Need some advice, I think I bought a bad ESN phone :(
 

OK everyone, here is the story.
I traded a few PC parts with a guy from my area who had an Evo for trade on craigslist. He said the ESN should be clear and ready to activate since he cancelled the account almost a month ago. So I traded with him.

I get home and call to check the ESN and the lady said that its still "held up" on the other account. She couldnt give me a reason of course, but said the ESN couldnt be activated on my line at this time. So, I emailed the guy, and hes been pretty good with communication so far. He has called them numerous times and tried to find out what is up, but keeps getting the run around from Sprint (his words to me in the email).

At this point, I am not sure what to believe, except I have a very clean looking EVO that has a bad ESN at the moment. I do remember Verizon holding my old phone in their system for 30 days after I cancelled my account with them, so I wasnt able to sell them right away. Does Sprint do something similar?

Just asking for advice from the forums folks. The PC stuff I traded him wasnt really useful to me, so thats why I am not asking to trade back, and the guy has been pretty sincere about trying to find out whats going on on his end.

Re: Need some advice, I think I bought a bad ESN phone :(
 

try CheckESNFree.com : The only instant, free, online ESN Checker to check if it is still held up once in a while :S

not sure what else you can do besides flashing it to cricket or something if that's possible.

has he made sure that the account has no other bills pending?

Re: Need some advice, I think I bought a bad ESN phone :(
 

maybe give it the thirty days just in case keep trying to get the actual reason from a sprint rep

OR you could just sell it on ebay,craigslist many out there that are buying it to put the phone on Cricket,Metropcs, even boost (yes i know its not legal on boost but people are still doing)

If your looking to sell it, hit me up

Sent from my HTC EVO 4G running Evo-Deck 1.1 2.3.4

Re: Need some advice, I think I bought a bad ESN phone :(
 

Just got an update from the guy. He told me he spoke with Sprint and got the account "taken care of" and that Sprint told him the phone should be clear in 10-15 days.

So, I guess I wait :(

XsMagical, if I cant get the ESN cleared up, I would be willing to sell it or trade it so I can get my wife hooked up with a good EVO. Send me a few offers via PM, and if I cant get it cleared up, we may have a deal.

Re: Need some advice, I think I bought a bad ESN phone :(
 

ya he owed them money so you will be good cause i have seen this happen.

I bought a "bad esn" Moment. Confirmed bad by calling Sprint. A few months later I sold it to my brother, called Sprint, and the esn was good.

Hang in there.

Sent from an Epic 3g on SERO.

Re: Need some advice, I think I bought a bad ESN phone :(
 

I think so.

Re: Need some advice, I think I bought a bad ESN phone :(
 

Thanks for the replies everyone. Maybe this thing will be good to go in a a few weeks. I will keep using checkesnfree.com to see when the ESN clears up.

Re: Need some advice, I think I bought a bad ESN phone :(
 

Hey Just Restore the phone with PC36IMG.zip
go here to download [ROOT][GUIDE] HBoot 2.02/2.10 SOFF - Goodbye Stranger - Upd. 02.25.11 - xda-developers

Scroll down and Install that and it will put it back to SPRINT with clean ESN.
DONE IT MANY TIMES WITH CUSTOMERS