A grieving mum has finally resolved her 13-month dispute with technology giant Apple following her son's tragic death.
Kate Lebroc had been unsuccessfully attempting to get Apple to unlock an Apple phone, two iPads and an Apple watch which belonged to Davey Elliot who died from cancer in March last year.
Kate, from Eccleshall, Staffordshire, wanted to give the two iPads to the 30-year-old's nieces and nephews who had often played on the devices.
But they were not unlocked until earlier this month - and only after StokeonTrentLive put pressure on the company.
Kate said: “Apple have treated us horribly. They would not tell me what I needed to send in to prove I am Davey’s next-of-kin. How am I supposed to send stuff if they won’t tell me what it is?
“Every time you called you had to go through the same details again, it was so upsetting. As his next-of-kin, his belongings are now mine. Those things now belong to me.”
Apple told StokeonTrentLive that it does not comment on individual cases but established all Kate had ever needed to do was produce a bank statement - and that resolved 13 months of torment.
The 53-year-old added: “It has been awful. I’ve really had to jump through hoops for 13 months and nobody was able to tell me what documents they wanted.
@They’ve asked for driving licences and passports, I’ve offered them a letter from the hospital or GP to prove I'm the next-of-kin. But they said none of it was good enough. In the end they said ‘Can you send a bank statement?'. It was sorted in 24 hours and all unlocked.
“It’s only since StokeonTrentLive got involved that they called me and sorted it. It’s unbelievable that you have to go to the papers before anything is done. They could see we’re a grieving family. I don't know how they could not see it was genuine.
“In the end it was just sent a bank statement, again, in my son’s name. Which still doesn’t prove I’m next-of-kin. Their argument was about proving next-of-kin and I haven't had to prove that anyway.”
Davey's death was a shock to the family. He had been struck down with hodgkin's lymphoma, non hodgkin's lymphoma, and langerhans’ cell histiocytosis and passed away from fungal pneumonia.
Kate added: “He had been in and out of hospital for several months. He couldn’t eat much, he had such a sore throat and was struggling to drink anything, he was in a bad way. He was our hero, he was so brave and dealt with everything so well. He was always more concerned about how everyone else was coping rather than himself.
“It has been horrible. It’s awful to be without him, he was like the glue that held our family together. He was like our angel. He was so brave. He was a real joker, always laughing, always dancing, always a clown.
“He loved football, he used to play for Stoke Dominos. He would literally have a temperature of 40 degrees but he’d say ‘I need to play for my team, give me Calpol’. Then he’d run around and collapse afterwards. He would have been about 12 then.”
Kate added: “Apple should have a bereavement team.
"They should have a team specifically set up because every time I spoke to an advisor they told me something different. We had all these products that we couldn't use. It’s the sentimental value of these things, not the monetary value, that’s important to us.
“None of the advisors have shown any compassion or understanding as to how difficult this is to talk about and all of them had been unable to solve this."
