6 replies to this topic

[comakills]

I am the owner of a Motorola Atrix HD (mb886). My mic decided that it didn't want to play nice anymore so I went the route of a warranty
replacement. I received the replacement a few days later, no big deal. I proceeded to install my sim, SD card and set up the phone to my liking.
A whole day goes by and I am none the wiser but my account has been locked. But why? you may ask. Well I am still not sure what happened to the device before I received it but it is on a "black list" very similar to Verizon having a "Bad ESN" AT&T will black list any IMEI number that is reported lost or stolen or even unlocked with out carrier approval. So there I am at home minding my own business when I find out that I have no phone service. I didn't actually realize I didn't have service until the wife came home furious with me because I wasn't answering and her not thinking that the recording of my line being unavailable is not me ignoring the phone but not having service. The Device that AT&T sent me was a black listed device and nobody at AT&T can tell me how or why I received a "blacklisted" phone. They tell me that there are investigated it and in the mean time I have no phone to use. I do have a back up dumb phone but those are not fun to use when I am suppose to have a smart phone in my hand and don't. The calls started out in the morning to customer service. You know before they transfer the calls back to America.
They told me that I reported the phone stolen. Not true I just took it out the box. They said it was all cleared up. Not true because even after I called and unlocked my account with in ten minutes it was locked again. Then they said they will forward this to the proper channels. They said they will credit me for a phone that I must buy. Okay cool. I go to the local AT&T store here in town. Well yes they have a twenty dollar go phone I can buy but I also have to pay for fifteen dollars worth of prepaid air time I'll never use. So the twenty dollar phone turns into a thirty-five dollar phone. No, I don't think so. So a call back to the 1800 number and they said oh well I can credit you more to make up the difference. Not the point. I should not have to suffer because AT&T let a blacklisted phone ship out the warehouse. Next step is going to the device support center. Note that there are only three of these where I live and the closest being a fifty-one mile drive. Here comes credit two for mileage. I trek out to the device support center and lo and behold, they cannot do anything for a black listed phone due to the new law passed on January 26th of 2013. There I am with no phone and a fifty mile drive ahead of me. Last stitch effort to come with some solace from this ordeal. On the phone in the device support center. (totally bogarted the store phone for an hour and a half) Finally after then I had a blank sim, a $120 total worth of credits and a third Atrix HD being sent to me via the 14.99 priority shipping with fee waived but still no phone right then all because AT&T stores do not bill to account anymore like Verizon does. Basically this all boils down to that law again another way to burn you. So I hope this will help someone else not go through this same or even worse situation. Keep in mind the places still unlocking phones are doing it illegally. I saw two places in the mall this past week advertising this. If you buy off Ebay or Amazon or CL You might get lucky and have a phone that was unlocked a ways back but the 90 grace period is for carrier unlocking before the contract is up. Not for you to run and unlock a device real quick.

[tucstwo]

Sooo, here's the million dollar question. What is the law you're referring too?

[Maxxaholic]

That's such b.s. when I worked for Verizon we knew what esn was sent to the customer and if it was the same as the one the customer gave us. If that esn was blacklisted, lost or stolen we knew someone at the warehouse f-d up and we just sent a replacement at no charge. Thanks for reminding me y I never went back to at&t

[comakills]

That's such b.s. when I worked for Verizon we knew what esn was sent to the customer and if it was the same as the one the customer gave us. If that esn was blacklisted, lost or stolen we knew someone at the warehouse f-d up and we just sent a replacement at no charge. Thanks for reminding me y I never went back to at&t

Yeah no joke, they say they are doing and investigation because the phone should never have even made it to the warehouse to ship.

[comakills]

Sooo, here's the million dollar question. What is the law you're referring too?

The law is the one that was passed that stated that it is illegal to unlock your device with out the carrier approval. The reason I bring the law up is that AT&T can black list a phone contrary to popular belief.

[devoe41]

Ok I'd like to shed some light on this subject. 

 

The law is any phone purchased after Jan 26 2013 can only be unlocked by the carrier. If a person is caught unlocking their phone purchased after that date they are fined up to $2,500. The business is fined $500,000 and could face up to 5 years in prison.  Any phone purchased before the date was grandfathered in and could be unlocked with out issue. So as long as the phone was not purchased after Jan 26th you can unlock it no issue.  

 

They are in the works of getting rid of this ridiculous law with the Unlocking Technology Act of 2013.  According to the congress website it has not been voted on yet so it still is technically illegal so lets hope for this to be voted on and signed soon. I get to deal with this almost daily at work like yesterday had a customer come in wants his S3 unlocked. I asked when it was purchased he stated 6 months ago. Tell him I'm sorry but i can't unlock it due to the law. He as others have tried say oh wait it was right before Christmas.. So i then get to tell him I'm sorry but I can not take the chance of a 1/2 million dollar fine. he would have to show proof of purchase to have it unlocked. 

 

As far asblacklisted IMEI's it is seldom heard of until recently. GSM carriers never did it until this year really. Once it's blacklisted same as CDMA carriers it can't be undone. Someone change the ESN number and IMEI numbers but that is highly against the law as well. Sorry they screwed you and hope it gets fixed soon. 

[comakills]

dude, thread has been dead for some time. but i can appreciate the light shed. as for making it right, id say they did. basically got enough credits to the bill that i didnt have a bill that month.