Verizon operator says used phone NOT stolen but Verizon store says IS stolen?

[argshistory]

Hello, just bought a slightly used Galaxy S4. At the time of purchase the IMEI was listed at clean (checked with Verizon online) but a week later when I went to activate it was locked. The Verizon operator said that she could tell me that it isn't listed as lost or stolen but implied that it is locked because of contract or payment issue. I later went to a Verizon store and the the rep said that it was listed as stolen and he said that it isn't a contract or payment issue.

Has anyone run into conflicting information like this?

 

[leeshor]

Welcome to the forum

I'm thinking that either there was some lag in the system at VZ or someone was trying to get out of the contract and waited for you to purchase it first. I see multiple possible reasons, (including employee error at some point on their part). Hope this was someone you know, but it sound like a bad deal.

 

[pc747]

Welcome to the forum

I'm thinking that either there was some lag in the system at VZ or someone was trying to get out of the contract and waited for you to purchase it first. I see multiple possible reasons, (including employee error at some point on their part). Hope this was someone you know, but it sound like a bad deal.

Agree one of the risk when buying a used phone on a cdma carrier is if the customer is late on a payment, broke the contract with out paying the etf, or the phone is stolen the carrier cab lock the imei which will prevent the phone from working until the customer is in good standings with the carrier.

 

[94lt1]

If my understanding is correct, in the future you want to activate the phone onto your account with the person there, before you pay for it..otherwise you run the risk of this happening..

There are those out there that will sell a phone then report it lost or stolen.. Just cause..

Once the phone is activated on your account, its yours. Not subject to being shut down for the sellers issues..

I could be wrong..but this has been my experience.

MAXXED OUT!!!!!

 

[pc747]

If my understanding is correct, in the future you want to activate the phone onto your account with the person there, before you pay for it..otherwise you run the risk of this happening..

There are those out there that will sell a phone then report it lost or stolen.. Just cause..

Once the phone is activated on your account, its yours. Not subject to being shut down for the sellers issues..

I could be wrong..but this has been my experience.

MAXXED OUT!!!!!

That is the best way to make sure the phone is good. Sadly that is hard to do if you buy a phone off swappa or ebay. Ebay and paypal I believe you can pay a little extra for insurance before you buy just in case something like this happens. I do not buy a lot of stuff of of ebay so do not take that as fact.

 

[bigmatt503]

It's true.. Just like 94lt1 said put it on your account immediately... I purchased a htc droid dna off c/l a while back and this is what I was told by verizon.... Good luck either way...

Sent from my ROOTED HTC droid DNA using cyanogenMod 10.2

 

[tech_head]

That is the best way to make sure the phone is good. Sadly that is hard to do if you buy a phone off swappa or ebay. Ebay and paypal I believe you can pay a little extra for insurance before you buy just in case something like this happens. I do not buy a lot of stuff of of ebay so do not take that as fact.

Actually Swappa requires Paypal.
Paypal will allow a charge back in this kind of case.

I have had a phone come back as locked after purchase. I file a case with Paypal and got a refund.
I have since bought and sold multiple items on Swappa without issue.
Swappa is probably one of the best venues for phones these days.

 

[bbtkd]

Just got a text from a guy I know. About 6 months ago I sold him a Bionic, but when he recently broke the screen, I sold him another Bionic I had. He switched to the new phone, then had the broken one fixed at a local repair shop, and when he went to re-register it for his wife, VZW had it listed as lost or stolen. Now he's wondering if the repair shop just traded phones instead of fixing or mixed up the SIM with another. Or VZW is just randomly mis-flagging phones when taken out of service.

 

[tech_head]

Did he record the IMEID? Verizon should have a record of all devices that have been active on an account. When you go to reactivate it should ask if the device was on the account before.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[bbtkd]

Did he record the IMEID? Verizon should have a record of all devices that have been active on an account. When you go to reactivate it should ask if the device was on the account before.

I doubt he recorded anything about the phone. Can't wait to hear whether they fess up to swapping phones. If so, it's interesting that a place that buys/sells/fixes phones would have a lost or stolen one on hand. I've dealt with them before and thought their greatest crime was being unrealistic on prices.

 

[bbtkd]

Just got a text from a guy I know. About 6 months ago I sold him a Bionic, but when he recently broke the screen, I sold him another Bionic I had. He switched to the new phone, then had the broken one fixed at a local repair shop, and when he went to re-register it for his wife, VZW had it listed as lost or stolen. Now he's wondering if the repair shop just traded phones instead of fixing or mixed up the SIM with another. Or VZW is just randomly mis-flagging phones when taken out of service.

Follow up - he said that the sales guy doing the registration called tech support, they ran a check and it came up clean. Either their system is providing random false positives, or the sales guy mis-entered the number.