Imei blacklisted

[ManvirS]

I bought my Galaxy s4 in August and it was working fine until now where he decides to stop paying his bill. Now T mobile blacklisted it. I have his phone number and address I called him and he said he doesn't know what I am talking about. What are my options? Can I change the IMEI or will the police be of assistance?

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[ManvirS]

I bought it from Craigslist

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[fatboy97]

My opinion.... you could try calling T-Mobile and discuss it with them, but I'm not sure you have any leverage. You could call the police, but they are not going to do anything. As far as I know Craigslist is always a buyer-beware website.

 

[ManvirS]

I called T Mobile and they said they couldn't do anything

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[cluckkillerb]

If he's near you I would give him one more chance to fix the situation(refund, pay off the ETF, etc)...if not I would take him to small claims court. Just because something is on Craiglist doesn't mean you have to accept being scammed. I would get all of the correspondence you have between the 2 of you so you can prove what you agreed to and get proof saying the phone is blacklisted. It would be a slam dunk case and make their life a little more difficult, which is only fair since that is what they've done to you.

If you don't want to go that route you can always try to recoup your $ by selling it as a bad ESN phone on ebay.

Good luck

 

[ManvirS]

Thanks so you are saying i should find a lawyer or call the cops about it. I just want him to pay off the phone. What do I tell him on the phone? He keeps telling me he has no idea what I am talking about

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[baseballfanz]

Thanks so you are saying i should find a lawyer or call the cops about it. I just want him to pay off the phone. What do I tell him on the phone? He keeps telling me he has no idea what I am talking about

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Asked for your money back or tell him you're taking him to small claims. Once blacklisted, tmobile will not do anything even if he's willing to pay off the balance.
If he refuse on the phone or in person, send him a "certified return receipt" letter.

☞ Sent from here☜

 

[ManvirS]

Are you sure? So even if he pays the remaining balance the imei will not be unblocked? Is there a way to change imei by rooting or something?

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[Almeuit]

If I am not mistaken it is actually illegal to change Imei numbers.

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

 

[ManvirS]

I need a way to get this phone working

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[Almeuit]

You really can't I don't think... At least not legally.

Also we can't help since it's illegal and against forum rules. Sorry! .

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

 

[Aquila]

Definitely wish you the best of luck getting this resolved, but Almeuit is correct that the forums are not the place to discuss illegal/fraudulent remedies to your situation. The advice about working with the seller for a refund and/or filing suit if that fails to work is the best option.

 

[ManvirS]

But won't the law suit cost me more than the phone itself? If I convince him to pay his bill then will t mobile unblock it?

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[msndrstood]

You don't need a lawyer for small claims. It should cost less than 100$ to file and if you win, you'll get it back. Look up the procedure on your local government website. Otherwise you're out of luck. A dead IMEI is a dead phone on that network. If it were me, I'd sell it on eBay as 'Bad ESN' and try to get at least some of your money back. Sorry.

Sent via The Big, Bad, Beautiful Note 3

 

[AshManMB]

Small Claims. File a suit with the court for the replacement cost of the phone. you may also be able to add to the claim if you use the phone for business and can prove you have lost income as a result. Print out any copies of any emails etc you have made with him, as well as if you can access your phone records showing when you called him and or when he called you. Get t-mobile to send you in writing confirmation the phone was blacklisted and why. Google how to file a small claims case.

Changing the IMEI is illegal. If you have no other options, sell the phone as a bad IMEI phone on ebay. you will generally find someone will buy it, but don't expect to get back what you paid for it.

 

[moosc]

Yep your kind sol on the phone. Some folks do that and don't care. Best bet suck up the lose since he doesn't care heck he got his money. Sell it on eBay saying it's blacklisted folks still buy them. Then buy another. A good site that is reputable is swapa.

Sent from Bad Azz VZW LG G2 Cyan Tapatalk

 

[Cozume]

I bought my Galaxy s4 in August and it was working fine until now where he decides to stop paying his bill. Now T mobile blacklisted it. I have his phone number and address I called him and he said he doesn't know what I am talking about. What are my options? Can I change the IMEI or will the police be of assistance?

I would call TMobile and explain what happened and ask if you can pay off the balance owed on the phone.

Your option against him is small claims court. The problem is the expense of winning and what you would have to spend to collect any judgment you win.

This is a civil matter and the police won't help. You have a breach of contract claim, not a theft claim.

Changing the IMEI is illegal so that isn't an option.

If you do decide to go to small claims court, the first fee you will have to pay is the filing fee. Then you have to pay to have him served with notice of the case you filed against him.

Now once the case is filed, you will need evidence from TMobile showing the phone has been blacklisted unless the guy you bought it from is willing to admit that. TMobile has the right to charge you for reasonable copying fees for any documents you request from them to show that the phone is blacklisted. And TMobile won't turn over to you any documents on his account without the court issuing a subpoena if you are representing yourself.

And once you win, then you have to go about collecting your judgment, which of course has expenses associated with it.

You should never buy a phone from Craig's list again.

 

[Cozume]

A good site that is reputable is swapa.

But now that there are all these payment plans out there, like Verizon's Edge, how can swappa protect against that? The IMEI will show as clean when you list it on swappa but if you stop paying on the Edge program later, Verizon can blacklist the IMEI then.

 

[ManvirS]

I am going to do the Small Claims.

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[Paul627g]

Sorry to hear you've been the victim of a blacklisted phone. That is the big risk you take when purchasing anything used. Most of the time the transaction goes off without a hitch but as you have learned it does go south sometimes.

Your best options have been explored and explained here..

• Talk to the original owner. (Doubt much is going to happen here since they are denying any knowledge. Obviously this is why they sold the phone they knew they couldn't keep up with the bill and it would be blacklisted eventually.)
• Seek a lawyer for small claims. ( Not everyone's cup of tea. )
• List it on E-Bay or other sites and be up front and honest that it has a bad IMEI and sold as is. Don't low ball yourself too much, the parts of the device if in good condition are valuable for repairs. i.e, screen/display, casing, internal speakers, battery, buttons and anything else that is easily swapped aside from the motherboard.

In my opinion as others have said listing it as a bad IMEI and getting some of your money back is probably your best option. I'm sure you really don't want this bad experience hindering you enjoying the device.

Good luck!