Yes, Apple repair techs have software to back-up and restore a phone and they should have done that before servicing the phone.
It is not Apple or any technicians responsibility to backup your phone… That is your own loss if you don’t take responsibility for you data. There is this wonderful thing called the Cloud which in this case would have prevented the loss of data. Even if you are not up to date with the latest tech, you should at least make some effort to keep your data safe. It’s that’s guy’s own fault, not a technician and SURELY not Apple’s…
It’s Apple’s business to protect themselves from sometimes obscure and abusive lawsuits. Asking if there is a backup and advising of the possibility of losing data is in their interest, protects them AND is excellent service.
Not doing it will result in obscure and abusive lawsuits
Oh so you where there when the technician asked the guy if he backed up? For all that you know the guy’s iPhone was already in recovery mode and already whipped clean when he handed it to the technician!
Why is Apple fighting this. Give the poor guy 5000 cash and end this. Your lawyer is gonna make more money off you in a day.
Apple might be afraid of the precedent it would set, if they just gave the guy the money.
If Apple gave $5000 to everyone crying over not backing up data they would be bankrupt within a year. Why is Apple responsible for someone else not properly backing up their device?
Apple is responsible for wiping the device. If they don’t check if clients have made backups before and proceed.. they are at fault. If they check and the client says he has no backup…they have the responsibility to tell the client what will happen… and proceed ONLY if the client agrees… Otherwise, they take the risk of being sued.
Backups are the responsibility of the user, not Apple. Simple as that. It’s good if the tech asks first, and I think they should. But we’re also only hearing one side of this story and it’s presented as favorable to the plaintiff. What if the tech *did* ask before doing work? Don’t assume facts not in evidence.
Judge ruled store staff was negligent. End of the discussion…
Yeah, these days there are quite a few judges who like to stick it to corporations.
Actually, that’s stipulation, I’ve seen the scenario a thousand times, and I guarantee you, it’s highly unlikely Apple didn’t check. Customers here what they want and say what they want. the story only says the device developed a fault. Chances are, that was a phone in recovery mode, so the content was no longer on the phone anyway. If customers can’t take the effort to back up their own content, which is SO easy with iCloud, then they get what they are asking for. With the setup assistant in iOS 5 and above, you actually have to intentionally chose NOT to back up your photos.
Judge ruled store staff was negligent. End of the discussion.
SERIOUSLY??? It’s 2015 for God’s sake! Haven’t we been warned for year after year to BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP! If you still don’t get it, it’s your own fault. That guy was an idiot to assume his data will still be there. Everyone knows when you go to a repair shop to backup your device before handing it in for repair. Let’s be serious, it’s common sense…
Common sense isn’t common. And what is common knowledge to you may not be to a 70 year old person. You grew up with computers (i assume) and they did not. So, what you see as obvious isn’t necessarily true for everyone.
Making blanket statements isn’t going to convince people that they need to make backups… Educating them will.
Again, my point… it’s 2015. The moment you switch on your iPhone it prompts you to set up automatic backup with iCloud. You just have to select yes or no. enough said…
Wait, the story says he lost 15 years worth of photos and contacts off his iPhone 5, which has been out since 2012. How do you get 15 years worth of photos and contacts on an iPhone 5 without having any prior knowledge of backups? Where did the photos come from before he got the iPhone 5? How did he get his contacts prior to 2013 back on his iPhone when he bought it? Also, if he’s 68 years old (what the story says) that puts him at 53 when he started storing his photos and contacts. I sure as heck hope that when I’m 53 (coming up shortly) I won’t be as clueless about technology! Tell me you honestly believe he was unaware of having to back up any of those photos and contacts since the year 2000.
Judge rules store staff was negligent. End of the discussion.
Apple argues that, “The claimant has not demonstrated how he suffered any loss.”
I find it poor taste and poor excuse for lawyers that would be at the throat of people for deleting their contacts & photos to say that the client failed to demonstrate any loss. I love Apple…but hate their lawyers.
Anyone who has lost (me included) any part of their photo collection through their own fault can attest how much of a loo feeling they had when they realized their mistake..imagine the same thing but done by someone else. Maybe that was a “oops” moment but it doesn’t devaluate the gesture nor it’s significance.
Apple needs to teach a lesson to their lawyers. It usually owns it’s mistakes and tries to fix them… it was in the DNA of the company from it’s inception. lawyers will only make Apple look bad and end up losing market share by being so ridiculously insensitive.
Lawyers speak in legal terms, not feel good millennial talk. When they say loss they mean a material, quantifiable loss not an emotional one.
This is the fundamental problem. How can you value something like this. How can you value anything personal? For example, companies found guilty of neglect that injures someone (like being burned with a coffee that’s too hot) are asked to pay millions for a scalded lip but companies that neglect taking precautions before operating on a device aren’t liable if they lose your data.
It litterally takes minutes to make a backup of a client’s device (just in case they didn’t) before ‘operating’ and takes milliseconds to erase said data once they are done… why not go for red carpet service (especially with less tech savvy clients) and do it rather than have lawyers barf Legalese to clients already facing a crisis?
The fundamental problem is the lack of tort reform and also the lack of taking responsibility for one’s actions. The law is not where you should look for compassion. The law’s purpose is to settle disputes and achieve social peace.
Judge ruled store staff was negligent. End of the discussion.
While technicians are trained, and it is in their best interest to ensure data is backed up before any repair, the stores get so busy that the reality is that it doesn’t happen 80% of the time. I also want to stress that most customers want their issue resolved ASAP and do not come in with a backup, and are unwilling to wait (potentially hours) for an iCloud backup to finish in store, some customers also drive multiple hours to reach a store and do not bring any sort of laptop to back up their data.
Just coming from a former technician here. You cannot refuse to service someone’s device due to them not having a backup, you can only warn them of the consequences. We do not know what really happening during this interaction, so speculation is pointless.
Your points are valid. No doubt that clients can be rushy. However, Judge ruled store staff was negligent… so, i suspect the staff didn’t do everything they could to avoid being hit on the head with a spatula.
If you don’t backup, things like this can and will happen. And let’s not blame this on this guy’s age either. My 71 year old mother knows about backing up. She plugs her iPhone and iPad into her Mac mini on a regular basis to allow them both to backup. Also, her photos are in iCloud. Apple has made it very easy to backup yet there are some customers who simply don’t want to take the time to learn how to do it.
If i take my parents as an example…there is no number of times I can show them how to backup that will make them retain the information… And my parents have no computer to connect to… so their iPad relies ONLY on iCloud backup. What if they have no wifi coverage when they travel and lose their data… how does knowing about backups help?
None of what you described is Apple’s fault. If you own an iPhone or iPad, it’s your responsibility to have the things in place that are necessary for protecting your data. Not doing so means that eventually you will lose data. Apple cannot and should not even try to guarantee that data will never be lost. The more I think about this, the less I feel sorry for this guy. He’s pissed off about losing his data, and he just wants to lash out at someone else. Oh, and he wants to profit from the loss too. I saw a lot of this B.S. when I worked for Apple as a Mac Genius. I busted my butt to save customers’ data, but it’s ultimately their responsibility to keep a backup. And one last thing… Maybe iPhones and iPads aren’t for everyone.
They didn’t lose the photos, videos, and contacts because they didn’t back up the phone, or because the phone had a catastrophic failure, they lost it all because some moron “genius” at Apple didn’t do their job properly and wiped the phone. The 100 billionaire idiots at Apple should be held responsible. Maybe if gay cook wasn’t too busy promoting gay this and gay that, a family may not have lost 15 years worth of memories. Another great job under cooks watch at Apple. Let everything go to hell, then make everyone take some bs training that won’t do anything because the damage is done already. I hope the couple is awarded well over one million for their loss.
Wouldn’t go as far as telling they are morons but, they DID cause the wipe. As such, AAPL can say.. we messed up and here.. won’t happen again. After that it becomes a procedure to INSURE the backup of the data is present, available and done.
How does one have 15 years worth of memories on iPhone 5 that has only been out a few years, obviously he’s had a back up at some point
Read the article again.
So, hi bigot Chad! Welcome to the forums. Perhaps you belong in a different forum, for, you know, truly ignorant and bigoted people? Not sure that’s here my friend.
One word why he won’t win the case: iCloud!!!!!!!!
Baffled as to how anyone, particularly a writer on COM, can suggest that this is not Apple’s fault. Baffling.
No one is suggesting that this guy made all the right choices. He didn’t. He should have had his phone backed up. Agreed. 100%. But that is irrelevant to what happened (which we all should admit is vague since we don’t know exactly what happened or who warned whom). The issue at hand is not whether he had a backup, but whether Apple warned him properly BEFORE they wiped his phone. If Apple did warn him, then he’s at fault. If they did not warn him, which it seems that they did not, then Apple is absolutely at fault, and I’m shocked he’s suing for so little. It is 100% Apple’s responsibility to warn people before they do ANYthing to a person’a property. I have owned and run an Apple support company in NYC for over a decade, and would be mortified if my company ever wiped a device without first making a backup, and second asking the client if they had a backup. We have been to the Genius Bar ourselves to work with Apple hundreds of times on behalf of our clients, and have never not been asked if we have a backup.
I agree that it is the user’s responsibility for backing up their data. While technicians are trained, and it is in their best interest to ensure data is backed up before any repair, the stores get so busy that the reality is that it doesn’t happen 80% of the time. I also want to stress that most customers want their issue resolved ASAP and do not come in with a backup, and are unwilling to wait (potentially hours) for an iCloud backup to finish in store, some customers also drive multiple hours to reach a store and do not bring any sort of laptop to back up their data.
Ultimately, it really comes down to if the technician made him sign the work authorization first that states Apple is not liable for any data loss. If he signed it, then there is no case.
I have no sympathy for this man. We allow these tiny devices to carry the informational weight of our entire lives within their circuits and storage areas, only to discover AFTER the data has been destroyed that maybe an occasional backup might have been a good idea.
Good god! folks, You don’t need a formal disaster recovery plan. But if you got stuff that’s important on your phone, a backup once or twice a year isn’t out of the question! This is a basic survival skill in the modern age!
I had an HD install done and the tech wiped the drive even after I asked him not to do anything but the install. I showed the log file to his manager, showing where he formatted the drive. It wasn’t at Apple, but I knew to back everything up before I give it to so me kid who only knows how to follow a script. Yes, the old dude should have backed up his data, but yes, the tech should have asked if his client had a backup before they did anything. The answer to that question determines what action to take, or not to.
Whenever I went for help @ Apple, i was asked if i had a backup… They usually ask. And if you don’t, they tell you that you’re likely to lose data like pics & contacts.
If they didn’t in this case, you can understand why they are being sued.
“You had a back-up, right?”
Is the sort of statement I would expect someone to make when they have realised they have messed up and also forgot to mention it prior to completing the work
It is even more condescending when people keep asking, “do I really need iCloud?” They first thing they do when they get iPhone is turning off auto-backup function. If you did it deliberately then sued apple because you lost your photo, I will personally spank your ass hard.
No ass-spanking, please. Chad (further up the thread) really doesn’t like that sort of behaviour.
As Ashley Nicole said earlier, it’s almost pointless to comment on this particular case without knowing the full details (and the UK’s Sun ‘newspaper’ is not known for shying away from sensationalism). As a Mac technician for the past 25 years, I can say that it really doesn’t matter how hard you try to educate users about the importance of backups; it will only truly sink in the first (and usually only) time they actually lose something. Jim Dalrymple, the esteemed Mac journalist and former editor of Macworld magazine recently lost a significant portion of his iTunes music library while updating to Apple Music and didn’t have a backup. If even someone like him can screw up, what hope is there for your average user?
Reading the actual piece on the Sun’s website *shudder* makes me doubt the veracity of the whole story tbh, especially this: “The retired ad man got texts saying there was a fault on his iPhone5 (sic)”. Hmm…
That really sucks…. I know how it feels to lose years of data. Where this will hurt him is if he signed Apple’s terms and conditions. Whenever a device is worked on there is always a possibility of data loss.
This man will not win and it will be a lesson learned the hard way to have his information backed up.
Yeah…. guess what. He won.
Why should apple care about your stupid mediocre memories. They obviously weren’t that important to you otherwise all these years you would’ve made a plan and backed up. I’m tired of these disorganized messes blaming there incompetence on technical staff trying to fix their phone. Grow up.