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Regarding Buying A Eris from a 3rd Party

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Hello all, so i have a question and did not know which thread to post this in but here goes please feel free to move it to where it is appropriate.

I found a good deal for a HTC Droid Eris online from a website, the location was perfect as it was right near where i reside. After setting up an appointment to meet and looking at the phone i found that the phone wasn't 'brand new' but had been used, the owner claims that she bought it from another person who claims that it had not been activated at all. I tried to activate the phone and couldnt because the phone had already been activated on Verizon's Network. She said that she was going to take the phone in in the morning and see what they could do about it. So she is going to give me a call tomorrow (i guess its today now that it is past midnight).

So my question is if she calls me back tomorrow and says that Verizon has taken care of the problem and i can now activate it with my phone # do i go ahead and buy it from her? Is there anything i should be worried or be informed about? Help me out fellow Android users! :) I dont want to buy the phone and activate it and get screwed over somehow because i wasn't knowledgable to a certain extent, as you can tell i dont have much experience with phones as far as activation/ESN/plans/etc whatnot go.

Thanks again for all the replys/comments/advice
 
The second the story involved a mystery 3rd person and some issues that's when I pause and say no. It is up to you though.
 
that thought ran by my head too, i feel iffy about it, but the deal is hard to pass up, im just trying to figure out what i'm going to do if she calls me tomorrow saying its good to go.
 
I agree, if your Spidey Sense is tinggling... stay away.

If you could get the ESN#, you may be able to call up Verizon and see what the real issue is. You don't want to be holding even a $200 phone you can't activate.
 
Unless the seller will agree to meet you at the VZW store, and agree that you're not paying until its verified by the staff that the phone can be activated on your account, run away.

Personally, I'd never buy a used cell phone unless that is the case. I've bought and sold 8-10 phones over the last 5 years, and this has been standard procedure. That way, no one is in the dark about anything.
 
^^ I agree. I've been around plenty of shady people that love to steal or "find" things and sell them on eBay and now, craigslist, for a quick buck. Be wary. Have it activated in the store, talk to the sales rep and ask questions like if it'll perform like any other Eris or if something looks fishy or whatever. If she agrees to do that, though, don't automatically think it's fine and blow off asking serious questions to VZW. She could be bluffing. You gotta be cynical, especially when a couple hundred bucks are involved.
 
Ok so if any of you who posted actually care/cared. Here was the result. I activated the phone and it worked so i payed for it and upon returning home, i called verizon because my web browser would not connect to the internet (the phone and text msging worked though). After talking to the verizon rep who was so helpful btw, they told me that the phone was reported stolen/lost, the original owner claimed they never recieved the shipment of the phone (box/charger/total package). That is why the phone would be locked to that web browsing standard. So i returned the phone and got my money back, the seller who sold me the phone was very kind, and had no idea the phone itself was reported. I just feel bad that she herself got conned into buying a stolen phone.

Well there you have it, thanks for the help Android community (those who took the time to help).
 
The thing with buying a phone off of someone is that if it has been activated on someones acount you A-- void the one yr warranty and b-- if the customer has not paid the bill on which the line was activated you will not be able to use the phone until the bill is paid or they get another phone and put it on their account to replace that phone..
 
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