Terrible experience with Verizon customer service

[falord]

My Droid was dunked in a cup of water by my 1 year old, and I don't have insurance. I know I'm a complete idiot and should have gotten insurance and I've learned my lesson.

So I look at Craigslist to buy a used one. I looked up what to check for to make sure I wasn't getting scammed and found out I had to verify that the ESN was clean with Verizon. Before I pay the guy for my phone, I call Verizon to check the ESN. The lady I talk to says "That ESN is clear and we will be able to activate that phone whenever your ready". I was in a hurry to get back to work, so I decided to activate it later and paid the guy.

The phone I'm using now is a piece of crap ENV2 that turns itself off all the time. Apparently it turned it's self off when I put it back into my pocket, because later that day I turned it back on and noticed I had a voice mail. It was the customer service rep from Verizon telling me that the ESN was in fact not clear and that I wouldn't be able to activate it.:angry:

I called Verizon twice and spoke to two separate supervisors, but they both told me that I was basically screwed and that the phone cannot be removed from the negative list unless it's approved from the previous owner, which they wouldn't help me with either. I have never been so pissed off in my life.

 

[Sam]

so this is your first post? what do you want us to do about it...? call craigslist or paypal or whatever you used to pay and get them to cancel the transaction.

 

[Corinacakes]

Omg! I'm so sorry

 

[falord]

so this is your first post? what do you want us to do about it...? call craigslist or paypal or whatever you used to pay and get them to cancel the transaction.

Just venting. Can't get money back as the seller won't answer any of my calls. Imagine that.

I do understand that Verizon is very limited in what they could do, it's just a crappy situation to be in.

 

[Sam]

oh i agree.. you aren't the first to be screwed by a craigslist seller. i think it's just best to assume that everything there is stolen.

 

[Backnblack]

oh i agree.. you aren't the first to be screwed by a craigslist seller. i think it's just best to assume that everything there is stolen.

Title should be...Terrible experience with Craigslist Seller

 

[Sam]

i guess but vzw DID tell him that the esn was clear, apparently without actually checking it...

 

[Beardface]

Didn't we just have a post yesterday from someone who noticed his stolen phone was on Craigslist?

Wonder if its the same phone!

 

[Sam]

yeah, that's why i said not the first (or 30th probably) on this forum... it just hardly ever ends well.

 

[laclark2002]

Sorry to hear that you got screwed. If you paid with cash you are basically hosed unless you met the guy at his house to buy it. If you paid with a Check you would need to call your bank and have a stop payment put on it if it hasn't already been cashed (sooner rather than later). Otherwise if you have his name or home phone number you can do a lookup in White Pages to find his address and report it to the Police. They should be able to recover your funds.

Good luck!

 

[falord]

i guess but vzw DID tell him that the esn was clear, apparently without actually checking it...

Apparently she just checked to see if it was currently activated on an account. Then checked the negative list after we hung up.

So now I have a water damaged Droid with a clear ESN and a working Droid with a bad ESN. Any ideas? Or just sell them on ebay for people who want parts?

 

[verian]

I wonder of the 30+ post of this nature should be titled "lost My Droid and I bought your lost Droid on Graig's list please help"

That is to bad and I'm not making light of your situation its become an epidemic. Apparently Droids have passed high end motor vehicles on the criminal the 10 of crap to steal.

 

[laclark2002]

The only way around it is to change the ESN which is not legal and I doubt that you will find anyone to help you do that here. While you can try to sell them for parts I wouldn't recommend doing that for the blacklisted one. If anyone checks that ESN and finds it to be blacklisted they can always come after you assuming you stole the phone.

 

[falord]

The only way around it is to change the ESN which is not legal and I doubt that you will find anyone to help you do that here. While you can try to sell them for parts I wouldn't recommend doing that for the blacklisted one. If anyone checks that ESN and finds it to be blacklisted they can always come after you assuming you stole the phone.

There's listings all over Ebay that say bad ESN. As long as I'm up front about it, I shouldn't have any issues with it, right?

 

[Vulcan1600]

The only way around it is to change the ESN which is not legal and I doubt that you will find anyone to help you do that here. While you can try to sell them for parts I wouldn't recommend doing that for the blacklisted one. If anyone checks that ESN and finds it to be blacklisted they can always come after you assuming you stole the phone.

There's listings all over Ebay that say bad ESN. As long as I'm up front about it, I shouldn't have any issues with it, right?

You definitely should be up front and say it has a bad ESN (tell them your Craigslist experience why it is bad). You won't get as much for it, but you should get something for it.

It's entirely possible when you called to see if the ESN was clear, it was clear at the time. Who knows, the very next call could have been the owner of that Droid calliing in to report it lost/stolen.

Unfortunate situation, but hope it has a good resolution for you.