Phone blacklisted after purchase

Grab All Association

Bought an iPhone 5 on eBay last month. Ran an IMEI check on the phone before and then again when it arrived (It took over a week to come) and it was clear (see attached pic)

Now the phone is coming up 2-3 weeks later as blocked

Seller just pulled an insurance scam I bet

Will find it very hard to get it unlocked now. I was using my own Vodafone UK sim in it for 30 days as per Vodafone UK's unlocking T&C's

Since I have proof of purchase and lock status weeks before the phone was blacklisted and the details of the seller it will be very hard for the seller to dispute this on Paypal. Going to open a dispute on Paypal in a second. Buyer beware.

Gumbo

Open the dispute ASAP.
Let PayPal handle this.

Grab All Association

Hi,

I am so sorry, Vodafone did block it when they cancelled the sim! God knows bloody why. Anyway they have said they have unblocked it. You just need to turn the handset off, leave it for two hours and turn it back on!

I am so sorry for all this inconvenience. Absolutely ridiculous. If you would rather still have a refund then please post the phone back recoded delivery and I will process the return. If you want to keep it I will still refund you £10 for all the hassle.

I genuinely had no idea Vodafone had done that! I don't know why they did!!

So sorry again. Please let me know what you would like to do.

Thanks!!

As I'm here in the republic I've no way to test this.

coylemj

Grab All Association wrote: »

As I'm here in the republic I've no way to test this.

Your phone is on a blacklist and will remain blocked unless the person who claimed insurance on it admits that they did so dishonestly or by mistake and refunds the money to the insurance company. Vodafone won't block the phone just because they're cancelling the SIM, they're two completely separate issues.

Grab All Association

coylemj wrote: »

Your phone is on a blacklist and will remain blocked unless the person who claimed insurance on it admits that they did so dishonestly or by mistake and refunds the money to the insurance company. Vodafone won't block the phone just because they're cancelling the SIM, they're two completely separate issues.

Looking at that report it says the device was reported lost or stolen to the mobile network. The only two checks it fails. There's no insurance claims coming up for it.

Waiting for Vodafone to contact me to confirm the story. If its not un-blacklisted then the phone will be returned.

simdan

Grab All Association wrote:

Looking at that report it says the device was reported lost or stolen to the mobile network. The only two checks it fails. There's no insurance claims coming up for it.

Grab All Association wrote:

Waiting for Vodafone to contact me to confirm the story. If its not un-blacklisted then the phone will be returned.

Unfortunately this doesn't mean that there wasn't an insurance claim. I'd say the seller definitely claimed on his insurance and this section was not updated correctly. Its very difficult to reverse a blacklisted phone's status. I would contact the seller and ask for a full refund. Definitely get in touch with PayPal too and create a dispute.

coylemj

Grab All Association wrote: »

Looking at that report it says the device was reported lost or stolen to the mobile network. The only two checks it fails. There's no insurance claims coming up for it.

Why would someone falsely report a phone stolen and then sell it unless it involved a fraudulent insurance claim?

Most likely it was stolen very recently, the original owner claimed off their insurance and the phone ended up in the hands of the person who sold it to you while the paperwork to get it blacklisted was going through the system.

Grab All Association

Update

It would appear the seller was telling the truth and it was accidentally blacklisted and now unblacklisted.

See report below.

Grab All Association

Update

FINALLY got this phone unlocked. After 7 emails and 20+ live chats.