Will a phone locked to ROI O2 work with a UK O2 sim?

[Anonymous]

I bought a Nokia Lumia 620 from ebay.  It said it was locked to o2.  It will not accept my giff gaff sim, normally there is no problem with gigg gaff on o2, giff gaff and O2 are both owned by Telefonica.

I think the phone orginally was bought in Ireland.   Will it work with a UK sim?  I don't want to buy an o2 sim add money onto it and the phone still be lock.

Please can anyone give me any advice. 

[Bambino]

O2ie and O2UK are different companies. It's highly unlikely that an O2UK sim will work. It's also highly unlikely that starting a PayPal dispute would be successful. The OP in his first post said he bought the phone on eBay knowing it was locked to O2. What is there to dispute? The seller on eBay did nothing to deceive.

[Anonymous]

Hi @Bambino.

You have a very good valid point there.

Without seeing the listing of the phone and the exact wording I'm not 100% sure either, but though it worth mentioning that was an avenue the OP could take up. The worst that could happen I submit was a decline.

I submit not many would see a problem with 02 Uk and 02 in Ireland, and would think its the same and phones would work on both.    

It depends also what the 'Returns Policy' of the seller was.

As I said the shortest and easiest route would be to try and get the phone unlocked by a market stall/stand alone shop.

[Anonymous]

I have opened up a Ebay case. The seller had a no returns policy.  I can see that the ebay seller bought the phone from ebay from a seller in Ireland two weeks before I bought it, the Irish seller had a returns policy.  The seller could have sent it back there. 

I have had it confirmed by O2 uk that a phone locked to O2 ie will not work in the UK.  To get  a phone unlocked by O2 ie I would have to be a customer of O2 in Ireland and spend 150 Euros on the phone.   With Ebay, I will have to use the line that the phone is not fit for purpose, ie not usable in the UK.

I live in out in the sticks and local markets have a WI stall, plant stall and clothing stalls selling large ladies underwear.  I think I might struggle to find one that will unlock phones.  Newport might the place to go.

[Bambino]

I think your best bet is to find a mobile phone shop and get it unlocked there. You can try the dispute route with eBay, but you bought the phone knowing there was a no returns policy, so I can't see what your argument would be. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but this is yet another story in the long line of stories of someone having a problem with buying a phone on eBay. It's just not a good idea.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have opened up a Ebay case. The seller had a no returns policy.  I can see that the ebay seller bought the phone from ebay from a seller in Ireland two weeks before I bought it, the Irish seller had a returns policy.  The seller could have sent it back there. 

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Seems to me your seller realised the issue and then possibly re listed it for sale !

 

[MI5]

I think you will win with ebay.
as long as you bought it on ebay.co.uk it is reasonable to assume that you are buying a phone capable of been used in uk unless the listing clearly states otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Shame we cant see the actual listing !

[Bambino]

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@MI5 wrote:
I think you will win with ebay.
as long as you bought it on ebay.co.uk it is reasonable to assume that you are buying a phone capable of been used in uk unless the listing clearly states otherwise.

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If you look at the OP's first post it says that he knew the phone was locked when he bought it. What he doesn't say is if the seller said it was locked to O2 IE or just O2, and the OP presumed it meant O2 UK. I think this would be the main sticking point in any dispute. As I said in a previous post, buying a phone on eBay is never a good idea. For the money the OP thought he saved, all he bought was a lot of aggravation.

[MI5]

Agreed but I said "reasonable to assume a uk phone if bought on .co.uk site unless specically stated locked to o2.ie"
Ebay support this assumption but without seeing the listing we don't know how it was described.
Remember ebay state to the seller "you are responsible for the accuracy of your listing"

[Bambino]

Agreed, and as per usual, we only have one side of the story. The OP has never said exactly what the description of the phone was.