AT&T Stores identify & reject unlocked or bricked returns

[seankamal]

Well after reading forums for weeks i've finally decided to post and say hello to every1. i have 3 iphones on my account with wife and a friend all on ATT. and ofcourse i modded the chit out of all three including mine. i never unlocked my wife's or the friends because simply they dont need to but i have the itch to do it to mine and tried to unlock my with anysim and got the byte something error so assuming it never really got unlocked and after reading all the post around here with new update and brick phones i definitely just had to.:: I MEAN I HAD TO update my phone just to see whats the real deal and ofcourse after going to 1.1.1 i get incorrect sim error. so i downgraded to 1.02 successfully and got past the activation part and now i have a semi brick phone with no phone/sms/edge features. instead of taking my sim out and plugging in my blackberry curve i decided to send my WIFE to the apple store and ask for a return or store credit on my iphone. since it was purchased on sep 14 i thought i give it a shot trying to return after the 14 day return policy. ofcourse since my wife is a hotty and the mac geniuses are dorks i had my wife go to the apple store in aventura FL with my downgraded firmware iphone with installer.app still showing up on springboard..LMAO because i had no idea how to remove it. the apple guy took a look at it and asked for the sim card since it wasnt in the phone so she came back home and went back with my oem sim and booya. i got myself a 399 + tax - 39 dollar restocking fee APPLE STORE CREDIT. NOW i will go tomorrow and buy a new iphone. my suggestions to you fellas out there, is to send your wife/gf/sister and have her deal witha dork. i mean he had the phone for 15 minutes plugged into his mac and i guess didnt even bother to see that i still had the installer.app icon on my iphone...lol anyhow just wanted to share my story with you guys..

[Cody Overcash]

hot wifes ftw. i need to buy me one

[jacobzking]

Not at this point.

sorry this response is a little late, but Apple IS blacklisting some phones. It all depends on the "Genius" that looks at it. I have looked at the GSX (Apple's Global Service Exchange repair network) notes, so far 1 out of the 4 bricked phones that were taken to Apple had a note in their system. I dont have the exact note in front of me, but it listed a code, something like ILT-E; applications freezing, no Apple logo at startup. I am an Apple Certified Technician and I can log in to their system to check warranty info, part numbers, repair history, etc. If anyone wants to know if their phone has been blacklisted, email the serial number to me and i'll pull it up and let you know. Please only email me if you have actually taken your phone to an Apple store and had a genius look at it, thanks!

[Jdbwood]

i never activated my iphone and tried unlockin but never completed it. when i updated i got a inccorect sim sign. i went to apple and tried but got denied. then i still had my 14 day return reciept because i only had phone for a week. i went ot at&t they took the iphone didnt even turn it on and gave me a refund. but i paid with a debit card and they said it should take a week to come back into my account.has anyone made the refund with a brik iphone

[yoitsme_1]

Ok, you're insane right?

This is basic 'product return 101' stuff...
1.) you don't say 'It's not mine' when you return something!
2.) if they ask you if you modded it, you say no of course not - THE PHONE DOESN'T WORK! (I mean, hello? You haven't even activated it right?)
3.) when they ask you where the sim card is you say 'oh, I must've left it at home... but the problem isn't with the sim card... I took it out when it wouldn't boot up. I've brought it in to YOU for service or replacement - please help me because it doesn't work!" Then tell them you'll just take the new/replaced phone and put your sim in it yourself.

If that doesn't work at a retail Apple Store, go to the Apple website and use Apple Care. The phone has a 1-year warranty - just tell them that it won't even turn on or activate. Don't ask for a loaner phone b/c you don't even have an AT&T sim. Apple Care will ship you an empty box to put the broken phone in and ship it off.

A few days later you'll receive a reconditioned/new iPhone. Your original phone that they get at Apple Care will be wiped and reconditioned for someone else.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat if necessary.

will try that tommorow. what i wanna know is that.. if they do say i hacked it, wouldn't they blacklist my sn?

[sikhsoorma]

hey guys im not trying to be mean.. but if you are using an unlocked phone why would you want to update? i mean the phone works properly there are no major patches the only thing you get is the wifi itunes.. who buys music anyways! hahha LOL

[yowiphone]

Just wait till 1.1.1 unlcok then you dont have to return it or what ever.

[Bill69]

THATS SOOO ANOYING!!!! haha i wanted to restore mine and only change the slider text to something like slid that **** or something and then go in all mad and say i demand you give me a new iphone hahaha

[DoerrFan]

will try that tommorow. what i wanna know is that.. if they do say i hacked it, wouldn't they blacklist my sn?

Well, there is a chance they might. When i went to the store they told me it had been unlocked, doesn't look like they blacklisted mine, depends on the genius.

[colonialsteve]

New to this forum. I was about to upgrade to 1.1.1, and give up my mods, but I'm concerned about the warning from itunes. If I restore and upgrade, will I brick my phone?

[schneiderman]

i went to apple, got the iphone with 1.0.2 and then unlocked it, then i went to ATT and got myself a GoPhone Pick Your Plan with no contract (: works great.. just dont tell them you have an iphone when you want a GoPhone plan..they just wont let u

[yowiphone]

people patients

[Jessica Lynn]

**digging up post from grave***

I believe I've successfully bricked my phone in every way software-aly possible. My current iphone state is somewhere in limbo between 1.0.2 and 1.1.2 (if that's possible). Virgin it's a 8gb 1.0.2. I've tried everything to fix it. I received the phone as a free gift for a large xray machine purchase so I can't really 'return' it anywhere (I don't believe).

I'm pretty sure Apple won't consider a replacement becuase my IMEI and ICCID is listed as "unknown" and I have the "Repair needed" message. I know the IMEI doesn't match the one on back (obviously) but is there some sort of b.s. excuse that could be given to get around this? It's not showing the 0049... number but I wonder if an "unknown" can pass.

I'm considering doing the 'purchase a new phone and return old one' method but I want to throw out options and see which ones are best and which one is more likely to work... I need a good game plan

Would it be best to buy the phone from AT&T or Apple? I'm not familiar with either one of the store's return policies but I'd think AT&T would be less likely to check the condition of the return. It looks like this has been successful for a few people... has it been unsuccessful for others? Why/why not?

Thank you for anyone who can help

[razn]

**digging up post from grave***

I believe I've successfully bricked my phone in every way software-aly possible. My current iphone state is somewhere in limbo between 1.0.2 and 1.1.2 (if that's possible). Virgin it's a 8gb 1.0.2. I've tried everything to fix it. I received the phone as a free gift for a large xray machine purchase so I can't really 'return' it anywhere (I don't believe).

I'm pretty sure Apple won't consider a replacement becuase my IMEI and ICCID is listed as "unknown" and I have the "Repair needed" message. I know the IMEI doesn't match the one on back (obviously) but is there some sort of b.s. excuse that could be given to get around this? It's not showing the 0049... number but I wonder if an "unknown" can pass.

I'm considering doing the 'purchase a new phone and return old one' method but I want to throw out options and see which ones are best and which one is more likely to work... I need a good game plan

Would it be best to buy the phone from AT&T or Apple? I'm not familiar with either one of the store's return policies but I'd think AT&T would be less likely to check the condition of the return. It looks like this has been successful for a few people... has it been unsuccessful for others? Why/why not?

Thank you for anyone who can help

Have you tried using ZiPhone to put your iPhone into DFU mode and restoring from there? That's all the advice I have to offer though, good luck!!

[Apple iPie]

Thanks for the info.