Pensioner takes on Apple over lost data and wins

A pensioner has successfully sued Apple after an employee at one of its stores botched a fix.

At the High Court in London, Deric White, 68, was awarded 2,000 after a staff member in the Apple Store in Regent Street lost hundreds of videos and photos.

On 11 December last year, White, from Pimlico, took his faulty iPhone 5 to the Genius Bar at the store to get it fixed. The staff member then later returned the phone to White telling him that it was "sorted". It was at this point he discovered that the photos, video and other data had been deleted.

He told the Evening Standard tha, having fought cancer, he "was not going to get defeated by Apple".

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"My wife was reduced to tears when they wiped my phone. Everyone tells me this has happened to them or their mate," he said. "I did this for the common man. I would say to anybody who has got a gripe with Apple don't let them boss you about and ignore you."

Among the videos lost was one of White's hand being bitten by a tortoise. He also lost all his contact data.

White represented himself and was awarded 1,200 in compensation, and 800 in costs.

District Judge Ruth Fine, sitting at London County Court within the Royal Courts of Justice, ruled in White's favour and said "the defendant's employees were negligent in the treatment of the claimant's telephone, causing the claimant loss of photographs of particular sentimental value and the loss of all his contacts".

"I'm satisfied he was unable to retrieve the lost photographs and contact details. Just because damages are difficult to assess does not disentitle a claimant to compensation."