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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To feel misled by eBay seller?

16 replies

Hushabyelullaby · 29/12/2013 20:06

I bought an iPhone off eBay for DH for xmas. It was second hand but in good condition. It was advertised as

'Apple iPhone 4s - 16 GB - Black (EE) Smartphone'

it was described as
SIM Lock: Orange

now obviously Orange and T Mobile have merged and become one company, EE. Before I bought the phone I asked the seller a question and said

'I notice this says locked to EE, this does include what was T Mobile doesn't it?'

the seller responded with

'Hi, yes t mobile and orange'

Well it came to Christmas Day and the phone will not take (was was originally) a T Mobile sim card.

The seller is adamant that it is my fault and that she never said it would work on T Mobile.

I opened a case so I could get my money back, but i've now closed it as rather than deal with the hassle I could just sell it on (and probably make £20 or so).

I am open to being told I abu, I just want someone elses opinion please.

OP posts:

TidyDancer · 29/12/2013 20:12

Hmmm. I'm not sure on this one. On the one hand, it said sim locked to orange, so you should've known. On the other hand, you did ask and they said yes.

I suspect the seller misread or misunderstood the question and thought you were talking about the sharing the network thing.

Iwannalaylikethisforever · 29/12/2013 20:14

Just get it unlocked!

bruffin · 29/12/2013 20:19

There are a lot of misleading mobiles. I bid and won a phone that said in the description that it was locked to 3. I had used the ebay search facility to find 3 phones. It was only after that i noticed the title said tmobile. I queried it and got no answer so cancelled payment. I ten found that there were a lot of phones listed under 3 but elsewhere in the listing another provider was mentioned.

seafoodudon · 29/12/2013 20:19

There is something really complicated with this though. Both dh and I originally on orange and now with bills from ee. However his iphone is on ee networks whilst my samsung is on tmobile/orange.i get great reception in our house and his is rubbish. Obviously really annoying for you but possibly genuine mistake on seller's part.

seafoodudon · 29/12/2013 20:20

lljkk · 29/12/2013 20:21

I would be very concerned about what network it is locked to.

TheBakeryQueen · 29/12/2013 20:30

The seller can get the phone unlocked for you, its free, she needs to contact the network.

Original poster

Hushabyelullaby · 29/12/2013 20:35

Iwannalaylikethisforever I don't want to get it unlocked because if ever you have to restore factory settings for any reason it undoes the unlock and you have to get it done again.

lljkk I thought exactly that as I onlly have the seller's word for it. It doesn't take T Mobile, I don't have an EE sim so can't test it, but bought and Orange sim card for 99p, put that in and it works. I've now listed it for re-sale as locked to Orange, and stated it will not take T Mobile and EE unknown

OP posts:

Solongsucker · 29/12/2013 23:07

Oh, I honestly did not know that.
Oh that's a bummer then. Selfish ebayer.

lurkerspeaks · 29/12/2013 23:11

You can get it unlocked legitimately by the network and you have no problems at all.

I had an old O2 iPhone 3G that has been restored to factory several times and is currently in a vodafone incarnation.

O2 unlocked it when my contract ended.

Walkacrossthesand · 29/12/2013 23:18

Orange are b**s for unlocking though - they take up to 28 days to do it, call centre staff unhelpful around difficulties, and I think they charged (my friend who did it recently) too. Very short-sighted of them - a lifetime's future business lost, cos that friend will never use Orange again!!

BuffyxSummers · 29/12/2013 23:31

If you have a message from the saying it works with t mobile then it wasn't as described so you could get a refund if you send it back. They'll have to refund postage too if it's done through eBay and PayPal.

Caitlin17 · 29/12/2013 23:55

Oh good luck doing anything with Orange/T - Mobile/EE. I'm a T - Mobile customer and spent 3 hours just trying to renew my contract at the rate offered on line with no new phone but with £5 loyalty discount on my (admittedly already very old and very cheap) contract.

Passed from pillar to post, including Orange part of it , until eventually someone sorted it. Threatening to leave was mentioned by me several times but as it is such an ancient, cheap contract and the £5 discount was apparently a mistake I did think they might just say bye then.

DevlinMaccabee · 30/12/2013 00:19

I've just sold my old iPhone and Orange charged me £20 to unlock it, and yes, it takes 28 days.

I did build the charge into my asking price though, so not the end of the world.

I would be cross too OP.

CSIJanner · 30/12/2013 00:25

I got my iPhone unlocked. You request it via your provider who then gets apple to send the phone a code. It takes a few days but was free as a service. It will be inconvient for a few days but it means you'll be able to update iOS. Have checked and T-mobile offers this service.

Original poster

Hushabyelullaby · 11/01/2014 13:38

Hi all

Thanks for your replies! I can't get the phone unlocked by the network as I'm not the registered owner. The original seller would have to do it, and she shows no interest. I still have the phone but am just going to list it as an Orange locked phone and learn my lesson for next time!

Thanks again

OP posts:

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