Reported my phone stolen, now someone has given it me back.

[Anonymous]

Basically my faith in society has been restored and some lovely person has returned my Blackberry back to me which i lost on a night out. I reported it stolen to 02 as soon as realized. can i get it unblocked to use again? I have the box and reciept to prove its mine? Do i go into the shop? Cheers for the help. x

[jonsie]

Call customer service and they should be able to unbar the IMEI but it takes a little while for that process. The sim card can be unbarred straight away so you will be able to use it in a back-up phone whilst you're waiting for the Blackberry to be unblocked.
Good to know there are still some honest people in society kind enough to take the trouble of returning items to their owners.

[Anonymous]

Unless it's changed, an IMEI bar shouldn't be placed on a Blackberry so it shouldn't have one on and should just work once you place your new sim card back in the phone.
Might have changed since I last checked though.

[jonsie]

Never knew that, wanty :mansurprised:

[Anonymous]

Never knew that, wanty :mansurprised:

It was something to do with it being unable to lift the bars if it's found, it's been a very very long while since I've had to check but it did used to be the case.
I've just done a search and it was still the case in January. All the more reason to make sure phones are PIN protected really.

[jonsie]

Well hopefully pecker11, when you have your sim unbarred, you might be all set to go so try it straight away.
Thanks for your input wanty

[Anonymous]

Not all networks or only a few will block the PIN on a BlackBerry, the IMEI for sure though in the UK. It can take up to 72 hours for this to be removed from the central database - the SIM should be a lot quicker though..

[Anonymous]

It has changed and imei bars are now added to blackberry's. When you call 202 MAKE SURE the advisor you speak to knows they need to remove two bars, both way bar and imei bar. In my time on cs too many other advisors seemed not know this simple fact which infuriated me when customers called back with phones still not working, only for me to find they had left one of the bars on.