Clean ESN or is it?

[Boostermike]

Found a nice used Prevail for my friend that wanted one. He got it. And called Boost to activate on his account.

Boost will NOT activate it. They will only tell him that the phone is assigned to an active account.

If you need to know. He did try making a call with the phone. However it would not make a call. So the phone is not active itself.

On the internet based ESN checkers, the ESN comes up clean when "we" check it.

eBay seller is one of those that sells lots of phones and has good feedback. So waiting to see what seller will do.

But I am at a loss to explain why ESN comes up clean but Boost shows it as active...

Unless someone used the ESN to bring a different phone onto a Boost account... Or ????

Anyone heard of this?

 

[wetbiker7]

Found a nice used Prevail for my friend that wanted one. He got it. And called Boost to activate on his account.

Boost will NOT activate it. They will only tell him that the phone is assigned to an active account.

If you need to know. He did try making a call with the phone. However it would not make a call. So the phone is not active itself.

On the internet based ESN checkers, the ESN comes up clean when "we" check it.

eBay seller is one of those that sells lots of phones and has good feedback. So waiting to see what seller will do.

But I am at a loss to explain why ESN comes up clean but Boost shows it as active...

Unless someone used the ESN to bring a different phone onto a Boost account... Or ????

Anyone heard of this?

Yup. Had this happen with one I bought from Ebay. All he needs to activate the phone is the PIN number. If the PIN isn't available, he'll have to wait until Boost closes that account. It shouldn't be long after the account is past due on payment.

I ended up getting the owners PIN # for the one I bought. Probably be your friends best bet if he needs to activate now.

 

[Boostermike]

I understand about getting the pin number.

However the seller of the phone was NOT the original owner. He is a used phone retailer on eBay. Can't say how he got the phone (could be trade in, sold to a dealer, donated to a charity, etc). So getting the Pin from the account holder is not an option.

It could be the account was on a paygo, and the "owner" traded it in and switched to another carrier, and never bothered to kill the account. Obviously one can speculate till the end of the world, etc....

Yes, eventually Boost will kill the account on their own, or another phone will be assigned. But even then, will the phone "we" bought be released to be used on another account??? That is part of the question...


"We" are waiting for the seller to respond about the issue. He only got the phone on Friday, so seller has not yet had a work day to respond.

Based on his feedback I am sure he will refund or replace. The question will be who eats the shipping... To me it should be the seller, as the phone he sent is not usable and he sold it as a good working phone that can be activated... So we will see...

 

[wetbiker7]

I understand about getting the pin number.

However the seller of the phone was NOT the original owner. He is a used phone retailer on eBay. Can't say how he got the phone (could be trade in, sold to a dealer, donated to a charity, etc). So getting the Pin from the account holder is not an option.

It could be the account was on a paygo, and the "owner" traded it in and switched to another carrier, and never bothered to kill the account. Obviously one can speculate till the end of the world, etc....

Yes, eventually Boost will kill the account on their own, or another phone will be assigned. But even then, will the phone "we" bought be released to be used on another account??? That is part of the question...


"We" are waiting for the seller to respond about the issue. He only got the phone on Friday, so seller has not yet had a work day to respond.

Based on his feedback I am sure he will refund or replace. The question will be who eats the shipping... To me it should be the seller, as the phone he sent is not usable and he sold it as a good working phone that can be activated... So we will see...

Either way you're covered under the Ebay buyer protection program if you used PayPal.

Hopefully the seller covers the return shipping. From my experience, the only way to get around paying shipping is to open a claim with Ebay. They'll usually refund the shipping cost. Here's the catch. If the seller has it in his return agreement that the buyer pays return shipping, well then your pretty much gonna have to eat the shipping fee unless Ebay says otherwise.

I am a long time buyer/seller on Ebay and fortunately have only had to pay return shipping twice. Ebay has covered my return shipping a few times.

 

[qandres12]

Boost mobile keeps accounts active for 90 after lack of payment. You may have found it but that doesn't mean its past that 90 day period. Gonna have to wait bud

 

[Boostermike]

No I do not have to wait. Also do not have to pay for return shipping etc... Why?

A contact was entered into. Seller stated that for x amount of money plus x amount for shipping he would supply a used Prevail that could be activated and used on my friends account.

We paid him the total price.

The phone he shipped is not as contracted for. Boost will not activate it.

This puts him in breach of contract. Not the buyer. It is by law the sellers headache.

But "we" will see what the seller does.

But I did not come hear for legal advise... I came here to ask if anyone has heard of this issue of Boost stating a phone is showing on a active account,and what could be the details etc.

Should you wish to offer legal advise (telling someone they have to what etc..) please make sure you are right etc... And that can be hard to do as the law can be different in diferant states.

I have had a large number of eBay dealings, and when I have pointed out to eBay seller beached the contract, shipped the wrong item, or item was not as described, eBay has refunded every penny. But you have to push for it (hard and early on), and know what you are talking about. eBay dos not easily just offer it.

But again not here to find out how to handle the issue of Buyer / Seller dispute.

Only asking about Boost not activating the phone for friend.

I appreciate "trying" to help... But changing the topic does not always help anyone.

 

[wetbiker7]

No I do not have to wait. Also do not have to pay for return shipping etc... Why?

A contact was entered into. Seller stated that for x amount of money plus x amount for shipping he would supply a used Prevail that could be activated and used on my friends account.

We paid him the total price.

The phone he shipped is not as contracted for. Boost will not activate it.

This puts him in breach of contract. Not the buyer. It is by law the sellers headache.

But "we" will see what the seller does.

But I did not come hear for legal advise... I came here to ask if anyone has heard of this issue of Boost stating a phone is showing on a active account,and what could be the details etc.

Should you wish to offer legal advise (telling someone they have to what etc..) please make sure you are right etc... And that can be hard to do as the law can be different in diferant states.

I have had a large number of eBay dealings, and when I have pointed out to eBay seller beached the contract, shipped the wrong item, or item was not as described, eBay has refunded every penny. But you have to push for it (hard and early on), and know what you are talking about. eBay dos not easily just offer it.

But again not here to find out how to handle the issue of Buyer / Seller dispute.

Only asking about Boost not activating the phone for friend.

I appreciate "trying" to help... But changing the topic does not always help anyone.

LOL.. pretty sure that's what I did with the 1st reply.

"Yup. Had this happen with one I bought from Ebay. All he needs to activate the phone is the PIN number. If the PIN isn't available, he'll have to wait until Boost closes that account. It shouldn't be long after the account is past due on payment.

I ended up getting the owners PIN # for the one I bought. Probably be your friends best bet if he needs to activate now".

As for changing the topic, I was just giving you a heads up on my personal experience with Boost and Ebay. Please forgive me for trying to offer assistance. Last time I looked I had been thanked 1,019 times. Looks like I've helped a few people at some time. Sorry you weren't one of them. lol

 

[qandres12]

okay Im gonna take another crack at combing all the answer we already gave, which are all correct. So you bought the phone from a used vendor on eBay. The phone is still tied to its account from its original holder because it its still in the 90 day period the owner gets to pay their bill and get their account working again. Now just because a person doesnt pay their bill doesnt mean they cant sell it or something, which is the clearly the case of what happened here. The ESN checker says its clean so we can say that its not stolen. So we can infer the original owner sold or traded his phone but they didnt switch their account to the new phone they got. My guess is that they are done with Boost Mobile are switching to carriers or they are just getting a new phone and are waiting to switch the account to their new phone. Im incline to think the former since thats what Ive done in the past. Now since the phone is still tied to that account you would need the PIN to get activated it again but that would mean its still activated on that original owners account. Since its not your friends account youd have to cancel that account and then open a new account in your friends name or switch your friends account onto the phone if they have one already.

wetbiker7 did however answer your question perfectly OP. its either get he PIN# or wait the 90 days for Boost to cancel that account freeing that phone from the previous account and allowing to be used on a new account aka your friends. or you could do what you are trying to do and send it back, get a refund, buy another used, prevail and risk getting burned with getting bad ESN in which case its worst than your situation right now, you know with the phone being unuseable again.

On a personal note I dont think the seller did anything wrong, its not his fault Boost Mobile has the 90 wait period to cancel your account and recycle the number. I wish other prepaid carries did it like boost mobile when it came to this. Yes if your friends needs the phone that bad you could return it and get the refund but you can also wait the 90 day period, unless you are able to contact the original owner and get PIN which seems unlikely to happen.

 

[Boostermike]

Never mind... My original question is being missed.

I never asked how to activate. I only asked if any of you had heard of this. Where a phone has a clean ESN but Boost will not activate it as they say it is active on another account. That is what I asked. And nothing more.....

Not how to deal with the seller. Not how to activate or options etc.

I understand that all responses are well intended... But some are off point, and in light of what the law really states... Just wrong...

If any of you are lawyers you will know the seller is in breach etc...

So never mind. I thought I could ask a question, and get a response on the point of the question, and not get advise I never asked for, or needed, or that was not right, and more...

 

[Mikestony]

Cleaned up the thread a little bit as this was starting to get a little argumentative/snarky.
Please let's all get along

If you feel I missed anything, let me know o.k.?

Thanks

 

[qandres12]

Never mind... My original question is being missed.

I never asked how to activate. I only asked if any of you had heard of this. Where a phone has a clean ESN but Boost will not activate it as they say it is active on another account. That is what I asked. And nothing more.....

That has been answered as well, but since its been missed. Yes has been heard of and it can be common because of the 90 period. I assure you no law has been broken. Its simply Boost Mobiles policy that states they cant actived yet. Doesnt mean the phone was stolen.

 

[Boostermike]

Never said the law was broken.... I said seller was in breach of contract...

Seller did respond. He handled it like a pro and sent a replacement phone at his expense...

But none of this has anything to do with the "question" I posted about...

The only responses posted here that related to the question was that yes, sometimes a phone wit a good ESN gets blocked fro be activated due to Boosts 90 day thing.

But so many other post were not only off point... But wrong in reality.. And that is why I responded... Because someone else could read this post and think they are stuck with a phone sold as "good" , but then find out Bosst will not activate it.

When the reality is under US Contract law, they have recourse because of a breach of contract, under civil law...

 

[Lordvincent 90]

Seller did respond. He handled it like a pro and sent a replacement phone at his expense...

Good problem solved. So we can close this thread then?

 

[wetbiker7]

Good problem solved. So we can close this thread then?

Requested.

 

[Unforgiven]

I'm glad to hear the seller stood up and was reputable. I'll close this thread down now. Hit me with a PM if you have any questions.