question about not paying a cell phone bill?

Question

a friend of mine just sold me his katana phone, it is going to be shut off today, I have the same cell company will i be able to get it activated tommorow or because he did not pay the bill will i have trouble doing that?

p.s i bought the phone for me not to help him out i got a real good deal on it!!

Answer 1

I work for Sprint, and we have the Katana. If you take the phone into a Sprint store, and try to have it activated, when we scan the serial number into our system, it will come up under your friends account. Unless his account has been closed for more than 90 days, they might be unable to put your phone number on it, because it would leave his number without a phone attacted to it. Also, putting your phone number into his phone would reset your eligibility to upgrade. So, if you've had your phone for almost 2 years, and can get $150 rebate in May or whatever, when you put your number into his phone, you will then have to wait another 2 years before you earn that $150 again.

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

The answer depends on what you are trying to do.

If he was under contract and he sells or gives you his phone, he is still responsible for paying his bill up to the point at which he gave the physical phone to you, and for paying any Contract / Early Termination Fee as well.

You are not responsible for his overdue bill simply because you purchased or recieved the physical phone from him, UNLESS he is signing the service contract over into your name, something which is usually done in a direct dealer location.

If that is what he has proposed, STOP! If you legally take responsibility for the phone through transfer of contract (for instance to keep him from owing an Early Termination Fee), you are taking responsibility for his debt at the same time, and you are being scammed.

There are two different statuses for a cell phone with billing problems:

1) Ladex. A phone that has been Ladexed can recieve calls but not make them. All charges and fees continue to accrue as if the phone had full service, so Ladex is essentially a sneaky way to keep right on billing a customer full price while providing only half the service. That allows the bill to accrue a little more than it would if the company just cut the line off, though of course they phrase it as a "courtesy" to the customer to encourage the customer to pay. There may also be recconnection fees, and if he waits too long to get a new phone, new activation fees, or he could get sent to a collection agency and have to deal with their fees.

2) Suspended / Cancelled Account. The account has been closed for severe past due, and has been ladexed or cancelled for some time. It may be on it's way to a collection agency. They have been known to harrass people who "inherit" the same cell number on the basis that if you are associated with the number, you must know the person / be his mommy / be his cosigner, and once they start doing that it is nearly impossible to get them to stop it.

After all, people who are skipping out on their bills lie all the time to evade payment to collectors, so why should they believe you when you say you are not that person, or not resoponsible for that person's bill, especially if you know that person or got the phone from him? It isn't logical, but in the minds of people doing "skip trace" you are a viable lead and they will push you (within the limits of the law) to harrass him to pay the bill so they will stop pestering you.

Like phone calls? Expect a lot of them, especially from all the other people he never informed about the fact that he no longer has this cell phone. Especially the other businesses he may owe money to if he is avoiding any other bills, none of which have any reason to believe that you are not him or related to him either. See above for details. If he was into any illegal activity and was using the cell phone to do it, his slimy contacts will call the number too.

It sounds as if he has no intention of paying his bill, and you have to wonder why he wants to give away the phone if that is the case.

Further, he will almost certainly have to call to confirm that he does not want the phone anymore and that the cancellation is permanent. You, after all, have no access to his records, so if the company believes that the phone is still active under that number with him, you are not authorized to terminate his account for him because you are not the contarct holder or an authorized user.

The only way you can avoid that problem is if you are pulling his SIM chip and breaking it in half and throwing it in the garbage, so you can substitute a SIM chip from a different phone and it's corresponding different cell number.

You will have to have a new number to completely disassociate yourself from his account. Any attempt to maintain his number as an active phone number will be a problem because the collection agencies will shortly be calling it to harrass the phone owner into paying the overdue or written off cell phone bill.

If you are taking over a phone in this condition, the company will at least require you to buy and activate an account with them and activate a brand new SIM chip, to make a distinct break from the account and billing history of the original owner.

This has another problem attached to it; you have no warranty.

The warranty on the phone is rarely transferrable even if it has not expired, since warranties have a limited term. If you activate a phone you got from someone else, you are inheriting their problems with that phone; buttons that don't work right, speakers that don't sound good, or that you can't hear out of. Power on/off problems, bad batteries, the works! And you have no recourse but to buy a whole new phone if any of those problems crop up.

Further, if you activate without getting a new phone at activation and the phone you got from your friend dies on you, guess what? You DON'T get activation pricing when you go to get your new one! NO DISCOUNT! So you lose all that great pricing and the chance to get a phone with all new features with no guarantee that the phone you are taking over will last... any time at all.

It simply does not pay you to do this except in very limited circumstances:

1) You got it from someone you trust absolutely.

2) They gave it to you without asking you to sign anything with the dealer or company for them

3) You took it because you already had an established account, your original phone conked out and you are not yet at the point where you can get a good discount price on the replacement, and you intend to use his old phone, which you already know is in reasonable condition, until your own year or so is up and the company wants to give you a low replacement price to keep you as a customer.

If all of those things are true, then go ahead.

If not THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT IT before you say yes. What exactly is his angle here? How does doing this help him? The answers may not be nice ones.

Answer 4

You should be able to activate it in your name with your current or a new number, but not the same number he had. Before a cell phone is disconnected the account is usually suspended for 10 days - allowing you to pay the bill or they will add the term. fee in the final bill.

Answer 5

depending on your carrier you should just be able to switch out the smart chip/ Sim card. If you don't have a Sim/smart chip, take it into your carrier you shouldn't have to deal with his bill. Just your own with the possibility having to pay an activation fee on your new phone. hope i could help

Answer 6

Let your friend take care of his own phone/bill issues. This is not something you should take on yourself. Money issues often come between friends, and his irresponsibility on his phone bill is something he needs to deal with on his own. Don't risk your phone/finances/credit for his not being responsible.

Answer 7

I dont get the question, are you saying that your mom cant get you a cell pone because she has not payed the bill? Please be more detailed, i will answer later

Answer 8

you better check it this. the service provide customer service are open 24/7

Answer 9

probably otherwise every'd do it
plus, its illegal