Phone with bad IMEI ?

[mike_mck2]

I bought a Lumia 810 off of Craigslist, and it has a bad IMEI.

Seller screwed me on purpose...can't get in touch with him, etc....

Anyway, I called T-Mobile. I'm thinking Someone reported this phone, and if nothing else I'll get it back to them and at least someone can use it, sell it, whatever. Maybe I can buy it from the real owner.

Well, T-Mobile can't tell me what specifically it was flagged for, or who called it in, nothing. According to them, the phone is now useless, forever! Do what?? I can't even find out who the owner is to return it to them? This is insane!

 

[mase123987]

I can understand them not wanting to give out customer info. That said, would be nice if they would get the phone from you and return it to them?

Also, consider calling the police to see if it was reported. Also, file a police report on the person who sold it. They might just be able to help.

 

[palandri]

I think I understand their policy on not giving out personal information.

 

[WasteSomeTime]

How do you not know who the owner is? There was an address on the shipping box when you got it right?

Anyway I'm sorry to hear that, I know what it feels like to get robbed.
Sent from my SGH-i677 using Foroplex

 

[Laura Knotek]

How do you not know who the owner is? There was an address on the shipping box when you got it right?

Anyway I'm sorry to hear that, I know what it feels like to get robbed.
Sent from my SGH-i677 using Foroplex

The guy from Craigslist could have stolen it from the original owner.

 

[thed]

A lot of stolen stuff ends up getting sold on Craigslist. It's always a good idea to meet the seller in person at a T-Mo store so you can have the phone checked before you buy it from them.

 

[xirsteon]

This happened to me 3 months ago. I bought 2 of these on ebay and 1 of them has similar issue.. the seller refunded the money for the other bad IMEI one. After that, I will never buy a gsm phone from ebay, cl or any where else for that matter without asking and verifying the IMEI #. Tmob also failed to tell me anything else other than the IMEI is marked stolen in their uncarrier system.

I bought a Lumia 810 off of Craigslist, and it has a bad IMEI.

Seller screwed me on purpose...can't get in touch with him, etc....

Anyway, I called T-Mobile. I'm thinking Someone reported this phone, and if nothing else I'll get it back to them and at least someone can use it, sell it, whatever. Maybe I can buy it from the real owner.

Well, T-Mobile can't tell me what specifically it was flagged for, or who called it in, nothing. According to them, the phone is now useless, forever! Do what?? I can't even find out who the owner is to return it to them? This is insane!

 

[mike_mck2]

I can understand keeping customer info confidential, but hell, I would not mind at all if they shared MY info to the rightful owner. Whatever needs to be done to resolve the issue. However, they didn't offer that option either. Just said that the phone is now useless.

Anyway, I liked the 810 so much after playing around with it, just with wi-fi available, I bought yet another off of Craigslist, and had the seller meet me at a T-Mobile store so I could make sure it activate okay and had no problems.

I guess I just can't understand why a phone with a bad IMEI is not returnable to the original owner through T-Mobile.

 

[palandri]

Maybe the owner didn't pay his bill, or it was lost or stolen and replaced by insurance.