Police Auctions

[Anonymous]

Hello everybody.

I've bought an iPhone 4s on a Police Auction. I've got the invoice and so on. The phone seems to be locked to O2 but that's not my main concern. My problem is that the IMEI is blacklisted, an insurance has been claimed on it, and I'm unable to use the phone.

What are my options when it comes to "unblocking" the IMEI? Can the Auction House sell a phone that cannot be used without specifying that the phone is blocked? Am I right in assuming that if the IMEI is blocked in the UK it will be working in other EU countries?

I hope someone will have the answers, maybe has gone through the same I'm going now...

[jonsie]

Technically the phone belongs to the insurance company so O2 will not unblock the IMEI. Is returning the phone an option?

Many phones are sent overseas and really I don't want to comment about it on here.

[Anonymous]

Basically the Police have sold me a phone that has been (reported?) as stolen, and left me without any LEGAL measures of making it usable?

[Bambino]

You'll need to look at the Terms and Conditions of the auction. I'm surprised that if it was a bona fide police auction that they would knowingly sell a blacklisted phone, but I suppose stranger things have happened.

[adamtemp64]

Then take it up with the police auction site.

It is strange that they did not know it was imei bared as they have access to that sort of database

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Why on earth would the police sell a handset that has been recovered which normally always is imei blocked because of an insurance claim.

Mind boggling !

You would have to ask the police to get the insurance company to contact 02 to raise the imei block.

The chance of that happening = slim.

Return it mate and get one from somewhere like CEX.

[Anonymous]

http://www.greasbys.co.uk/index.php?Terms-Conditions-3

(b)  Neither the seller nor the Auctioneers are responsible for the correctness of any statement as to the authorship, origin, date, age, attribution, genuineness or provenance of any lot, or any other areas of description.

(c)   Neither the seller nor the Auctioneers are responsible for any faults or defects in any lot.

do any of these two points suggest that the goods sold may be stolen/lost and that nobody can be held accountable for it?

[Anonymous]

Get back in touch with them asap to clarify where you stand.

Try all avenues to return it for refund.

[Bambino]

Those two points suggest that you're up the creek.

[Anonymous]

Let me draw a comparison.

The same auction house sells cars (taken from the owner for not paying road tax, by the bailiff etc.). Some of the cars are sold without keys and/or any documents. I suppose that there are legal ways of making the cars roadworthy and obtain (issue) a new set of documents, although the cost of these would have to be paid by the buyer. Similarly the same has to be true for phones surely?