HOW to remove my phone from the blacklist

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@Simonga25 wrote:
Has anyone challenged this policy? From what I've read it was developed by
the FCC and GSMA about 2-3 years ago. I appreciate that it is attempting to
thwart theft. But it doesn't seem like good legal policy to allow any past
owner of a device to be able to reach into the life of the current owner.
Especially considering that AT&T has done absolutely nothing to verify that
this phone was actually stolen and they have provided us no information to
prove their claims that this phone was justly blacklisted.

Is a filing a complaint with the FCC or a claim against AT&T for
injunction an option? Has anyone tried?

Consistently and repeatedly telling their paying customers that their only
option is to sell their phones or to get a refund is unacceptable. I
believe AT&T is still charging our account for service even though they
have erroneously suspended our account.

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In your case your friend is actually selling a phone that does belong to his company.  Right or wrong that company may have blacklisted the phone because it was never activated.  I don't blame the company.  The phone was blacklisted after the att system caught it was actived which takes about 2 weeks with all the IMEI's ATT has in its system.  iPhones are quicker since apple owns the activation servers.

They didnt suspend your account they suspended the phone, you can put your sim card in a different phone and your services will still be active,

the FCC will not help you in any way,  blacklisted means lost or stolen and at&t is under no obligation to unblock it until YOU provide proof otherwise, they are also under no obligation to prove or verify anything,, they got a report thay locked it, its now up to you to prove and verify

You never mentioned any conversation you had with the company that issued it to the person that sold it to you, did you have such conversation my guess is no and if you do im guessing the person that sold it to you will be in hot water

so your also saying if i buy a phone someone stole from you that you should have no recourse to recover that phone just because the person i bought it from said it wasnt stolen?

@Simonga25: If his company closed nothing can be done. Get your money back.

Thank you to everyone for your help. Eric has agreed to refund us the money for the phone. We threatened to report him to the police for the sale of stolen goods and theft of mislaid property (Class A misdemeanor in Utah).  It appears he never really owned the phone although it looks like he may have thought he did.

We're still extremely dissatisfied with our experience with AT&T customer service and its policy. The policy unnecessarily harms people who unknowingly purchase stolen phones. The purpose of the policy is to thwart theft by harming people who steal phones or knowingly sell or buy them.  Again, there are other solutions here besides simply unlocking the phone for scammed customers. What about putting the recipient of a stolen phone into anonymous contact with the original owner? Requiring a recorded transfer of an IMEI at point of sale (like a used car)? etc. Perhaps the value of a phone isn't sufficient to require this; but either way, our experience with AT&T was absolutely terrible. It could not have been worse. 

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@Simonga25 wrote:

Thank you to everyone for your help. Eric has agreed to refund us the money for the phone. We threatened to report him to the police for the sale of stolen goods and theft of mislaid property (Class A misdemeanor in Utah).  It appears he never really owned the phone although it looks like he may have thought he did.

 As it should be.  He has no right to sell it if it wasn’t his. 

 

We're still extremely dissatisfied with our experience with AT&T customer service and its policy. The policy unnecessarily harms people who unknowingly purchase stolen phones. The purpose of the policy is to thwart theft by harming people who steal phones or knowingly sell or buy them. 

No, the purpose is to prevent someone from stealing your phone and using it.  Selling it to an unsuspecting 3rd party is tough cookies.  FYI blacklist is national.  Had the phone been Verizon, T-mobile Sprint or ANY other carrier your experience would be the same.  

 

Again, there are other solutions here besides simply unlocking the phone for scammed customers. What about putting the recipient of a stolen phone into anonymous contact with the original owner?

NO WAY.   All carriers guarentee privacy.  You want them handing out phone numbers or email now?  That’s horrible.  

Requiring a recorded transfer of an IMEI at point of sale (like a used car)?

Have you been to the DMV lately?   Carriers aren’t interested in any more red tape than they already have.  You, the buyer, take the risk.   

etc. Perhaps the value of a phone isn't sufficient to require this; but either way, our experience with AT&T was absolutely terrible. It could not have been worse. 

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ATT doesn’t owe you an apology.   Eric does.  ATT did absolutely the correct thing.  If you are ever the victim of a stolen phone you’ll sing a different tune. 

Good morning, my name es Juan [edited for privacy-please do not post personal or unique information such as but not limited to full names, employee ID numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, account numbers, etc.] the AT&T Usa YasserS social media specialist sent me to this forum, I bought a new phone in a closed box IPHONE 7 plus in 2016 at a fashion store in New York, I told the store clerk that I was a tourist and I live in Argentina and the phone was going to be used in the Movistar company in Argentina, I paid it at the official price and when I return I put the Movistar chip and no signal comes because someone put it on the Black list. How can I remove it from there if the phone was new, I tried to communicate with the store and it is no more.

@Juanass You can’t remove it from the blacklist but are you sure that is the problem? The phone may be locked to ATT, not blacklisted. If it is blacklisted, you got ripped off.