Help:- Sold brand new mobile ......

Hintza

I sold a brand new mobile the other day.  The Woolworths F500i vodafone deal.

The box was unopened with seal intact

Was taken out at my BIN within hours which surprised me a little.

Buyer has contacted me and said phone will not charge/nothing happening.  Been on since 10am this morning.

Have replied saying to keep charging and let me know how it goes.

Could be a genuine fault.......but have a small feeling in my water about this.

How do I proceed?

The buyer is about 30 miles away on route to my mother's house so I can easily  drop in.

Can I tell if its the same phone etc......

EvilMonkey

I know its not much help now, but I now keep details like serial numbers after someone tried a scam on me. (sent them the item, they said it arrived smashed, post office investigated as was insured, post office said not damaged in transit as box was in perfect condition. Who smashed the item????)

That said you're probably safe in that you can still take it back to Woolies if it is duff. Or give him the receipt?

As he's so near it does seem silly not to pop in.

Hintza

She has just been on the phone.

Buyer deals in kids clothing but also weems to buy/sell mobiles a bit too (not that many) but enough to get me twitchy......

Am contacting a couple of sellers to see if anything crops up.

VH

Can I tell if its the same phone etc......

I don't know if Woolies is the same, but when you buy from Carphone Warehouse, your receipt displays the phone's IMEI number on it, which is the unique serial built into the phone software.

If you have this on the receipt you should be able to prove that you are looking at the original phone.

To retrieve the phone's IMEI number, type *#06# on the phone's main screen. If the phone will not come on as you have said then remove the battery and look behind that, most phones have the IMEI number printed there as well. This should match the one on your receipt if you have it.

Hintza

Blooming heck tracking purchases and sales on ebay is time consuming!!!

What I have discovered is they appear to buy the phones and sell them a month or so later for a small loss. Obviously can not be sure they are the same phones but bought 3 GX20's in October. 2 have been sold this month.

I wonder what thats all about.

Just had an e-mail from a seller to them who is wwondering if they have tried to unlock it.......any thoughts on that?

Thanks for that VH will see if the number is on receipt.

VH

If you try to unlock the phone too many times with the wrong codes, the screen will display a message like 'Can't undo restriction'. But it will still turn on.

As for selling the phones at a loss, possibly just bad luck. Either that or maybe they are trying to 'buy' a decent feedback rating by selling goods that are guaranteed to be bought? Even if they lose a couple of quid they get a good reputation as a seller.

Another thought is that maybe they are buying them and trying to scam the sellers into giving partial refunds, saying they are faulty, then selling them on at profit. e.g:
Buy phone.
Inform seller than phone is faulty (e.g not coming on).
Go and get phone 'fixed' (e.g. by pretending to buy a new battery).
Produce false receipt for the seller for battery or repair.
Seller credits buyer for value of battery.
Bingo - profit made on phone.

Unlikely I know, but some people will do anything to make a few quid! Worth contacting other sellers to see if they have had similar problems.

Hintza

Thats what I have been wondering.

They are a powerseller so have reams of feedback. Not too glowing though. Just over 98% on about 500 items.

But take the clothing out and the -ve and neutrals would jump through the roof.

And I can't find my delivery note from woolworths....arghhh.

Bought Refurbished/New 19" PC Monitor from Morgan Auctions ....arrived yesterday and does not work. Will they reply to e-mails.......NO.



Oh the STRESS..........lol

Hintza

Guys maybe this will help it is a record of my buyers Mobile Transactions on Ebay for as far back as I can go. Can some one please tell me what the scam is!!! I have to go to his house in the morning to collect my dead!!?? phone.

B+= Bought S- = Sold

20Oct B+ Sharp GX20 £130 : 20 Nov S- GX20 £116

20 Oct B+ Sharp GX20 £125 : 16 Nov S- GX20 £120

15 Oct B+ Sharp GX20 £120 :Think his wife is using it?

21 Sep B+ Motorola V500 £97 : 13 Oct S- V500 £100

15 Sep B+ Motorola V500 £95 : 21 Sep S- V500 £97

10 Sep B+ Nokia 7210 £53 : 18 Sep S- 7210 £36

10 Sep B+ Samsung T100 £50 : 30 Sep S- T100 £46

Postage costs are not material

Has also sold 2x Motorola E365's but can not go far enough back to find seller.

Also currently selling a Siemens MC60 can not find where it was bought.

Lastly has bought a Sagem MYX-6 in the last few days.

Can anyone cast any light on this?

I think when I go and get my phone it might not be the one I sold....I just do not know.

I have a feeling I am going to be £100 out of pocket.

VH

I managed to figure out which seller you are talking about.
Assuming that these are the same phones this doesn't make any sense. ??? Like you say they're not making any profit on either the phones or postage. Appear to be running at a constant loss on phones at least. Very odd!

Also, why try to build up feeback by buying / selling items such as mobiles, you can do it much more cheaply by buying items which cost a few quid instead.

Could they be up to something dodgy, for example cloning the SIM cards? Or are we being paranoid and are they just stupid? ;D

One thing I did notice which I thought was strange is that the seller has used 4 different IDs since they registered in May this year. Isn't this unusual in itself?

JPS

What is the seller's ID??

Hintza

Better not to slander anyone but I have sent you the item no