[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] dudenphx:
Hi

I wanted to share a recent story with all of you, what happened with my experience. 4 months ago, I purchased an S3 from someone off of CL. I am extremely careful with purchasing mobiles from there, due to the possibility of getting screwed out of hard earned money that only benefits the person screwing you. Before I purchased the mobile, I did an IMEI validation through T-Mobile's web service, along with a couple more IMEI checks. T-Mobile's web service advised that the phone was not reported lost or stolen and that it was ready for activation. The other web services reported the same result, so based on what is supposed to be a reliable source of information, especially from the carrier itself, I bought the mobile.

GoSmart wouldn't add the phone to my plan because they said the phone had been blacklisted as lost and/or stolen. I told GSm that was impossible since the carrier who issues the device reported the phone clean. This started what turned out to be a 3 month battle between myself and T-Mobile. I phone them up, and after a bit of "we're checking, hang on" or "give me just a few minutes more as I am having to access another system", they informed me that indeed the phone had a lost/stolen insurance claim on it and that the IMEI was blocked. I escalated to a supervisor, only to be told the same information. I explained to them that had their web service been working at the time I used it, I would not have made the purchase. And for the next month, once per week, I continued discussing with customer service, along with checking their IMEI site showing that the phone was still reported clean. They advised me that Asurion claims and blocks do not show on the IMEI site, and I told her that the customer is in the dark about that, and there is no disclaimer on the site alerting anyone of this fact. I also wanted to verify #1 that I was not losing my mind, and #2 to make sure I was on solid enough ground to insist to be escalated to someone in TMo's IT department. I wanted someone to first explain to me why their web service was not accurate, and 2nd to make sure that someone who could make that change to their system got the ball rolling on fixing their web service so that some other unfortunate soul would have to go through what I'd been through so far.

Enter Alisha, systems analyst from TMo IT. Out of anyone who I have ever talked with in any customer service arena, she was by far the best, sympathetic, and understanding person I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with. Ever. I told her I was a system analyst, I know what they go through when it comes to issues like this and that it needed to be resolved. She then did what no one in customer service offered to do for me, and that was to check both systems to see if I was telling the truth. And sure enough, she discovered that they did in fact have an issue. Even after this discovery, she said that due to the phone being blocked by Asurion that she was powerless to do anything. I told her that the hope of the phone being unblocked was well in the past now, by goal was to get them to fix the problem that forced me down this road in the first place.

The end is near I promise. I still think I was wronged on the business side of the equation, so I went to the BBB and filed a complaint. The following Friday, I receive a call from TMo Customer Service, and after an hour on the phone the gentleman told me that due to the way the claim was filed, that he would open a ticket to send to the team that would be able to unlock the phone and that it would be unlocked by that coming Monday. I was elated. Monday comes, and the phone is still locked. I call customer service again, only to be told "the gentleman who told you that did not have the authority to do so, and did not have the means to make a promise like that due to the phone being insurance blocked." I went off, stating that their company's inability to effectively train their employees, especially those who handle escalated issues was not my concern. She apologize profusely. I went back to the BBB and updated my ticket, stating that the company made an obligation to me, they didn't follow through and to contact the business again. 2 days later, an email arrives from TMo stating the obvious "Mr Harrison should not have purchased a phone from an unauthorized source, yadda, yadda", followed by "due to the nature of the circumstances, we are willing to make a 1 time exception for him and have unblocked the IMEI number." My phone was unblocked and remains unblocked today.

I wanted to share my story with all of you because the bottom line is that until you pick up that phone and talk to someone voice to voice at TMo, do not use the IMEI site as your only source of verification. I thought I was safe by using not only their site, but 2 others, and a call to the police to see if the phone was stolen, but I wasn't safe. Use the site as a preliminary determining factor, but then pick up the phone and talk to their customer service directly to make sure the site is telling you right. And when they tell you it is, then double-check to make sure the phone does not have an insurance IMEI block on it.

Thanks!