Your not paying attention to the thread. So far I don't see anything indicating rip off. If the seller can't get the phone released back it goes.
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Carrier **MODS PLEASE LOCK THIS THREAD**
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Your not paying attention to the thread. So far I don't see anything indicating rip off. If the seller can't get the phone released back it goes.
Must be something more recent as I have upgraded many times and don't recall seeing that challenge.
Because you need to activate both the SIM and the device via the IMEI number. This phone is locked to AT&T.
Fortunately for the buyer, ebay would prefer to make you happy and stiff the seller. You could probably just report the phone as 'never received' and get a full refund while keeping the phone.
What would happen if the seller cancels his AT&T contract and doesn't pay off that phone? Wouldn't it get blacklisted?
Every time I did a 2-year contract upgrade with AT&T, I was prompted for the SSN/zip code. May be something with my plan...
They bill the ETF. That's why they run credit checks before offering a contract. They want their money.
Why will they not just give you the last 4 digits of their SSN? It is not like you can guess the rest of it. If they did that it would be over in seconds.
That's an important key to your identity puzzle. No way I would ever give that out.
Unless they are poor enough to go into collection or file bankruptcy.They bill the ETF. That's why they run credit checks before offering a contract. They want their money.
So if you break your contract with AT&T on a contract purchased phone, they will not turn it off or blacklist the IMEI?
Apple has basically stopped that loophole. Requires 2 step verification.
Tie ur Apple ID to mutiple verification emails and phone numbers u will be fine dealing with someone trying to scam you.
I don't think Apple has my SSN tied to my Apple ID. I see no reason why they would have it.
Sorry if it wasn't clearer in my post. I clearly made an assumption and then told him what to do if my assumption was true. No need to be a jerk because you didn't understand it.
Okay, this story has a happy ending
Summary: I called Apple last night. They had no idea what the activation lock was but they spent over an hour trying to help me. We wiped the phone from iTunes, swapped SIM cards among many other things. Nothing worked. She talked to her supervisor who also had no idea and suggested I call AT&T.
I called AT&T, they said I need to call Apple and hung up.
I called AT&T back hoping to get someone else at AT&T. The second AT&T rep also didn't know what the activation lock was. They tried manually adding the device to our AT&T account, force activating the SIM card, swapping SIMs etc. Nothing worked. He talked to his manager and suggested I try the process in iTunes. I told him we already did this during the Apple call. He gave me a activation hotline number and said to call in the morning.
It was getting late so I sent a message to the seller and requested that they call the AT&T number that was given. I woke up with a message this morning saying they tried calling but it didn't work. They asked for IMEI, S/N, and SIM number along with the phone number that I wanted to use. They said they would call AT&T back once they had this info. I replied back with the info.
While I waited this morning for an update, I called AT&T for a 3rd time, this time calling the activation hotline. The woman I spoke to was the most clueless of them all. She also had no idea what an activation lock was and didn't even know if I should be swapping SIM cards. After 5 minutes on hold she told me that I may have damaged the 6s because of putting the 5s SIM card in since "they use different technologies." I knew I was wasting my time so I thanked her and hung up.
About 30 minutes later, I got a random call from AT&T and the rep said she had the seller on hold. She wanted me to verify the number, IMEI, and account passcode on my end. She completed a fake activation but that didn't work. After I described to her what I was seeing on the screen, she said that this was an Apple issue and that she was going to hang up and call Apple with the seller still on the line.
20 minutes later, the AT&T rep called back and said Apple was useless(ha!). She said that nobody knew what to do at this point so the ebay buyer agreed to provide the last four of their social and zip code. Weird thing was that I never spoke to the seller and it was the AT&T rep that provided me with the necessary info. Kinda weird to see the rep play middle man.
I entered in the info, completed the iPhone setup, turned off the phone, inserted the correct SIM, and bam! The phone worked with our number. I thanked AT&T and sent a message and high rating to the seller. Super nice person!!! I also told the AT&T rep that 3 other reps and 1 Apple rep could help me but that she did.
We did an iTunes wipe of the device to ensure that it was truly fresh. I then submitted a unlock request as well since the seller paid full price for the AT&T version. Wife is now enjoying her 6S Plus Rose Gold 128gb and I win husband of the year award according to her.
The End
Summary: I called Apple last night. They had no idea what the activation lock was but they spent over an hour trying to help me. We wiped the phone from iTunes, swapped SIM cards among many other things. Nothing worked. She talked to her supervisor who also had no idea and suggested I call AT&T.
I called AT&T, they said I need to call Apple and hung up.
I called AT&T back hoping to get someone else at AT&T. The second AT&T rep also didn't know what the activation lock was. They tried manually adding the device to our AT&T account, force activating the SIM card, swapping SIMs etc. Nothing worked. He talked to his manager and suggested I try the process in iTunes. I told him we already did this during the Apple call. He gave me a activation hotline number and said to call in the morning.
It was getting late so I sent a message to the seller and requested that they call the AT&T number that was given. I woke up with a message this morning saying they tried calling but it didn't work. They asked for IMEI, S/N, and SIM number along with the phone number that I wanted to use. They said they would call AT&T back once they had this info. I replied back with the info.
While I waited this morning for an update, I called AT&T for a 3rd time, this time calling the activation hotline. The woman I spoke to was the most clueless of them all. She also had no idea what an activation lock was and didn't even know if I should be swapping SIM cards. After 5 minutes on hold she told me that I may have damaged the 6s because of putting the 5s SIM card in since "they use different technologies." I knew I was wasting my time so I thanked her and hung up.
About 30 minutes later, I got a random call from AT&T and the rep said she had the seller on hold. She wanted me to verify the number, IMEI, and account passcode on my end. She completed a fake activation but that didn't work. After I described to her what I was seeing on the screen, she said that this was an Apple issue and that she was going to hang up and call Apple with the seller still on the line.
20 minutes later, the AT&T rep called back and said Apple was useless(ha!). She said that nobody knew what to do at this point so the ebay buyer agreed to provide the last four of their social and zip code. Weird thing was that I never spoke to the seller and it was the AT&T rep that provided me with the necessary info. Kinda weird to see the rep play middle man.
I entered in the info, completed the iPhone setup, turned off the phone, inserted the correct SIM, and bam! The phone worked with our number. I thanked AT&T and sent a message and high rating to the seller. Super nice person!!! I also told the AT&T rep that 3 other reps and 1 Apple rep could help me but that she did.
We did an iTunes wipe of the device to ensure that it was truly fresh. I then submitted a unlock request as well since the seller paid full price for the AT&T version. Wife is now enjoying her 6S Plus Rose Gold 128gb and I win husband of the year award according to her.
The End
Okay, this story has a happy ending
Summary: I called Apple last night. They had no idea what the activation lock was but they spent over an hour trying to help me. We wiped the phone from iTunes, swapped SIM cards among many other things. Nothing worked. She talked to her supervisor who also had no idea and suggested I call AT&T.
I called AT&T, they said I need to call Apple and hung up.
I called AT&T back hoping to get someone else at AT&T. The second AT&T rep also didn't know what the activation lock was. They tried manually adding the device to our AT&T account, force activating the SIM card, swapping SIMs etc. Nothing worked. He talked to his manager and suggested I try the process in iTunes. I told him we already did this during the Apple call. He gave me a activation hotline number and said to call in the morning.
It was getting late so I sent a message to the seller and requested that they call the AT&T number that was given. I woke up with a message this morning saying they tried calling but it didn't work. They asked for IMEI, S/N, and SIM number along with the phone number that I wanted to use. They said they would call AT&T back once they had this info. I replied back with the info.
While I waited this morning for an update, I called AT&T for a 3rd time, this time calling the activation hotline. The woman I spoke to was the most clueless of them all. She also had no idea what an activation lock was and didn't even know if I should be swapping SIM cards. After 5 minutes on hold she told me that I may have damaged the 6s because of putting the 5s SIM card in since "they use different technologies." I knew I was wasting my time so I thanked her and hung up.
About 30 minutes later, I got a random call from AT&T and the rep said she had the seller on hold. She wanted me to verify the number, IMEI, and account passcode on my end. She completed a fake activation but that didn't work. After I described to her what I was seeing on the screen, she said that this was an Apple issue and that she was going to hang up and call Apple with the seller still on the line.
20 minutes later, the AT&T rep called back and said Apple was useless(ha!). She said that nobody knew what to do at this point so the ebay buyer agreed to provide the last four of their social and zip code. Weird thing was that I never spoke to the seller and it was the AT&T rep that provided me with the necessary info. Kinda weird to see the rep play middle man.
I entered in the info, completed the iPhone setup, turned off the phone, inserted the correct SIM, and bam! The phone worked with our number. I thanked AT&T and sent a message and high rating to the seller. Super nice person!!! I also told the AT&T rep that 3 other reps and 1 Apple rep could help me but that she did.
We did an iTunes wipe of the device to ensure that it was truly fresh. I then submitted a unlock request as well since the seller paid full price for the AT&T version. Wife is now enjoying her 6S Plus Rose Gold 128gb and I win husband of the year award according to her.
The End
Since you knew seller's zip all you had to do is try 0001 through 9999 for his last digits of SS#. it would be probably quicker than all those calls to apple and att.
Okay, this story has a happy ending
Summary: I called Apple last night. They had no idea what the activation lock was but they spent over an hour trying to help me. We wiped the phone from iTunes, swapped SIM cards among many other things. Nothing worked. She talked to her supervisor who also had no idea and suggested I call AT&T.
I called AT&T, they said I need to call Apple and hung up.
I called AT&T back hoping to get someone else at AT&T. The second AT&T rep also didn't know what the activation lock was. They tried manually adding the device to our AT&T account, force activating the SIM card, swapping SIMs etc. Nothing worked. He talked to his manager and suggested I try the process in iTunes. I told him we already did this during the Apple call. He gave me a activation hotline number and said to call in the morning.
It was getting late so I sent a message to the seller and requested that they call the AT&T number that was given. I woke up with a message this morning saying they tried calling but it didn't work. They asked for IMEI, S/N, and SIM number along with the phone number that I wanted to use. They said they would call AT&T back once they had this info. I replied back with the info.
While I waited this morning for an update, I called AT&T for a 3rd time, this time calling the activation hotline. The woman I spoke to was the most clueless of them all. She also had no idea what an activation lock was and didn't even know if I should be swapping SIM cards. After 5 minutes on hold she told me that I may have damaged the 6s because of putting the 5s SIM card in since "they use different technologies." I knew I was wasting my time so I thanked her and hung up.
About 30 minutes later, I got a random call from AT&T and the rep said she had the seller on hold. She wanted me to verify the number, IMEI, and account passcode on my end. She completed a fake activation but that didn't work. After I described to her what I was seeing on the screen, she said that this was an Apple issue and that she was going to hang up and call Apple with the seller still on the line.
20 minutes later, the AT&T rep called back and said Apple was useless(ha!). She said that nobody knew what to do at this point so the ebay buyer agreed to provide the last four of their social and zip code. Weird thing was that I never spoke to the seller and it was the AT&T rep that provided me with the necessary info. Kinda weird to see the rep play middle man.
I entered in the info, completed the iPhone setup, turned off the phone, inserted the correct SIM, and bam! The phone worked with our number. I thanked AT&T and sent a message and high rating to the seller. Super nice person!!! I also told the AT&T rep that 3 other reps and 1 Apple rep could help me but that she did.
We did an iTunes wipe of the device to ensure that it was truly fresh. I then submitted a unlock request as well since the seller paid full price for the AT&T version. Wife is now enjoying her 6S Plus Rose Gold 128gb and I win husband of the year award according to her.
The End
Reading this raised my blood pressure! What a nightmare haha
Glad it all worked out though
I actually locked their AT&T account for 30 minutes by taking failed 3 guesses.
I entered in their personal info directly into the phone and luckily can't remember any of it anymore. Everyone is happy
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So this is an old thread, but I just ran into the same issue, but from the other side. Purchased a Jet Black iPhone 7 and resold it. Bought from apple.com and paid full price (no carrier subsidy). Sold it as new and unopened. Buyer just notified me that the phone is requiring my billing zip code and last 4 of my SSN (sent screen shot as well).
Verizon was no help and from the posts on this thread, it sounds like Apple won't be any help either. Could not find anywhere to activate the phone remotely.
Is there any option besides giving the buyer my information? I would really like to avoid this.
Either way, lesson learned for the future. New phones need to be opened and activated before being resold. All the phones I have sold previously were used.
Verizon was no help and from the posts on this thread, it sounds like Apple won't be any help either. Could not find anywhere to activate the phone remotely.
Is there any option besides giving the buyer my information? I would really like to avoid this.
Either way, lesson learned for the future. New phones need to be opened and activated before being resold. All the phones I have sold previously were used.
After reading this old azz thread, I wonder one thing.
Even thought the phone is not activated...
Since you paid full price, is it possible to get AT&T to UNLOCK the phone first, before it is even activated? Maybe this will release the phone from the activation lock?
I bought an unlocked full price ATT iPhone 7 Plus from Apple.com pre-order. I opened the boxed and took out the sim card before turning it on.
I inserted a non-ATT card in and iPhone 7 rejected it. I inserted an ATT sim-card, iPhone 7 rejected it. Only when I put back in the original ATT sim, it would activate and my phone number switched over to that sim. After activation, I re-tried all my non-ATT sims and they all worked.
In conclusion, buying the ATT-Unlocked iPhone 7 (full price) from apple.com requires the phone to be activated first by whatever line it was ordered on. When I listed my iPhone 7 on ebay, I made sure to take pictures of the phone fully activated (home screen visible) and phone showing various different cell providers to prove its unlocked.
VERIZON SEALED iPhone 7/7+ bought inside Apple Store is UNLOCKED and does not need to be activated. It will work with any carrier. I can 100% confirm this.
VERIZON SEALED iPhone 7/7+ bought Apple.com is UNLOCKED but NEEDS to be opened and activated before reselling. The reason for this is when anyone buys it from Apple.com, the order requires Verizon phone and contract information. Once activate, buyer can resell without any issues.
I inserted a non-ATT card in and iPhone 7 rejected it. I inserted an ATT sim-card, iPhone 7 rejected it. Only when I put back in the original ATT sim, it would activate and my phone number switched over to that sim. After activation, I re-tried all my non-ATT sims and they all worked.
In conclusion, buying the ATT-Unlocked iPhone 7 (full price) from apple.com requires the phone to be activated first by whatever line it was ordered on. When I listed my iPhone 7 on ebay, I made sure to take pictures of the phone fully activated (home screen visible) and phone showing various different cell providers to prove its unlocked.
VERIZON SEALED iPhone 7/7+ bought inside Apple Store is UNLOCKED and does not need to be activated. It will work with any carrier. I can 100% confirm this.
VERIZON SEALED iPhone 7/7+ bought Apple.com is UNLOCKED but NEEDS to be opened and activated before reselling. The reason for this is when anyone buys it from Apple.com, the order requires Verizon phone and contract information. Once activate, buyer can resell without any issues.
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