This probably isn't the best place for this, but I don't really know where else to ask about it.
A few months ago I was on a trip and I found a MetroPCS phone that was locked. There was very little I could do about figuring out who the owner was (it wasn't anyone's in the group I was in) or trying to unlock the phone (no way!). When I got home, I called up MetroPCS and explained my predicament, but they were surprisingly unhelpful and basically told me I had to take it to the store, and even then they likely couldn't do anything for me or the owner. After a bit of arguing about how ridiculous that is, the support guy ended up essentially telling me to throw out/recycle the phone. Obviously there's a whole other issue here with their support on this issue, but I won't touch that at the moment.
Well, the nearest store is really far from me (over an hour away) and its out of the way from any normal driving I do, so I ended up just throwing the phone in a drawer for a while. I was cleaning up yesterday and I found it again, so I decided to look into this once more. Today I learned about ESN and IMEI blacklisting, and I looked the phone up to see and of course it is blacklisted because it was reported lost.
Is there anything I can do with this thing? I guess I could sell it for parts on eBay or something like that, but I feel weird selling a phone that a lot of potential buyers would yell "stolen!" at.
Ductapemaster said:
This probably isn't the best place for this, but I don't really know where else to ask about it.
A few months ago I was on a trip and I found a MetroPCS phone that was locked. There was very little I could do about figuring out who the owner was (it wasn't anyone's in the group I was in) or trying to unlock the phone (no way!). When I got home, I called up MetroPCS and explained my predicament, but they were surprisingly unhelpful and basically told me I had to take it to the store, and even then they likely couldn't do anything for me or the owner. After a bit of arguing about how ridiculous that is, the support guy ended up essentially telling me to throw out/recycle the phone. Obviously there's a whole other issue here with their support on this issue, but I won't touch that at the moment.
Well, the nearest store is really far from me (over an hour away) and its out of the way from any normal driving I do, so I ended up just throwing the phone in a drawer for a while. I was cleaning up yesterday and I found it again, so I decided to look into this once more. Today I learned about ESN and IMEI blacklisting, and I looked the phone up to see and of course it is blacklisted because it was reported lost.
Is there anything I can do with this thing? I guess I could sell it for parts on eBay or something like that, but I feel weird selling a phone that a lot of potential buyers would yell "stolen!" at.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wifi toy for the kids / nieces / nephews / friend ...?
Obviously the phone is a lost cause at this stage, despite your best efforts. Typically there is a way to use a button combo to get into recovery to wipe the phone so the previous user's data and passwords will be removed. How to do so, or if it is possible, depends on the model.
Ductapemaster said:
Today I learned about ESN and IMEI blacklisting, and I looked the phone up to see and of course it is blacklisted because it was reported lost.
Is there anything I can do with this thing? I guess I could sell it for parts on eBay or something like that, but I feel weird selling a phone that a lot of potential buyers would yell "stolen!" at.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can sell it, just list it as having a bad ESN/IMEI and "for parts".
If there's a SIM card, you could pop it in a MetroPCS or unlocked GSM phone and it should have the phone number (Settings -> About device -> Status). Call/text the number (from another phone, obviously).
Related
no
Take it to a TMO store, I doubt anyone here will be too willing to help giving the possibility that you may have a stolen device.
If it is rooted there is a way, I don't have the link, but you use adb to pull and edit one of the db's , if it is not rooted, then most likely SOL ...
colaicee said:
i work at a cellphone repair shop. we also buy sale and trade phones. i use XDA a lot for the new android phones coming out when people have problems.
my coworker bought a vibrant from a customer that came into our store, the thing is that now the phone is patterned locked and we dont know the original email address. he said that it was working fine when he first purchased it. my guess is the customer unlocked it before my coworker played around with the phone.
anyways, no i didnt steal it. or any of that bs. we have a business license, a store front, and 99.9% feedback on ebay.
pm me if theres a way. willing to paypal for info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you really did buy it, then call the person up and ask them.... unless i'm mistaken if any store buys stuff from customers they're supposed to document all information in case the item has been stolen
The phone is locked regardless. There is an android bug that doesn't allow the phone to verify the google credentials after you try the pattern lock too many times. Even if if was the OP's actual phone, he'd need to either factory reset, flash a new rom to the device, or get a replacement phone.
No one here will be able to help you get past it. There were security holes that allowed people to bypass it, but Google has sinec patched those, without fixing the fundamental issue (users, their children, their friends locking them out and basically "bricking" the device for all intents and purposes).
You got got, and it's probably a stolen device (not saying you stole it, someone else could have).
If you go to T-Mobile they will ask for you account information and check the IMEI against you account. T-Mobile uses different bands as AT&T so there aren't that many people buying Vibrants up front to unlock them and use them on different carriers, TBQH. If that IMEI belongs to someone else (it's even on you contract/reciept), they won't replace the phone. They will assume it's stolen.
Maybe if you start a contract/new line the reps in the store may help you out, though.
However, contacting Samsung may yield better results, but I think the Warranty is handled by T-Mobile, unless it's a hardware defect (hardware locked devices and pattern lockouts are both software issues).
"No i didn't steal it"
LOL
:/........
Nvm, lol
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
If it is rooted you could always try this ..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=485988
ookas said:
if you really did buy it, then call the person up and ask them.... unless i'm mistaken if any store buys stuff from customers they're supposed to document all information in case the item has been stolen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, good call there. if the op purchased the phone he should have all of the sellers info on file.
Hey Guys,
So i bought a new unlocked S3 as a gift and left it in my car and went out for dinner and When i came back my car was broken into and obviously the phone was stolen along with other things in the vehicle. So i called the cops and filed a report but i was not able to give any info n the phone like a IMEI number. So i filed a claim with the store i bought this from and they are being a pain. So i had to call my bank and put a stop pay but there might be an issue. So i am curious to know if this phone can be tracked or not, btw there was never a sim in the phone. I have been looking everywhere searching for answers. Any info on this is helpful. I paid $700.00 for the phone and now its gone.
Thanks!
solomon862000 said:
Hey Guys,
So i bought a new unlocked S3 as a gift and left it in my car and went out for dinner and When i came back my car was broken into and obviously the phone was stolen along with other things in the vehicle. So i called the cops and filed a report but i was not able to give any info n the phone like a IMEI number. So i filed a claim with the store i bought this from and they are being a pain. So i had to call my bank and put a stop pay but there might be an issue. So i am curious to know if this phone can be tracked or not, btw there was never a sim in the phone. I have been looking everywhere searching for answers. Any info on this is helpful. I paid $700.00 for the phone and now its gone.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there,
I'm sorry for your misfortune, but you shouldn't have left such a pricey object in your car I suppose..
You don't know its IMEI so you should contact the person to get ahold of the store he bought it from to maybe check with the store about getting the device's IMEI number in order for you to track it..
Other than that, I'm not sure there's something else you can do..
check out Lookout Plan B
Was the phone still in the box?
yes there is.
1. is your phone rooted? if yes this will make this easier, if not its okay, there's still a lot we can do.
2. even without a simcard inside the phone, did you ever set up a Google account? hopefully you still remember your info, but if you don't, and aren't able to recover it thru Google's site, PM me.
3. go to market.android.com (it'll redirect you to whatever they changed their new URL to when they renamed it play store).
4. luckily android can remotely install apps to your phone even without you having the phone (scary isn't it? lol). you're going to want to install an app called androidlost .
5. from there, visit androidlost.com and even without you having the phone, you can setup and configure the app (also scary right? lol).
6. now this is where root comes in, if you're rooted, you can do all sorts of evil things, like listen in on that dude thru your phones mic, watch him thru your cam, dial numbers from the phone, track it thru GPS, take any content out of it, delete anything inside the phone, check call logs, location history, and when you actually find the guy, you can set off a siren to max out your phones volume, and never stop blasting till you take confront that SOB face to face. of course how much of this actually depends on if you're rooted or not, like remotely formatting the SD and such, the others, no root necessary! (now is it scary? lol)
also if you plan on having more of your phones stolen in the future, you should do all this before having your carrier shut down your phone lol. (you'll have to rely on wifi for now)
also, did you buy it with a Visa? if you did, and you live in the US, even if you bought it from outside the US, your store warranty is doubled, and if that didn't fix it, they'll completely replace it up to $500 per item, up to $50,000 per year (as long as said item wasn't stolen from your car ) (
Sorry if this is in the wrong place, first time poster here.
In December I purchased a nexus5 off of some guy that was selling one in my local area. He seemed like a good guy, the phone was in the original box and I was pumped at getting one for a bit cheaper than they are on the play store. Although this last week it randomly could not connect to the network, so I called Telus (my Canadian provider) and after a half hour of troubleshooting they told me that the IMEI is blacklisted as a lost or stolen device? I feel pretty ripped off and disappointed. I found the guys email that I brought it from and tried to contact him but he wont answer his phone, texts, or email. So I don't know what to do? Am I just screwed and forced to buy a new phone? is there anyway I can change the IMIE address? Or anything that anyone can recommend I should attempt to do? Thanks in advance for any help that can be supplied!
Always check before buying. If it is stolen (instead of lost) then you should turn it in to the police. But there is no way to tell and the provider will never tell you which.
It also isn't unheard of for a telco to incorrectly block a phone. I'd try arguing your case since you used it for a month before they shut you down.
nordlead2005 said:
Always check before buying. If it is stolen (instead of lost) then you should turn it in to the police. But there is no way to tell and the provider will never tell you which.
It also isn't unheard of for a telco to incorrectly block a phone. I'd try arguing your case since you used it for a month before they shut you down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the input. Who would I contact about arguing it? I talked to someone at Telus for a good half an hour, and they just told me that they have no control blacklisting the IMEI. They would if say i was under contract and I didnt pay my bill. But I am off contract and just put their SIM in my unlocked device. The person told me that say for example if the phone was stolen from BestBuy in novemeber, it could have worked this entire time because it took bestbuy this long for them to put the numbers in there system, and it finally just caught up with me. And also, my SIM works in my friends nexus4, so it doesnt have anything to do with Telus, its an issue with the phone not getting access to the towers. And if it is blacklisted on the national list for being lost or stolen it wont work on any of the carriers in the country... So i dont know what to do
Ok so ive read alot from the pro devs and people on the forums that unlocking your bootloader most "likely" wont void your warrenty esp. if you just relock it by restoring your TA backup and your carefull and clean about it but i have two problems with believing this. They are as fellows.
cant the sony apps just check for root and send a message
the service app knows if its unlocked and since youve entered your imei number to get your key again coulddnt sony send a message with your imei number
isnt the accounts linked between sony and google shared in the least which means the above questions can be passed on with google to sony
according to sony even if it doesnt void the warrenty that you agree to pay an additional repair fee for modified software.
Lets not beat around the bush and just say it would more than likly void your warrenty or at least have some cost. sorry if ive missread items on the forums but if i have read correctly or others have missunderstood as i may have hipefully this clears the air. Cause after all sony is company to make money but to make money they have to keep us happy so i am more than happy to admit i dont have a clue where it lies but i was about to unlock my boot loader when there was all these disclaimers which kinda scared me. my phones already rooted though so i may have already broken those disclaimers. END RANT.
Rooting is fine, as to my knowledge. It's unlocking the bootloader that you lose your "DRM" keys and thus lose warranty. But from what I've read, very few service centers check for that anyway. If all goes downhill, play the ignorance card and pretend that you do not know a thing about that. I'm fairly new to the whole rooting/unlocking scene and still learning, just as you. Also, from what I've been told, you have little to worry about if you have rooted/unlocked your phone.
As far as I understand you only have to pay if your issue is a software fault aka your fault not sonys. A hardware fault is a hardware fault irrelevant of software
I remember someone posting a thread about sony refused to service his phone without a charge for a hardware fault because of the bootloader was unlocked. That's in Australia tho. Not sure how somewhere else is like.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
jeremy.shi said:
I remember someone posting a thread about sony refused to service his phone without a charge for a hardware fault because of the bootloader was unlocked. That's in Australia tho. Not sure how somewhere else is like.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's about right. Australia's not the most customer service friendliest country to be in (with literally less than a handful of exceptions, and this is across ALL industries, be it hospitality or electronics.)
The usual immediate reaction to most warranty claims are "you've done something with the phone to cause this," followed be "prove you haven't done this and we'll accept it, unless we can prove the opposite."
Happening with me and my current phone (samsung s3,) which is why I'm on this neck of the woods with the forum as I'm looking or a new phone.
grungypoo said:
That's about right. Australia's not the most customer service friendliest country to be in (with literally less than a handful of exceptions, and this is across ALL industries, be it hospitality or electronics.)
The usual immediate reaction to most warranty claims are "you've done something with the phone to cause this," followed be "prove you haven't done this and we'll accept it, unless we can prove the opposite."
Happening with me and my current phone (samsung s3,) which is why I'm on this neck of the woods with the forum as I'm looking or a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I don't know. Maybe I'm just lucky. Shops in my suburb offer pretty good customer service. Those people over the phone from my bank, NAB, couldn't be friendlier...the time I had really bad customer service was with Vodafone, but they were not based in Australia. I guess that doesn't count.
Anyway, if after-sale service is what you are looking for, get a nexus from google play store. They are pretty much like Apple I heard. They send you a replacement if there's anything wrong and then you send your phone to them, but you have the get the phone from play store directly in order to get that kinda service. Otherwise, you will be stuck dealing with LG.
I have received really good customer service from Apple, but I guess most people here are mostly android fans.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
jeremy.shi said:
Well, I don't know. Maybe I'm just lucky. Shops in my suburb offer pretty good customer service. Those people over the phone from my bank, NAB, couldn't be friendlier...the time I had really bad customer service was with Vodafone, but they were not based in Australia. I guess that doesn't count.
Anyway, if after-sale service is what you are looking for, get a nexus from google play store. They are pretty much like Apple I heard. They send you a replacement if there's anything wrong and then you send your phone to them, but you have the get the phone from play store directly in order to get that kinda service. Otherwise, you will be stuck dealing with LG.
I have received really good customer service from Apple, but I guess most people here are mostly android fans.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I definitely think that Apple has their warranty service down to a tee.
I also think that Telstra's doing this too. What they're doing is creating an extra layer, where they just pretty much "accept" any errors, send it to warranty department to sort out and let you know what the result is. None of this "well, I think you're trying to screw the system, etc etc" talk.
Makes it alot easier. I was at the samsung experience shop and was told by someone who had no tech idea (in the tech/warranty support section, mind you) that I've tampered with the phone and there is no way it will be fixed under warranty, in an attempt to make me feel bad and walk away from trying to get a hardware error (power button,) fixed under warranty. When I tried to explain to them how the bootloader works and how you can reset the counter, they took it as an act of aggression and told me flat "no, you can hand it in but we'll know. Your risk."
I mean, there's no need for that as the phone's going to repair centre to get looked at but they just need to get that swipe in definitely doesn't help add to the customer service experience. But that's pretty much how it is for customer service in Australia.
grungypoo said:
Well I definitely think that Apple has their warranty service down to a tee.
I also think that Telstra's doing this too. What they're doing is creating an extra layer, where they just pretty much "accept" any errors, send it to warranty department to sort out and let you know what the result is. None of this "well, I think you're trying to screw the system, etc etc" talk.
Makes it alot easier. I was at the samsung experience shop and was told by someone who had no tech idea (in the tech/warranty support section, mind you) that I've tampered with the phone and there is no way it will be fixed under warranty, in an attempt to make me feel bad and walk away from trying to get a hardware error (power button,) fixed under warranty. When I tried to explain to them how the bootloader works and how you can reset the counter, they took it as an act of aggression and told me flat "no, you can hand it in but we'll know. Your risk."
I mean, there's no need for that as the phone's going to repair centre to get looked at but they just need to get that swipe in definitely doesn't help add to the customer service experience. But that's pretty much how it is for customer service in Australia.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Saying about Telstra, just not long ago, a guy on WP posted something about their warranty policy. He said he was asked to sign a piece of paper to declare that if the fault was determined to be caused by the user, he would be charged for the service. I guess they just don't say it out loud to you. Instead, they ask you to sign a legal document that is pretty much an open cheque. However, I never had any personal experience with them. It's just what I read on the internet.
jeremy.shi said:
Saying about Telstra, just not long ago, a guy on WP posted something about their warranty policy. He said he was asked to sign a piece of paper to declare that if the fault was determined to be caused by the user, he would be charged for the service. I guess they just don't say it out loud to you. Instead, they ask you to sign a legal document that is pretty much an open cheque. However, I never had any personal experience with them. It's just what I read on the internet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds about right, and that's pretty standard tho'.
I think it's better that way because the techs make the decision based only on the phone they see, not the person who has it.
The only part I'd have a problem with is if they charge people automatically as opposed to giving them a quote first. But then again it stops people from "trying to get it fixed under warranty," if you know what I mean.
In any case, I was at the Samsung shop again today and they guy asked questions about the phone. At first the phone seemed like everything was working, which embarrassed me and had the guy asking if I got the phone wet, but then it started bootlooping, so they swapped it for another phone. I'm still looking at getting a z2 tho'.
hey thanks for the info but has anyone had any reports for hardfaults directly with sony becuase sonys websites say there may be a charge just for unlocking it but they arnt clear?
Why would one unlock the boot loader?
firecard said:
Why would one unlock the boot loader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To install a custom ROM.
grungypoo said:
Sounds about right, and that's pretty standard tho'.
I think it's better that way because the techs make the decision based only on the phone they see, not the person who has it.
The only part I'd have a problem with is if they charge people automatically as opposed to giving them a quote first. But then again it stops people from "trying to get it fixed under warranty," if you know what I mean.
In any case, I was at the Samsung shop again today and they guy asked questions about the phone. At first the phone seemed like everything was working, which embarrassed me and had the guy asking if I got the phone wet, but then it started bootlooping, so they swapped it for another phone. I'm still looking at getting a z2 tho'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went to Telstra today to get my phone fixed as Sony advised me that the issue I had was likely to be a hardware problem. It went really well. He did play around with it a bit and verified the problem. He said I would get a brand new unit within a week and he didn't ask me to sign anything. Hopefully I can get my hands on a perfect one soon.
You didn't sign anything? So basically there's no official record of them taking your phone, hopefully all goes well but if not your screwed :-/
Hmm... did he even fill anything in on the computer systems?
Hopefully you remember the guy's name and when you came in if it goes awry.
Found a "broken" G2 in the ads today, I might go check it out tomorrow. The seller is selling it for a very low price (somewhere around 150 USD) because the phone can't register to a network. Using my previous knowledge of other Android phones and the knowledge I acquired during my time with my own G2, I've deduced the following (ordered from least likely to most likely):
- the phone was dropped and the radio cable got detached (fairly easy fix, take the phone apart and reattach everything, the physical state of the phone can't be deduced from a single photo that's put online)
- the SIM tray is faulty because at the photo I got, a no SIM icon is visible (though that could've been taken without a SIM in the phone)
- something or someone messed up the EFS partition (I plan on checking whether the phone's bootloader root checker has been tripped, if the IMEI is okay, if it has a custom recovery, etc). The phone seems to have a stock ROM which I suspect someone flashed, or tried to factory reset the phone (which raised a suspicion described below).
But the most likely situation is that the phone was stolen. Why? Well:
- if the phone can't register to a network, its IMEI may be blacklisted
- the phone is being sold without any equipment, not even its box. The guy says it was sold to him like that, which makes me even more suspicious. I have some friends working in certain operators here, I'll snoop around once I get a hold of the phone's IMEI. If I can't get a straight story out of him, I'll try some intimidation or to knock down the price to oblivion, being that the phone might be stolen, and use it for parts, if my ways of finding its owner turn up dry.
Do you guys have any additional tips on what to check? I plan on putting my own SIM card in and trying to run some diagnostics from the hidden menus to see what's what.
robogo1982 said:
Found a "broken" G2 in the ads today, I might go check it out tomorrow. The seller is selling it for a very low price (somewhere around 150 USD) because the phone can't register to a network. Using my previous knowledge of other Android phones and the knowledge I acquired during my time with my own G2, I've deduced the following (ordered from least likely to most likely):
- the phone was dropped and the radio cable got detached (fairly easy fix, take the phone apart and reattach everything, the physical state of the phone can't be deduced from a single photo that's put online)
- the SIM tray is faulty because at the photo I got, a no SIM icon is visible (though that could've been taken without a SIM in the phone)
- something or someone messed up the EFS partition (I plan on checking whether the phone's bootloader root checker has been tripped, if the IMEI is okay, if it has a custom recovery, etc). The phone seems to have a stock ROM which I suspect someone flashed, or tried to factory reset the phone (which raised a suspicion described below).
But the most likely situation is that the phone was stolen. Why? Well:
- if the phone can't register to a network, its IMEI may be blacklisted
- the phone is being sold without any equipment, not even its box. The guy says it was sold to him like that, which makes me even more suspicious. I have some friends working in certain operators here, I'll snoop around once I get a hold of the phone's IMEI. If I can't get a straight story out of him, I'll try some intimidation or to knock down the price to oblivion, being that the phone might be stolen, and use it for parts, if my ways of finding its owner turn up dry.
Do you guys have any additional tips on what to check? I plan on putting my own SIM card in and trying to run some diagnostics from the hidden menus to see what's what.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like you got it all covered! Best of luck.
Hello, even if you have a friend inside, It would do you well to use one of those online IMEI Blacklist checkers, if the phone is from a US carrier and it happens to be stolen/blacklisted theres a good chance that it will appear.
Anywho, so how will you do it? Will the seller lend you the phone for a couple of hours for you to check all these things? Or Will you be gambling for it?
Best of luck, the G2 is freaking awesome! I'm having a blast!
Definitely worth it. I bought a sprint lg g2 that was "bricked" in TWRP after they tried to OTA. Lmao got it for $40! Unlocked and am using now
Bought one recently (advertised as faulty antenna) but it had a messed up EFS. IMEI was null. Checked IMEI and it was fine. Restored IMEI and phone is flying fine.. Good luck on purchase.