Blackberry 8530 Virgin mobile. Purchased used now having issues!

**switcharoo** · 12-21-2012, 01:04 AM

I purchased a used 8530 from a local person on craigslist. It was about 3 months ago now and all of a sudden the phone stopped working. So I called virgin to see what the issue was and they informed me that the previous owner had filed a charge back on his credit card and canceled the payment for the phone. They have the previous owners info but obviously will not release it to me. So I am left with a phone that now does not work. The Rep informed me that i could continue using the blackberry if i now paid them the full retail price for the phone as if i was purchasing it new! I do not have the guys email or phone contact information anymore as he called me straight from the craigslist add I posted interested in buying a virgin phone. I have filed a complaint with virgin about the situation and have had no response in weeks! Should I chalk this up as a don't use craigslist mistake or is there any other action that I can take to get the phone reactivated without paying full retail?

**nnazery** · 03-06-2013, 10:36 AM

What do you mean by "the previous owner had filed a charge back on his credit card and canceled the payment for the phone"?
The previous owner had to have paid for the phone in order to activate and use it (that's why it's used). Unless the previous owner paid through credit card, got the phone, cancelled the payment, and sold the phone. If it's the second case, I highly doubt they will let you activate it because they are still owed the price of the phone (almost as if it's stolen and has a bad esn).

If you didn't pay a lot for the phone, I would give up (unless you go after the previous owner) because Virgin is terrible when it comes to customer service. I just went through 3 weeks of going in circles, yelling and nothing. If you want to stick with Virgin, buy a brand new BB curve from ebay or amazon and activate it.