Got an iPhone 4s on Craigslist. The guy who sold it said he didn't need it anymore, so I try to connection it with my carrier and it looks like the phone is still attach to an sprint account. I call the guy to ask him to release it from sprint and his number is no longer good. Anyone nows how I can release the iPhone from.this number?? I tried reset but the old number still there..help!!
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- Thread starter boop777
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This is why you need to meet the seller at a Sprint/Verizon corporate store when you're buying CDMA iPhones on Craigslist (which all Sprint/Verizon phones are.) If the seller won't meet at a carrier corporate store to do the transfer, I would assume the phone is stolen or their account is not in good standing and therefore the carrier won't activate the phone on a different line (bad ESN).
Unless Craigslist offers you some form of buyer protection (which I don't think they do), I think you're out the cash you paid for the phone. Sorry. It's a life lesson you likely will only need to learn once.
I doubt it.
If the OP calls Sprint or even goes to a Sprint corporate store with his story, they have no proof he didn't just steal the phone himself and is now trying to get it activated on his line.
Under no circumstances should Sprint release the phone from the line it's currently tied to without the authorization of the owner of that account.
The only hope the OP has, I think, is if the guy who still has the 4S on his account replaces it with another phone. That should release the 4S automatically and make it able to be activated on another account (assuming the phone has a clean ESN).
Buyer is supposed to protect himself, which the OP did not do. He made the mistake of trusting the buyer. All he had to do was take the imei and call sprint and they would have let him know if the phone was ok or not.
You're out of luck. Only thing you can do now is sell it on eBay and use the money towards an iPhone with a clean ESN.
Yes , It does but you can seel it for parts , but sell it for about 200.00 -350.00 if the phone is in overall good - excellent condition. But the OP will have to make it clear in the ebay listing . So if someone who buys it tries to say that its not what they bought you would have proof cause you told them everything through the listing.
No you list it as bad esn on the listing. Some people buy them to flash to other CDMA networks or to sell overseas. Some use them as iPod touches.
Take it as a lesson learned and do your homework next time before you trust any random person on CL.
Try them....
http://atfdl.com/store/iphone-4s-unlock/#.UVkvrxG9KSM
From the drop down list, choose " clean bad Sprint ESN "
http://atfdl.com/store/iphone-4s-unlock/#.UVkvrxG9KSM
From the drop down list, choose " clean bad Sprint ESN "
Can't believe you didn't check out the ESN when buying off CL!
Ugh.
Hey take it easy on the guy, obviously he didn't know anything about a ESN let alone checking it, and well now he does. He learned a $$ lesson.
Yeah, sad to say I too made a ignorant purchase before and was out of some money (my own fault) for not researching the item and knowing what to look for. Its what happens sometimes when you're excited about about something and you want it like yesterday.
If I were the OP, I'd probably try selling it on eBay to an overseas buyer. Bad ESN's don't matter over there. I'm just not sure if a Sprint phone would work on European networks?
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Also, why can't the OP simply go to a Sprint store and see if that phone has been reported stolen or is frozen due to non-payment? If it simply hasn't been released yet or whatever, couldn't they get a hold of the previous owner and ask him? His new phone number is probably in the system, if he has stayed with Sprint.
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Also, why can't the OP simply go to a Sprint store and see if that phone has been reported stolen or is frozen due to non-payment? If it simply hasn't been released yet or whatever, couldn't they get a hold of the previous owner and ask him? His new phone number is probably in the system, if he has stayed with Sprint.
wow nice. Well if Sprint is unable to help, always a nice option to sell it for parts. Looks like you can get a pretty good profit to go towards a new phone.Do you still have the guy's email address, or any other way to contact him other than his phone number? I remember a few years back when I sold my old Palm Pre on Sprint, the guy I sold it to couldn't activate it because I was in the middle of cancelling my Sprint contract and porting to another carrier. Sprint didn't "release" the phone off my account until I had paid my final ETF.
If you can't get a hold of him, maybe it's because he's cancelled his Sprint account too, and they're just waiting for the funds to clear his bank and pay off his bill. Just a thought, and good luck!
If you can't get a hold of him, maybe it's because he's cancelled his Sprint account too, and they're just waiting for the funds to clear his bank and pay off his bill. Just a thought, and good luck!
Right on the DOT !
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How much did you pay for this if you don't mind sharing ? (Be honest)