Is it safe to buy a phone from someone who has it still under contract withTelstra? it’s iPhone 12 pro max
Buying a Phone under Contract from Someone
Comments
He said that he can’t stop paying the plan as he have home phone, internet and existing mobile on it
Don't buy an expensive phone from someone you don't know or trust. Also iPhone 12S/13 is around the corner in a month or two and 12's prices will drop. Bad timing to buy one now.
Don't do it mate. The seller can easily block the phone through apple. They can also report it stolen with Telstra, with Telstra then blocking the IMEI on it's network. Pretty much you won't be able to use it with Telstra if this happens
from someone
Sounds like a Gumtree or fb marketplace "deal".
It is especially easy to block iPhones, so I wouldn't even risk it like I would with an Android phone. Even then I wouldn't do it probably, unless the seller can provide a receipt saying it was bought outright and is not on any plans.
Just no.
Run.
You can go in to store with the seller, get the phone transferred to your name and then pay the seller the cash value of the phone.
Wouldn’t the OP be responsible for the remaining balance of the phone if they did this?
Yeah, so you factor that into how much cash you pay for the phone
If the seller agrees to it I could that working then.
if you can get the store to process a change of ownership from the sellers account to yours (while
You’re both there) then it should be fine. However, just make sure that the imei on the account matches the handset imei AND make sure it’s on your Telstra account.Once it’s done, get a proof of ownership from Telstra that it’s your phone
It's the way to go if there was only one phone on sale.
But there's plenty of options when it comes to buying phones and really no need to go through such a process.
Wait, I misread the post. Can’t change of ownership as the actual service number would be changed to the new owner
Yeah, don’t do it
NO WAY.
It’s always a risk that the seller will claim it’s lost or stolen so they can make an insurance claim for a new one. As people have mentioned if this happens the phone you bought will be imei blocked and unable to use a SIM card. If you’re not prepared to take this risk don’t buy it. I use to buy second hand phones that were on contract before the price of phones went up so much, for me I’m no longer prepared to risk the amount of money a phone costs.
As other's have said, the seller can claim the phone is lost or stolen (presumably with an insurance claim following, otherwise there is no benefit to them). The seller cannot get it blocked by Apple, only the IMEI blocked by all Australian telcos which renders it useless (in this country).
When handsets were subsidised on plans, this was a far more common thing to see. Nowadays, outside of the odd offer here or there, handsets are provided on interest-free loans as opposed to genuine subsidisations, so I'm more skeptical of the motives behind anyone selling a handset from a plan.
No. Especially if you don't know them. They could claim it lost or stolen and it gets blocked.