Unblocking Phone Lock

[Flamingo71]

I have a Doro 6520 mobile phone.

Which program will enable me to override the Screen Lock so I can reaccess my phone's contents?

A Screen Lock prompting a "Phone Code" password was set up without my prior consent or knowledge as I discovered when I turned my phone then off again to quickly delete an unwanted draft text after being switched to a monthly Unlimited texts for a year contract.

I have tried some programs (checking they're safe first via Virus Total), but they haven't worked, or they would work with the Doro, but only allow the option to Reset the Doro.  I don't want to reset it as it would lose my phone's entire contents.

[Flamingo71]

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@madasaf1sh wrote:

@Flamingo71

By default no o2 sim card is set to have a pin number enabled.

The only default Sim PIN's i know of 1210 , 0000, 8705.

o2 dont have handset passwords and never have, these are all user configurable items, and unless you got someone to setup the phone for you, no one is going to know this password. I also cant see anyone at o2 setting a password on a device and not telling you what it is. 

Im afraid your only option is to factory reset the device and start again. - Note :You will loose everything on the device. 

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I have never and don’t know how to set up a Screen Lock and Password, so I know that I am not responsible for this blunder.

O2 Live Chat’s staff have differed on whether I do or don’t need my phone to be reset. Some of their staff told me that any O2 store would be able to physically unblock my phone on their premises, which the local store disagrees with, as they say they can only reset my phone, and as you and most people respectively officially or unofficially affiliated with O2 have come to the same conclusion, clearly Live Chat’s information isn’t totally reliable, which left me uncertain which staff members were conveying to me accurate details.

Also, the O2 store and some of you at the O2 forum have said that O2 aren’t responsible.

However, as I have no knowledge of how to set up a Screen Lock and Password, you’ve said that O2 SIM cards don’t have a Pin Number enabled, and only one other person (besides myself) – from O2 – has had direct contact with my phone, the penny has since dropped that it must be the local O2 shop’s manager who is responsible, despite his denial that he and his colleagues have no access to customers’ passwords, which doesn’t rule out that shopkeepers could still create screen locks and passwords, with or without the customers’ knowledge, contrary to his claims.

He was often tapping away at my phone for a long time – around 30 to 45 minutes while he was setting up my new SIM card for a monthly paid unlimited texts for a year contract who quoted my Security question during his conversation with what must have been O2 in Winchester to activate the phone.

As he was within sight of me a distance away further along the counter, but not close enough for me to see precisely what he was doing, it must have been Him (not the person who posted to me the SIM card from O2 Winchester) who had added a Screen Lock and Password without my consent and knowledge, thus who also failed to notify me of the Password or that, once I switched my phone off then on again, I would get blocked out of my phone and instead of instant access end up with an unexpected Screen Lock prompt for a password.

If he had bothered to ask for my consent, which he should have done, or at the very least changed settings but bothered to tell me the Password, I wouldn’t have got blocked out and would have ensured I got all my Contacts backed up beforehand, as I couldn’t mind read what he didn’t tell me, hence why I wasn’t aware of a Screen Lock and Password until more recently.

As he failed to ask for my consent, or at least update me what he’d done, I had no way of knowing that I would suddenly get blocked out the moment I turned my phone off then on again, as happened on 23 May, which I only did as the fastest method of deleting an unwanted draft text.

Having since learned about the invaluable use of Screen Locks and Passwords, I’m all for these concepts, provided that I am asked for consent or shown how to create them which would have avoided this farce and having to go through endless O2 Live Chats with staff differing on what is the correct information.

Luckily, I have managed to retrace a fraction of my contacts from handwritten notes and e-mail addresses of others will be another means of retracing more contacts so I can now back them up to a spreadsheet prior to re-entering them on my phone, once I regain access to it, but all this could have been avoided if decisions hadn’t been made without consulting with me first.

If the Shop Manager had been transparent with me from the start by asking for my consent instead of changing settings without my knowledge, or he’d at least told me the Password, I would have been able to unblock access to my phone by myself, as I would have had the password to hand. It’s only when the unexpected Screen Lock prompt for a password suddenly appeared that I realized settings had been changed that I hadn’t been made aware of in advance.

I would never have visited the shop if I had known this was going to happen, but your point further proves and further strengthens my belief that O2 Winchester is exempt from blame for this fiasco of settings changes to my phone and who precisely Is responsible, who should be totally ashamed of himself for misleading me with false information of denials to deflect attention away from himself.

He claimed “We don’t have access to customers’ passwords. All we can do is a reset. Every SIM card is assigned its own screen lock and password for security reasons to protect customers from their phones being used by other people”, which further strengths my belief that he is the person responsible for the Screen Lock and Password fiasco.

That is the first and last time I will ever leave my phone in the hands of shops unless I am right in front of the staff member, irrespective of whether they’re the manager or not. In future, I want any member of shop staff to be transparent with me from the start and to ask my permission as to If that I want anything changed, and only change settings if I grant permission, as should have happened during what should have been a mere upgrade to a monthly for a year SIM card contract. That’s all I expected of him. He had no business tampering with settings I didn’t given him consent to change.

It must be the O2 Shop Manager, as he is the only person to date who has ever made reference to each SIM card having its own screen lock and password, and as you’ve confirmed SIM cards don’t have a PIN number enabled.  This goes in complete harmony with your comment about someone setting up the phone for me.

Although I’ve never met you personally, the fact that he kept tapping away on my phone so often, he must have been changing settings, but I wasn’t close enough to see what he was doing and trusted him, not realizing what was going on, as customers should be able to trust the very people who are providing them a service.

If I, personally worked for a shop that sells mobile phones, I would always make it a strict policy to ask the customer If they want anything changed and only change settings with their consent. In this way, the customer wouldn’t then get an unexpected surprise the moment they turn their phone off then on again. The fact that I didn’t fully back up all my contacts before 23 May is irrelevant, as if my phone hadn’t been tampered with, I wouldn’t have had a Screen Lock for a password prompt, and I would have still had instant access like when I previously used the phone with Pay As You Go.

The manager did forget to notify me of the Password, as otherwise I would have had this information to hand before I left the shop to unblock the phone by myself, but it was grossly irresponsible of him to make decisions for me that he didn’t inform me about, which would have prevented what has happened.

Nevertheless, it frustratingly seems I have no choice but to have my phone reset as a very last resort and lose the entire contents of my phone that I had hoped could be avoided.

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[Flamingo71]

Are there any circumstances whereby a Mobile Phone shop requires a Password in order to be able to Reset the mobile phone?

Can you please clarify if this is correct?

I was under the impression that if the customer has forgotten or has never been advised of the password that their phone can be reset.