Ebay - iPhone I bought has been blacklisted.

dollifer

Oh yes, I don't expect a refund until I've sent it back to him. I just wondered when I should send it back, before anything has been agreed or when it's settled?

molerat

As the seller is not settling through the friendly way send it back when the seller or ebay tell you to through the dispute process.

It works like this :
1)You raise ebay dispute
2)Seller is informed by ebay that dispute has been raised and to contact buyer
3)then
a) Seller contacts you, asks you to send back (tracked!) then refunds
or
b) Seller does nothing. You escalate at the specified time.
then
i) Ebay tell you to send back (tracked!), you upload tracking info, ebay refund you.
or
ii) Ebay refund you without having to return the item.

prowla

It sounds to me like the seller is genuine.

However, the item being blacklisted suggests that it was reported as either stolen or lost and the phone co probably issued a replacement and blocked it; in which case the handset is not the seller's to sell.

It is entirely possible that they acquired it in good faith and then it was subsequently blacklisted.

But, that is not your problem; the seller appears to have sold you stolen goods.

It's an implicit risk in running a 2nd hand shop.

And as you say, the risk in taking any 2nd hand mobile is that it could come from a similar source and could stop working.

dollifer

Thank you all for your advice so far.

I went to the Orange store today and they gave me a print out of confirmation that the phone is blacklisted. Only the police have access to who actually had it blacklisted. Anyway, here is an email to the seller that I hope is okay to send him. Any advice as to what else I should/shouldn't include is appreciated.


'Please find attached a copy of the information Orange gave me to confirm that it is a blacklisted phone. Orange are unable to tell me who blacklisted it as it is Data Protected and only the police have access to that information should you wish to involve them.

In regards to a replacement, who's to say that it won't suddenly get blacklisted, 1 week, 1 month or even 1 year down the line? You aren't able to guarantee that it won't happen, as it's already happened with this one. I'm not prepared to take the risk again. I don't think that's unreasonable of me.

I'm sure that as a business that buys, sells and trades mobile phones, you have a record of the persons details that sold it to you and can get some sort of recompense from them.

As we are getting nowhere debating the issue between ourselves, I suggest we let eBay decide come the 20th of July when I will escalate the case.

Regards.'

Orrin

dollifer wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Bris. If it comes to it I'll have no choice but to accept a replacement, but my concern is that this phone has been blacklisted 4 weeks after the purchase date, how can the seller possibly guarantee that come 1 week, 1 month or even a year, that the replacement won't be blacklisted by the original owner? I'm done with second hand phones, not going through this again!

In future look for a seller that offers a specific guarantee in the event of blacklisting. Here's what smartfonestore say for example:

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the second hand mobile phone industry, handsets do sometimes get blocked by the previous owner committing insurance fraud. While this is very rare, we will always guarantee to replace any handset purchased from us which becomes blocked in the future regardless of warranty.

morganedge

Escalate the case if needs be.
You'll win and get your money back. Buyers always win so don't worry.

dollifer

Thanks guys.

He's offering me another and saying he can guarantee 100% that it won't get blacklisted. I just don't think he can make that assurance as it's already happened with this phone. I just wouldn't be happy with it knowing someone could blacklist it at any time they wanted to. Am I being so unreasonable wanting my money back?

spacey2012

Never buy a contract phone, if they stop paying, it gets blocked.

PZH

dollifer wrote: »

Oh yes, I don't expect a refund until I've sent it back to him. I just wondered when I should send it back, before anything has been agreed or when it's settled?

If and when you do send it back, make sure you take a photo of the phone and also a photo of the ID sticker clearly showing the IMEI

mattyprice4004

dollifer wrote: »

Thanks guys.

He's offering me another and saying he can guarantee 100% that it won't get blacklisted. I just don't think he can make that assurance as it's already happened with this phone. I just wouldn't be happy with it knowing someone could blacklist it at any time they wanted to. Am I being so unreasonable wanting my money back?

Their obligation is to repair, replace or refund - however they can choose which. You can request a remedy, however if it's disproportionally costly (which they'll probably say it is) they can refuse and do it their way, so to speak.

spacey2012 wrote: »

Never buy a contract phone, if they stop paying, it gets blocked.

Not on Orange / EE, my partner had a financial meltdown in 2009 and didn't pay Orange. The phone still isn't blacklisted, 4 years on.