A second-hand iPhone was supposed to be the perfect gift, but the password made it impossible to use.
Cecil Todesco found the iPhone at Value Village and was excited to give it to her daughter.
“Miraculously there is her favourite colour phone, a gold iPhone 6, hers is the five and it's kind of like it was meant to be, this was going to be her new phone,” she said.
She paid $500 for the phone which staff told her was working perfectly, but a month later, her daughter still can’t use it.
“We can't get past the password that it's locked to, there is some password in there it is E and then five dots, E and then five letters or numbers or whatever, that's where it is locked up and we can't get past it,” she said.
Apple couldn’t help her either, saying that they need the log in information and permission of the previous owner to unlock the phone, and Value Village won’t take it back because it was a final sale.
CTV Calgary contacted Value Village about the phone and was told an exception would be made in this case and an exchange would be allowed.
The company said it only does very basic testing on electronics before putting them out for sale.
Todesco said the other option is if the original owners sees this story and calls in with the password.
“We know through research that the phone was bought on January 24 or 25 of 2016, we know it’s a gold iPhone with 64 gigabytes, it's an iPhone 6,” she said.
Value Village doesn't know who donated the phone, so Todesco says even if she returns it, it may just stay locked forever.
