yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] Amd4life:
Hey all I am about to buy a new sealed note II off swappa or ebay, and I am wondering what is the best way to protect against bad imei issues.

I know retail is the only sure fire way, but I'd like to save a few $100, off what t-mobile charges if possible.

I've heard horror stories of phones getting blocked 30days after a sale, even when the imei was confirmed clean on the phone upon initial sale. And then having to deal with PayPal protection

Any better way to make sure this doesn't happen, or is it just luck of the draw?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] bones718:
tell the seller to read the imei off the sticker or receipt. should be a label or something on the outside of the box. call the carrier to see if the imei is clean.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] whatsitsnamenow:
Re: Protection against bad in either with t-mobile phones?

Some don't go bad until months. The original owner decides 2 or 3 months down the road he or she doesn't want to make any more payments on the phone (EIP). Better make sure the phone is not on any payment plans.

Or they could still report phone lost or stolen 45 days later.

There really isn't much protection for buyers.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] Jack143:
Re: Protection against bad in either with t-mobile phones?

I bought from a seller off ebay cellstoreusa for $620 free shipping. Also check my other reply on xda about how to check imei numbers, the info came from a tmobile rep.

---------- Post added at 08:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:40 PM ----------

I found my reply for you.

I just bought one off ebay from a individual that sells new phones for $620 and no tax free shipping. In the past you could buy off a phone off Craigslist and have no problem. That's what I was about to do til I heard how easy someone can sell a phone and then in a day or two, file claim that it was stolen to get another phone. That phone will work, till they blacklist the imei. I talked to a sales rep about that situation and one option is to get the imei number from the seller before u buy it, and call Tmobile to check it.Then as soon as you buy the phone register the phone in your name. The rep said it take less than 5min if they're not busy and can be done on the phone. If a seller can't give you the imei number to check don't buy it. I had a seller off Craigslist not finished the sale cause I wanted to check the imei number.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] rob8178:
Re: Protection against bad in either with t-mobile phones?

If you're on a monthly plan keep calling 611 and telling then you don't want to pay full price. I ended up getting mine for $300 and I wasn't even due for an early upgrade I was only with T-Mobile for 10 months.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] gedster314:
I must have bought 10 phones off Craigslist and 2 or 3 from Ebay. Never had an issue with a bad esn/meid/imei. I hear horror stories but never had a bad experience.

Now selling on Craigslist a different story, it's always an adventure. You post pictures and people text/call/email asking for pics. Tell them the price is firm and the first response will be will you accept half. Don't put firm in the price and only come down $25 and they ***** saying I should have put firm in the ad. My favorite, do you want to trade for anything on this list, it's a huge list of all old and worthless crap. Not to mention the no shows and the priests that want to make payments.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] Jack143:
Re: Protection against bad in either with t-mobile phones?

Lol, that's funny as hell, I sell a lot on Craigslist, I'm running into the same problems. I told one buyer the price, he wanted it cheaper, so I lowered it more. When we met up he said he was short $20. Lol, i politely told him to take out his sim card out the phone and I left. Now I'm selling on ebay and getting more then I expect, I just sold my note n7000 for $371, I thought the most would be $250.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] Amd4life:
great advice on the timing of changing the imei ownership, never thought of that, I will do just that, thanks everyone
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] XCrazedxPyroX:
Re: Protection against bad in either with t-mobile phones?

T mobile rep here. The sad thing about this IMEI thing is buyers have no control over this. A customer can call T - Mobile years from now just to block an IMEI they have on file just because. It sucks, I know. Best interest these days to buy from people you know or with good ratings. Nothing less than.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] deviusdragger:
You didn't elaborate, you can't just can't and block a phone cause you can. Phone has to be reported stolen/lost and had to be a phone that was used within the past 30 days. Also if the phone was set up on a payment plan, and the customer cancels the account, if the phone isn't paid off, the IMEI will be blocked and only the original customer who bought it can unblock it once they submit proof that they fully paid the phone off to T-Mobile.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] bipoler:
now this was rich! Lol so true and funny
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] tony yayo:
My My question is, I bought mine off craigslist a couple months ago, no problems at all. Did crack my screen so got a new phone through insurance. Obviously a different imei now so I shouldn't have any problems right? Say, if someone tried to blacklist the old phone, would that come back to me still?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] mrbkkt1:
Actually, he's technically right.

You are listing the procedures, but not every worker knows or follows them. Used to be you needed a police report. Now everything is all willy nilly.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] LanceDiamond:
I actually bought from Craigslist and according to a recent call to Tmo, this phone was reported stolen. I've got it on Straight Talk with an AT&T sim and its working fine for now. I have no way to get back to the seller...

Is there anything I might be able to do to get Tmo to un-blacklist the IMEI? Maybe activate it with them? Or do I just live with it and never know if its going to quit working?

Sent from my phablet.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] deviusdragger:
Read what I posted. With the nationwide program that tmo is now using to check imeis, the market for stolen phones will drop and the list of blocked Imeis will rise. There are no ways around to unblock a phone, NO MATTER WHAT! Only the original purchaser can unlock it once proof is submitted to T-Mobile that the debt for the phone was paid off. If the phone was lost and the original purchaser found it, he has to send it back to the insurance company. Imeis will not be unblocked for lost or stolen phones if an insurance claim was done on it.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] LanceDiamond:
Thanks for the clarification or rather reiteration...

Why would the phone still be working? Is it that tmo & att aren't (yet) sharing blacklists? Or could it be that going through Straight Talk is whats saving me?

I hate that there is nothing to do about it but I guess I took my chances buying off craigslist without knowing to check the imei. :(

Sent from my phablet.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] arctic84:
Last time i tried to see if there was anything a t-mobile rep could do for me i ended coming up short. As i was in the transaction of purchasing the phone, the t-mobile rep I called didn't mention ANYTHING about registering the IMEI under my account, all she said she could do was verify it wasn't blocked at the time and couldn't guarantee **** about the future. I got screwed for almost $500 the day after i bought the phone. It's up to you if you want to take the risk. =/
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] mrbkkt1:
Only relatively safe way is to have the person sign over the phone to you At tmobile. That way they can instantly switch the IMEI to you, and the other person can't go home and report it stolen.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] arctic84:
Guess i'll give that a shot for next time, thanks.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] watermoore:
Take my experience you can get burned very badly long after the sale is made. I purchased two galaxy s2's from an asshat on craigslist for 700 bucks. I brought my friend to test the phones (I didn't have tmobile yet). We tested both devices, then called T-Mobile and had them run the IMEI numbers to ensure there would be no problems. Not only did the rep tell me they were good she guaranteed me that the phones were going to be a great fit for me and my wife. I started service and everything was fine for two months. The seller then defaulted on his account and T-Mobile blacklisted the IMEI's on my Galaxy S2's without warning. Even though the phones were rergistered on my account for a long time, T-Mobile told me that they were sorry that this happened but they were no it going to fix it. What pissed me off the most, the guy who sold the phones to me was doing that payment program thing T-Mobile offers value customers and t-mobile didn't even devuldge that to me over the phone before I payed for them. I took T-Mobile to court for falsely approving the phones status then blacklisting their own devices that they approved 60 days later. Judge didn't get my case. She said if the phones worked when I purchased them then t-mobile wasn't lying. I use to make a decent amount of side cash buying and selling phones on craigslist but after that 780 dollar loss its a bit too risky for me. Be wary with t-mobile they are the most anal about blacklisted IMEI's
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] JUSMEJOSE:
Wow .... sad stories here and bad luck .... im able to repair them ...
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] deviusdragger:
This is false! Please do not give out information like this. There is no signing over or taking over payments of any sort. Why can't people understand there is no way around the blocks. They don't care if you are using the phone your buddy sold you, and you paid him legitimately. If the original owner defaults on the account, the phone gets blocked.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] janjannsen99:
By not buying it. Dont be cheap/ Because in one month you will start at thread titled " WTF man my imei is blacklisted WTF WTF how did this happen"
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] mrbkkt1:
It's not false. Before they "sign off" on the transfer of the phone, the seller has to"pay off" the phone, or else the computer would show he still owes on it.

And when I say T-Mobile, I mean an actual factory store, not a franchise or secondary seller.

And I said relatively safe, not foolproof. Crap can still happen.

And there are ways around the blocks. A new motherboard is one of them.(or daughter board, depends on phone, I haven't checked this one fully yet.)
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] whatsitsnamenow:
Try getting a T-Mobile agent to help you when you are

A. Not a customer

B. Not planning to sign a contract with them.

Few stores that I have visited just told me that they cannot look up that info for me because that is private information. I'm talking about looking up imei to see if it is still owed.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] mrbkkt1:
Yeah, but the seller should be a customer. Hopefully, soon enough there will be an imei clearinghouse that is publicly available.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] lojak29:
Very true , very true .

I've had easy c-list sales and bad ones , ,buyers are skeptical" and sellers are shady!

I miss trading cdma phones but not the calling to flip flop esns

Gsm is hard cause as mentioned you never know what fool is waiting to claim lost after he sells to you .

Even if it is a payment plan phone it will get cut off .
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] deviusdragger:
Still wrong. There is no signing off of phones, another person just starts to use it. Once the phone is paid, the phone is off the imei chopping block, unless someone reports it stolen or lost. If buying a phone, meet them at a T-Mobile store, if they are not willing to, steer away from that phone. If someone is willing the replace the motherboard, just buy another device and use it. The imei is what is tied to the account, if you want to change it go ahead, but you will treading on very illegal territory.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] mrbkkt1:
Exactly what I said? They have to show that they have "paid off" the phone before they will transfer it. How am I wrong? And once it's transferred, it's yours.

Think of it as a car. If you still owe money on it, you need to pay the lien holder before you can sell it.

You could always sell it " for parts" but would never be able to register it.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] xManMythLegend:
This is so unethical and disgusting.

With CDMA blocking at least once the phone was activated it was registered to your account.

To imei block for nonpayment and not allow a buyer the ability to claim that phone is dispicable. Can you imagine the used car market if you could report a car stolen after you sold it?

What a pure money grab. No idea how much they paid under the table to get something that wreaks of fraudulent past the FCC.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] erica_renee:
Only one sure way other then paying retail

I read most of the post above word for word. Also did alot of research about this before i bought my used note 2 phone.. From everything i heard i found there is only ONE Sure fire way to insure your phone will NOT Be blocked.

1 . YOU Must get a copy of the receipt where the seller bought the phone.

2 . YOU MUST get there name address and a Statement from them the Phone is paid for and THEY PAID CASH FOR IT not subsidized .

if you do not get the above.. you Should before buying it. Just in case there is a issue

1. get a copy of the last Cell phone bill from the Customer to insure they are not in default .

2. get a Statement as receipt from them With there Name and ADDRESS ON IT..

3. get a copy of there Drivers license number.

4 Make sure they are local where you can take them to court..

Yes i know its extreme but Its the only Protection you have. first above The phone CAN NOT BE BLOCKED. A PHONE PAID CASH FOR CANT BE BLOCKED. unless they report it stolen . if that happens you can take the recent with the previous persons information to tmobile and they will UNBLOCK IT..

I Have a friend who is a T mobile Fraud specialist. You can prove that you bought it and get it unblocked. But not if there is a Balance owed.if there was a Claim filed.. They will Block the new phone from the customer and unblock yours..

I Bought mine from ebay getting a copy of the sellers receipt ( she paid cash at a t mobile retail store) And sent me her d/ license copy with her address..

for that much money if a selling is not willing to take those steps RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN..

Sorry for the bad luck everyone.. But there are way too many dishonest people...
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] xManMythLegend:
Did your friend mention anything about bringing the seller into a store to verify or record any info?

I used to do that with Sprint phones all the time. I can't fathom how someone can check an imei on tmos official site.. Have someone in a store do the sim card switch.... And still worry about getting blocked.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] erica_renee:
To be honest we never talked about that.. She is more of a acquaintance on a chat program. but i have known her for a while. I will ask if that will help or make a difference.She just that you the Buyer needs a proper paper trail to link you Direct to this person they have on file.. And the issue with getting a Device unlocked is proving there was a good faith sell of the phone.

The issue with them blocking a phone that there is money owned on. NOTHING WILL GET THAT UNBLOCKED Without paying the money.

IF The phone was paid cash for... Then the seller sells it and and claims lost or stolen. The paper trail will prove without A DOUBT The T MOBILE CUSTOMER Sold you the phone. NOT JUST A RANDOM PERSON.. This is the issue of who you bought it from NOT Rather or not it was stolen/ resold .

then they will BLOCK THE REPLACEMENT PHONE AND UNBLOCK YOURS.

I think this explains it better.

So the answer to your question is yes if you do it at a t-mobile store and they note that the customer seller sold you the phone that they paid cash for you are totally safe . the key is the CASH PAID FOR PHONE.. and Documentation to show that. as well as knowing you did infect buy it from the original owner
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] bipoler:
Omg this is going on my archive of funny Internet post. Lol funny! !! Sad but true
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] Ash359:
I've been burned on craigslist before.

EBay and PayPal have great buyer protection, always buy from a seller with good feedback.

Sent from my Jedi Master Note II
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] honiebun:
this is what happened to me! I recently bought a 32gb iphone 5s (T-Mobile) from someone for $75 and when I bought it the imei was clear. fast forward a week and its blacklisted!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] whatsitsnamenow:
Still worth it.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] Coug76:
Unless the poster is in possession of a phone that was reported stolen. Then it can be very much NOT worth it in a very short amount of time.

Hastily spouted for your befuddlement
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] honiebun:
I sold it on ebay as is with blacklisted imei for $500
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] You_got_owned123:
I bought a Note 2 for $500 when it was fairly new. A month later, it was blocked. Must have reported stolen/insurance. I've called numerous reps for T-Mobile and there's no way to be safe from this. The IMEI will always be tied to their account and they will be in control. I asked if writing up a contract and stuff would help, but they said even with a contract there's not much. If they claimed for insurance, you can prove to the insurance company that it's a fraud claim since you have a transfer agreement written out but that won't get them to let you keep the phone. Best way is to just buy from retail rather than to take a chance and end up paying double.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] xylene:
chiming in with my recent experience in the hopes that it might help others protect themselves.

I purchased a used note 2 online several months ago and it was blacklisted/reported stolen by original owner after the 60 day PayPal protection window ofcourse. Ofcourse seller said they got the phone clean from someone long gone now.

I was able to unblock imei with tmobile after a few attempts with chat support. What helped was that I registered the phone under my name with tmobile the day I activated it several months ago and also put insurance on it too. First 2 reps were clueless and said I was screwed but the third time they unblocked it no problem.

Lesson of the day: Register phone under your name/account and get insurance even if on prepaid the moment you activate. If your imei gets blacklisted before 30 or 45 days you can still dispute purchase with paypal or CC.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] Oglon3r:
Here's what happened to me and boy what an incredible inconvenience I experienced. Bought a blackberry z10 on ebay refurbished and it worked like wonders I traveled abroad for humanitarian mission and it worked very well in Turkey. Come back home 6 months later and phone had a very weird error when I re-inserted new tmobile sim card. So I go and call t-mobile only to find out phone was reported stolen and could no longer activate. Boy I was on fire and I honestly think I was a little to loud at that tmo costumer representative. Long story short they could not do a thing.

I get back home immediately contacted the ebay seller and he informed that regrettably it was past due the return date.

Eff that I had paid via billmelater a pay pal company which allows you to pay whatever you buy from webay in six without interests. I called such company and surprisingly they were very helpful. They informed me of a "past return date refund form" which is available for both ebay and billmelater costumers. They send it via email. I filled it immediately with all my account info and throughly explained why I wanted a return. I told them the device was reported stolen sometime in the last six months and explained how t-mobile blocks them via imei.

Finally i faxed them the completed form and about 40 days later they come to an agreement that I deserved my money back. Only after I sent the phone back to the seller ofcourse. So I sent it back and the seller doesn't report he had it back until about another 30 days. Yeah, yeah...

I should've got a tracking number.

Moral of the story. ALWAYS confirm the phone is paid in full with seller and that it does not have a stolen status.

Confirm phone doesn't have an existing warranty if it does wait until it expires if possible have seller cancel it in front of you and come back once warranty coverage is over. This always happens at the end of the month 25-29th.

Assign a warranty to your phone to your in front of seller and in front of t-mobile associates. This will transfer the imei to your account.

A seller that does not facilitate any of these steps is bogus. Why? because a seller want money and to meet at a t-mobile store for a simple security check shouldn't be that troublesome. Also make them sign the Bill of Sale.

http://www.buyingusedphoneguide.com
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] kisoon:
How to buy a phone off craigslist.

Its difficult to buy phone off craigslist these days. All the major network are beginning to share banned esn/imei numbers.

The scam usually goes like this: people buy phone up to 6 lines either for AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, or Sprint for free. They then turn around and sell the phones on Craigslist. They either not go through with the 2 years comminment or in T-mobile's case just not finish paying the finance payments.

Here are the steps to protect yourself (at least for T-Mobile):

1) Agree on a price before meeting.

2) Tell the seller you want a payoff receipt form T-moible showing the phone being paid-off.

3) Meet the seller at a corporate T-Mobile store.

Check imei (goole and you will find a free site to check imei).

****The seller hasto be the original purchaser of the phone or management will not be able to access finance / account info.*****

Comfirm with manager that the informations on the receipt is correct and account is clear.

***Have manager call insurance to cancel policy.*** Then confirm with manager, making sure that the seller can not reactivate the policy.

Bring a bill of sale form for seller to fillout. Write a check make out the the seller. Have seller sign over the check. The check will be a formal receipt should there be an issue down the road.

And lastly when possible, have manager document the transaction on your account.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] shafter13:
i used the IMEI repair site, it actually works, I got my T-Mobile iphone 5s IMEI repaired, I bought another blacklisted iphone 5s ebay thinking this would work again, but unfortunately it only worked from my first iphone, but thats all i care about my 64gb not this other 16gb

MODERATOR EDIT - Links to illegal services removed.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] Tha Watcher:
In actuality, this is NOT "Repair", this is a fraudulent business of replacing parts of the phone, i.e., motherboard, with other parts of phones from different areas of the world. An IMEI cannot be "Repaired" if it is blacklisted. It can only be "Replaced." It's definitely unethical.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II] Coug76:
its been reported...
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Mikusboi:
Hi I have a rooted Epic 4G Touch and running on the stock ROM. Ever couple of minutes I keep getting a message to update to FL24. I tried using Titanium Backup Pro to freeze System Update but it still occurs. I even tried backing it up and just uninstalling it completely and it still pops up with message. Any solution to this? I've tried fotakill too. Would installing a custom ROM remedy this issue?
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] leaderbuilder:
yes a custom ROM with custom recovery would elimate this
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] BluesRulez:
A custom ROM if not on fl24 would still prompt. Go to the stickied thread in q&a forums and in post 3 it is explained how to stop ota update. The link to the thread is in my SIG too.