Has your iPhone batterygate check bounced? You aren't alone, and nobody seems to know why it's happening

iPhone 6
(Image credit: iMore)

When Apple started paying out up to $500 million to settle a lawsuit over the infamous batterygate situation, people knew they'd get checks to make them whole. But it seems that actually cashing those checks might not be as easy as you might think.

According to one iPhone owner she has been unable to cash the check for $92.17 after her credit union reported that it had been returned by the bank that should have paid it out.

Now, she's left with seemingly little recourse and no clarification on exactly why the check bounced, despite inaccurate claims that it was simply too old to be used.

Something's amiss

Batterygate refers to a furor over the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s in relation to a software update that slowed their performance in an attempt to ensure that aging batteries were still able to produce enough power to prevent the iPhones from shutting down.

However, First Coast News reports that Clay County resident Desiree McNeil had issues cashing her check.

According to the report the check was returned to sender because it was "stale dated," suggesting that it was too old to be processed. The check was dated March 1, and had text printed on it that said it was valid until April 18. The woman tried to cash it on April 1.

To add to the confusion the woman says that she was told by her credit union that the check bounced because there were insufficient funds, although that wasn't what it said in a letter explaining the situation.

"By April 3rd, my credit union returned the check because for insufficient funds, they said that the litigants didn't pay it," McNeil said. 

As of now, there appears to be no way to fix this situation. First Coast News has reached out to the administrator of the account that is supposed to pay out the funds for help with no response at the time of the report's publication.

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Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.