[jeffgrig]

Here's the skinny: Bought an 8703e Sprint/Nextel BB on eBay and I am trying to configure the email setup. Going through the steps, it says, "PIN account already exists." It wants me to create another account, but thats the only PIN I have of course.

Do I have any options?

[JSanders]

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Yes, call the seller and ask him to call his carrier to release the PIN. If he won't, then you might be able to convince that carrier to release the PIN to you.

If the seller will not, leave appropriate feedback on his ebay account.
Good luck.

[Dawg]

I hope the seller was the owner of the Bb when it was in use. Most carriers will not release the account with out the other contacting them first.

I bought a phone off some one locally and he forgot to release his account and I begged and pleaded verizon to release it and the answer was the same everytime I called.

I wound up having to wait for him to get back from a three week trip to Europe.

[packetknife]

Call Sprint, they will have to 'release' the old BIS account for you as it wasn't removed prior to wipe/sale to you. If the former user used it on VZW then you'll have to call VZW. Etc. -Pk

[Dawg]

Originally Posted by packetknife

Call Sprint, they will have to 'release' the old BIS account for you as it wasn't removed prior to wipe/sale to you. If the former user used it on VZW then you'll have to call VZW. Etc. -Pk

They wont with out the previous user telling them too.

[snowskier79]

Wirelessly posted (8700c: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0) BlackBerry8100/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Best of luck. Keep us posted.

[JSanders]

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

You know Ebay needs a BlackBerry selling warning statement to the sellers, instucting them what they should do to release the PIN, and as well, something similar for potential buyers and bidders.

I was helping a friend look for an 8700 on Ebay this past week--against my wishes--and I asked the seller about the PIN and IT security policies. His response was "I don't know, I only sell it, I was not the user." Of course, I understand that with Ebay third party sellers etc., but still, there is the need. It is sort of like the title to a car.

[Dawg]

Originally Posted by JSanders

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

You know Ebay needs a BlackBerry selling warning statement to tghe sellers, instucting them what they should do to release the PIN, and as well, something similar for potential buyers and bidders.
I was helping a friend lookf for an 8700 on Ebay this past week--against my wishes--and I asked te seller about the PIN and IT security policicies. His response was "I don't know, I only sell it, I was not thee user." Of course, I understand that with Ebay third party sellers etc., but still, there is the need. It is sort of like the title to a car.

I agree this is the third one of these in less than a week. I feel sorry for these people because they just dont know any better. Not out of ignorance just because they dont know about the product.

[jeffgrig]

You're right of course; I am a pretty unfamiliar buyer and have no own to blame but myself. I emailed the seller - who has been very nice so far - and since we both used the same carrier, i am hoping this can be handled quickly.

The only reason i didn't buy new, is they were raping me on a new phone price. $399 and I have been a loyal customer for 12 years..with 3 different phone snumbers (with the fam ily on it). I certainly didn't expect a 'new' customer rate, but I usually get a new phone - get a decent price - and it automatically extends my service plan another 2 years. Not this time. They said they stopped that practice.

I will let u know how this turns out.

[Dawg]

Originally Posted by jeffgrig

You're right of course; I am a pretty unfamiliar buyer and have no own to blame but myself. I emailed the seller - who has been very nice so far - and since we both used the same carrier, i am hoping this can be handled quickly.

The only reason i didn't buy new, is they were raping me on a new phone price. $399 and I have been a loyal customer for 12 years..with 3 different phone snumbers (with the fam ily on it). I certainly didn't expect a 'new' customer rate, but I usually get a new phone - get a decent price - and it automatically extends my service plan another 2 years. Not this time. They said they stopped that practice.

I will let u know how this turns out.

I hope it all works out for ya

[jheiv]

Same thing just happened with me...

Used pearl had a BIS acct with T-Mob. that I bought offline. I wanted to use the unlocked phone on ATT. Finally I got T-Mob. to talk with RIM and they should be getting back to me today...

There is no way that the phone is useless if the original owner doesn't call... I'll find a solution and keep you updated...

EDIT:
I'm happy to say that I just successfully got RIM to get T-Mob. to release the PIN. I have only one word of advice. RELENTLESSNESS. Don't let the T-Mobile rep. get you off the phone by saying that they need account information to release the pin, tell them RIM told you to call them. Eventually, you have to talk to RIM and explain to them your situation, that you've exhausted your options with T-Mob. been on the phone w them for hours (no exaggeration necessary) and at least in my case, the woman at RIM volunteered to contact T-Mob. and handle the situation. I called back 12 hours later and it was done in 5 minutes. Hope this helps.

[Dawg]

Originally Posted by jheiv

Same thing just happened with me...

Used pearl had a BIS acct with T-Mob. that I bought offline. I wanted to use the unlocked phone on ATT. Finally I got T-Mob. to talk with RIM and they should be getting back to me today...

There is no way that the phone is useless if the original owner doesn't call... I'll find a solution and keep you updated...

EDIT:
I'm happy to say that I just successfully got RIM to get T-Mob. to release the PIN. I have only one word of advice. RELENTLESSNESS. Don't let the T-Mobile rep. get you off the phone by saying that they need account information to release the pin, tell them RIM told you to call them. Eventually, you have to talk to RIM and explain to them your situation, that you've exhausted your options with T-Mob. been on the phone w them for hours (no exaggeration necessary) and at least in my case, the woman at RIM volunteered to contact T-Mob. and handle the situation. I called back 12 hours later and it was done in 5 minutes. Hope this helps.

count yourself lucky there is thread after thread on here that says you cant do it. I spent five hours on the phone with RIM and sprint and never did get it activated. Wound up sending it back to the seller and buying a new one.

[Mark Rejhon]

My successful experience with activating used BlackBerries:

1. 7130g from eBay
I had to call the original seller to get them to call Rogers to release the PIN. He was happy to do so and the problem was solved the next day.

2. 7290 from a friend
I called Rogers and gave him the full name of the original BlackBerry owner and explained that he was no longer using it, and has given it to me. Since I was successfully able to give a small bit of identifying information, they found him in the database and confirmed he was the original user and that it also has indeed not been used lately. Rogers agreed to release the PIN right on the spot. Even so, I could have just called my friend to call Rogers to get it released, but this proved unnecessary in this case.

3. Unlocked T-Mobile 8700 (repaired using parts from another 8700)
It would work with third party data apps, but no email because the PIN/IMEI was being rejected by the BIS system. The IMEI showed it was from a different carrier. I called into Rogers while I had a fully working Rogers-branded BlackBerry SIM card inserted to it. I explained the phone was working perfectly, even BlackBerry web browser, but that email wasn't working. Rogers could see my SIM card and could see I was actually using it, so they just simply manually entered the IMEI and the foreign PIN into their system, and presto. Service books got resent, and email worked a few minutes later.
__

The key to success is to know who was the original user of the BlackBerry with the original BlackBerry plan, and to have the option of corresponding with the original seller to call his original carrier to get it released. It is a very risky thing to get a used BlackBerry that isn't the original seller's own. Please verify that the original seller of the used BlackBerry is the one who actually last used the BlackBerry. AND that they are willing to call their original carrier to get it released.

[Dawg]

Originally Posted by Mark Rejhon

__

The key to success is to know who was the original user of the BlackBerry with the original BlackBerry plan, and to have the option of corresponding with the original seller to call his original carrier to get it released. It is a very risky thing to get a used BlackBerry that isn't the original seller's own. Please verify that the original seller of the used BlackBerry is the one who actually last used the BlackBerry.

This is what I did with my current one. I bought from a friend and knew all the information they called him and I was off and running.