Verizon iphone 4.Bad esn. Craigslist. Ebay. COPS???

the.j129

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here's the story.
my sister has verizon. so i decided to buy her a verizon for cheap. found a iphone 4 in decent condition on craigslist. for 380$. so i bought it.

when we tried to activate it, we were told that the iphone has bad esn. and has been blacklisted. could be either for non-payment of bills or because the iphone was reported lost/stolen. the Rep wouldn't tell us exactly. nor would she tell us who it belonged to.

so i tried getting in touch with the seller on craigslist. but surprise surprise..he had disappeared. and so had the listing.

so i did my research and listed it on ebay. and advertised very clearly that it has a bad esn. so that i could get atleast some of my money back. well, somebody did end up buying it. and after sending it to them..i thought everything was right with the world.
A week later he calls me and tells me that he didnt know that it had bad esn..and wants to return it. so i said ok, ship it back, i'll refund the money.

and after that i didn't hear from him.
here's where it gets weird.
every couple of days he will call me...i can hear people talking in the background. but he won't reply...after shouting "hello hello" about a million times, i'll hang up. and redial..and he won't pick up. this has happened too many times for it to be just a coincidence.

so, my question is this. can he involve the cops in this? and am i in the proverbial deep ****? what kind of game is he playing? please help.

if this is the wrong forum for this, please let me know..and i'll take my problems else where.
thanks.
 

anon(1733)

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I wouldn't say your screwed but I can understand your frustration. As far as the eBay thing goes I would keep the money the guy paid you available for I think it is like 30 days. Paypal if that is what you used to complete the transaction can and will take the money from your account if he returns the phone. He has to show proof though he actually returned it.

If your worried about his calling you can block his number for free under my Verizon.

Sorry to hear the craigslist thing was bad. As far as involving the cops it really won't affect to much at this point unfortunately.

Just watch paypal. They really tip the scale towards the buyers not the sellers. Trust me I know.
 

the.j129

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Oh i'm not on verizon. i'm on t-mobile. haha. and i don't want to block him. i'd be glad to speak to him...if he would just pick up the phone!!
i've already asked him to return it with delivery confirmation....

i was just worried about the cops. my friend told me that i can be in deep trouble..if the iphone turns out to be stolen. selling a stolen item across the border and all.
i'm just trying to figure this out. at this point, i'd be glad to just give him his money and take the phone. but he's lost in limbo somewhere.

and it's 45 days. not 30. from the date of payment. and this guy still has 20 days left.
 

ZOFOURTWENTY

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call it a wash, you attempted to contact him and that's all really can do. It's not like you're hiding, you've tried to contact him and he won't respond. The ball is in his court and he has like 20 days to respond or else, screw him. No point in losing sleep over it
 

estorm09

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did you list it on ebay as having a bad esn? if so you should have covered yourself because the buyer was on notice of the condition of the unit. Now if you did not specify that then you could be in some trouble (legally) but not with the cops more likely with small claims or civil court
 

the.j129

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yes i did mention it. i mentioned it about 10 times in big red capital bold letters. but he still didnt see it. after he bought and when he finally received it, he told me that he had not even read the listing. and was not aware that it was bad esn...
 

munchkinsdad

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Craigslist is is the Devil.

That being said, I bought the iPhone 4 off there but before I handed the seller any money I looked up the ESN and called Verizon right there. As a Buyer you have rights.

AS far as the idiot calling you, he probably didn't even know what an ESN was. Your Ebay ad backs you up. tell him to get lost and read next time. But it sounds like you want to be a good person honoring his mistake. Do you have emails stating you would refund his money if he shipped it back to you?

Those kind of calls are harassment and you should block the # if you haven't gotten anywhere. Most likely he just put it on Ebay himself...

Craigslist is the Devil and most people are crazy.
 

fubaracing7374

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I wouldn't worry, you clearly sold it on eBay with it having a bad ESN... nothing wring here and think about this, the cops aren't going to run all over the country trying to find one guy. There are thousands of people doing this everyday. Let him take it up with eBay and eBay will decide the best route to go from there. Sorry too about Craigslist.


Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk
 

JasonG

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Like said before I wouldn't worry about it. You listed the phone as having a bad esn and he didn't read it that's his fault. I would just keep the emails/messages for at least 30 days just so that you can prove that you offered to return it. Either way you would be fine even if you don't have the messages saying that you offered to return it
 

the.j129

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well, when he sent me that first email saying that he didnt know what a bad esn is...i gave him my cellphone number and asked him to call me.

and the rest of all our conversations took place over the phone.

so i have no way to prove that i agreed to a refund.

what now?

@Munchkinsdad: i should have done my research..but since i have never been a verizon user, i didn't what an esn was to begin with. i thought their phones could be used just like you can gsm ones.

@Fubaracing7374: that's a relief to know. i was getting paranoid thinking that he might go to the cops and tell them that i sold him a stolen iphone.
 

JasonG

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You said you sold it on eBay...I know you said it has a bad esn on there. Did you check the thing saying you don't accept returns?
 

iRooney

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Well if you're dealing with crossing state lines the cops wouldn't be able to do anything anyway it's outside of police jurisdiction. It becomes a federal matter at that point and the FBI won't take on a case over a stolen iPhone.

Simply put it's the guys own fault for not paying attention to the listing. Its the same thing as people who pay $500 for an iPhone user manual because they didn't bother reading. My opinion is screw being mr niceguy...you tried. Keep the money. If you're worried about paypal taking the money back then withdraw the funds and close your account.
 

pilsbury

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The cops are waaaaay too busy to get into cell phone litigation. You have two routes you can go, not return his money because the auction states plainly "bad esn" OR wait till he sends it back and refund his money. I would suggest the latter to avoid PayPal and ebay disputes. You were had by the guy on Craigslist, throw the phone away and start over. JMO.
 

the.j129

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@JasonG: yes. i did check it. it says No returns accepted. I was just trying to be a Nice Guy. but you know how they say nice guys finish last? haha.

@iRooney: i can't just shut my paypal account. i use it for a lot of things. apart from ebay. it provides me security when i'm buying stuff online.

@pilsbury: if only this dude would call me! or reply to the countless messages i've sent him!! then i could create a return process. but he hasnt yet. so once he crosses the 45 day limit...(happens in 20 days from now) i'll tell him to bugger off.
can't throw the phone away. cost too much. i've been told that the people at metropcs might have use for it. or in any case, i'll sell it on craiglist. try and get atleast some part of it back... i think if i sell it for 300-350..someone might buy it.
 

JasonG

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Your fine. If he hasnt done anything by now he probably won't. If you checked no returns wouldn't he have to open some sort of dispute or what not with eBay before he can return it? In which case you marked no returns so their gonna say no to him. I would say your ok by now if it's been almost 3 weeks since you sold him the phone and he hasn't done anything by now. And I believe even of it has a bad dan you could still use the phone as an iPod touch type thing couldn't you?
 

the.j129

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on an absolutely different note, does anybody know when will an unlock be released for 2.10 or 3.10 or 4.10 basebands for the gsm iphone 4?

i'm sorry for asking this here. i just didnt want to create a new post.

just want to know, so is there any sense waiting..or should i buy a factory unlocked iphone 4?
 

shimojunk

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First of all, I commend you for being a decent person and offering a return on the phone you sold. There should be more people like you in the world.

Next, I wouldn't worry. I highly doubt anything will happen. You just stated that a bad ESN could mean the phone ISN'T stolen and could be because of defaulting on payments. This means that in order for the anyone to find out if the phone was stolen, they would need a court order to Verizon since they don't give out the information publicly. This would never go this far for one phone. Maybe if you were distributing hundreds of them someone would come after you.

So go to bed knowing you the cops aren't coming after you and you tried to offer the money back but the other party isn't being responsive.
 

the.j129

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@karnov: thank you for those kind words. i only did what i felt was the right thing to do. I try and do unto others as i would have them do unto me.

and that seems to be a good rule to live your life by.

I was just afraid..because i had no way to prove that I didn't steal it. well, looking at my background, maybe the cops would see that for themselves...

but, thank you anyway.

i will let you know if somthing else happens.