[Upgrading, Modifying and Unlocking] reddragon105:
Has anyone used FastGSM before? What was your experience with them?

I'm trying to SIM unlock a Samsung Galaxy S4 i9505 that's locked to EE/Orange/T-Mobile in the UK. The easy method (detailed here - http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2282683) isn't working for me - it looks like it generally doesn't work for anyone on EE - and I can't get an unlock code directly from EE unless I'm a customer of theirs (which I'm not, hence the need for unlocking!) and have the phone registered to my account. I've ordered an EE PAYG SIM so that I can create an account, register the phone and order an unlock code, but that's going to take up to 10 days after I receive the SIM. So in the meantime I was looking for a faster service.

Enter FastGSM - they have a service on their website here -

http://www.fastgsm.com/en/samsung/galaxy-s4/unlocking/unlock-code

Which claims to unlock Samsung Galaxy S4s instantly using their software over USB (if your baseband version is older than ME1, which mine is) and it's only $14.99. I know, sounds too good to be true so it probably is, but they take Paypal payments and say they have a 100% money back guarantee, so it sounds like I'm covered. I also did a bit of Googling and, yes, found a few complaints about them but way more positive reviews that made the complaints seem par for the course.

Except when I clicked to buy the service, it wouldn't just let me pay $14.99 to buy the software. It said I had to buy 'credit' on their website first. I thought, okay, if that's the way it works, then fine, so I bought $14.99 of credit, which involved creating an account with them. Then I went to buy the software again and, now that I'm signed in with an account, it wants me to checkout using Paypal - there is no option to use the credit. If I go to my account I can see that the credit is there and there's a drop down list of services I can buy with it but the S4 unlocking software is not on the list.

So I contacted customer services, basically saying 'Hey, I'm trying to buy the S4 unlocking software but your website redirected me to buying credit first. How do I use the credit to buy the software?' Their response was a link to the instructions on how to use the software. That's great, except I don't have the software yet. So I contacted them again, restating that I have not yet been able to purchase the software, I only have credit in my account, how do I use that to buy the software? And they replied saying 'Yes, you have credit in your account. Here are the software instructions again.'

So this is quite infuriating because now we're going around in circles. I'm not sure whether there's a language barrier here (I think they're based in China?) or they're deliberately misunderstanding me but I'm not sure how many ways I can say 'Your website has taken my money but won't let me have the thing I'm trying to buy.'

Does anyone know how to use their website to buy this service using credit? Otherwise I'm going to have to seek a refund and get an unlock code the long way round, through EE.

UPDATE - I tried logging out of my account and going back to the website as though I was a new customer. When you click 'Buy' for this software option, without logging in, it takes you to a page that says 'Your shopping cart is empty. Why don't you buy some credits?', which is why I thought I had to buy credits before I bought the service. However, if you create an account first, then go to buy the software, it does allow you to purchase directly using Paypal, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. So it seems like there's a bit of a glitch/oversight on their website, which is forgivable, but I'm now hesitant to buy the software because then I'll have effectively paid for it twice and I'd have to fight for a refund for the credit I purchased with their terrible customer service!