Bought an iphone 3g 2nd hand on ebay, it arrived today. It was described as in good condition and full working order however I have put my sim card in and activated it via itunes and it won’t pick up any signal. Also the phone seems to have a protective case (which is partly broken) glued to the back which wasn’t described or shown in the picture.
I have contacted the seller but no response yet. Do I have any hope of getting a refund or any kind of help/action from ebay? Or have I been scammed out of £160?

I would suggest you would be able to get a refund, not as described? Did you pay via paypal? If so I would log a dispute with the resolution centre, I know some people will say wait, but you can always pull the dispute at a later date.

how long has the seller been out of touch? assuming it’s already been a couple of days I’d be getting straight onto the resolution centre

Yes I paid via paypal, and I only contacted him earlier today so I’m hoping he will get back to me with a refund, will have to see though.

No signal means its been reported lost or stolen and imei blocked. Refund.

I wouldn’t wait longer than a day otherwise ebay can query why you didn’t instantly start a resolution. I did with a phone I bought which wasnt’ as described. AFter abotu 2 days seller got back to me had a bit of a hissy fit about me bringing out resolution. I explained why and he became quite reasonable then and I said I’d resolve it once the money was back in my account and I posted the item to him (when he asekd em too). Minute money was in my paypal I closed the resolution so everyone happy (well maybe not the seller).

Yeah well it just says no service in the top left corner. After looking on various forums this looks to be a known problem, usually replaced by apple if the phone is under warranty, but this one won’t be. I will give the seller 24 hours to respond and then I will start a resolution.

I have been on the phone to 02 and they have told me to do a carrier settings update. Anyone know what this is and if it is likely to solve my problem?

I have determined that the phone is faulty, the seller has refused a refund so I have opened an ebay dispute. Providing ebay agree with me, what powers do they have to get the money off the seller/refund me?

If the seller has either a credit balance or a linked bank accont they just take the money off him. If he’s devious he’ll have thought of this though and maybe moved on.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1970

The seller still refused to refund, opened an ebay dispute and after 10 days I escalated the case and ebay have now refunded me the money. Really impressed with their customer service.

eBay of late have been acting a lot more on behalf of the buyers rather than the sellers from what I gather. Do you now have to send the phone back??

Yeah, ebay sent me pre-paid recorded postage, when they can see its been delivered they give me the refund straight into my paypal account.