Apple’s policy of not intervening in the theft of their products from customers is costing them a wad of cash, after store employees in Toronto handed over a new iPhone to a thief.

Scott’s coat was snagged off the back of his chair at a pub one night, with his keys, wallet and iPhone inside says TheStar.com. He recovered the coat in an alley nearby, but figured his other belongings were lost to him forever. He took the necessary precautions and canceled his phone service and credit cards, changed his locks and filed a report with the police.

When he received an email confirming his appointment at an Apple store the next day, he figured he should call and let them know a thief would be showing up with his stolen phone. The store employee, however, let Scott know that it was against their policy to get involved.

So Scott called the cops, who said they’d look into the matter if they could. He also showed up at the store to try to convince a manager to help him, but was met with the same no-involvement line.

That very same afternoon, detectives contacted Scott and said they had his phone. The thief had shown up, complained that the phone wasn’t working (because Scott had had its service disconnected) and had been given a new iPhone by an employee who figured it was just malfunctioning and had it set aside to be sent off for servicing.

The phone was instead intercepted by the detectives and returned to its rightful owner, after no help from Apple.

“The thief got their phone, I got mine and because of their own indifference, Apple is out a $500 phone,” said Scott.

*We salute you, Doug, for the tip!

Does Apple service stolen phones? [TheStar.com]

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