Problem with Trade-In Phone Rebate

Question

I purchased a a new phone and was told I could send my old phone in for the $200 trade-in rebate.  I followed all the directions, got it turned in on time, and then a couple of weeks later I received an email saying I wasn't getting the $200, instead it was going to be $182 because the phone was marked as lost/stolen.  However, my rebate was to arrive within 3 weeks.  It's been almost 2 months now, and I called today.  I was told it was locked up and the rebate would not be sent out because of the lost/stolen status.  They said I needed to resolve that.  This phone was my son's.  He bought it brand new, and then a couple of years later upgraded to an Iphone 5.  He never reported it as stolen/lost.  However, the rebate center says they can't do anything about it, we will need to contact Apple.  Apple will require the EIN? number, which I would get on the phone, if I had it.  It is at the rebate center.  No one can clear it so I'm screwed out of the rebate.  When i called, I was forwarded to different people several times only to be looped right back to the first placed I'd called.  Everyone kept saying they couldn't do anything to clear it, but no one could tell me how I could get this cleared up.  The phone was never lost or stolen, but they keep saying I have to call the place where we originally called to report it lost or stolen.  Hello!!!!  It was never reported as lost or stolen.  So I don't know where to go from here.  Can anyone help me?

Answer 1

Has your son tried logging in to his iCloud account to see if the phone still shows (assuming he had Find My Phone activated)? Or contacting Apple to see if the phone still shows as registered to him? Then he can maybe verify that he did not report the phone as stolen (I'be never reported an iPhone as stolen but doesn't it have to be reported to the carrier?). Not sure if any of this will help but it's worth a try