new iPhone5 for sale. Genuine?

goz83

Looking at a new iphone 5 to replace the offce 4S. Seen one advertised for €550 16Gb, UNOPENED, unwanted gift. Rang the seller to ask about it....now I don't mean to be un PC, or judgemental, but the guy is a traveller and my gut just said...its stolen. He said he has the receipt, that his missus got it for him and he uses the Galaxy instead. Not sure what to do. If I do buy it, I will insist on having the receipt of course. He is local to me, so it's convenient and a friend of mine happens to know his family and says it'll be grand.

My question is: How would I find out if the phone was stolen. He says it's still in packaging, untouched, with the film wrapped around it. Maybe i'm just being paranoid? If I did buy it and tturned out to be hot, can it get knocked off? It's not tied to any network. Please, none of the "if it seems too good" stuff. I will check everything possible. I don't want to miss out because I am being judgemental to a member of the travelling community.

guil

There's nothing to stop him reporting it lost or stolen after selling it and having the receipt won't make any difference whatsoever

goz83

guil wrote: »

There's nothing to stop him reporting it lost or stolen after selling it and having the receipt won't make any difference whatsoever

It wasn't a question of him reporting it. It was more ...what if it was stolen from somewhere else, like a shop, or something and the receipt he has is not for the phone he is selling. Again...maybe just being paranoid. 've seen good iphones sell for pittens. I bought one from a colleague that was only a few months old, locked to emobile/meteor and I got it for €170, so people do sell cheap to sell quick sometimes.

biko

If he has the original purchase receipt and then give you a receipt I'd say it ok. Check the phone against the receipt, won't it have the imei number?
I'm pretty sure you'll need the original purchase receipt anyway for any warranty issues down the road.

0ph0rce0

The phone is sealed, he has the receipt and your friend knows the family and is saying its cool.

But yet just because he is a traveller your worried :rolleyes: they ain't all bad ffs.

The IMEI is on the iphone box, It will be on the receipt too so if they match then cool.

goz83

Turns out the receipt is an ebay invoice :mad:

Making me think twice now. He said he would let it go for €500 if I take it tonight. So i'm back to my original question. If it's hot, can it be blocked and what would the likelihood be? The phone I mentioned above from my colleague was still in contract with meteor/emobile and he disputed his bill...they cut him off and he took out a contract with Three instead. The phone has not been turned off and that was 3 months ago.

biko

The likelihood is anything from 0-100% but tbh an ebay invoice isn't the same thing as an original purchase receipt. And how is that an unwanted gift, unless his missus got it off ebay for him.
It's up to you if want to risk it. Me, I'd need the original receipt just to be safe.

guil

Even with the receipt you have no protection. There was a thread here a few weeks ago about someone buying an iPhone and getting the receipt. Not long after the phone was blacklisted and 3 would not deal with them at all even though they has the receipt

naasrd

I'd jump ship on this one, you'll get as good a deal, if nt better, on adverts.ie.

guil

If you really want to buy it tell him to put it on eBay and pay through PayPal. At least you have some protection that way but I don't know for how long

Cheensbo

I've been burnt when buying a brand new phone from adverts, i.e. from an unknown (to me) private seller. - phone was blacklisted after a few days, seller went to ground. (I think you're on here -if you read this: f*ck you.)

I'll give an insight into why I would advise against buying iphones privately:

After the phone was blacklisted I tried to contact the seller, fairly quickly figured out what he was at. So I left it.

Then went through the rigamarole of contacting o2 (they made it difficult at first as I wasn't a current customer) (the phone was originally locked to o2 - it was unlocked through apple the morning i bought it) I spoke to a duty manager, who was very nice & understanding but in effect told me there was nothing she could do as they are only authorised to deal with the original owner / account holder.

When I got no satisfaction from o2 I contacted The Gardai - who told me it was a civil matter and also that o2 were in effect stealing from me by not allowing me to use my property - to contact a solicitor (I didnt)

I then tried to report someone making a false declaration (the seller has to in order to claim from insurance) again - stonewalled.

I contacted insurance confidential who were extremely understanding, sympathetic and helpful, who put me into contact with Phonecover - phonecover handle all insurances for o2 handsets, and are a subsidiary of Zurich Insurances.

The nice girl from phonecover understood my situation and since I had some pretty good proof of the intended sale of the handset by the seller, including all original packaging with matching IMEI numbers etc, that I had a pretty good case and may be able to assist them in catching someone for this common scam.

I then was called to go to Zurich's HQ in Ballsbridge, and met: Mr David Snow, who is head of fraud investigation at Zurich. (some of you may have seen him on The Late Late Show last Friday)

Mr.Snow looked at the phone, read my messages & looked at my pictures, (uninterested) and then informed me that since I didn't have the phone number associated with the phone at sale - they could not help me, despite the IMEI number being the reference for all claims & placement on blacklist.

I then re-contacted the girl in phonecover - who told me that data protection laws basically stop any investigation before it even commences. I then said that - they are facilitating, and almost encouraging insurance fraud - and she agreed, but data protection laws prohibit the sharing of information between o2 and the insurance company until a garda investigation requests it.

I gave up and sold the phone for a big loss to a Brazillian guy who was moving home to his own country and could use it there.


Now I don't trust private sellers for any phone/(electronics that can be blocked) purchases and I would strongly advise against buying one, even if the seller has good feedback & seems genuine.


What I would do, and did - Is buy one used (refurb) from amazon.co.uk, from an accredited seller with good feedback! & get it shipped with parcel motel.

I got a 4s 32gb for less than what 16gb's are for sale on adverts here.

Came with a warranty and Amazon's own guarantees - came from a seller called Excelsior electronics (who are a trading name of a major international electronics refurb & recycling company)

After a while there was a fault in the battery - sent it back and it was replaced FOC (outside of their & apples warranty) no fuss no messing.

My 2 cents.

sweetie

I've bought a couple from sellers on adverts with no issue but feedback was good for these guys. I then bought a 4s from a new user that went faulty after a month and brought it back to meteor as still under warranty (no receipt neededm IMEI on their system) but the phone had already had a part replaced by a 3rd party so they wouldn't entertain me. Luckily a friend managed to fix it for little cost but beware!