Advice needed on sold phone that was later blacklisted?

[Triumph]

Quickly...should I accept this return for a phone I sold that was later blacklisted by the Carrier ...either morally or legally?

I can't resolve this issue in my head and am looking for advice..

Scenerio - I purchased a used smartphone on eBay (who had purchased it from non-claimed property sale), activated and used it for a few days, I then resold it on another forum and that buyer activated it on a different carrier and has used it for a few weeks. Now the buyer says their Carrier blacklisted the phone, after it was activated, and wants a refund. I verified it was blacklisted, after activation, but find it suspicious.

Apparently the "original" owner is doing an insurance scam OR didn't fully pay for the phone before they lost it through the property sale.

I already told the buyer I do not feel obligated to accept return since the phone was activated when I used it and they have used it already...even though a short time.

Any thoughts on my obligation to accept return or how to handle? Thanks. I am expecting paypal to send me a notice but I will probably resist that (I don't like feeling like a crook even though I didn't do anything wrong)

Thanks all!

 

[mountainbikermark]

To me if there is a way to push the poo downhill to the one you bought it from then yes I'd do that.
You bought a device in good faith and sold the device in good faith.
When PayPal contacts you I would explain as you have done here and perhaps they will have an avenue with which for not only the one you sold it to since you both did an honest transaction but for yourself to get refunded for being scammed further up the line.

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[NOVICE]

I am an attorney but this is not legal advice.

If it was me I would refund the money. Another human being relied, in good faith, on purchasing a device in working order that he/she could legally activate and run on an eligible carrier. They didn't get what they paid for and I would feel a moral obligation to make them whole.

You can argue that they assumed the risk by choosing to deal with you. But that would simply be an admission that you are not a reliable person.

In any event, the police aren't going to come after you and amount of money is to trivial to pursue legally so you are pretty much free to do as you choose.

 

[SFGate]

Agree with Novice that accepting the return is the high road thing to do, but also agree with the points you made in your post. You didn't deliberately set out to deceive the buyer and should not have to bear the brunt of the loss on this.

 

[Dalvik_Cache]

I have a saying that my dad taught me: Do whats right, even if it cost's you something. I wouldn't want someone doing that to me, and I wouldn't want to do it to someone else. The fact that you're here asking means you already know whats right.

 

[TatDroid]

One way to handle it (I'm not saying it's necessarily the RIGHT way) would be to file a claim with the person you bought it from, and to tell the current owner you'll refund their money if/when you get your refund from the original seller.

On a related note, I would NEVER buy a cell phone under those terms. The odds that a confiscated phone was not paid off are pretty high and the carriers will usually catch up with that - eventually.

 

[mountainbikermark]

One way to handle it (I'm not saying it's necessarily the RIGHT way) would be to file a claim with the person you bought it from, and to tell the current owner you'll refund their money if/when you get your refund from the original seller.

On a related note, I would NEVER buy a cell phone under those terms. The odds that a confiscated phone was not paid off are pretty high and the carriers will usually catch up with that - eventually.

I believe PayPal can be the conduit for that scenario.

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[Dalvik_Cache]

I believe PayPal can be the conduit for that scenario.

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Agreed

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[Natey2]

Watch out for them used phones on those popular online sites. You never know where some of them have been: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/off-topic-forum/203309-smartphone-jacuzzi.html#post2061317

 

[Triumph]

Thanks for the quality responses....here's the funny thing though....

I read your responses and decided yep, be a standup guy and take the phone back....

So I went to post a response to the buyer saying just send it back to me, I'll give you a refund and deal with it myself...then I read his post stating he was able to get TMobile to "unblock" the phone and a day later it was working again as expected. That's nice hey??? Made my weekend.

Lesson learned on my part on buying used phones...had no idea the carrier could just disable the phone because the prior owner didn't fully pay for it, or reported it stolen.
Doesn't seem right.
oh well, life goes on.

**PS. side note: obviously the Carriers can "unblock/blacklist/whatever" phones if they want to...

 

[Vulcan1600]

Thanks for the quality responses....here's the funny thing though....

I read your responses and decided yep, be a standup guy and take the phone back....

So I went to post a response to the buyer saying just send it back to me, I'll give you a refund and deal with it myself...then I read his post stating he was able to get TMobile to "unblock" the phone and a day later it was working again as expected. That's nice hey??? Made my weekend.

Lesson learned on my part on buying used phones...had no idea the carrier could just disable the phone because the prior owner didn't fully pay for it, or reported it stolen.
Doesn't seem right.
oh well, life goes on.

**PS. side note: obviously the Carriers can "unblock/blacklist/whatever" phones if they want to...

I sell you a car that is full price of $5,000, I tell you that if you give me $2,000 now and the other $3,000 must be repaid within the next 2 years. You can't swing the payments, so you sell the car on eBay to Dan Droid for $2,000, and you get your money back from the original contract with me, the guy who sold you the car. There is a disabling chip that was installed in the car that I am able to enable so the car is useless. Is it fair for me to be out $5,000, is it fair that you got Dan Droid to pay $2,000 for the car and you recouped your loss but Dan has a car that won't start and I don't have anything to show for it? (I know bad analogy but I hope it makes sense).

 

[Bratster2]

I sell you a car that is full price of $5,000, I tell you that if you give me $2,000 now and the other $3,000 must be repaid within the next 2 years. You can't swing the payments, so you sell the car on eBay to Dan Droid for $2,000, and you get your money back from the original contract with me, the guy who sold you the car. There is a disabling chip that was installed in the car that I am able to enable so the car is useless. Is it fair for me to be out $5,000, is it fair that you got Dan Droid to pay $2,000 for the car and you recouped your loss but Dan has a car that won't start and I don't have anything to show for it? (I know bad analogy but I hope it makes sense).

I would go with person 2 owes person 1 3k and Dan droid 2k.

Now we have the more confusing part.

Person 1 is the carrier.
Person 2 is the first owner.
Dan droid is the op.
Person 3 is his buyer.

The car worked great but Dan wanted a truck so he sold it to person 3.

Then it got disabled.

Person 3 is pissed at Dan, who didn't do anything wrong, per say. He had no idea person 2 was bad.