CheckMEND allows you to run a check on a mobile phone to ensure that at the time of purchase there are no records on it indicating any problems. Unfortunately, after you've bought the phone it is still possible that the original owner may report it as lost or stolen, or get it blocked by their network.
If you encounter this problem then we would recommend contacting the original seller and seeking their assistance in resolving it. If they have blocked it by mistake then the situation can be quite easily resolved by unblocking it again. If that does not work then you may wish to seek a refund from the seller, or via a protected payment method such as those provided by some debit/credit card providers and Paypal where you may have the option to raise payment disputes.
Unfortunately, that is not always an option for you. As such you may wish to take further action by reporting the seller to the police. If the seller has blocked the phone after you have paid money for it, then you may have been a victim of fraud or may have been sold and stolen mobile. Police forces may be reluctant to investigate these situations if there is only a phone block to go on because they often feel there is little action they can take or believe it to be a civil matter. As such, when reporting an incident like this to the police it is important to take the right direction with it. You should make it clear to them that you believe you have been a victim of a potential fraud or have unintentionally been sold a stolen phone from someone who may have been the thief. Emphasise the fact that the seller may have been dealing in stolen property as well as any information you have that might lead the police to successfully identifying the seller.
An alternative to this you can try and take the matter to a small claims court. To do this you will need to know the details of who actually blocked the phone so you have evidence to back your dispute. Phone networks will not usually give this out, under Section 39a of the DPA act however you may be able to compel the network to provide this information. We strongly recommend seeking legal advice on this before taking any action as we are not lawyers/solicitors and cannot say how successful this may be and cannot provide the necessary paperwork for doing this.
If you do not know what network blocked the handset, then please contact CheckMEND support and request this information. You will need to provide a CheckMEND certificate ID number of the check carried out on the blocked phone before we can provide that information.
0 Comments