My son's account is locked our of iCloud apple cannot help me to get back in

[bahamallama]

I need help. I'm moving my email to iCloud+ but apple won't let me recreate my email for my son as it's his non iCloud id email.

WE have tried to log in to change it but it won't let us log in, the userid and password are correct but they want us to answer security questions, trouble is we have never set them as this account is more than 10 years old and he hasn't used it really as he uses android. He is using an old iPad Pro of mine.

Apple has locked his id and we can't reset it. I have been working with the support for hours and they said it's locked forever and nothing I can do. I have provide all his information, he's on my family group, all my information, our payment method on file, confirmed emails, devices, codes, etc, and yet it's still locked and they won't help. we tried their iforgot site, the password reset method, security questions reset, nothing works it's locked forever they tell me and they won't even delete it at my request so we can clear out that email address so I can finish the migration and we can just setup a new id for him.

This is very frustrating from a company I have spent sooooooo much money on over the years, I get security I work in the industry but If I can provide every bit of information in detail outside of a DNA test, why won't they let us in???

So does anyone have any idea how we can get into his account so I can change his old email address?

thanks,

d

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Why not just create a new one?

 

[bahamallama]

I need to remove my son's email address so I can migrate my email to iCloud +

 

[Apple_Robert]

Apple is right to not bypass security protocol so you can use the account. It is a hard lesson learned about saving all security account information for any Apple account. Once an account has been used, whether its locked or not, you cannot create another account with the same name, as far as I am aware.

Have your son create another email account to join your family group. Migrating your personal email to iCloud + should have nothing to do with which account your son is using.

 

[bahamallama]

Yea but when his account was setup 11 years ago he never had security questions asked. I need that email address as apple won't let me recreate it on iCloud+ to migrate my domain over as it's tied to an existing Apple ID.

This is stupid security if I have every other piece of information can confirm id's of the devices, and every else, this system is clearly broken, I"m on second level support and they are stumped too and said I should be able to do what I'm asking.

 

[bahamallama]

so it seems the only way for me to free up that account and email address is for me to go find the iPhone 3s that I let him use, hope it's still logged in, then update to most recent software allowed on that device, and IF it allows 2 factor authentication I can then reset the security questions. That's massively messed up.

Even with a legal request they won't let me log in/change/delete an account that has't been used in close to 10 years or more, they do not have a record retention policy so this account will exist forever with no way to log in. That itself seems like it needs government regulation to set a record management policy for orphaned accounts as the insurance industry I work in has a 7 year policy, somehow tech is infinite?

 

[bahamallama]

for anyone else having this issue I solved it. Their top level support said it couldn't be done. lol

I had even asked him if this would work he said no, it can't.

So here's what I did. On an old iPad I logged out of the iCloud account on it, then logged in using the ancient account. After entering the password it said it needed 2 factor authentication from another device. no worries as it lets you enter any phone number you want (a massive security hole by the way). So I entered mine, it sent me the code and I was in.

I went to website to change the email addresses on his account and change his Apple ID to a crap burner gmail address, it sends a link to that one to verify not the current one (again another security hole). clicked that, then removed all old email addresses.

Hopefully this helps someone else as I spent over 2 hours going through all levels of their support only to fix it by myself with my son in 10 minutes.

d

 

[w5jck]

Most companies have “script readers” for Customer Service calls. You can hear them turning pages and/or frantically trying to look up answers on their computers. Generally speaking, it is best to bump the call up to a higher level if the script reader is really clueless. Getting an actual “expert” on the call is very rare. CS reps are often the kind of people who should wear a shirt with an upward pointing arrow and the words “I’m with Stupid” printed below the arrow. I don’t blame them though. It is Apple’s fault for hiring unqualified people then not training them well enough.

 

[bahamallama]

Yep. I got elevated to top level they couldn’t escalate higher. I asked to speak to Tim Cook. Lol

This is why I never use support and do it all myself, script kiddies the lot but not in coding sense. lol

d

 

[HDFan]

Most companies have “script readers” for Customer Service calls.

Certainly happens, but not with companies who care about customer support. Typically there are are internal support resources which representatives search to find a solution. [I have never worked for, or heard, of a support environment based on paper]. At that point you are at the mercy of the support analyst. Some are very good at it, understand your issue and can find possible solutions. Others don't understand the issue, don't know how to ask the right questions, don't understand what the database is telling them. You work the issue with them until it is clear that they will never find their way. At that point you escalate to the next level. I probably only have to force the escalation to development or 2nd level 10% of the time. Most of the time the front line analyst realizes that they need to refer it. It is much better for everyone if they volunteer to escalate the request. Apple is very good in doing that, but of course I have experience exceptions.

Right now I have 2 support requests which the 1st level analyst referred to development. A 3rd was referred to 2nd level support by a really bad analyst who failed miserable as discussed above. When they are doing their best I let them take their time. When they don't answer my questions, give my scripted answers then I am going to be forceful. They finally realized my request was over their heads and it went to 2nd level support. Unfortunately 2nd level doesn't seem to know their product well enough to resolve it either.

 

[Danfango]

There probably were security questions set up that far back. I remember being asked them when setting up mac.com back in the day. Apple are doing the correct thing here which is not letting someone leverage the account on the old address without suitable authentication.

The issue is you can't remember it. Lets not blame the vendor here; they are failing safe which is exactly what you want them to do.

In this circumstance the best thing to do is create another account and not forget the credentials this time.

 

[bahamallama]

no we have/had the answers they are simple, first pet, favorite sports teams. they were never setup, support confirmed it.

My issues here are 2 fold this is the richest company in the world and it's a horrible experience.

You are forced to use their App Store / system so you are forced to create an account.

When you run into issues like this they have no way to reset it no matter the level of proof I can provide, if I can proof every other detail, including all my payment methods, etc. then there should be a way they can let me in. I even offered to have a legal document served to them to allow me access or to just delete it. I proved I own the domain of the email address used and can verify I have full access.

Here is the second issue they have no information management policy, this account was not used in over 10 years, yet it will exist forever according to their support. This is very concerning as every industry has record and information policies regarding deletion most are set by the government as is the insurance industry my full time job is in. This to me is a major issue, as no company should have infinite use of an account that we are forced to use for their devices. At this moment in time it may not be concerning but given world issues you could see how this could be detrimental, I know legally on Apple and other tech companies views this will eventually bite them, like how Facebook keeps your data forever even if you delete your account.

But all that aside, I was able to fix this in 10 minutes, but after being told it's impossible by the support people show it's poorly trained and informed and the security of your account of me allegedly being locked out is a joke, as clearly I was able to bypass it, so if I can do it, any real hacker has full access with just your username and password, nothing else. So this policy only hurts real legitimate users.

 

[dsgjax]

Glad to hear you successfully resolved your situation. Had a similar problem in which I used an email address for a business iCloud account, deleted that account, then months later tried to set up the new Apple email forwarding feature using the deleted email. Setup kept saying that email was in use with another iCloud account. Level 2 support finally came in and said they couldn't delete it even though the iCloud account with which it was associated is long gone. Moral of the story: never delete an iCloud account, only deactivate it. That way you can do what you did to reclaim an email address.