The number of administrative tasks that need to be completed after a loved one dies is one of the more under-appreciated aspects a grieving family member will be forced to endure. Beyond simply preparing for the funeral, there’s also notifying Social Security, working with the insurance companies to collect benefits, canceling credit cards, transferring deeds, etc.
For 72-year-old Peggy Bush of Victoria, Canada, each of those tasks seemed easy enough to complete after her husband died recently. With help from her daughter, Donna, she got her husband’s pension and benefit money transferred, as well as titles to the house and car. With all that out of the way, now she could sit back and relax, and maybe play a few card games on her husband’s iPad.
Not so fast, said Apple. As it turned out, the device had an ID and password set up, and Apple was not about to allow her access to it so easily. When she called Apple and provided the iPad’s serial number, as well as a death certificate, they still wanted more.
“I finally got someone [from Apple] who said, ‘You need a court order.’ I was just completely flummoxed. What do you mean a court order? I said that was ridiculous, because we’ve been able to transfer the title of the house, we’ve been able to transfer the car, all these things just using a notarized death certificate and the will,” Bush told CBC.
It’s not clear which branch of Canada’s judicial system handles all the iPad cases. Thankfully, CBC reached out to Apple for comment on this story, and eventually a representative called Bush back in order to sort out the problem. But not before they put a grieving 72-year-old woman through a bunch of unneeded red tape.
All that because the poor woman simply wanted to play a bit of Free Cell.
(Via CNET)