Got Scammed with a Samsung Galaxy S2 - Tmobile says IMEI is blocked

**Androided** · 05-09-2012, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by Scottish Skyedance

Wirelessly posted (HTC Nexus One: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_3; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.16)

Unfortunately, my bro-in-law's Sensation got hit with same problem and T-Mobile TS told me the phone is blacklisted too.
He bought it in a store in Chinatown and the price was too good to be true.
Well, he lost his money and he uses my G2x now and I bought Galaxy Nexus.

LOL! you just like your bro-in-law's, same quality ...

Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk

**lordkaosu** · 05-10-2012, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by Androided

LOL! you just like your bro-in-law's, same quality ...

Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk

What the french toast?

**NiqueyMa973** · 05-16-2012, 05:23 AM

Originally Posted by karmakarma777

It's definitely false advertising, but good luck trying to get a big city police force like Chicago PD to help you out with small matters like this. There are other quicker and less aggravating options:

So basically, I got the phone unlocked off ebay. Now it works with an AT&t SIM. But, I'm under a contract with Tmobile for a little bit, so I'll just sell it to someone who's on AT&T, or most carriers in Canada (taking a trip back to my parents in Toronto next week). At least it will work for any of those people, just not for me.

And lesson learned: Never will I buy a phone without checking the ESN/IMEI numbers with the carriers, even if it's GSM.

karmakarma777, i thought i was the only one with this exact same issue. about 3 months ago i purchased the samsung galaxy s 2 at a cell phone shop and spent 700 bucks like a dumb a**. first month, worked perfectly fine. Went to refill my prepaid account the following month and now it says i have no service. Spoke to tmobile's tech support and they told me the same story someone who had the phone before me never made full payment on the phone therefore making it a stolen phone thus my phone is now a blocked device and their also telling me that i would have to travel back to new jersey to the place where i purchased the phone to get it unlocked. Is it possible that i still have a fighting chance to unblock my phone? i love this phone and it sucks that i was only able to use it in such a short amount of time.

**jet1000** · 05-16-2012, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by NiqueyMa973

their also telling me that i would have to travel back to new jersey to the place where i purchased the phone to get it unlocked. Is it possible that i still have a fighting chance to unblock my phone?

I don't think that traveling to where you got it is going to help. I think the original owner would have to pay the amount owed, which is probably unlikely to happen.

T-Mobile should be ashamed for causing their paying customers to go through something like this with no warning that this may happen when they purchase a pre-owned phone.

**imekul** · 06-18-2012, 02:00 PM

I've read through this thread, and I see suggestions for going the route of eBay or Amazon because they have buyer protection.

But that's limited, right? I mean, if I buy a used phone off of eBay, activate and use it fine for, say, six months, and then the seller abandons his T-Mobile account, my phone gets blocked and it's too late for eBay to help me, right?

So then is there ANY safe way to buy a used T-Mobile phone?

**minidanas** · 06-21-2012, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by imekul

So then is there ANY safe way to buy a used T-Mobile phone?

There is a safe way, which is to buy an unlocked AT&T and use it with T-Mobile. However, I'm concerned with compatibility. For example, right now I'm looking to buy HTC One S or Samsung Galaxy SII. What if I bought unlocked AT&T versions of these phones? Will they be fully compatible, have the 4G speed, capable of sending/receiving MMS?

**jet1000** · 06-21-2012, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by minidanas

What if I bought unlocked AT&T versions of these phones? Will they be fully compatible, have the 4G speed, capable of sending/receiving MMS?

You need to check the specs of the phone to see if it has 1700 or AWS for the UMTS or HSPA frequency.

**Gman91** · 06-22-2012, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by minidanas

There is a safe way, which is to buy an unlocked AT&T and use it with T-Mobile. However, I'm concerned with compatibility. For example, right now I'm looking to buy HTC One S or Samsung Galaxy SII. What if I bought unlocked AT&T versions of these phones? Will they be fully compatible, have the 4G speed, capable of sending/receiving MMS?

The S2 has to be rooted, and the radio has to be flashed? I read somewhere that people did this but were having issues with HSDPA+

Sent from my ADR6350 using HowardForums

**Gman91** · 06-22-2012, 03:10 PM

I called T-mobile customer service, asked them if there is anyway to check a phones IMEI and see if it is listed as stolen or blacklisted for unpaid fees. The guy said all I would have to do is buy a new sim card and the phone will work no matter what. I got over seas customer service (Which I hate with a passion) so maybe the guy wasn't understanding what I asked. Is there anyway to get customer service in the US?

**jet1000** · 06-22-2012, 05:54 PM

Yes. You can check the IMEI number without being a customer. I have done so. I just called in and said I was looking to become a customer and gave them the IMEI number and they ran it and said it was not blacklisted.

I think if a seller will give you the IMEI number prior to the sale, then that's saying something. If they refuse to, you could just stay away.

**Gman91** · 06-22-2012, 11:12 PM

Originally Posted by jet1000

Yes. You can check the IMEI number without being a customer. I have done so. I just called in and said I was looking to become a customer and gave them the IMEI number and they ran it and said it was not blacklisted.

I think if a seller will give you the IMEI number prior to the sale, then that's saying something. If they refuse to, you could just stay away.

Well I purchased a Amaze 4G off of craigslist today, they gave me the IMEI number, called T-mobile a second time and the guy confirmed it was clean.

**Kies** · 06-22-2012, 11:24 PM

The IMEI only becomes blacklisted after EIP default... Calling and checking is a waste of time if you stick a sim in the phone and it connects to the network. Which is why i reccomend you either buy retail or from a classic plan customer.

From my T-Mobile Galaxy S II

**TheCellphoneGuy** · 06-22-2012, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by Gman91

Well I purchased a Amaze 4G off of craigslist today, they gave me the IMEI number, called T-mobile a second time and the guy confirmed it was clean.

I seem to recall you mentioning that you were getting poor data speeds on T-Mobile's 3G network. They should improve, because the Amaze 4G is a 42mbps (theoretical) phone.

Let us know if the data speeds have improved.

As for Craigslist and buying phones, I tend to stay away from them after hearing lots of bad opinions, but I know that there are also honest folks out there that won't sell a phone with bad IMEI.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

**imekul** · 06-23-2012, 11:32 AM

Originally Posted by Kies

The IMEI only becomes blacklisted after EIP default... Calling and checking is a waste of time if you stick a sim in the phone and it connects to the network. Which is why i reccomend you either buy retail or from a classic plan customer.

From my T-Mobile Galaxy S II

Has that been confirmed, that the only way for an IMEI to be blacklisted is an EIP default? If so, how can you tell whether a phone is on an EIP or is on a Classic plan?

**jet1000** · 06-23-2012, 12:18 PM

Originally Posted by imekul

Has that been confirmed, that the only way for an IMEI to be blacklisted is an EIP default?

No the other way is if someone opens an account by fraudulent means or makes zero invoice payments after opening an account. Tmobile has blacklisted those phones as well. But an IMEI check should catch those.

If so, how can you tell whether a phone is on an EIP or is on a Classic plan?

The only way is for the seller to tell you.