Second hand phone, blocked but not lost/stolen... advice?

Jon_01

daleski75 wrote: »

I heard stories of ebay sellers selling expensive phones and then reporting them as stolen so they get both the money from the buyer and then money from their insurance leaving the poor guy with a useless phone.

Its happening more and more. 2 years ago it was rare, now I'm getting 3 to4 calls a week where people have bought off Ebay or Gumtree and then find days/weeks later the phone stops (or doesn't work when it arrives).

The problem with Ebay seems to be that most blocked phone are sold from hijacked acc's so unless the buyers bought via CC or Paypal they have no redress. . .

CNash

Just got the phone tested with various SIM cards, and what do you know, it's blocked in the UK too!

I paid via PayPal so I'm fully covered in that regard... whether the seller will play ball or not is another issue.

daleski75

Just to clarify did the seller definitely state it will 100% work in the UK or should work in the UK?

CNash

"Should" was the word used, but I don't see that being a problem; the end result is that I have a phone that I expected to be usable, but is blocked on all UK networks.

daleski75

See if you can open up a dispute on paypal as the seller has sold you a useless phone which cannot be used in the UK.

Hopefully the seller will accept the phone back and a full refund given back to you.

mcjordi

if its not lost/stolen it could be a network lock when the bill hasnt been paid.. ive heard its done on Iphones and blackberries...

Jon_01

mcjordi wrote: »

if its not lost/stolen it could be a network lock when the bill hasnt been paid.. ive heard its done on Iphones and blackberries...

Very rare for a phone to be blocked due to none payment. The sim is always blocked, but not the handset.

Wintermute

Jon_01 wrote: »

Very rare for a phone to be blocked due to none payment. The sim is always blocked, but not the handset.

The only scenario when this would happen that I can think of is when somebody takes out an upgrade (so no credit check) while declaring bankruptcy then notifies the network of bankruptcy then refuses to return the phone.

One scenario where the phone might not show as lost/stolen is when the handset has gone missing in transit, as the handset has never been associated with a mobile number it'll be barred, but it's unlikely to show why.

sdduk

CNash wrote: »

Just got the phone tested with various SIM cards, and what do you know, it's blocked in the UK too!

I paid via PayPal so I'm fully covered in that regard... whether the seller will play ball or not is another issue.

Did you try registering the phone though iTunes? or just put Sim into phone and get no signal.

CNash

All of the SIM card we tried came up with one bar of signal and no network operator name, and wouldn't make or receive calls. This was done by a professional phone dealer, so I'm inclined to believe him when he says it's definitely blocked in the UK.