iphone 5 bought from apple but locked to vodafone

[langstroth2]

Help!. I seem to be going around in circles. Bought iphone 5 phone off ebay for use by daughter. It's supposed to be unlocked. Contacted seller who has stated she bought it direct form an apple store - but it appears to be locked to Vodafone. She has also contacted Vodafone to be told they wouldn't have locked it. Apple state they can't unlock phones - only network providers. Please advise!

[AnnS]

This is going to be between you and the seller.  If the phone was sold as unlocked, return it and ask for your money back and buy from a more reputable online site.

Sometimes getting something cheaper does not always turn out to be the cheapest option.

Since you are not the original and first owner of the phone, Vodafone would be unable to give you any help or support.

[bigredbucket]

A very similar story happened to me. I privately bought a 2nd hand phone sold as unlocked. This phone also came from Apple Store.

However, it was not bought but a replacement provided by Apple Store under the iphone 5 lock button repair scheme. The Apple Store had repaired the lock button once and when it failed again, they replaced the phone with a new one.

The seller assumed (wrongly) that because Apple Store supplied the phone it would be unlocked. They replaced the phone like for like - in this case locked to VF.

When my helpful seller tried to unlock for me, VF did not have the details of the new IMEI on their records. They wouldn't even unlock it for him, the original owner, as their records did not match the phone. At this point I began pulling my hair out. My husband went in to Apple Store with the phone and managed to obtain an official printout showing the exchange of phones and the old and new IMEI numbers so that my seller could take this to VF as proof. My seller promised to go back to VF in a few days with the required evidence.

However, I could sense that this might not work out, so in the meantime I used a well known auction site with a seller offering VF remote unlock services. The phone was unlocked in about a week for £19.95. I think I would still be going round in circles if I had used "official" channels.

Have you checked the IMEI number on iphoneimei.info website? This should tell you definitively what network the phone is locked to.

However, in my case it said: lock status unknown.

I had to insert a VF PAYG sim to prove it was locked to VF - this did allow the phone to function.

I feel your pain.

[kids]

You must hope that the unlock you bought was an official unlock, as if not when you update the ios the phone will relock itself to Vodafone.

[bigredbucket]

It was a remote unlock and registered on Apple's system.

I have updated to ios 8 this week no problems.

The system of locking phones is flawed and anti-competitive.

The phones should be locked until they are no longer subject to contract/ or for specified time period and then automatically unlocked. My seller completed the online unlock request form twice and received not so much as an email in response.

According to "the rules" he is the only one who can unlock that phone (that he incidentally no longer owns) and which is no longer contracted to VF.

I completely understand that the network have to recoup their investment over the life of the contract, but after that point, they have no reason to keep the phone locked -  except to remove any market choice & force you to use their service, presumably for the whole life of the phone.

[langstroth2]

Well, just to complete the thread. The seller was very cooperative, we returned the phone and got a refund. They are now trying to get the phone unlocked themselves. So this was a genuine problem not a scam. I agree the whole locking process is anti-competitive once a phone is out of any bundled contract.

[bigredbucket]

Glad you sorted it out.

:smileyhappy:

[GojuSuzi]

Yup, especially as the story they're giving you makes no sense: if it was sold without a contract direct from Apple it would be unlocked; if she got it with a VF SIM, even if from Apple, it'll be locked but VD can unlock it for her. If what she says is true, Apple have made an error and missold it, so will need to take a look and possibly exchange it. More likely, she's trying to fob you off because she is not the original owner and this cannot unlock it either.