Database Info

Beware of buying from Gazelle! Phones are not guaranteed to have clean IMEI/ESN!

tl;dr Phones sold by Gazelle can still be blacklisted.
I purchased two iphone 5's from Gazelle last December 2013, for a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law and one for my wife.
A few days ago, my mother-in-law contacted me to tell me the phone was no longer receiving service.
After trying everything I could find about fixing it, I finally contacted T-Mobile, and discovered that the phone's IMEI has just been blocked due to non-payment by the original owner(!)
Just to clarify, this phone has been in daily use since Xmas Day 2013 (~11 mos)!
The T-Mobile rep told me that the original owner had been making payments all this time, but recently closed their account, and were sent a final bill. The bill was 10 days past due and at that time T-Mobile automatically blacklists the IMEI.
I bought these phones specifically from gazelle and paid more for them as a result, as I believed they were essentially guaranteed against this sort of thing.
I even contacted them before my purchase asking them if their phones were checked:
"Thank you for your interest! We do test all items to confirm availability for activation by you upon receipt. Unless otherwise noted in the listing, this item has been tested and is clear."
It turns out, this doesn't mean the device will remain that way after you receive it. An important fact that they continue to omit in their eBay listings.
I contacted their support yesterday and was told that the unit is outside of their 30-day return window and they can not help me further.
As far as I'm concerned, they didn't actually sell me anything. They sold a device that still had a lien against it, and now that it is blacklisted, I basically paid $400+ to rent it for the past 11 months. Technically, this iPhone is still the property of T-Mobile...Gazelle basically sold me stolen merchandise.
I've since opened a complaint with the BBB and am hopeful they will come to a resolution on this issue.
Moral of the story is: Don't think that just because you're buying from a bigger operation, that your phone is free and clear and ownership has been legally transferred to YOU.
As a matter of fact, you can even read Swappa's TOS and you will find a very loose policy on blacklisted IMEI/ESN's. They basically say you're only recourse is PayPal's 45-day dispute window.
Buying from these sites is really not any different than craigslist or a random seller on eBay.
The only way to really guarantee your device is free and clear forever is to buy a new one.

Resolved!
Just to follow up, I received the exchange iPhone yesterday and my issue is now resolved to my relief and satisfaction.
I am happy to say that Gazelle came through and made things right for me in the end. They also told me they are working with carriers on new ways to determine if devices are still under contract and/or still financed, to avoid issues like mine down the road.
Be careful out there!

What UK phone retailers give the best customer service?

Firstly, I'm in the UK so I'm only interested in UK retailers. I've purchased mobiles and tablets from various high street stores and online shops and they all have varied levels of customer service when a phone develops what I believe is a warranty issue during the warranty period. Some of the retailers make me feel like I'm on trial and have to prove that there is an issue, while others send out a new phone to arrive the day after I report the issue and request that I ship the faulty phone back within 30 days. My most recent phone (a Nexus 5) was purchased from Expedite Electronics and my phone has been with them for almost 4 weeks now.
My personal experience so far is:
Amazon - best customer service. As mentioned earlier, when I reported a phone fault, they sent out a new phone that I received the very next day and gave me 30 days to send them back the faulty phone. I had the working replacement phone within 18 hours of reporting the issue.
Google Play store - similar to Amazon, they send out a new phone first and request the old phone is sent back in due course. Obviously, like Amazon, they would charge your credit card if they didn't receive the faulty phone.
Tesco Direct - they collect the faulty device when they deliver the new device. No fuss at all when reporting an issue, I think delivery for new device is normally arranged for next day or may be in 2 working days.
PC World - take one to two weeks to investigate and repair any issues. Can sometimes make you feel like you're on trial and have to prove there is an issue. Still takes a week or so even if they come back with "no fault found".
Argos - similar to PC World
Expedite Electronics - not technically a UK retailer but they say they can take up to 28 days to resolve warranty issues. I thought this would be a very upper limit and in most cases it'd be done sooner but may be not. 28 days is a long time to be without a phone.
My question is, what other UK retailers are in the same league as Amazon/Google Play/Tesco when it comes to after sales customer service? Ones that do not make you feel like you're on trial when there is a warranty issue and ones where ideally they allow the new device to be sent out before receiving the faulty device, or at the very least, a very quick turn around time.
TIA

Is Sprint still replacing Note 7 as of today?

This has been an absolute nightmare for me, I just want my recalled one replaced.
The way I see it, sprint should replace my Note 7 (blue LED, first model).
Because a 2nd recall hasn't even happened. Plus, I know for a fact from hearing anecdotes from people with Customer Care and here on XDA that some store have extra Note 7's because people opted to get their replacements sent in the mail instead.
As of today are sprint stores absolutely refusing to replace anything?
This doesn't make sense, until a 2nd recall happens, shouldn't customers get to decide for themselves whether they want to tough it out? I realize the 2nd recall may happen tomorrow or even the next day, but it hasn't happened YET.
If anyone got theirs replaced yesterday or even today, can you give some feedback on the where and how? Corporate Store maybe?
Thanks in advance,
TechShui

https://twitter.com/sprintnews/status/785649415100960768
being that the carriers are demanding it be returned, CPSA is demanding they be returned and Samsungs own website is saying the only option is to return for another device, you probably have 0 chance of getting one.
I ran into the same problem with the original batch. Ordered for pickup the day before the recall, showed up and the sprint dude had left without calling me, couldn't even cancel the order and go elsewhere as he had to cancel it. After leaving pissed off, recall happened and they wouldn't give it to me, even though per their systems I already paid for the phone and it was mine. So order was cancelled and I had to wait. If they wouldn't let me have the phone that was technically mine after even talking with sprint corporate, no way are they going to exchange one now.

* *When Samsung says it's putting an end to the Galaxy Note 7 for good, it's not making any exceptions; the company has*confirmed to*Motherboard*that there are no plans to repair or refurbish a single recalled device. Every Note 7 that Samsung receives back will be scrapped.*“We have a process in place to safely dispose of the phones,” a spokesperson said.
Earlier today, Samsung*adjusted its third quarter profit estimates*to account for over $2 billion in losses — a direct result of the Note 7 recall saga. But as*Motherboard's*story explains, the environment will almost certainly pay a more significant cost. Samsung manufactured over 2 million Note 7s, and inefficient smartphone recycling practices make the difficult-to-mine rare earth elements and other components irrecoverable.*“These are all very expensive in terms of the environmental impact, but also in the lives they impact to mine them," iFixit CEO*Kyle Wiens told*Motherboard.
Samsung hasn't expanded on exactly what its disposal process for the Note 7 entails, but environment-minded organizations like Greenpeace might urge the company to be transparent about the way it disposes of so many smartphones over the coming weeks and months. The company issues a sustainability report, but hasn't yet factored the Note 7 recall into those figures. Note 7 customers are receiving*fireproof return boxes*for safe transport of recalled (and potentially hazardous) units back to the company; the boxes can only be shipped via ground courier services and are forbidden from being transported by aircraft.

You won't see a second recall as it just being called an expansion.
http://www.samsung.com/us/note7recall/
I get it sucks, but its not that bad for you... its a nightmare for samsung and the people that have had their phones explode.
Sent from my SM-N930P using Tapatalk

TechShui said:
This has been an absolute nightmare for me, I just want my recalled one replaced.
The way I see it, sprint should replace my Note 7 (blue LED, first model).
Because a 2nd recall hasn't even happened. Plus, I know for a fact from hearing anecdotes from people with Customer Care and here on XDA that some store have extra Note 7's because people opted to get their replacements sent in the mail instead.
As of today are sprint stores absolutely refusing to replace anything?
This doesn't make sense, until a 2nd recall happens, shouldn't customers get to decide for themselves whether they want to tough it out? I realize the 2nd recall may happen tomorrow or even the next day, but it hasn't happened YET.
If anyone got theirs replaced yesterday or even today, can you give some feedback on the where and how? Corporate Store maybe?
Thanks in advance,
TechShui
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tuffing it out is not even worth the remote risk. Furthermore sprint nor Samsung wants to risk liability. I wouldn't be surprised if Samsung or sprint eventually sends a self executing software update to disable the phone completely

I don't think they will take it that far, several people I know are still using theirs without issues.
How/when did this phone become a guaranteed fire hazard? If 30 blow up out of 14+ million devices?
If they were going to push an OTA killer wouldn't they have done so by now? I have however, given up hope of ever getting a replacement. I'm hoping if I wait maybe Sprint will offer a better phone than the S7 edge.
Has anyone been given the option of another, non-samsung phone as a replacement yet?

Warning on buying used Phones - Verizon retroactively blacklisting for prior owner

So I bought a Samsung Galaxy S6 in November of 2015 on ebay for $370. I checked IMEI before buying and it was clear. I received the phone and activated it on my Verizon account and continued to use it on that account for almost 2 years until recently when I attempted to move it to a different account.
After completing the port of my number to the new verzion account I was unable to activate the phone that had been previously working. Sometime between November 2015 and when I ported the person who sold me the phone decided to stop paying their bill and Verizon blacklisted the phone as stolen. I spoke to Verizon's fraud department and they are unwilling to take the device off the black list. Verizon continued to state that since I bought the phone from ebay and not directly from Verizon there was nothing they would do.
As infuriated as I am at losing a device for someone else's financial obligation (rant below) I am mainly writing this as a warning to the many people like me out there who buy used phones. I will likely never buy another used phone from a private seller because of this and I suggest you strongly consider the same. I believe this is going to become more widespread as Verizon introduced the device payment plan a couple years ago and this appears to be a clause in the terms that allows them to black list the device as stolen should the individual not pay.
I've contact ebay but am unable to open a case as the sale was 2 years ago. I contacted paypal and they likewise are unwilling to do anything.
Rant: It is as if Verizon is treating the device like a car and has a lien against it. With a car when you purchase and go to register the car under a new owner this can only happen once the current owner has satisfied the lien. Seemingly although the act of activating it on Verizon's network is the same as registering a car it does not require the former lien be satisfied. This leaves a person like me with no way of knowing if the phone will be black listed after I purchase it. Verizon should either not allow the phone to be activated on another account until the balance has been satisfied or at least provide a way to know if an IMEI has an outstanding balance associated to it.

This is kinda common knowledge though. It is the reason xda stands behind and supports swappa.com
This has been happening for years. The only way to make sure is to not use eBay and use a more reliable and vetted source.
There are ways around this (you will find the results I'm sure) but mind you they are illegal and you won't find help here with it.
I feel bad for you. This is still kinda a new thing in the states and carriers are really coming down on it. Just be careful.
As I said swappa.com is a great source. Just about everyone here uses it.

Samsung repair centre have only gone and lost my S9+

So, on Fri 23 March I dropped my 6 day old S9+ and smashed the screen.
I immediately call Samsung customer care who say to go to my local Experience Store where they can repair my device on the same day.
I call my local (39 miles away) experience store who state that they can carry out the repair tomorrow morning if I get there first thing.
I then ring the store back to ask how much it would cost me and they state it will be £270.00 to completely repair my device and I also asked again if they are able to repair the following day to which they say that they can.
The following day I travelled to my "local" store and arrive before they open. When looking through the shutter, I see a member of staff, so I ask them if I am at the right place just in case there was another store I had to go to. The staff member asked what I was getting repaired as he might be able to book it in early and when I told him it was my S9+ screen to be replaced he quickly ran to the back to talk to the engineers and came back and apologised that I had been misinformed and that they are unable to do any S9/S9+ repairs at present and they are just swapping the devices over for a new single sim version which I did not want as mine was a Hybrid version. He then suggested I come back when the manager is in in about an hrs time.
I returned back to the store to be told by the same staff member that the current situation is that no stores are able to repair the S9/S9+ devices at present as no had been trained on the process, plus the machines they use to separate the devices have not been calibrated for the new S9/S9+ devices and it may be a month or so before they are ready to accept repairs.
I was then advised to contact customer care tech support who said I need to speak to online sales as my device was a hybrid version who then said they couldn't help and passed me back to tech support where I spoke with a decent agent who actually listened to the situation and immediately booked my device to be picked up by UPS and taken to their repair centre in Norwich. After researching, I found this to be a company called A Novo which has so many bad reviews spanning years, which did not feel me with joy.
On Mon 26 my device was picked up my UPS and tracking showed it was received the following day at A Novo at 06:59am.
Later on Tues 27 I check my online Samsung repair tracking which status has updated to "Device received and booked in and is awaiting repair" which I thought great, progress!!.....well that is what I thought!!
I allow for the Easter weekend to disappear and on Tues 3 April I ring Samsung for an update as the online system had not changed since the previous week. The Customer care adviser contacts A Novo and comes back to me 15mins later apologising for keeping me on hold for so long but there appears to be an issue as A Novo (repair centre) are stating they have not received my device to which both the Samsung adviser an myself found strange as all tracking shows it has arrived at A Novo as my online status shows that and this can only be achieved by scanning the barcode inside the packaging. I was then told to allow for 48hrs so A Novo can locate my device.
I rang Samsung back yesterday (6 Apr) for an update and was still told that my device had 'apparently' not been received. Again both the adviser and myself found that funny so she went to speak with a Manager and came back saying that they are raising a 'Lost in Transit' claim and not to worry as all tracking shows it arrived at the repair centre.
I now have to wait 3-5 working days for the claim to process and I should have a new device just after.
So i'm guessing some toe-rag has pinched my device at the repair centre as it most probably be one of the first S9+'s to come in at their centre.

I'd be livid and extremely upset had that happened to me, I really hope you get this resolved.

Did they ever find your phone?
Sent from my Galaxy S8 using XDA-Developers Legacy app