Sold me inactive iPhone - Can I take him to court?

DPdrummer

A number of months ago I placed an ad stating I would like to trade my iPhone 6 Plus for an iPhone 6. A seller contacted me and we arranged to meet. He told me the phone he had was a brand new replacement from Apple and had full warranty. We traded phones and went on our way. Now Im having issues with the phone and contacted Apple about getting a repair. They have told me the phone he gave me was inactive meaning he had received a replacement for the phone he sold me.

Apple have said the phone shouldnt have been sold. I contacted the seller but he is not co-operating whatsoever. Do I have a case for a small claims court and how can I go about getting his full name and address if so?

TitianGerm

DPdrummer wrote: »

A number of months ago I placed an ad stating I would like to trade my iPhone 6 Plus for an iPhone 6. A seller contacted me and we arranged to meet. He told me the phone he had was a brand new replacement from Apple and had full warranty. We traded phones and went on our way. Now Im having issues with the phone and contacted Apple about getting a repair. They have told me the phone he gave me was inactive meaning he had received a replacement for the phone he sold me.

Apple have said the phone shouldnt have been sold. I contacted the seller but he is not co-operating whatsoever. Do I have a case for a small claims court and how can I go about getting his full name and address if so?

So you swapped the phone a few months ago and its just just not working now ? What is wrong with it ?

Guy:Incognito

DPdrummer wrote: »

 Do I have a case for a small claims court and how can I go about getting his full name and address if so?

Small claims court is only for issues you have with a business . You cant take a private individual to the small claims court.

theteal

Private sale OP, you've not comeback unfortunately. Chalk it down to experience.

super_furry

sugarman wrote: »

emmetkenny wrote: »

So you swapped the phone a few months ago and its just just not working now ? What is wrong with it ?

It was blocked and replaced with anothet iphone presumably by the sellers insurance.

You have no leg to stand on OP, private sale is all buyer beware. Absolutely nothing you can do.

Hang on, if that's the case he's committing insurance fraud and both the insurance company and Gardai could be very interested.

Del2005

super_furry wrote: »

Hang on, if that's the case he's committing insurance fraud and both the insurance company and Gardai could be very interested.

They won't be unfortunately.

Stealthfins

Exactly he's after committing fraud undermining Apple and passing on their goods illegally to you.

His phone company will not be happy either.

If he's a professional and using an iPhone 6 plus I'm sure the last thing he needs is fraud on his record.

corsav6

super_furry wrote: »

Hang on, if that's the case he's committing insurance fraud and both the insurance company and Gardai could be very interested.

That's what I thought. A friend of mine was in the exact same situation, swapped phones with someone and 2 weeks later its blocked. Garda weren't interested and insurance company would only deal with original owner.
My friend rang his network and said he lost his phone(the 1 he swapped) and they blocked it, so now both of them have useless phones.

Mr.Carter

If you have his number, figure out his network and report to them too.

Spocker

Moved to Online Buying and Auctions, as it's not specifically related to Adverts.ie Support

stronglikebull

The insurance company, the Gardai and the phone operator will not be interested at all. Why? Because it's one person's word over another, and they'd have to spend time, money and resource investigating what is a very low priority crime for any of them. It simply wouldn't be worth the effort. When one person claims they swapped or bought a second hand phone, it doesn't mean that they bought it from the original owner, that it wasn't stolen before being sold, or that the person making the claim wasn't the one that stole it. Getting to the truth would cost more than the price of a phone.

In a private sale, or swap, you have no consumer protection or statutory support. You can hire a solicitor to sue the individual in question, but you'd need to know exactly how he is (name, address, etc). The only other thing you can do is report your phone stolen, as corsav6 says above. If the other guy has already sold on your phone though, which is quite likely, you'll only be hurting some other poor unfortunate, and not the scammer.

darragh o meara

If he won't play ball, there is a very simple solution. You ring your company and report the phone you swapped him as missing, ask them to blacklist the imei. He won't be long getting the message then.

I've been in your situation before and unfortunately nobody really wants to know about it, insurance companies won't do much nor will the cops. My advise, do as above and play him at his own game.

eeguy

First thing you do with a new phone is call the provider and register your name with the IMEI.

That way if the previous owner tries anything sneaky the provider should call you to confirm.