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Thread ID: 134614 2013-07-19 03:32:00 Buyers Beware: Refurbished Apple Products (1-day.co.nz) l0gic (6781) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1349391 2013-07-19 03:32:00 Just wanted to put this out there.

I recently purchased an 8GB Black iPhone 3GS from 1-Day.

It was advertised including this text:
"These are genuine refurbished iPhones that have been unlocked and will work on any network globally. A refurbished product is one which usually has been returned to and is then fixed by a technician and thoroughly tested. As a result, refurbished product will usually have a lower rate of return than new products since they are all individually checked and tested while new products are not always. So all-in-all, these iPhones perform like a brand new product, and you get them at a fraction of the price!"

If you look at the recent/current iPhone deals they also now show this:
"Condition: Refurbished
warranty: 12 months (1-day)
in the box: iPhone, USB sync cable"

However, when I ordered mine the 'in the box' part was not displayed and nowhere on the page did it state anything along the lines of 'charger not included'.

Anyway the iPhone arrived, I unpacked it and thought it was cool that even though it was refurbished they still sent it in the proper iPhone 3GS box. Upon opening the box I saw the nicely packed iPhone with pretty much no signs of wear, it looked new except for a tiny (I mean really small) scratch on the back, which would be covered by a case anyway. I lifted the iPhone and the accompanying documentation wallet out of the box and saw what looked to be a brand new charge/sync cable and then instantly noticed the lack of charger and earphones. This was the start of the disappointment, but it was minor compared to what was coming when I was eventually able to charge the iPhone.

After charging it for a good many hours, I decided it was time to fire it up!

I turned the iPhone on and was greeted with the standard iPhone setup screen; join wifi, pick your country, etc.. I completed the setup, rustled around with excitement to find a paper-clip so I could eject the SIM-tray and put a SIM card in the iPhone. I slid the tray and SIM back into the iPhone and up flashed a quick message "SIM Failure" and waited as no service (i.imgur.com) was found. Weird, I thought. So I tried the SIM in several other phones, in which it worked flawlessly.

Anyway, I find myself looking through the settings and discover that the iPhone isn't unlocked like advertised. It's actually locked to AT&T (i.imgur.com).

That explains it I thought and emailed 1-day about it.

Then I looked further and noticed something else about the iPhone. Something I hadn't noticed on my other iPhone or anyone else's.. It was running under a 'Supervison Profile' (i.imgur.com) and had an interesting 'Restriction' (i.imgur.com) in place that does not allow the removal of Apps.

I dug deeper and deeper into Google results and Mac/IOS forums and discovered that you can use Apple Configurator to set-up IOS devices in such a way that it makes them 'easier' to deal with in certain environments. Essentially, you could make them 'self-ghost' ideal for Retail or Educational sectors.

Still weird though, I thought.

Then I came across something else. Something scary. But I'm not 100% sure it's correct.

Under supervision mode, these IOS devices can be setup to report activity and be 'controlled' by a higher level user.. My mind went into movie-logic-mode and thought, "This is set up for identity theft, credit theft, any theft!" and quickly disconnected it from my wireless connection.. It was then that I decided to have a look at some of the figures on my router. During the few hours the phone was one, it had sent out 34MB out and only received 1.2MB, holy crap. That's a bit suspect!

Anyway, point being... Buyers be warned.

You will get a good condition iPhone, I did.. But it probably wont be good for much, unless you want to jailbreak it.

If you also get one of these iPhones you may encounter a pretty **** deal.. If anyone else has had this with a iPhone from 1-Day. I suggest joining me and hounding 1-Day about how they're cheating their customers.

I still haven't heard back from 1-Day, but I did get in touch with Apple who claimed they would 'investigate' the issue for me.
l0gic (6781)
1349392 2013-07-19 03:35:00 That's pretty dodgy :-/ Chilling_Silence (9)
1349393 2013-07-19 04:49:00 "Condition: Refurbished warranty: 12 months (1-day)
in the box: iPhone, USB sync cable"

nowhere on the page did it state anything along the lines of 'charger not included'.




Anyway, I find myself looking through the settings and discover that the iPhone isn't unlocked like advertised.


You will get a good condition iPhone, I did.. But it probably wont be good for much, unless you want to jailbreak it.
.
Well....it didn't say it did include a charger, did it? Why assume that if it's clearly stated cable and phone?
And 1 day deals....well you get what you pay for.
pctek (84)
1349394 2013-07-19 04:53:00 The charger thing is fine -they clearly said it comes with a USB sync cable. That isn't a charger.

Surely if they are selling it as refurb and unlocked, and it's not unlocked, they will sort that out, but it's hardly their fault. Whoever supplies them with the phones is the one to blame. Possibly one slipped through without getting unlocked.

Doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me, unless they muck you around with a replacement phone.
wratterus (105)
1349395 2013-07-19 05:01:00 If you look at the recent/current iPhone deals they also now show this:
"Condition: Refurbished
warranty: 12 months (1-day)
in the box: iPhone, USB sync cable"

However, when I ordered mine the 'in the box' part was not displayed and nowhere on the page did it state anything along the lines of 'charger not included'.

I think a few people missed the bold part. When l0gic ordered, they were not specifying what was included, nor were they indicating a charger was not included. You could easily argue that, when purchasing a mobile phone, a charger is an assumed included accessory unless otherwise specified. Clearly they realise this as they now specify. In order to correct the issue, imo, they should supply a charger and replace the phone with an unlocked one. Simple.
inphinity (7274)
1349396 2013-07-19 05:37:00 One of the guys I worked with bough a Note tablet from them and found that the stylus was faulty. Tried to get a new one but they didn't have any and had sold out of the notes so they gave him a refund. Looks like with these items that once they are sold and some time later you have a problem they can't replace it with a new model so it will be a refund i guess.. paulw (1826)
1349397 2013-07-19 08:20:00 An update:
Didn't hear from 1-Day today.

I don't care so much that it didn't have the charger or earphones included. But as inphinity pointed out, when I ordered there was no 'in the box' on the description, and having purchased iPhones that all came with chargers in the past I just assumed that because it wasn't mentioned at all, that it would be there. It would've been nice for them to say it wasn't included, like in junk mail when you see a uhmmn, I dunno, lets say a trampoline and it says, "Bouncing children not included" or whatever.

The issue is it's locked. It's basically an iPod Touch as it sits.

The bigger issue (and I'm sure many of you didn't read far enough down to notice) it's "supervised" that means it has restrictions in place and controlled by a *higher level user* instead of me. It also means it could've been set up to record and report information like iTunes login details, internet banking details, personal details, etc.. Hence the PSA.

I've since managed to plug it into a computer and iTunes is giving me a message "This iPhone is supervised by another computer and cannot be used with this computer." I even tried putting it into recovery mode and restoring the unit, alas I'm not even able to do that under supervised mode.

And while it is possible that it is just one that has 'slipped through', I think that would well explain it being locked. I don't think it as well explains why it's been set-up under Apple Configurator and sold to someone.

So now, I'm waiting until 1-Day manages to get in touch or until 13th September (i.imgur.com) to see what happens when the restriction expires.
l0gic (6781)
1349398 2013-07-19 10:18:00 You could just jailbreak it and get rid of those restrictions ? Chilling_Silence (9)
1349399 2013-07-19 10:34:00 Can you not just remove the supervised profile?
What about doing a full reset on the phone?
CYaBro (73)
1349400 2013-07-19 10:36:00 Could be a locked phone ie a company issued one? Maybe a found / stolen phone, pawn shop, trade in thingy .... I've bought a phone in the early 2000s a used one on TM, they probably sourced it from overseas. The IMEI was rubbed off the phone. This was the dumb phones era ... Nokia 6230. Nomad (952)
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