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Gizmodo Twitter friend Ben Dreyfuss bought his mum an iPhone for Christmas. Ben is a good son! Christmas morning: Mama D. tears open the package, finds a shiny aluminium bundle of joy, and then decides to set it up. One problem: When she called her network to activate the thing, they told her that her new iPhone was stolen. Whaaat?
Ben had bought the phone off Amazon, one of their refurbished warehouse deals — which are usually smart buys. (Buying refurbished Apple gear is always a good call.) This time, however, it turned out to be a raw deal. Sorry, Ben’s mom; we hope you have a merry Christmas and get issue this resolved quickly — you’ve got to load up that new phone with awesome apps!
This was probably an honest mistake — Amazon is a stand-up company. We’ve reached out for comment, but, you know, it’s Boxing Day, so we’re not holding our breath. Ben has already contacted Amazon, and they said to return the thing.
If this happens to you, do not pass go: Get on the phone with Amazon’s customer support line. As an online-focused company, Amazon prefers to communicate over email, but this is a “talk to a real person” moment, and Amazon has people working today. Here’s the fastest way to get them:
• Have the person who placed the order go to Amazon’s “Contact Us” page — it’s not super easy to find so, again, click here.
• Click “An order I placed”
• Select your item from the list that appears below.
• Fill out Step 2 exactly like this:
• Click the “Call Us” button in step 3, fill out your phone number.
You’ll have to give them a phone number, and they’ll call you-make sure your phone is not busy; if you’re using a cellphone, make sure you have good reception. Once someone sees the all caps, deliberately vague phrase, “STOLEN ITEM,” they’ll put your case at the top of their list. Have a little patience, though; it’s Boxing Day.
Every time I’ve spoken with Amazon about an issue with an order, they’ve been super helpful, so there’s no reason to expect this to be anything more than an annoyance. We’ll keep you updated if the situation changes. Has this happened to anyone else?
I love Amazon’s customer support. Very helpful people.
Without the exact details of the carrier’s systems I can’t comment really but when I bought my Xperia from Orange it was sent by courier and when I tried to activate it the first person I spoke to missed the fact that the phone had been network blocked (in case it was stolen enroute) and on a later call when it hadn’t activated I had to prove I’d bought it via the invoice details. Maybe in this case the phone had been blocked and the operator at the network assumed it had been previously stolen. Just a thought.
That is a good explanation. However, if the phone has been stolen, Mr Dreyfuss should report it to the Police and obtain a crime reference number; do not just hand it back to a multinational company based in Luxembourg. I know of someone who recently bought an Iphone on Ebay, and the phone had been stolen.
Good point
‘Amazon Accidently Sells iPhone Which Registers As Stolen. Problem Rectified.’
Quiet …you’ll ruin their fun!
If it’s a warehouse refurbishment, chances are it has already been activated with a SIM, then returned for refurbishment, during which time they’ve forgotten to have the phone’s connection to the SIM reset. So when the original owner activated another handset, the old one was automatically logged as stolen instead of properly logged as returned.
If this is the only example you have then “iPhone” should not be pluralised in the headline.