Three network + ebay + n80 + unlock code = HELL

Three always have this policy. I am in Australia and Three have changed so they wont even unlock Nokias at all even when you finishe the contract. I just stay away from them all together, everyone I know who has tried them has had some gripe with them.
The only way around this is to do it their way or as you said hope someone releases unlocking software.

I doubt even the sellers of phones locked to three realise the phone for its whole life will stay conected to their name their address etc...
Which I personally wouldnt be happy to sell someone an item knowing that the item was still locked to me by its IMEI number.

Anyway Sellers please consider what you selling, and Buyers of Three network locked mobiles Please consider what your buying.

My only options are hope the seller will refund me, or hope someone brings out an unlocking system

So please be warned
Its your money at the end of the day 😉

Wez

Personally I'd stay away from Three phones altogether. Even if someone does manage to release a reliable BB5 unlocker Three have a custom firmware to ensure that some of their other stupidly over protective features are applied to their phones as well.

If you're going to go for a phone that's already locked I'd recommend either T-Mobile or O2 (who never used to lock their phones but I had heard reports of locked phones from them more recently) as they tend to mess around with the kit the least. Orange are another lot who seem to want to add things without good reason. Vodaphone aren't too bad, but I've heard people having issues with persuading them to unlock phones from eBay as well.

CAVEAT EMPTOR or buyer beware is the only advice I can give when buying second hand equipment, or anything form an auction site, I know not too much help to you I am afraid, but maybe others may heed your warning with anything they buy like this.

Yeah Cash I understand
Thats basically All I am trying to do is to warn others about this.

May save someone loosing their hard earned money 😊

on the bright side I love my n80 😃 it is a huge upgrade to my previous phone a Sony cmd-j70 😮 lol

Battery dies quick but i keep it near my PC and just hook it up to power when needed.

Wareswez

Have you attempted to take it into a local phone shop?

I�ve got a local phone shop in Manchester that deal with unlocking phones. I recently took my girlfriends Nokia 6111 to get unlocked from T-Mobile and it worked a treat, she now has an 02 chip in it. They only charged �7 to get it unlocked and took them a few minutes.

I�m not sure if they will have the application to do this for the N80 as its only been released for a short period.

I�d recommend making a few enquiries at the local shop.

Still no luck, after emailing them 24hours ago and recieveing an automated reply saying they hope to respond to the email within 5 days 😮
I'll let you all know the reply 😊 it might be funny lol I got a feeling it could be...... 😉

Wareswez

I'm afraid local phone shops won't do you much good. The unlocking HAS to be done by the networks at the moment as no one has yet managed to break the BB5 locking method on the N80 or certain older phones. There were reports of one person having done so but no one has actually seen any proof of this.

wareswez wrote:Heya All
This is my first post here, I have been reading this forum for the past few days and I think its a great resource 😃

Just posting a small warning about buying an n80 or any other phone locked to Three. I bought my n80 off ebay and i was lead to believe that it wouldnt be hard to unlock just a quick call to Three pay �15 i thought... Well no they expect the Seller (original contract holder) to pay up his full contract fees and also pay the �15 to have the phone unlocked 😞 ofc the person I bought my phone from cant afford to do this.
I have tried to get the phone unlocked and spent a long time listening to the same repeated bull**** of why they wont do this from the Three Service line. Who in the most have been most unpleasent and Arrogant on the matter. They are telling me to return my phone to the owner and that I shouldnt have purchased it etc etc and that they will not unlock it for me.

If anyone has advice please post 😊

But let this be a warning about the Three Network. They wont unlock the phone unless you are the contract holder and pay all your contract fees to them + �15 for the unlock codes 😞

All I can do is either send the phone back and pray the seller will accept it, or pray someone will soon release an unlocking software.

Dont buy phones locked to three 😉

Takecare all
Wareswez

the policy is the same across every network.

the seller should not have sold his handset while he was still under contract with 3.

in the future, it is maybe worth researching whether or not a handset can be unlocked by 'Joe Public' before purchasing it!

Hi Caloomba,
I totally understand and agree with you. Hence my post which is based upon warning other people to takecare when buying phones from ebay that are locked, thus this thread is just a pool of information and research for them.

I would rather warn people of my mistake rather than letting others make the same mistake 😊

I still await email response after two days of sending. Oh well I keep my fingers crossed and hope.

It is far better for me to post on a forum like this that hopefully people will read before they spend their hard earned money and not make the mistake I did.

I see no reason in just letting them dictate that I cannot change networks and saying to myself oh well I have bought the phone I guess I must use Three network. As I have not signed any agreement or contract with them and I legally purchased the phone.

Wareswez

wareswez wrote:
I still await email response after two days of sending. Oh well I keep my fingers crossed and hope.

Did the item description on eBay mentioned that the phone was locked to 3? If it didn't, then your phone is not what was advertised.

If the description mentioned that it was locked, did it also mention that it could be unlocked by 3 for �15? If it did, then your phone is not what was advertised.

If your phone was not what was advertised and if the seller refuses to refund you, you can fill in a complaint with eBay (and PayPal if you paid via PayPal) and get a refund from them (in theory).

Hi Elp,

The advert Stated "The phone is locked to the 3 Network but i am sure you will be able to get it unlocked."

Due to me not being a Lawyer I cannot fully say wether or not the term "but i am sure" can be held as a positive term of saying it is possible to get it unlocked or wether the term is held with doubt that it may not be possible. I personally am taking it as a may not be possible.

Therefore my fight is with Three.

I fully understand that I am probably fighting a loosing battle which is the reason I am posting this as a warning to others 😊 On the other hand I firmly believe I legally purchased the phone and I have no contract or commitment to Three network. Therefore I wish to have my phone unlocked so I am free to choose which network I wish to spend my money with.

Takecare
Wareswez

wareswez wrote:Hi Elp,

The advert Stated "The phone is locked to the 3 Network but i am sure you will be able to get it unlocked."

Due to me not being a Lawyer I cannot fully say wether or not the term "but i am sure" can be held as a positive term of saying it is possible to get it unlocked or wether the term is held with doubt that it may not be possible. I personally am taking it as a may not be possible.

I'm not a lawyer either but if he had said "you might be able to unlock it", then he would have been honest. The "I'm sure" means that it can be unlocked.

wareswez wrote:
Therefore my fight is with Three.

I fully understand that I am probably fighting a loosing battle

Yes, you have exactly 0 chances to get Three to unlock your phone. Don't waste your time with them unless you're willing to bring that to court (if you do, please let us know how it went). Your best bet would be to try to get a refund from the seller. Send him another, polite, email asking for a refund since the phone is not as described. If no answer, send him another email threatening to fill in an official complaint with eBay and PayPal.

wareswez wrote:
On the other hand I firmly believe I legally purchased the phone and I have no contract or commitment to Three network.

The question is not to know whether you have bought the phone legally or not but whether the seller has sold the phone legally or not. You'd need to get hold of the Three T&C regarding the sale of a contract bundled with a free phone and study that.

Actually, i suppose that the T&C say that the phone can only be unlocked by the buyer of the contract and only at the end of his contract with Three. In this case, you'd be out of luck. But this would mean that the seller of the phone has lied: he is supposed to know this "detail" since he has signed this contract with Three and therefore certified that he had read and understood the T&C (i know, nobody read these things but it doesn't matter in your case). So you are entitled to a refund from the seller.

Hey Elp,

Many Thanks you've cleared up a few details that I was having difficulty with. :icon14:

I will await the email and let you all know how i get on.

Hmm i guess now might be a good time to post the email that I have sent to them on the 17 August 2006

Quoted email :-

Dear People who think your superior to your customers,

I Have put up with 3 telephone calls to your company all have been very unsatisfactory!
I would like to have my Phone unlocked I am willing to pay the �15 for this service. I bought my phone over ebay and you state to me you will not unlock my phone as I am not the original owner! I therefore asked you to register the phone in my name which I was presented with the arguement of I am not the original contract Holder. I have contacted the original contract owner who says that you wish him to pay his full contract up front and also pay the �15 for the service and end his contract, he cannot afford to and is not willing to do this.
Are you quite mad? do you really attempt to run your business like this and cause such disturbance between you and your customers?
Now I am fully willing to put my Name and address to this phone and have it unlocked, I wish to use my phone abroad with a local pay and go sim when I visit my Girlfriend in Slovenia, this sim will be Vodafone.
BUT! all I ever get from your call center was that you will not unlock the card and that I should send my phone back to the owner and get a refund.
Now i can see why you are saying that, but take it from my Point of view I have purchased a phone legally and I wish to be able to decide upon the network I wish to connect to. Its called Democracy!
Please fix this and fast as I am loosing patience with your company.
Very soon I will write an ebay guide on why not to buy three locked phones and why not to sell them as Three lock the phone by IMEI to the contract holder.
This may be of aid to you as you will no longer have to put up with ebay sales, but I cant see that it will help you in the long run. Millions of people will see it. This by the way is not a threat, I am merely providing information to other would be buyers of mobile phones locked to Three that they may not be able to get them unlocked. Its purely Information and a warning that you will not unlock the phone under these circumstances. Just it will be seen to any one on Ebay who types n80 or unlock which trust me it will be alot of people. Then again this is by no means as detrimental to your company as your call center and customer services.

By the way I am not happy with speaking to one of your supervisors I wish to speak to a Director of the company in response to this over the phone. So Forward this to the highest people of the company.

End quote.

their automated reply is :-
WITH REFERENCE TO YOUR EMAIL TO THE 3 CONTACT CENTRE

If your request is really urgent, phone us on 333 free from your mobile or 08707 330 333 from any phone.(calls are charged at a standard rate).

If you need information relating to your bill, please use My 3 on your handset or visit (www.three.co.uk/my3).

We're doing all we can to resolve the issues and will aim to respond within 5 working days . In the meantime we're very sorry for the inconvenience.

>From the team at 3

End quote.

Lol 5 days......... snail mail tbvfh
I still await a human response to my email

Takecare
WaresWez

Id probably file with paypal or ebay if it said you should be able to unlock it as most people buy phones off there to use with whatever company they want. You have nothing to loose by doing this. If ebay/paypal find that the seller did nothing wrong then nothing will happen, if they think it was misleading, then they will refund you. Definitly worth a shot in my opinion.
If you have requested a refund from the seller, wait for them to respond first but if they refuse Id definitly try the dispute.
If you are not a customer of 3 and want to unlock it to use with another company, I hardly think they are going to change their mind or policy on this one.

hi

i have just done exactly the same thing as you matey!

i bought a nokia n80 advertised as "brand new" from ebay that was also locked to the 3 network, the ad said it was currently locked to the 3 network and i naturally assumed i could get it unlocked,however looking back on it the ad did not say i would have to pay hundreds of pounds on the remainder of the contract! luckily the girl in question had opened the phone,charged the battery and coppied her sim card to the phone which does not make this phone brand new it makes it used. i e mailed her with my concerns and they were ignored so i used her mobile number from her phone book to ring her to try and resolve the issue (bit drastic i know but i dont loke being ignored!) she turned me down flat and put the phone down on me??? so ifilled a complaint with paypal and am currently waiting to hear the outcome of this,i think ill get my money back as she advertised it as brand new and the fact she had used it contradicts this! ill let you know how i get on and good luck with your fight!!

regards

dom

Hey Dom

Sorry to hear about your mistake 😞 Hope you can get your cash back for your phone mate. Let me and other readers know how you get on 😊

I'll make a post on ebay tomorrow and hope that reaches more people to stop buying Phones locked to three network over Ebay unless they dont mind been locked to that network 😞

They finally replied to my email .....
(altered their website links as I dont want to give them any traffic 😉 )

Quote:-

Your Handset Query

Thanks for your recent email.

At this time I'm unable to respond to your query as you've emailed from an unregistered email address.

As I'm sure you'll understand, we have to have security measures in place to protect our customers' personal information.

When you get a chance, give us a call to register your email address. You can also register your email address via my3 at www.three.fc.uk/my3 or via your handset browser. When you've done this I'll be able to respond to your query by email.

However, I can advise you that we will only unlock our handsets at the request of the registered account holder. If this person is still in contract then they are required to pay the line rental for the remainder of the contract in advance. If the account holder is not willing to do this then unfortunately we would be unable to unlock your handset.

Our company Directors are not customer facing so you would not be able to speak with them. Any queries you have can be dealt with by calling us on the number given below.

You can call us anytime on 333 from your handset (free) or 08707 330 333 (national rate).

Thanks for contacting 3.

Yours sincerely,

Sara Myles
3 Customer Services
08707 330 333
www.three.fc.uk.
Welcome to our network.

Yeah... thats a great welcome to your network Three 🙄

Ohwell goodluck getting your phone returned 😊

Takecare
Wareswez