Diamonds on eBay

[robotphood]

Originally Posted by movax

You're fine - he took over a week to ship, and when he did, he used next-day air. I apologize for not leaving the appropiate neutral feedback on his account to help future buyers. Communication was very poor.

I was a bit confused to see it come from (apparently) a Sprint warehouse in Kentucky - I got a refurb or something? Because I couldn't tell - came with all the paperwork, everything was shrink wrapped, sealed, etc. Phone has been running awesomely.

And yeah, cashback is awesome. I paid $120 for a contractless Diamond after cashback + 10% off from PayPal.

Good to know. But how would we know if it came from Asurion if they didn't have it shipped directly to us first? Oh well, I'm not too worried about it coming/working. I just don't want to be phoneless (hassle of looking for another one on short notice) if Sprint decided to deactivate our phones (possible/legal?)

[movax]

Originally Posted by robotphood

Good to know. But how would we know if it came from Asurion if they didn't have it shipped directly to us first? Oh well, I'm not too worried about it coming/working. I just don't want to be phoneless (hassle of looking for another one on short notice) if Sprint decided to deactivate our phones (possible/legal?)

Sorry - I'm still unclear as to what you mean 'from Asurion'? I'm aware they are the insurance provider for Sprint, are these eBay phones suspect stolen/returned? Mine seemed 100% sealed like I said.

Activation I did online without any hassles.

[shortbus182]

I purchased my Diamond from celldepOt on ebay for $245. At the time seller had over 600 feedback with 99.3% positive. Now he has over 1000 feedback. Safe deal? All powersellers legit? IDK...phone came from assurion. It activated without problems, but am waitng for some suprise charges on my next bill.

[boxermansr]

Originally Posted by shortbus182

I purchased my Diamond from celldepOt on ebay for $245. At the time seller had over 600 feedback with 99.3% positive. Now he has over 1000 feedback. Safe deal? All powersellers legit? IDK...phone came from assurion. It activated without problems, but am waitng for some suprise charges on my next bill.

You may want to be careful with celldep0t. I purchased a PRO a few weeks ago, and after several days of excuses as to why he hadn't or couldn't ship, he refunded me.

A few days ago, I got my Sprint bill, and found a 50.00 insurance claim charge on it. I thought it had come from another seller on ebay, but I managed to find out who Asurion had shipped the replacement phone that was claimed with my account to.. I called that person and they told me they had also purchased from celldep0t.

Anyhow, I contacted celldep0t and they tell me that they were using another ebay member (username dmilton111) to 'drop ship' for them. Gave me some excuse about how dmilton was selling them cheaper than he could get them, so they worked out some deal, celldep0t would sell them, and dmilton would ship them (using other peoples insurance of course).

I ended up getting the 50.00 credited back, but still stand to get hit with at least a 200.00 charge for a non-returned device that Asurion is expecting back.

Anyhow, bottom line, celldep0t probably isn't the best person to buy from right now, as is 'warehouse' (aka dmilton111) probably won't be delivering, or, you're gonna get a 50.00 surprise on your bill.

[af1xme]

^^wows!! i just bought from the same person on black friday. however received an email stating that the "warehouse" didnt have the inventory on hand thus accidentally sold too many. in process of getting my money back as refund is in process. hope this fool doesnt pull any fishy stuff. argg... i guess ill just get my phone from sprint now dammit.

[yougivemerash!!!]

^Ah crap this has me worried now.

If I get charged $50, I could probably get that dropped.

One thing though, if you are saying there might be a $200 charge for not shipping a phone back to Asurion, how can they do that if you don't even have phone insurance on your plan?

[yougivemerash!!!]

Check this out, I emailed the seller this a little bit ago:

Hello. This email is in regards to the HTC Diamond phone I purchased from you, Item #320318249948

After receiving the phone, I noticed that it came from Asurion insurance after opening the box. The packing slip shows another person's cell number and account number, and the request for a phone replacement but with my shipping address.

In the box, I also received a return packing slip which requires the old "faulty" phone to be sent back to Asurion.

The phone activated fine as you stated it would, but the issue at hand is that I might be charged $57 on my Sprint bill for a deductible fee because of the Asurion insurance claim and I also may be charged $200 for not sending a phone back to Asurion since that's how an insurance claim works.

In addition, this phone may be permanently deactivated in the future if it turns out that the original account holder that this insurance claim was made on finds out when they REALLY have to make an insurance claim or if Sprint/Asurion finds out how your phones were sold.

Are you running some type of insurance claim fraud where you claim phone replacements from Asurion using Sprint customer's information and thus getting these phones for roughly $50 each?

I would kindly like a refund of $250 and I will return this phone to you after I switch back to my old phone. I do not want to deal with whatever might happen in the future because of this phone I bought from you and the suspicious way I received it (Box from Asurion, return label and packaging for old phone, another customer's sprint number and account info).

I will not open a dispute with Paypal, contact Ebay, contact Asurion, or take any other escalating action if you comply. I will also NOT contact the original person that the insurance claim was made on if we can resolve this issue. I think a refund is completely fair given the circumstances.

In addition, I am closely watching my sprint bill for any ~$57 charges for an insurance deductible.

Please remediate this issue as soon as possible. If I don't receive a concise response from you within a week, I will be taking further action.

Thank you.

and here is the reply I got a couple minutes later:

I have read your email thoroughly and I am amazed. I have had some orders drop shipped by another company and they actually sent out your order.....I do apologize if this is actually the case. I will be investigating the issue because surely this is not the way i would like to do business. I have no problem at all refunding the money but i would like you to return the phone to me ( of course i will reimburse for the shipping) so i can do some referencing on the phone itself. Again i apologize for any inconvenience. Please reply to this message so i know we're on the same page and once i get a reply refund the amount no problem.


MobiTele, LLC
President

*He did put his name above the MobiTele, LLC and provided contact telephone numbers, but I just removed that information from his reply to be fair.

I'm wondering what I should do right now and if I will still get charged later with the deductible, Asurion claim thing and all even if I do return the phone.

Gah! Such a headache now that I have to swith back to my old phone and deal with this crap.

[tracerit]

Originally Posted by yougivemerash!!!

Check this out, I emailed the seller this a little bit ago:

and here is the reply I got a couple minutes later:

*He did put his name above the MobiTele, LLC and provided contact telephone numbers, but I just removed that information from his reply to be fair.

I'm wondering what I should do right now and if I will still get charged later with the deductible, Asurion claim thing and all even if I do return the phone.

Gah! Such a headache now that I have to swith back to my old phone and deal with this crap.

Wow, that is a bummer

If you still have the phone activated and all, can you do ##786# and let us know if under "Refurbishment Status" and "Refurbishment Date" says anything? And when was the "Original Activation Date" located at the bottom.

I also bought my Diamond off Ebay but received it directly from the seller and for me, those values are:

Refurb Status: No
Refurb Date: <no data>
Original Activation Date: 12/1/2008 (this is when I activated the phone).

[slmclarengt]

Originally Posted by tracerit

Wow, that is a bummer

If you still have the phone activated and all, can you do ##786# and let us know if under "Refurbishment Status" and "Refurbishment Date" says anything? And when was the "Original Activation Date" located at the bottom.

I also bought my Diamond off Ebay but received it directly from the seller and for me, those values are:

Refurb Status: No
Refurb Date: <no data>
Original Activation Date: 12/1/2008 (this is when I activated the phone).

I must jump in to say if the phone ROM was ever flashed, these values are erased. I know, I flashed my refurb Touch then flashed back to Sprint and it said it was not refurb and active on that day only :-\.

I like eBay for cashback but now I see they reduced it to 20% so since I want to smite Microsoft, I may either abuse them by not using their services and suggesting others never use virtually anything of theirs or abuse them in other way I probably would not buy a phone off eBay except in very particular circumstances and if I had problems, Paypal Dispute Resolution Center almost always sides with the buyer. If you can, alert your state attorney general about insurance fraud these sellers are committing; heck even alerting eBay may be a good thing.

Slmclarengt

[robotphood]

Originally Posted by movax

Sorry - I'm still unclear as to what you mean 'from Asurion'? I'm aware they are the insurance provider for Sprint, are these eBay phones suspect stolen/returned? Mine seemed 100% sealed like I said.

Activation I did online without any hassles.

Not stolen but more along the lines of obtained through a loophole. Read a couple threads above and you'll see what I'm talking about. I have no idea if our seller is doing the same thing but at the price it was going for it could be likely. For anyone else getting an Asurion packing slip, could it be removed and then shipped, basically voiding any evidence it was an insurance replacement phone in the first place?

Originally Posted by yougivemerash!!!

One thing though, if you are saying there might be a $200 charge for not shipping a phone back to Asurion, how can they do that if you don't even have phone insurance on your plan?

That's what I was thinking as well. How could they charge you this? Especially if you get the $50 waived for the same reason?