I'm waiting to receive a used 9700 Bold phone bought on the web.
I've discussed with the seller to be sure he will "unlink" the BB from his provider.
So in the way things goes, all will be ok for me.
As I'm a very pessimist person I still wonder what I can do if this person doe not do that or if his provider makes a mistake (more probable )
So if I receive this BB and it is still "linked" (don't know the exact term, I mean that the BB is referenced as a device associated to his BB option), is there something I can do by myself or can I just pray all will be good ?
Well if the device is still associated with the BIS(Blackberry Internet Service) that he was using when you activate you'll see all his emails that he had on there. The switch to a new account you can try from your BIS account if that does not work call your provider and they can take care of that for you.
Also check to make sure the device is not provisioned on any BES from the previous owner. You can check this under "Enterprise Activation" in Advanced Options.