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First is not equal to current or proper owner

wmendez
Neighbour

I've brought this issue with pretty much everyone at TELUS Support almost a year ago. I bought a phone on a person to person transaction. I used the device for almost 2 months without a hinge. Then one day out of the blue the phone stopped working. After a lot of investigation (1 week, nearly 2) we discovered that it was blacklisted at Telus. I've been told several times that the first owner "blocked the number and only that person can undo it". 

I offered to return the device though Telus, I offered to pay for it to that original owner, I contacted a line of previous owners and provided both Telus and the police with addresses with contact names and their phone numbers  or emails (they all were willing to have the issue fixed for me) and I got help from Ottawa Police (YES, I FILLED A REPORT!) and I have proof of all that.

The only place I had no positive help from was Telus. You kept saying that you were investigating (with a full team!) but at the end of the day I got always the exact same replay. So why your customer protection policies regarding backlisting do not include people like me? Explain why I've had at my home for a year now a $1200 worth of technology that I can not use just because you guys blocked it? Why there are not in place better investigation and arrangement plans to help customers like me who got stranded in a limbo because YOUR police regarding this issue ONLY PROTECTS THE FIRST PERSON? 

Please explain why Telus is keeping me from using this phone that I payed for in cash over a year now, I have witnesses, I have the police record showing I tried to fix this scam. Telus is no better that the actual scammers, you are part of it.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

You are missing the point entirely. There is no solution here because you did a transaction that Telus was not involved in. It's not up to Telus or any carrier to determine whether a phone is stolen or legitimately sold. Telus didn't say the phone was stolen. The person who last registered the phone said it was stolen.

 

The phone's last registered owner needs to contact Telus to arrange the removal from the list. That's how the list works. If that person refuses to do that then there's nothing Telus can do.

 

The rules for how phones get on and off the blacklist are clear and all members of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Associationi follow the same rules.

https://www.devicecheck.ca/consumers/

 

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9 REPLIES 9

xray
Hero

If the person you bought the phone from reports the phone as stolen why do you feel it's up to Telus to fix it for you? It's not up to any business to protect people in their own 3rd party transactions that do not involve the business.

 

Allowing the removal of a phone from the blacklist at the request of the current owner would be defeating the purpose of having the list.

 

This is why I would never buy a phone from anyone other than a legitimate retailer, there's too much risk.

If the person you bought the phone from reports the phone as stolen why do you feel it's up to Telus to fix it for you? It's not up to any business to protect people in their own 3rd party transactions that do not involve the business.

[Telus is the one blocking the phone, I have offered Telus many solutions to solve the issue, including returning the "stolen" phone to the first owner -and supposedly the one who might have asked to be blacklisted-. If Telus really had in mind the wellbeing of those customers then they need to put a little bit more effort into these types of issues. How has blacklisting this phone helped that first buyer? He or she did not get it back, nor a monetary compensation for whatever happened. Big companies my friend do not really care about prospecting people as much as not been liable, which is one of the main structures of these type of blacklisting ideals.]

Allowing the removal of a phone from the blacklist at the request of the current owner would be defeating the purpose of having the list.

[How do you know it was stolen? Just because someone at Telus said so? Sorry to break it to you, but phones go blacklisted for many, many reasons other than that]

This is why I would never buy a phone from anyone other than a legitimate retailer, there's too much risk.

[Good for you!, and please let me apologized to you for here and stupid individual trying to save some bucks in a difficult economy by buying in a non "legitimate retailer".]

BTW; I suggest you put your keyboard to better use, stop wasting other people's time (and your own) if you do not have a real, proper solution for the issue at hand. 

You are missing the point entirely. There is no solution here because you did a transaction that Telus was not involved in. It's not up to Telus or any carrier to determine whether a phone is stolen or legitimately sold. Telus didn't say the phone was stolen. The person who last registered the phone said it was stolen.

 

The phone's last registered owner needs to contact Telus to arrange the removal from the list. That's how the list works. If that person refuses to do that then there's nothing Telus can do.

 

The rules for how phones get on and off the blacklist are clear and all members of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Associationi follow the same rules.

https://www.devicecheck.ca/consumers/

 

And you are missing mine as well. This law only protects the "rights' of the so call first owner and allows members members of... (blah blah blah) not be liable for stolen or lost property

You have no absolute idea what the conditions of my particular request are, you are simply generalizing the problem, hence for you, and only you, its obvious what the solution should be. Just let me clear one little detail for you, since you brought the device check to light. First off the device had been in the market for about 7 months when I got it, at that moment I did a proper device EMEI check with positive results, the device was never reported stolen or lost during that time. Then it worked perfectly fine for 2 months under my tenure, and just one day it stopped working because it was blacklisted. So tell me... who waits almost a year to blacklist a phone? And why is there no laws or procedures to help customers when such things happened. Since you are so hell bent into defending Telus, let me tell you another thing, I launched an investigation with police been this case a highly possible case of scam. And I offered to return the device to the rightful owner via Telus or Police, and they did not cared about that.  

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

It's not unheard of for a seller, on rare occasion, to report a phone they sold as stolen sometime after the sale. Unfortunately, this is a civil matter between you and the seller at this point. Telus and the police won't get involved in that and neither can do anything about it if the seller isn't willing to cooperate.

 

The conditions to remove a device from the blacklist are very specific which makes it so the carriers can't just arbitrarily remove a device from the blacklist. The seller wouldn't have disclosed to Telus that they had sold the device when you bought it. 


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@wmendez wrote:

Since you are so hell bent into defending Telus  


I am not defending anyone. I'm explaining how the blacklist system works. If you want to get a resolution to your problem it's not going to be by trying to change how it was designed to work.

 


@wmendez wrote:

And I offered to return the device to the rightful owner via Telus or Police, and they did not cared about that.  


You do not consider yourself the rightful owner?

It does dissuade people from buying "discount" phones from private sellers.  Mobile phone theft is a huge problem.  Unfortunately, for some, it is an expensive lesson.  

xray
Hero

I'm assuming the previous owner of the phone was with Telus. If not then the previous owner needs to contact the carrier they were with. Telus has absolutely nothing to do with this situation in that case.

BillTelusCust
Rockstar

You should buy mobile phones only from reputable retailers.  It is unfortunate that you got caught up in this, but the way to avoid it is to buy only from approved retailers.  I don't think this is Telus' fault.