I bought an Htc Touch Pro from sprint off ebay and got ripped off. Spent close to 400bucks to get a phone with a Bad esn. Tried resolving with sprint but turns out there is nothing i can do. Anyone know of a ESN/Supercid method for me to use on this. I thank you in advance for any help and saving me from loosing $400.
Contact PayPal and file a dispute. The phone is stolen property and I doubt anyone here is going to help you use activate a phone that doesn't belong to you.
Sprint claimed it was a non pay account. and unfortunantly i used money order to pay for the phone.
I work for sprint CS and unfortunately there isn't anything they are going to do about it. It's blocked in the system, the account was sent to collections probably. There is no way to change the ESN on the phone either.
What you could possibly do:
Call up *2 and see if your eligible for upgrade and use that instead, but thats going to cost you more money. You got screwed, who's idea was it for a money order?
There isn't going to be anything you can do really except threaten the guy and call the police, hope the money you spent on it will go towards the bill they owe, but thats not going to happen.
Hey guys, I sold my friend's epic 4g (sprint) last week when he upgraded to the galaxy s II. I was with him when he upgraded and knew for a fact that the phone was fine (he bought it new).
I had someone ask me about the ESN when selling and had checked it using a free site, and it came up clean. Now the buyer has contacted me and said that he cant activate it, and checking that same site I used before it, it is now saying bad esn.
What could have happened??? Is there something that the buyer did wrong? I have never messed with CDMA phones before, so the ESN thing is kind of a mystery to me.
If i refund him and get the phone back, is there a way to get the bad esn reversed?
Probably not. However, I am weary of this free-site you used to check the ESN? Basically you should never divulge the ESN to anyone even potential buyers. At least a couple years back, ESNs could be cloned to other handsets thus causing problems. I am not sure if thats still the case in today's world but for that reason I never give out the ESN (I call sprint directly to check for me if anything).
I am not saying that is what happened in your instance. But more of a warning for not divulging ESNs easily. You can however probably sell the phone as BAD ESN and someone willing to hack it to run on cricket, metroPCS, etc. can give it a go.
Sorry if that's not the news you wanted to hear but that's my take on it and maybe someone else has other information to help you out.
The site I used I had found in an article posted on ebay. It seems like a lesson learned on this one. I figured that I was pretty much screwed, but wanted to check into it more.
I assume the value is about half of what I sold it for with a bad esn now?
jay-red said:
The site I used I had found in an article posted on ebay. It seems like a lesson learned on this one. I figured that I was pretty much screwed, but wanted to check into it more.
I assume the value is about half of what I sold it for with a bad esn now?
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How Mich you sold it for?
from my shooter rocking myns ROM
sure
The phone is my favorite. Thank you!
He probably tried to wipe and/or clone the phone which went bad for him and now he's blagging you trying to be refunded.
Be cautious in these kind of situations.
yeah **** that guy you sold it to. he is sheisty.
by the way, why on earth wouldn't you just call sprint? it takes like two seconds to verify an ESN with them...
Ok, so I got an email from the buyer saying he called sprint again and seemed to get it working. The reason I didnt call sprint was that this happened at like 10 pm last night, and was looking for some quick advise. But all is well as he seems happy (judging by his replies he isnt the sharpest tool in the shed) Thanks for the replies guys.
As This is my first post i would like to introduce myself, My name is Brian aka HoBo_Man. Ive been lurking around and gathering great information from XDA and decided this would be a great community to be involved with. So here i am with my first question as im not too fond of Sprint and there 90 day ESN clearing that I've read about. Well heres the deal a while back i bought this Evo 3D from a friend at work with a known bad ESN from past bills owed on the phone. Well just checking my self i checked the ESN on free esn checking site and sure enough it came back bad. Ok so decide to just let the phone collect some dust for about a month and a half, then decided to check it again since I've read about these rumors of sprint clearing the ESN's. Well the site said the ESN is good now? Is this a legitimate site to check ESN or should i investigate further? If i sell this phone i don't want to state that it's clean if it's not?
Also another quick question. Recently bought another Sprint Samsung Galaxy S II with a known (Bill owed). Well the guy sold me the phone thinking the ESN was going to be bad because of the bill. Well i just checked the ESN (On free ESN check site?) and it came back good? The phone i know has been disconnected for about 2-3 weeks now. My question is does it take sprint a while to black list the ESN after disconnection? Or do some phones get lucky and slip their mind?
Any help is really appreciated in advance. Thanks.
Total invested in these phones
Evo 3D - $30.00
Galaxy S II - $35.00
Also is their any evo 3d Tuts on flashing to straight talk or is it like the galaxy s ii flash? Or what are the dial passwords for the main settings of the evolution?
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium
So I know this type of discussion isn't really related to developing but since this forum was basically THE Android forum for me, I would like to get the word out here. I don't want another victim like me to happen; I hope this will help any future phone buyers from falling into the trap I did. This is going to be a long story but I hope I can clear up all this confusion about used phones, so strap in!
I bought an iPhone 4S last year from a guy on Craigslist; he offered to meet at an AT&T store to verify the clean IMEI and this action alone made me go against my gut instincts, which were telling me this guy looked kind of sketch. He was a white male in his late thirties, pot belly and dressed really sloppily; also had a slight hunch. But you can't judge a book by it's cover right? His story was that this was his wife's iPhone and that he sold his own a few days ago because he wanted a Samsung Galaxy S3; the phone had one more year on-contract and came with the original box so I knew it wasn't stolen. I gave him my $400 after inspecting the phone and left. Fast-forward to this week...
The phone was given to my dad to use on AT&T a month ago; I used the phone on T-Mobile for almost a year and nothing unusual came up. Just two weeks ago, my dad started getting messages saying "This device has been blocked from network use. Please call your service provider..." Not making much of it or even feeling any panic because I was that naive, I thought to myself "no way the previous owner would call in a year later to blacklist his phone. Who would even do that?" I called AT&T and after an hour, the representative was getting annoyed and said "I'll open up a case; wait three days." Three days pass and I had no word from them; I called in again and after another hour l found out my case was closed and got transferred to the supervisor. To sum up what he said: the phone was fine on T-Mobile until it was registered in the AT&T system, the owner can block a phone years down the line because the "30 days since it's loss" translates to "30 days since it's last been used by ANYONE," and that even if I have proof I bought the phone, only the original owner can remove it from the blacklist. So wireless carrier's have this huge hole in their policy that creates victims for people who buy phones secondhand and they honestly don't give a crap because it earns them money. I asked "so there is NOTHING to protect people like me? You can't even tell the police who this guy is?" He brushed me off and told me to call the police and open up a case, even if the police do get involved though, he said their company will stay quiet.
So I ended the call, speechless and dumbfounded. Lost, confused, and frustrated, I went to the police station in my city, but it turns out I lived outside the city limits so I had to call a dispatcher in another county; after the short conversation, the dispatcher told me to wait for an officer to call. The straightforward police officer, being much more friendly and understanding than the people at AT&T told me "since the phone wasn't actually stolen, it's a civil issue; the only thing you can do is try to find this guy and take it to court. We don't get involved in these kinds of matter. I know it's tough to accept but the wireless companies just want profit and this policy that creates victims like you gets them what they want. This happens all the time and us police officers can't do anything about it. I'm sorry for your loss and I really wish I could help but this is the truth; you're left to your own devices now. Whenever you buy a phone secondhand YOU TAKE A HUGE RISK!" I'm hung-up the the phone in a better mood than I was because someone actually had sympathy for what had happened to me. Left here with just an e-mail address, I knew there was no hope of finding this guy; this person that was a criminal in a moral sense, and yet was not in a legal sense. What this guy did, the police officer said it's COMPLETELY LEGAL!
So the best I could do was go on Craigslist again and find someone who wanted a phone with a bad IMEI for parts or use overseas; I guess luck and karma were on my side and this guy quickly responded, wanting to buy the phone for $200. It turns out he worked for a company that fixes phones and ships them overseas to sell. I knew this guy, who was in his late twenties and rotund, was trained in buying phones; he brought a toothbrush, SIM card remover, and various other tools to inspect the device. I was uneasy during and after the deal; left scarred and paranoid from the previous Craigslist experience. To show how paranoid I was, I even went to a bank teller, asking him to check if the money he gave me was fake. After this ordeal, I realized that spending that extra $300 to buy a brand new phone is worth it; all this stress, mental exhaustion, and time is worth saving by putting down that extra money.
But the problem wasn't over; I bought a T-Mobile HTC One on Swappa for myself when I gave my iPhone 4S to my dad, although from a trusted seller, I knew I could not risk it anymore. Even though I know this guy's name, address, PayPal account, and had proof of purchase, I was still powerless; the wireless and insurance companies don't care about the facts. The merit of facts flies out the window and all they do is put their fingers in their ears and scream "OUR POLICY!" But I remembered during the escapade with the AT&T supervisor, he said I could have transferred the ownership of the phone. To get my facts straight, I went to T-Mobile with all the evidence I had saying I bought this phone from Swappa; I didn't bother with the bottom-feeders and went straight to the manager. Guess what he said? "We can't tap into the system and transfer ownership of a phone since it's tied to a contract. The best we can do it make a note on YOUR account that you bought this phone; this won't prevent it from being blacklisted but it will help if you decide to escalate the issue to Asurion (the insurance company)." Now I thought to myself, "would Asurion even give a damn?" The answer: NO; no they would not. They would most likely try to push the responsibility to someone else and dismiss this huge hole that creates helpless victims because their business runs on customers "losing" their phones or getting it "stolen," and then paying them to replace it.
After all this time wasted trying to get to the bottom of things, I'm left with the cold hard truth: you WILL get burned if you buy a used phone and there is NOTHING you can do about it! NOTHING! The best you can do is to take matters into your own hands and sue; the companies don't care and the police can't help! Save yourself from what has happened to me; just spend that extra $300 to buy a new phone. It's worth every penny for that extra security because this world is full of people who will take advantage of you! I can already feel my idealism fading...
yorkies88888 said:
I bought an iPhone 4S last year from a guy on Craigslist.
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I'm sorry this happened, but you purchased the phone off of craiglist!! You should of known better a simple google search would of told you about the dangers.
That was a long read but well worth it sorry that happened to you man, But i think recommending people not buy a second hand phone is somewhat extreme not everyone is a crook and are out to get you.
Anyway glad you were able to recoup half of the money back.
I often meet with someone on the way to sell me a second-hand mobile phone, I did not bother these people.
I bought my HTC one s from a local pawn shop. It was a fido phone which I unlocked and use on Telus network. So basically as long as you buy a phone which was not on the carrier you are going to use it on, then you are completely safe right?
Could you not have still switched that iPhone back to T-Mobile?
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
350Rocket said:
I bought my HTC one s from a local pawn shop. It was a fido phone which I unlocked and use on Telus network. So basically as long as you buy a phone which was not on the carrier you are going to use it on, then you are completely safe right?
Could you not have still switched that iPhone back to T-Mobile?
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Well the problem is that carriers in the U.S. are starting to share the same blacklist; AT&T, T-Mobile, and the other smaller wireless companies under them share the same list. Once you get blacklisted on one carrier, you're blacklisted by most now.
Thanks for the info.. glad you told.the story. I know this now heh.. sorry for what happened
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
Thanks for the story.
I think it is pretty safe to buy second hand unlocked phone...
Sent via Tapatalk 2
yorkies88888 said:
Well the problem is that carriers in the U.S. are starting to share the same blacklist; AT&T, T-Mobile, and the other smaller wireless companies under them share the same list. Once you get blacklisted on one carrier, you're blacklisted by most now.
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This applies to me as well. Without getting into too much detail: Purchased a late model android phone from Craigslist, an unlocked AT&T branded device and I use T Mobile. Fast forward until 2 weeks ago the phone would no longer make calls and gave me a specific error code which I forget now. Turns out that code meant "stolen or lost device" and it would no longer work on any US cellular networks.
Someone who isn't me was unsuccessful in changing the number that shall remain nameless in order to get the phone working again.... that is all
yorkies88888 said:
Well the problem is that carriers in the U.S. are starting to share the same blacklist; AT&T, T-Mobile, and the other smaller wireless companies under them share the same list. Once you get blacklisted on one carrier, you're blacklisted by most now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now i am living in europe, so this doesnt really bother me, yet i am still curious: what if you buy a htc one (for example) that someone had with contract, and root it? Would it still be in a blacklist? And for the iphones: does a jailbreak do the trick to get the phone going again?
Also, sorry for your experiences :/
Greets Vauvenal7
Sent from my HTC MyTouch_4G_slide
Vauvenal7 said:
Now i am living in europe, so this doesnt really bother me, yet i am still curious: what if you buy a htc one (for example) that someone had with contract, and root it? Would it still be in a blacklist? And for the iphones: does a jailbreak do the trick to get the phone going again?
Also, sorry for your experiences :/
Greets Vauvenal7
Sent from my HTC MyTouch_4G_slide
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Click to collapse
Nope. Software modifications won't do anything as your IMEI has been blacklisted. The only way around that is a new motherboard.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
@ yorkie8888
*Interesting read, Sorry to hear what happened, everyone else, I'm from London UK and was wondering if anyone else had experienced anything similar to yorkie here in the UK?
Sent from my Revolutionary Htc One X
Anyone know if this affects Canada the same? For example using an unlocked fido/rogers phone on Telus. Do they share a blacklist too?
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
This I feel has to be said:
Your spent $400 on a USED iPhone?
Buying used phones entails some downsides, like not getting to claim warranty, and this blacklisting thing is really sad, but, meh, that's why we buy them cheap.
Also, I feel the lesson here is, take precautions when buying second-hand, for instance, leave the phone unused for 31+ days. Buy a bat and work out. Take incriminating photos of the seller, etc.
Anyway isn't it possible -although illegal, I know- to change your IMEI?
Seems to be "common" losing/changing it when flashing ROMs.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Thanks for the info
Sent from my HTC Explorer A310e using xda app-developers app
Thanks for sharing this info.
So what is the point of someone blacklisting a phone a year later? Do they get a insurance claim or something.
I have bought used sprint phones for years, but now that I am using a phone (tmobile) with a sim card/imei it seems that you are more likely to get screwed.
Does swappa and PayPal not protect against this issue? And if not what the hell is swappa charging the customer $10/transaction for?
I am almost positive I got this same error a couple of years ago on a phone purchased directly from AT&T. It was a bad SIM card. I wasn't able to make calls or anything. They replaced the SIM and it worked. So for those who buy a used phone and get that error, check your SIM card first.
I've been buying and selling used phones for the last 2 years and never had an issue. I've don't buy off craigslist though, I stick to swappa or ebay where you have some protection via paypal. Yes you always run the risk of someone reporting the device lost/stolen after the sale, but that's why you only buy from reputable/rated sellers and skip on anything that looks too good to be true.
I'm sorry to hear you got screwed on your iphone, but I wouldn't consider your experience the norm. As for the warranty/insurance issue on your other phone, that's just how it is, do your research. The warranty only applies to the original buyer of the device (when bought through an authorized retailer). Same with insurance, you can only add it in a certain time frame when you've bought the phone from an authorized retailer.
However, some carries do have an "open enrollment" where you can add insurance to your device regardless of when/where you bought it. Verizon actually has it going on right now through Dec 2.
I am from Nigeria, I bought a Google pixel 7 pro from eBay after signing the bid for 500$
I contacted the seller if the phone was under contract, and his respond was "no".
I have been trying to unlock the phone, I called T-Mobile but they refuse to unlock the phone.
I cannot refund the phone because I already shipped it to Nigeria where I live and I am no longer able to contact the seller as the business seems concluded.
Please, I really need help to unlock this phone because the phone will be useless in my hand if not unlocked.
I spent a total of 620$ after tax and shipping.
I will be supper grateful if I can be helped.
Thank you .
Sounds like the phone was not paid off by the seller or it was stolen which would explain why T-Mobile refuses to help you.
If thats the case the phone is most likely blacklisted in which case there is nothing you can do.
Paul_Deemer said:
Sounds like the phone was not paid off by the seller or it was stolen which would explain why T-Mobile refuses to help you.
If thats the case the phone is most likely blacklisted in which case there is nothing you can do.
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I did a search using the imei number, kindly find attached.
princejeadi said:
I did a search using the imei number, kindly find attached.
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Two Key things I see there are Plan ID and Loan ID.
Is there anything I can do ?
I have the eBay receipt that is verifiable...
If there is a way to make this phone work, I will be grateful.
princejeadi said:
Is there anything I can do ?
I have the eBay receipt that is verifiable...
If there is a way to make this phone work, I will be grateful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the only option would be for the seller to pay off the loan at T-Mobile, which they're never gonna do, or to return it.
Those are your two options. There is nothing more that can be done. You're screwed as far as the phone is concerned.
However, you can open a case with eBay.
Open ebay or PayPal case
If item was advertised as unlocked you should get your money back.
mackdacre said:
I believe the only option would be for the seller to pay off the loan at T-Mobile, which they're never gonna do, or to return it.
Those are your two options. There is nothing more that can be done. You're screwed as far as the phone is concerned.
However, you can open a case with eBay.
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Thank you very much, let me do that
Thank you very much, I have contacted eBay, they wade into the issue and thereafter refunded me the complete money that I used for purchase, however, they left the phone with me.
Nothing lost, I got my money back and I have the locked phone for taking pictures and videos.
Thanks
princejeadi said:
Thank you very much, I have contacted eBay, they wade into the issue and thereafter refunded me the complete money that I used for purchase, however, they left the phone with me.
Nothing lost, I got my money back and I have the locked phone for taking pictures and videos.
Thanks
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Fantastic. Glad to hear it. Thanks for updating us.