Planet Express employee stole an iPhone out of my package in the warehouse in Gardena California
I ordered two refurbished iPhones through the Apple Refurbished website for gifts.
I received an email from Apple as soon as the package was delivered. The package was not entered on my account for at least 30 mins. When I talked to a live chat agent about this, I was told it was normal and that it could take a while for the package to be processed (keep in mind this was my 5th time using their service and it had never once taken this long, not even during the height of the pandemic in 2020-2021).
The package was finally entered into my account and I filed out the customs declaration and immediately requested it to be mailed out. The package was not mailed out until an entire day later (once again, longer than it took during the height of the pandemic).
The package arrived two days earlier than it was supposed to (June 20th instead of June 22nd). When I received the package, I immediately knew that something was wrong. The package was uncharacteristically light and one of the corners of the box was completely destroyed.
After conducting my own investigation, I concluded that an employee at Planet Express attempted to open my package through the corner, now destroyed, to steal one of the phones but was unsuccessful so they completely opened the package, stole one of the phones, then proceeded to close the package with clear scotch tape. (If anyone has ever ordered from Apple, you know that Apple does not use clear scotch tape, they only use recycled beige packing tape, which was visible on the check-in picture provided when my package arrived at the warehouse but nowhere to be seen when the package arrived at my house.)
The live chat agent is providing excuses as to why the package arrived at my house like that saying that customs opened the package, etc.
The live chat agent has resorted to ignoring every message I am sending and simply answering the same copy-pasted answer to everything: "I apologize for the inconvenience there is nothing further I can do, it has been escalated and he is investigating the issue. Please wait for a response."
A phone of total value over $1000 USD has been stolen from me and I have received no refund or anything despite having my package insured.