Company sold me blacklisted phone

j0ey2069

I'm looking for some input and advice with how to deal with this situation. Not sure if this is

I'll try to cut a long story and say that i bought a refurbished Galaxy Fold 3 from an Irish company last year (Sept 22). I knew the device was refurbished and it became apparent when I had it that it was originally a New Zealand phone. I recently traded this Fold 3 in a Fold 5 via Samsung's trade in programme.

MacroEV who handle this for Samsung ran a check on the IMEI and have found that the phone if on the GSMA blacklist and it's marked as lost or stolen. They (MacroEV) have sent the following email:

Upon inspection of your device we found the following issue(s):

Unfortunately the device you are trying to trade-in with us has been found to be Blacklisted. This means that at some stage in the past the device was reported as lost or stolen and has been registered onto the GSMA blacklisted database.

As part of our legal obligation to perform due diligence on all property that we handle we have checked your device against the GSMA database of lost and stolen property records. Unfortunately this GSMA database has indicated that this device was reported lost or stolen in the past and has indicated that this device is currently in a Blacklisted state. We can provide you with a copy of this GSMA report if required.

Device:

(IMEI: 353............... DEVICE: Galaxy Z Fold 3 256GB)

Next Steps:

We are required by law to quarantine the above device for 28 days from our initial inspection date and are unable to provide any discount or payment for it unless the lost/stolen records associated with it are cleared from the GSMA database.

Please be aware that we are legally obliged to inform you that we cannot under any circumstances return or accept as a Trade-in any device while there is any question on its legal status. If the lost/stolen records on this device are not cleared before (28 days), we will be required by law to confiscate the item of property and dispose of it accordingly.

If you have received any discount or payment for this device you will have to repay the amount received during your recent purchase.

In order to proceed you will need to pay €655.00 to complete your order. Please email samsung@macroev.com for further information. Payments will be made directly to our repair centre MacroEV.

Kind Regards

Samsung Trade-In Team

Given that this company also has this in their terms and conditions:

Stolen Mobile Phones

We have access to CheckMEND, a crime protection database created to track stolen mobile phones. We check all phones that we sell against this database using the phone's unique IMEI number. If a mobile phone is found to be 'Red Flagged' by CheckMEND, we will not offer any these handsets for sale under any circumstances.

They probably shouldn't have sold me this phone in the first place... I've also not had the phone 12 months and they say that it's also covered under a 12 month warranty.

So TLDR:

An Irish company seems to have sold me a blacklisted phone (last year) which I recently traded in to Samsung, their subcontracted company MacroEV said that phone is stolen and that they are going to confiscate it and that i also need to now pay the balance of €655.

Where do I go from here...?

Jazz Hands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058312510/company-sold-me-blacklisted-phone

Ask MacroEV to provide you with the a copy of this GSMA report

You could then check your purchase date to the date it was reported stolen.

Then send the GSMA report to the company who sold you the phone and ask them how they are going to solve this.

This is not a warranty issue .

daheff

Not a warranty issue - its a legal issue. the original seller has (pending the dates on the report) been guilty (maybe unwittingly) of selling stolen goods. They should be refunding you in full for what you paid for the item.

If not, I'd be making a formal complaint at my nearest garda station -and dont let them fob you off with a "its a civil matter".

j0ey2069

Actually just off the phone with the Irish company. All sorted. Seems when the phone was traded in to Samsung in New Zealand the person who sold it then may have made a fraudulent insurance claim after the fact. This is what then marked the phone as lost/stolen.

It's out of my hands and I'm not going to be on the hook for the difference now thank feck.

The Irish company were actually very good, I was a but worried as I had contacted them earlier in the week and heard nothing back, but it's all sorted now.

Mad situation altogether.