Phone brough off craiglist now blocked from tmobile

[kaloudtu]

Yeah So Before buying this I had a fear of this happening.the phone is now blocked from the T-mobile network After I was using it for a good 2 months.But I think I'm not much at a bad spot because when I bought it from the seller he told that the phone was his sister's phone that she bought for him as a gift but he said he didn't need it and so he wanted to sell it. I took a picture of the full receipt(Retail Instalment Obligation) which has the original buyers name,phone, and full address on it. My question is what can I do now? Help please!

 

[Almeuit]

Not too much you can do except contact him. The phone was either reported as stolen or it was on a payment plan and the payments stopped so the phone was blacklisted.

Whenever buying off craigslist ensure to have them meet you at a carrier store. The store can check if the phone is on a phone payment plan. If so never buy it.

 

[raino]

T-Mobile doesn't really care, unless you're buying phones through them.

Even if the phone is on a payment plan and paid off, sellers can turn around and make (false) insurance claims to get a new phone. The result is the same for the secondhand buyer: the phone gets blocked. It's a long shot, but maybe you could try finding out if the phone was on an insurance plan. If so, then Assurant may be interested in hearing about false insurance claims.

 

[Channan]

Dang, it sounds like he was still paying monthly for his phone, so after the payments stopped, T-Mobile blocked it. Unless you can get him to pay T-Mobile the money he owes them or give you your money back, I think you're SOL.

 

[maclancer]

This is one of the reason I stay the hell away from Craigslist... Worst place to buy any electronic gadget. Next time try Amazon or EBay.

 

[Bob61]

I recommend using Swappa for buying phones from private party. If you check their site you'll also find a link to check if T-Mobile (and other carriers) phones are free and clear for transfer.

 

[anon(782252)]

This is one of the reason I stay the hell away from Craigslist... Worst place to buy any electronic gadget. Next time try Amazon or EBay.

But it doesn't have to be. I've sold 4 or 5 phones on CL and as the seller, the only place I will meet for the transaction is a carrier store so the phone can be verified for the buyer before the sale.

 

[kaloudtu]

No the phone was fully paid not financed. Some just reported it stolen and only the original buyer can do that. But i still have the receipt with the original buyers, name, and address. So this is proof he sold it and that it was not stolen.

 

[raino]

No the phone was fully paid not financed. Some just reported it stolen and only the original buyer can do that. But i still have the receipt with the original buyers, name, and address. So this is proof he sold it and that it was not stolen.

OK, so if you know for sure that the phone was paid off (by going to a TMO store and having it looked up) then there are two reasons the seller did this:

1. He's a Richard, and/or
2. He wanted to file an insurance claim

It's next to impossible that this phone is going to get unblocked--unfortunately, you're going to have to take a loss here. So call Assurant at 866-866-6285 and tell them your story. It would help to have your phone's make, model and IMEI# handy. Tell them that you have written proof of this being a legitimate sale, and not a theft/loss/whatever the seller claimed happened.

 

[Ronan1287]

This is why you don't buy phones from people on craigslist.

 

[Bob61]

No the phone was fully paid not financed. Some just reported it stolen and only the original buyer can do that. But i still have the receipt with the original buyers, name, and address. So this is proof he sold it and that it was not stolen.

You may have a receipt. But are you sure the guy you bought the phone from is actually the same as name on receipt? Can you prove you actually paid? Does the receipt have the phone IMEI number on it? If no to any of these then the owner can easily say it want him or his phone.

 

[Nakrohtap]

If you can get a used phone activated on your account, it must be released from the old account. Otherwise, it wouldn't work.
If you file an insurance claim, that phone has to be active on that line. So, basically, if you have insurance, damage or lose your phone and activate a different phone on that line, you are no longer able to file a claim on that phone AFAIK.

 

[Not a Valid Username]

This is one of the reason I stay the hell away from Craigslist... Worst place to buy any electronic gadget. Next time try Amazon or EBay.

Nope! This is a big scam going around ebay now and buyer due diligence is not helpful. The blocking occurs long after you have left positive feedback for tbe seller. As for swappa they check IMEIs at the time of listing, the blocks happens a few months or even up to a year later.
There is no evidence that any of these entities facilitating the reselling of phones have any mechanism, or is any possible, to stop this fraud.
And fraud is what it is, that CL seller may have told you one story, but the reality is hordes of phones are being purchased from carriers under 2 year installment plans with stolen identities. You can't blame t mobile for trying to stop that, but I do blame ebay, craigslist, amazon, swappa and others for not doing a lot more to bring this problem into the light.
I found out before I got scammed, ended up buying a new sealed phone from walmart, downgraded from the high end "like new" one I wanted from ebay.
Note that even though my search was refined to only NEW items on ebay, virtually none of them were actually new in sealed box. Look at amazon results/offers too. And "unlocked" absolutely guarantees it is an opened (actually used) item.

 

[Almeuit]

Nope! This is a big scam going around ebay now and buyer due diligence is not helpful. The blocking occurs long after you have left positive feedback for tbe seller. As for swappa they check IMEIs at the time of listing, the blocks happens a few months or even up to a year later.
There is no evidence that any of these entities facilitating the reselling of phones have any mechanism, or is any possible, to stop this fraud.
And fraud is what it is, that CL seller may have told you one story, but the reality is hordes of phones are being purchased from carriers under 2 year installment plans with stolen identities. You can't blame t mobile for trying to stop that, but I do blame ebay, craigslist, amazon, swappa and others for not doing a lot more to bring this problem into the light.
I found out before I got scammed, ended up buying a new sealed phone from walmart, downgraded from the high end "like new" one I wanted from ebay.
Note that even though my search was refined to only NEW items on ebay, virtually none of them were actually new in sealed box. Look at amazon results/offers too. And "unlocked" absolutely guarantees it is an opened (actually used) item.

As stated before...

Whenever buying off craigslist ensure to have them meet you at a carrier store. The store can check if the phone is on a phone payment plan. If so never buy it.

You must take some initiative now a days with phones. This can happy on any carrier due to every carrier now having phone payments. You can't trust the seller via their word and should check with the carrier themselves to ensure the phone isn't on a payment plan.

 

[raino]

You can't trust the seller via their word and should check with the carrier themselves to ensure the phone isn't on a payment plan.

1. How likely are stores to accommodate these EIP status checks--a transaction that makes no money for TMO, and arguably costs them some in terms of a new/used phone sale, and

2. Even if the phone is paid off, couldn't a seller go back and make an insurance claim on it?

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Damn the mods for not letting me talk about how you can "fix" this

(Just kidding. Don't taze me bro.)

 

[Almeuit]

1. How likely are stores to accommodate these EIP status checks--a transaction that makes no money for TMO, and arguably costs them some in terms of a new/used phone sale, and

2. Even if the phone is paid off, couldn't a seller go back and make an insurance claim on it?

1 - Very. My buddy sells and flips phones a TON on CL. He won't buy the phone if the seller refuses to go there to check. They simply run it in their system to get a "It is on a payment plan" or "It is not on a payment plan". It isn't a big thing out of their day.

2 - Not sure. I don't use insurance but if they can then this is a major flaw in the payment system for all carriers.

[edit]

Also if you go here -- IMEI Status Check | See if Your Phone Works on T-Mobile 4G Network you can check. As you can see (below) that my phone says it is ready to be used on T-Mobile whereas my gf's iPhone says it is on a payment plan.

 

[boogas8]

1 - Very. My buddy sells and flips phones a TON on CL. He won't buy the phone if the seller refuses to go there to check. They simply run it in their system to get a "It is on a payment plan" or "It is not on a payment plan". It isn't a big thing out of their day.

2 - Not sure. I don't use insurance but if they can then this is a major flaw in the payment system for all carriers.

[edit]

Also if you go here -- IMEI Status Check | See if Your Phone Works on T-Mobile 4G Network you can check. As you can see (below) that my phone says it is ready to be used on T-Mobile whereas my gf's iPhone says it is on a payment plan.

1. Those "systems" they run the imei through, is just the same website we all have access to. The reason you want the seller there is because the rep then can open the sellers account and view the device balances.

2. Yes they could. T-Mobile can say the device is paid off but they take no responsibility to what happens if you buy or sell a used phone. There's just too many possible scenarios of ways to scam T-Mobile if they took responsibility.

 

[raino]

1. Those "systems" they run the imei through, is just the same website we all have access to. The reason you want the seller there is because the rep then can open the sellers account and view the device balances.

2. Yes they could. T-Mobile can say the device is paid off but they take no responsibility to what happens if you buy or sell a used phone. There's just too many possible scenarios of ways to scam T-Mobile if they took responsibility.

How helpful would account notes be in such a case, where the store rep (assuming you can get a store rep to do this) notes in the seller's account that the phone was sold? Do you know if notes would even be visible to the insurance company if they were researching a claim from the seller?

 

[elcheapodeluxe]

If one were at the carrier store, could they not look up if they were charging the account for insurance? Could you not then cancel the insurance on the spot as some protection against future insurance claims? Or is this totally third-party insurance not billed through the carrier?