How can my mom get her iPhone 6, bought in the US, working in Italy?

[iMore Question]

iPhone6 bought in the US does not work in Italy

Hi there!

My mother bought her iPhone6 in San Francisco, but when she returned to Italy (that's where she lives) her phone did not work. She tried calling Apple support, but they were rather useless: apparently the problem is the provider (Sprint), which does not work in Italy. They stated they could not offer a refund- do you know of a tech solution that would make her iPhone work in Italy as well?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[SwitchBeach]

Re: iPhone6 bought in the US does not work in Italy

Nope. The Sprint iPhone can only be unlocked by Sprint. And Sprint typically only unlocks phones for their customers who meet certain criteria including having an account with them in good standing.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Re: iPhone6 bought in the US does not work in Italy

Welcome to iMore? Where do you live? Are you in the US? How long has she had the phone? Who did she buy the phone from?


Sent from my ancient but trustworthy iPhone 5

 

[kch50428]

Re: iPhone6 bought in the US does not work in Italy

It's not Apple's place to do a refund here... It's all Sprint's doing... Had they (Sprint) been clear and understood your mother's intent to take the phone to Itlay, they should have declined the sale. You need to deal with Sprint to make this good.

 

[Claudia Sciumbata]

Hi everyone and thanks for replying! She bought the phone in San Francisco at an Apple Store, but she's living in Milan, Italy. What really confuses me is why she was not told that iPhones with Sprint as a provider actually have a different firmware than normal iPhones?!

Do you think she stands a chance of selling her iPhone in the worst scenario, or have Sprint ulocking it in the best one?

 

[kch50428]

OK... that changes things... Why did she get the Sprint model from Apple? Did you put it on your Sprint account while she was here?

What you could do is get the phone back from her... sell it - and use proceeds to put towards one of Apple's unlocked, sim free devices and send that to her.