[mlockhart]

Can someone help me? I got a "buy one, get one" from Verizon - the Curve 8330. They activated one for me and one for my wife. When I got home, my wife said she liked her old phone just fine. I got online and reactivated my wife's old phone. I turned off the new Blackberry and sold in on Ebay as "New and unlocked". Now I have a claim against me from the Verizon user that bought it saying that Verizon says it has a bad ESN. Help? Why would the ESN be bad? Shouldn't Verizon be able to unlock this phone for him?

[cenloe]

You cant "unlock" an 8330, not the way you are thinking. But it still shouldnt have a bad ESN unless you closed the account and havent finished paying it off yet.

[my_handle]

cenloe is correct the 8330 can't be "unlocked". If the buyer isn't someone with good feedback or iffy feedback they may be trying to scam (saying phone is bad to get money back plus the phone) have them return it if it is legitimately good and resell it.

[Motorcycle Mama]

Or else the device hasn't been released from your Verizon account.

And yes, you should not have listed an 8330 as unlocked.

[fabuloso]

Hahahaha. Just call Verizon and have then release the ESN. Could also be that you got a phone and tried selling it under 30 days of purchasing the phone on contract that is not allowing that Curve to be placed on any other line, meaning you Breached the BoGo contract terms. Lol, unlocked, nice one.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[coachcurtisbusse]

Untruthful? or maybe a mistake gezz.
What does it matter if he said un-locked its a vzw phone bought buy a vzw customer yes a lil misleading but know reason for the phone to be unlocked any how. He might have to have the esn released you can sell bogo or discounted phones as long as you keep that new line active.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[fabuloso]

Untruthful? or maybe a mistake gezz.
What does it matter if he said un-locked its a vzw phone bought buy a vzw customer yes a lil misleading but know reason for the phone to be unlocked any how. He might have to have the esn released you can sell bogo or discounted phones as long as you keep that new line active.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

That's not always the case. What they don't tell you hurts you. And that's what happened here. If he had purchased this phone under contract from VZW, they have specific terms that subscribers must adhere to. One of these terms (All Carriers have something similar) is that a subscriber must have the purchased phone on the line active for 30 days. Terminating this, as he did by selling it after purchasing it from the store in less than 30 days, makes his sale null and void because he breached contract terms. Reps will tell you the same. You just can't do this, or else they WILL bill you for the full price of the phone. (And I know, because they did this to me back in January when I bought a Curve on a ghost line and 48 hours later switched it to my line and I got burnt. I should have listened to the Sprint CSR when she said not to do it until after 30 days).

Now, this is just my two cents. It's only an assumption on my part as to what he did because the OP wasn't specific enough on time details. Maybe he kept it longer than 30 days and the store gave him a bogus phone. If that's the case, he can get that phone back, get a replacement, and resell it to the buyer.

[mlockhart]

Thank you all for your help. I just received the phone back from the buyer and I'm sure you all are right about the contract time. I did not know this and apparently the ESN number has not been released. Guess I'm out $175.00 - kind of. It was kind of funny to read all the comments about having been "untruthful". I surely didn't mean to be but I thought that "unlocked" just meant that it was no longer tied to my plan or whatever. Thanks again for helping the "newbie".

[TJM623]

And I know, because they did this to me back in January when I bought a Curve on a ghost line and 48 hours later switched it to my line and I got burnt. I should have listened to the Sprint CSR when she said not to do it until after 30 days[/I]).

Now, this is just my two cents. It's only an assumption on my part as to what he did because the OP wasn't specific enough on time details. Maybe he kept it longer than 30 days and the store gave him a bogus phone. If that's the case, he can get that phone back, get a replacement, and resell it to the buyer.

that doesn't happen with VZW as far as I know, I added a line solely to get an EnV Touch and had the rep switch it to MY line in store, and a week later went in switched touch for my Tour, no problems never got billed full price...also went back a month later and they let me do BoGo for my old man when he switched from Alltell onto my family plan

fwiw

[anon(1365634)]

This is why Verizon raises the ETF to $375 stop this kind of scam.

"New and unlocked". False info.

How could it be new when it has already been activated, even you never physically used it.

It's not unlocked, I think you meant to "clean ESN", which is false also.

[dcgore]

You did what most people do, but you did it unintentionally. The reason VZ is increasing the ETF (early termination fee) to $350 is for this reason. People buy phones on BOGO cancel the accounts and pay the termination fee and make a profit.

[prozart]

This is why Verizon raises the ETF to $375 stop this kind of scam.

"New and unlocked". False info.

How could it be new when it has already been activated, even you never physically used it.

It's not unlocked, I think you meant to "clean ESN", which is false also.

Scam? Hardly. What difference does it make what you do with the phone? Now it may or may not be in the contract that you have to keep the phone for a certain amount of time, I'm not familiar with the fine print in Verizon plans, or any of the print for that matter. But this is definitely not a scam. The reason they give you a discount on the phone is so that you're guaranteed to stick with them for 2 years. All they care about is that you keep paying your monthly rate for the next two years, and they give you a discounted phone to make you do it.

Now he did make a mistake listing it as unlocked, but any buyer who knows anything knows that this phone can't be unlocked. And that's not the issue, being that it was a Verizon customer who bought the phone. I have no idea why they'd charge him the full price of the phone if he sold it. They didn't give him a discount so he'd use the phone, they gave it to him so he'd sign the 2 years. So as long as he keeps that end of the deal, I see no reason for them to charge him extra.

I know with T-Mobile if you cancel your contract within 30 days you're not charged a fee, but you have to send back the phone or they charge you the full price. But that actually makes sense. Things are so much simpler with GSM.

[Bodero]

This story doesn't make sense. Ignoring the "unlocked" hoopla, why would Verizon care if he sold it on eBay, provided he re-signed his wife's 2 year contract? He didn't cancel her line and subject himself to an ETF.

Likewise, I've (many times now) upgraded data-card lines or other lines on a business account with new equipment, then quickly transferred the equipment to a line that needed the phone, and switched the line used to upgrade back to the original equipment. This case isn't any different, and Verizon would have no way of knowing that it was sold on eBay.

So, if you didn't cancel your wife's line and subject yourself to an ETF, why would Verizon put a lock on the ESN?

[Bodero]

You did what most people do, but you did it unintentionally. The reason VZ is increasing the ETF (early termination fee) to $350 is for this reason. People buy phones on BOGO cancel the accounts and pay the termination fee and make a profit.

But he didn't cancel the line, if I read his story correctly. That's why this doesn't make sense - he did a run of the mill 2 line, 2 year contract signing and somehow the ESN ends up flagged. Doesn't add up because Verizon doesn't do it.

[anon(1365634)]

The promotion/incentive on the Curve is so you will subscribe to the data plan for $30. If you don't like the Curve or paying $30 more each month for data, then right thing to do is to return it within 30 days.

Now you switched back to a non-data phone (not paying the $30 data monthly) and tried to sell the equipment for profit.

It's legal and that's why Verizon raises the fees. When customers abuse a good customer friendly policy, companies have to raise fees or elminate the incentives. Thanks OP.

[pkcable]

Go easy on the noob folks, I don't believe his intent was to deceive. Sounds like it's all going to work out in the end.

[anon(1365634)]

Go easy on the noob folks, I don't believe his intent was to deceive. Sounds like it's all going to work out in the end.

If it wasn't an intent to deceive, then OP should return the phone to Verizon. What he will do next will speak for his intention.

[prozart]

Why should he return it to Verizon? He signed the two year contract, and in return the phone is his. To use, or sell, or do whatever he wants with. As long as he doesn't cancel the plan I don't see why he should give back the phone. He didn't say anything in his original plan about dropping a data plan or anything.

[Motorcycle Mama]

He's lucky, though, that Verizon doesn't have the same policy as Alltel did.

If you purchased a BlackBerry or other smartphone at a subsidized price with Alltel, you were required to maintain a BalckBerry or smartphone plan on the line for the duration of the 2 year contract regardless of the device activated on the line.