so, long story short: i bought a Pixel 6a to replace my broken 5a. i bought said phone from Amazon, “refurbished and UNLOCKED,” needless to say: it was not unlocked; in fact, it was locked by VERIZON.
i call Verizon, hoping for a miracle, wondering if they’ll unlock it: they won’t.
i start #googling and find a few “unlock” sites; all of which seem very shady, so i look at reviews, forum posts, etc. and finally come acorss one that, according to #SOME people “had good luck with”; the site is “The Unlocking Company.”
i give this “company” my imei number, make/model/carrier, and $27: they say they’ll have an “unlock code” and “instructions” to me within the next 72 hours.
so the burning question for this community is:
WILL THEY UNLOCK THE PHONE?
i am strongly inclined to think they will either 1) never get back to me or 2) say they can’t unlock the phone and give me a partial refund
bets? and has anyone ever tried this before, any luck?
Return it, its known to never buy Verizon ones. Granted you didn’t know, but I wouldn’t waste my time or spend money on the unlock either.
I’d see how it shows here
https://www.verizon.com/sales/digital/byod/enterDeviceIMEI.html
If it shows clean, you (may) be able to get them to unlock it.
unsure what i’m looking at; i input the IMEI and it takes me to a cart-esque page with checkout options; how do i tell if it’s “clean”
Its clean, it wants you to purchase a plan for it. Do you know anybody on Verizon? Putting a Verizon SIM in that and letting it connect to the network MAY unlock it.
Verizon auto unlocks phones after 60 days when theyre paid for, I’m not sure if that would be noticed right away, or if it would need to be on an acct for that long, its long shot, return is probably still best but worth a shot if you know somebody crazy enough to be a VZ customer and have access to an active SIM.
my in-laws, lol.
will try that and see. still waiting on that unlock company to get back to me, as well. ultimately i feel like i will end up returning the phone, wanted to go for a quick fix though. we’ll see what happens.
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This is correct. I’ve worked for AT&T, had a co-worker from Verizon, and have been a customer to both.
Manufacturers generally make one model of their device that’s fully universal, and then carriers install their own custom tweaked firmware on them.
Verizon is by far the most locked-down and they do not unlock. You would have to flash a custom firmware specifically for the device, and even then there would probably be issues with the bootloader being locked.
It’s terrible and infuriating, but you just can’t take a Verizon-tainted phone to any other carrier.
Not even if your contract runs out or you pay a bit extra to end the contract?
It’s irrelevant. Return the device. You got ripped off!
Just don’t do anything funny on the phone that will give the seller a valid reason to refuse your return. Honestly I’d just return it, the seller didn’t specify that it was locked. I don’t know how carriers do their locks but if that “unlocking company” fucks up the firmware or something else you wouldn’t be able to return your phone anymore.
Doubtful. These days it’s easy to AI generate some people who “had good luck with the service”.
Initiate the return process with Amazon. Say they sent the wrong version and it’s incompatible with your current phone provider.
that’s my final option, going to wait a few days as i’m curious what will happen with this company.
Why can’t you just return the phone ?
I can’t believe that phone carrier locking is still a thing in 2023.
Sounds like a scam to me. If there was a method to unlock then it would probably be known to the public.
Maybe this company is just selling instructions for known unlocking methods? But if that’s the case you could’ve done some searching and found those instructions for free.
the only “known” unlocking method i’ve heard of is getting the code from the cellular provider’s “database” then using this code “somewhere” things like rooting, “jailbreaking” etc don’t work to “unlock” the phones as, as far as i’m aware, it’s hardbaked into the phone’s bios (or something equivalent)
quick update, as it’s almost been 72 hours (The Unlocking Company’s self-imposed deadline); they sent me an (in my opinion) INSANE email last night which clued me in on what #iThink their “business model” may be. see email below and my thoughts:
PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING!!! (ESPECIALLY WHAT’S IN BOLD AND RED FONT!!!)
ok
We hope you are having the BEST day ever! Just wanted to give you an update on your order since it’s been a couple days.
thanks
Everything is going good as usual! As mentioned in the Confirmation email - we submitted to the manufacturer supplier immediately after the order was placed and are simply waiting on updates! Please again refer to the delivery time on the product page for any status updates! If you don’t hear anything back after the last day - please feel free to contact us at sales@theunlockingcompany.com and we will check for you ASAP!
note how they say “we submitted to the manufacturer supplier immediately after the order was placed and are simply waiting on updates!” they are “simply waiting on updates”
NOW: Although we do have a 97% success rate at unlocking our customers’ phones! (No joke!) Your specific IMEI has been a little tricky. Which is OK. It happens sometimes. Depending on the specific IMEI, demand, time of year, the suppliers, manufacturer and model, etc. etc. etc. it can vary a little bit. But since we’ve been around for 14 years: we are definitely top of the supply chain and have the VERY BEST connections and sources that the industry has to offer. We’ve had to spend a little more funds on the carrier check, blacklist check, and spent a few hours making some phone calls and emails we usually don’t have to do, but we are on top of it and will continue to work hard on your order.
i love the “WE DO HAVE A 97% SUCCESS RATE! – no joke!” bit. earlier they said they “Sent the IMEI to their supllier and are SIMPLY waiting on updates” YET NOW they say " We’ve had to spend a little more funds on the carrier check, blacklist check, and spent a few hours making some phone calls and emails we usually don’t have to do, but we are on top of it and will continue to work hard on your order."
very odd, contradictory.
PLEASE NOTE VERY IMPORTANT: For whatever reason, on the VERY small chance we can’t unlock this specific carrier & phone combination at the moment, we will refund most the purchase (MINUS FEES), as we always have with our customers. That being said, we of course will continue to work on your IMEI until the deadline soon in order to get your phone unlocked! Lastly, on the off chance the unlock is unavailable, we are going to contact the Manufacturer Server EVERY DAY on your behalf, until they notify us that the unlock is available. Once that happens, we will email you ASAP and actually provide you the unlock FOR FREE to thank you for your patience, understanding (Please refer to Terms & Conditions about needless threats including chargebacks as we consider that as fraud, and in the case that happens, have full authority to blacklist the phone)
this is the big disclaimer section; they claim they have a 97% success rate and if they can’t “unlock the phone” they will REFUND (MINUS FEES). this made me start to think about the scam a bit;
- STEP 1) claim they can unlock phones for XXXX amount of money
- STEP 2) they can’t actually unlock phones, so they’ll say they “tried their best but ultimately couldn’t unlock the phone” then give you a PARTIAL REFUND
the “refund” gives them some credibility as a company, but ultimately they TAKE MONEY, DO NOTHING, ISSUE PARTIAL REFUND; this is how they make money (of course, this is my theory currently, they could legit get back to me tomorrow or later today with a code to unlock my phone, who knows. BUT: I doubt it).
Anyways, we like to be up-front with our customers and updated as much as we can! We will email you as soon as we have an results. Again, please refer to the delivery time stated on the product page for any status updates. And we thank you again for your business and your patience. Have a good rest of your day and we will be in touch!
Thank you and God bless 🙂 Sincerely, TUC Family
PLEASE READ VERY IMPORTANT: Thank you for doing business with TheUnlockingCompany. If you have ANY issues or questions or the unlock does not work, please contact us ASAP and we will do everything in our power to help you out! Please do not threaten with an unnecessary charge-back or ANYTHING negative without cause, we consider that fraud & have full authority to BLACKLIST THE PHONE using the IMEI (Terms & Conditions). Unfortunately, in this industry with the huge amount of fraud/scammers, sellers get taken advantage of and manipulated because it’s not a physical product. And we will do everything we have to in order to protect ourselves, as stated and agreed up to, in Terms and conditions. So instead of blackmailing with threats of a charge-back, let us all address the situation and end it with everyone happy! We work very hard to be the most upfront and honest company in the industry as you can see by our reviews, credentials, and reputation. Thank you again and I hope you have a great rest of your day! God Bless.
the gratuitous caps locking after the “god bless” is LOL and the obvious paranoia here feels very scammy; why include all this stuff if you’re not trying to scare people into not requesting a refund through the bank?
anyways, return process has been initiated; this has been an insightful experience, though. if you ever think about using one of these unlockers: DON’T (and again, I could come back tomorrow with an unlocked phone, although BIG DOUBT)
Verizon sucks. And tbh buying refurbed phones on Amazon is like a game of chance lol. Apparently if it’s sold by Amazon themselves it has a low chance of being Verizon, but with other sellers YMMV. I took the risk with a third - party and lucky me it came fully unlocked.
