a question about n95 and re-activation

Hell no they can't do that. What they should do is put a bar on the device and sim making them unusable. They can just lift the bar when you get the device back. If they have done anything fatal/terminal you need to kick ass cos they have effectively broken your phone! Complain like crazy, demand to speak to a manager, threaten small claims court and, if needed, follow through the threat. Speak to the Citizens Advice Bureau

3Shirts wrote:Hell no they can't do that. What they should do is put a bar on the device and sim making them unusable. They can just lift the bar when you get the device back. If they have done anything fatal/terminal you need to kick ass cos they have effectively broken your phone! Complain like crazy, demand to speak to a manager, threaten small claims court and, if needed, follow through the threat. Speak to the Citizens Advice Bureau

DITTO

At the end of the day, you shouldnt be paying for a phone.... the only way any money should part hands would be thru an excess.

Yes the phone was stolen, you correctly reported it, Voda blocked it as they should doing their bit to stop the scallies, but surprise surprise the pold 'actually' found it all!

If anything, Id have a word with them.... they never do their job like this... was the car dropped in the chiefs parking spot or something? 😉

Seriously tho, you had a working phone, followed 'procedure' for it being stolen, so I'd just get it replaced on insurance...

Either way tho, I'd put in an official notice that although you can appreciate this method of Voda 'self destructing' a phone, there are some short falls to it and see what they suggest... I'd make sure your talking to someone v. important as this is a major company procedure... and you want some 'goodwill' guesture ....

its worth a try! 😉 Hell... say anything... all you want is your phone back!

I think your misunderstanding here how phone blocking works.

When you authenticate with the mobile network your phones IMEI is transmitted as part of the process. If its on the database of stolen IMEIs then it is simply denied access.

A few years back they started the global register and forced all providers to share stolen imies (Orange and one2one ( now t-bag ) used to do this as a matter of cause anyway). Before this if you reported your phone stolen to Orange it could no longer be used on Orange...... however. If you unlocked it you could use it on any other provider in the UK. this is why Nokia theft was so high. The older models where so easy to unlock and if you can sell a £100 for £75 on the basis of "Just don't use it on Orange" then most people just played ignorant. Our local cash cheques place used to sell lots of hooky phones. you just simply brought a Voda or Cellnet flavour phone as they were less risky than the Orange or T-Mobile ones.

When the government started the immobalise plan an independent database was set up so that if a phone was stolen in the uk it would be blocked on all UK networks. This is done at the network end and NOT the handset end. No "Signal" or OTA Update is sent to disable the phone and/or Sim its simply denied any network access. If you take it to any network outside of the UK not on the immobalise register it will work fine.

The difficult task is getting the phone taken of the national database. I wouldn't know where to start by Ofcom might offer advice if you contact them. but to be honest I think your barking up a brick wall. Ive always wondered wondered would happen in this circumstances but it must be possible to get a phone removed. I wish you luck.

http://www.immobilise.com/ which offers more information if you have proof of purchase you *may* be able to get the device removed

dez_borders wrote:Unfortunately Vodafone are telling you the truth.

Blocking a lost or stolen phone is a one-way option which cannot be reversed just with a 2nd over the air (OTA) signal. If they could, then some hacker would write a program to unblock stolen handsets.

Only Nokia can fix the phone now, and I think they have to physically change a chip on the motherboard. The cost would probably be more than a new handset.

However, you might try claim on your car insurance (low chance of success)????

That is just not true. I work in IT and we supply our users with blackberrys. On countless occasions we have had people lose them in taxis, airports, bars etc so we phone Vodafone (our supplier) and get them barred. On several occasions the device has then been recovered and we just ring Voda back and they unblock it.
Unless it is vastly different for the N95 (which I doubt cos a blackberry is a massive corporate security risk if lost) it should be the same procedure

I can sort of see Vodafones point imagine if someone broke into your house stole your phone and a few personal documents. You ring up get the phone blocked, then the criminal along with the phone and personal documents rings up and asks for it to be unblocked with information regarding you giving right details etc.

Their is another way criminal gets round it but its highly illegal and can get you 5 years in jail, criminals have started re flashing the IMEI code with a new one.

Quakester2000 wrote:I can sort of see Vodafones point imagine if someone broke into your house stole your phone and a few personal documents. You ring up get the phone blocked, then the criminal along with the phone and personal documents rings up and asks for it to be unblocked with information regarding you giving right details etc.

You need a password to unlock the device though which the crim wouldn't have (unless you are dumb enough to write it down and file it with all your phone documents!)

Quakester2000 wrote:I can sort of see Vodafones point imagine if someone broke into your house stole your phone and a few personal documents. You ring up get the phone blocked, then the criminal along with the phone and personal documents rings up and asks for it to be unblocked with information regarding you giving right details etc.

Their is another way criminal gets round it but its highly illegal and can get you 5 years in jail, criminals have started re flashing the IMEI code with a new one.

As unplugged says, Vodafone could have your IMEI removed from the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) of barred IMEIs. They choose not to on this occasion.

You may still be able to claim on insurance with the Crime ref no.

Changing the IMEI on these phones is not easy as it now involves replacing a chip with the number encoded into it.

Hi,

I'm sorry for the conflicting advice you've been given by us about unblocking your phone after a stolen bar has been placed. I know we can get round this by simply contacting our stolen phones unit with your phones IMEI number.

If you send us an e-mail using our Vodafone online contact us form in the help section of our website vodafone.co.uk, include the code FIT135 somewhere in the body of your e-mail and this will come to us here in the forum team.

Remember to include your security information and the IMEI number of the phone within the form, your bar can normally be lifted from the national databse within 72 hours, you can then use your phone again. Hope we can get this sorted for you very soon.

Hopefullyuseful
Vodafone UK

Don't know if thats genuine but seriosuly Vodafone need to sort out their customer service. Telling someone their phone is fubar when in fact its just barred is indication of some pretty serious failings in training!

THANK YOU ALL for YOUR ADVICE.

i phoned vodafone from my old N80, i told them what i read here, the person on the other side must be dumb, he could not understand and believe that the police found my car and had my belongings in it.

i told him to give me a fax number so i can send them my original paperwork from the vodafone shop saying that i bought the phone on PAYG.

i have been back to the police station and they gave me a wriiten statement saying what happened and that the phoneis mine, and not stolen anymore.

the vodaphone call centre i phoned, didnt want anything to do with me. i went to my solicitor, for some free advice and he said, this is a joke what vodafone is doing.

i went to a phone shop, and he said if i know someone in another country, is to send them the phone to be flashed. that i dont know and cant do.

so i have a brand new n95, just sitting there......................................

the vodafone call centre dont want to know, i asked them if they could transfer my credit on to my new sim card that i am using on my n80, they wanted proof, WTF.

so i rest my case, and will phone my insurance people up and ask them if i can claim on my phone, under the car insurance.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR KIND ADVICE.

thank you

No, don't just drop it! Some points here:
1) Your solicitor has told you what we said, Vodafone are in the wrong.
2) Phone them again and DEMAND to speak to a manager, then make it perfectly clear that you have taken legal advice and are preapred to take them to court
3) If you claim on your insurance the premium may go up, you might lose your no-claims, you will probably have to pay an excess and it might not even be covered!
4) An actual Vodafone employee told you to have the IMEI flashed abroad?!! That's completely illegal, way to go Vodafone!

Seriously, you NEED to kick arse on this, don't back down cos you are in the right and even if you do have to take it to small claims court, you WILL win and small claims isn't a physical court anyway, it is all done online these days.

yes i was told by someone from vodafone, that if i knew someoone or was going abroad, that i can have the phone flashed there.

i cant believe this it does not matter who i talk too "vodafone", they pass me on to one department to another, and the whole process starts all over again.

i get better service from mc donalds.

my solicitor's firm has been with my family for decades, and he said he will sort it out, i will keep you all posted.

THANKS FOR ALL THE ADVICE

the thing is i bought the phone brand new on payg, its not on a contract its cost me well over �400.

i have nothing to loose so i might as well fight for it.

thank you all

for support
and help

Yeah, good on ya. Fight for your rights, these companies think they can just take your money and screw you but there are plenty of laws to protect you, you just need to use them

Hi,

I'm really sorry you have had these issues when trying to sort it out. It's unfortunate you haven't been able to speak with someone who knows how to help you with this before.

I know we can help and your phone can be back up and running in a matter of days. We just need you to e-mail us here in the forum team at Vodafone so we can request the lifting of the lost/stolen bar for you.

I understand you're cautious and you have little confidence in us at the moment but I'm sure we can put this right for you and restore your faith in us.

If you send us an e-mail using our Vodafone online contact us form in the help section of our website vodafone.co.uk, include the code FIT135 somewhere in the body of your e-mail and this will come to us here in the forum team.

Remember to include your security information by filling in all of the fields on our website contact us form and also the IMEI number of the phone. I really hope you'll give us the chance to get this sorted for you very soon.

P.S - Do rememeber the code FIT135 somewhere in the body of your e-mail so it is filtered into the correct e-mail queue and comes to us here.

Hopefullyuseful
Vodafone UK