Odd problem with my new SP5

[Guest bb79]

So after umming and ahhing about whether to go for it or not, Ive passed on my old T-mob UK SDA to my brother and got myself a lovely new imate SP5, well, its second hand but seems to be almost new. Or at least it would be lovely if I could use it!

I've used the tools from SPV developers to make sure it is both sim and application unlocked. When I put my T-mobile SIM in tho, the network comes up as 'T-Mobile UK', then flashes to 'Home Service', then displays T-Mobile UK again. But when I try and make a call it says 'dialling' for a few seconds and then goes straight to 'call ended'. When people try and ring me they get a message saying the number is unavailable or something like that.

I thought it might be something obvious like all calls were being diverted or barred or something but when I try and look at the settings I get an error message saying 'the settings could not be opened' when it trys to download the settings from the network. It seems like although the phone recognises the SIM card (it displays my correct phone number when i look for that) and recognises that it is a T-mobile SIM card, but wont connect to the T-mobile network. I'm I missing something obvious here? I'm miserable that I cant play with my new toy :)

BB79

P.S. if this is better off going in the Tornado specific section can the mods move it there pls?

Edited November 12, 2006 by bb79

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Does the card still work ok in another phone?

It sounds like you have managed to SIM unlock ok.

[Guest bb79]

Does the card still work ok in another phone?

It sounds like you have managed to SIM unlock ok.

Yep, when I ran SPV services it said it was already unlocked, and the sim has been working fine in the crappy old nokia Ive had it in for the past few weeks. I havent tried putting a non-T mobile SIM in the SP5 tho. Forgot to add that I cant send/receive text messages either.

Also, when I go to 'Comm Manager', the icons for numbers 4 and 5 are greyed out and not selectable. From the pictures I'm assuming number 4 to be something to do with text messaging (little envelope with an arrow going into it) and number 5 to be making and receiving calls? (device with arrows going in and out). Surely these should be selectable? (I'm used to W2003SE not WM5 so I'm not familiar with this more icon based menu way so Im not sure what they mean) and if so what do I do about it? I hope this is fixable.... Any help gratefully received....

BB79

[Guest loki_f]

Yep, when I ran SPV services it said it was already unlocked, and the sim has been working fine in the crappy old nokia Ive had it in for the past few weeks. I havent tried putting a non-T mobile SIM in the SP5 tho. Forgot to add that I cant send/receive text messages either.

Also, when I go to 'Comm Manager', the icons for numbers 4 and 5 are greyed out and not selectable. From the pictures I'm assuming number 4 to be something to do with text messaging (little envelope with an arrow going into it) and number 5 to be making and receiving calls? (device with arrows going in and out). Surely these should be selectable? (I'm used to W2003SE not WM5 so I'm not familiar with this more icon based menu way so Im not sure what they mean) and if so what do I do about it? I hope this is fixable.... Any help gratefully received....

BB79

4 is for direct push e-mail

5 is for data transfer

is 1 on?

[Guest bb79]

4 is for direct push e-mail

5 is for data transfer

is 1 on?

Ah right, thanks for that! Yep 1 is on......

[Guest bb79]

Was just having a look at the pinned thread about what ROM everyone has and although Ive not examined every one, it seems I have something different to everyone else? I got my phone from the Rathbone branch of the CEX exchange shop in London, so I don't know the provenance/history of it. I'm not sure what information is pertinent and which isnt (even after a year of owning WM phones Im still a bit of a newbie) so I've included everything under the 'About' section and 'System Information'

About

OS 5.1.1.195 (Build 14847.2.0.0)

Radio Version 4.0.13.25_01.14.00

RIL Version 2.002

Operator/Manufacturer etc etc 5.1.195.14847

System Information

ROM version 2.0.8.0

Operator version 2.5.331.2

Radio Version as above

Service Pack N/A

Does this tell me anything interesting or does it not have any bearing on my problems with making/receiving calls and texts? Should I use this ROM or flash the phone with something else? Will try and put another non T-mobile SIM into it as well, did try to put an Orange one in earlier and the phone just said 'searching' and didnt lock onto Orange. Reception should have been ok in that room but I suppose that could have been the reason it wasnt connecting.

Clutching at straws here.... :)

Edited November 29, 2006 by bb79

[Guest bb79]

Ok I'm coming to a horrid conclusion... After digging about in some old threads here, I found someone had been having the same problem as me and it was looking likely that his phone was blacklisted. Having done a bit of googling it looks like this may be my problem. How can I find out if its blacklisted for definite? I did find a website where you could text the IMEI number but they wanted to charge £3! If it is the case I'm marching straight to the CEX shop and kicking some ass!

Edited November 29, 2006 by bb79

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Contact your network, they can tell you if the phone is blacklisted and blocked.

[Guest bb79]

Contact your network, they can tell you if the phone is blacklisted and blocked.

Thanks I'll give that a go. I wasn't sure if T-mobile would be able to tell me that as the phone is not from them, its an i-mate from god knows where via the CEX shop. Hope they can help tho.

Cheers BB79

[Guest bb79]

Thanks I'll give that a go. I wasn't sure if T-mobile would be able to tell me that as the phone is not from them, its an i-mate from god knows where via the CEX shop. Hope they can help tho.

Cheers BB79

T-mobile were useless so I took it back to CEX and yep it was indeed blacklisted :) They did want to only give me a refund in exchange vouchers but as they dont have any other SP5s that wasnt much good. So I managed in the end to get part cash, part vouchers and then got a C600 from them using the voucher. Not quite what I wanted but better than nothing..... BB79

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

They didn't give you a full refund for a phone effectively reported stolen? :)

I wouldn't have accepted anything less!

P

[Guest aty]

T-mobile were useless so I took it back to CEX and yep it was indeed blacklisted :) They did want to only give me a refund in exchange vouchers but as they don't have any other SP5s that wasn't much good. So I managed in the end to get part cash, part vouchers and then got a C600 from them using the voucher. Not quite what I wanted but better than nothing..... BB79

A Mate of mine bought a SE W800i from a car boot and it turned out to be blacklisted. He contacted T-Mobile who basically told him that if he had proof of purchase (a receipt) if he sent it to them they would remove the phone from the blacklist. Of course he did not, but if he did he apparently could have had a working phone again !!

[Guest bb79]

Yeah maybe I should have kicked my heels in more but I was just fed up with it all and wanted a working phone. Basically what happened was that I got an upgrade on my T-mobile contract (a hideous V3 D&G but it had the highest exchange value at CEX for the least outlay by me!) and took that and my Sony NW-HD5 MP3 player in and got £225 worth of credit in store. So I got the SP5 which they were selling for £195 and a 1GB memory card which they were selling for £30. So when I went in today they said I could have the refund back in exchange credit only as I had paid for the phone with goods not cash. I wasnt happy and so the girl rang head office and they said they would give me cash value of the goods as a refund which was only £165. Somehow, I ended up taking the cash value of the MP3 player which was about £70 and taking the exchange value of the phone which was £120 and using this to buy the C600 which was £125. But I think she forgot about the memory card so I think I ended up getting that for free! Have I been completely done? At the end of the day i guess its not their fault that someone sold them the phone and then after a suitable interval got it blacklisted, although I did point out to them that before they finally sell it on to another customer they should do a final check on it before it leaves the shop.....

BB79

Edited November 29, 2006 by bb79

[Guest aty]

Yeah maybe I should have kicked my heels in more but I was just fed up with it all and wanted a working phone. Basically what happened was that I got an upgrade on my T-mobile contract (a hideous V3 D&G!) and took that and my Sony NW-HD5 MP3 player in and got £225 worth of credit in store. So I got the SP5 which they were selling for £195 and a 1GB memory card which they were selling for £30. So when I went in today they said I could have the refund back in exchange credit only as I had paid for the phone with goods not cash. I wasnt happy and so the girl rang head office and they said they would give me cash value of the goods as a refund which was only £165. Somehow, I ended up taking the cash value of the MP3 player which was about £70 and taking the exchange value of the phone which was £120 and using this to buy the C600 which was £125. But I think she forgot about the memory card so I think I ended up getting that for free! Have I been completely done? At the end of the day i guess its not their fault that someone sold them the phone and then after a suitable interval got it blacklisted, although I did point out to them that before they finally sell it on to another customer they should do a final check on it before it leaves the shop.....

BB79

I wheel & deal with CEX and normally they are fine, but I guess like with most things in life it's fine until it isn't. I agree with you they should have checked the phone before they sold it to you it would have saved alot of hastle.

[Guest bb79]

I think CEX are involved in some sort of conspiracy to make me lose my sanity. Just picked up the C600 to set about unlocking it etc. and have discovered the joystick is borked. Going right and up are ok but it takes half a dozen attempts to get it to go down and it wont go left at all..... So thats two useless phones theyve sold me now. There are another couple of C600s floating about in the CEX system but I waited a month to get the SP5 sent to London from their Nottingham/Bristol shop or wherever it came from in the end, so I'm not feeling too inclined to wait further for another C600 from another shop. I've gone with CEX rather than some unknown eBay dealer as I thought I could trust them more, but at the moment I'm being proved sadly wrong. What the hell do I do now? Obviously this C600 is going back (wasting more of my time and tube fare) but I think I need to kick up a big fuss with them as I'm not a happy bunny right now..... Any suggestions - I'm a bit too English when it comes to complaining...

[Guest aty]

I think CEX are involved in some sort of conspiracy to make me lose my sanity. Just picked up the C600 to set about unlocking it etc. and have discovered the joystick is borked. Going right and up are ok but it takes half a dozen attempts to get it to go down and it wont go left at all..... So thats two useless phones theyve sold me now. There are another couple of C600s floating about in the CEX system but I waited a month to get the SP5 sent to London from their Nottingham/Bristol shop or wherever it came from in the end, so I'm not feeling too inclined to wait further for another C600 from another shop. I've gone with CEX rather than some unknown eBay dealer as I thought I could trust them more, but at the moment I'm being proved sadly wrong. What the hell do I do now? Obviously this C600 is going back (wasting more of my time and tube fare) but I think I need to kick up a big fuss with them as I'm not a happy bunny right now..... Any suggestions - I'm a bit too English when it comes to complaining...

I've had a bad experience like yours, I bought a second hand phone from cash generator and it had problems, took it back, they gave me a refund and I saw another & bought that. Guess what it was faulty as well. Took that back and then a couple of days later they had another, bought that and again problems. I took that one back and got a refund. I decided then to stop buying phones from them untill my bad luck was over!!

[Guest mstephenson]

I think CEX are involved in some sort of conspiracy to make me lose my sanity.

BB79 I too purchased an SPV C600 from CEX and have had problems. Firstly, the nearest one to me was in Stoke (I live in Birmingham so it's about an hour on the train) which was fine with me. I asked them to reserve it on Friday evening so I could collect it on Saturday. I arrived on Saturday to find that whilst the phone was still available, they hadn't reserved it for me so someone else could of bought it in the meantime. I was trading in a Sony NW-HD3 walkman which obviously they had to test and they asked me to give them 15 mins. When I came back, I found the phone once again in the shop window-not being labelled as reserved or anything. Fortunately nobody attempted to buy the phone during this time. Anyway, when I finally got it home I have the exact same problem-the joystick takes about 5 attempts to move down. It seems they really don't test products very well-i've also had various problems with MP3 players and consoles bought from there. It's fine for games and dvd's but i'm no longer buying any hardware from there! I think you/me/others are better off going down the e-bay route to be honest, find a reliable seller with high positive feedback and it should be ok. Some sellers are selling new SPV C600's (with warranty) at a similar price to the crap that CEX are flogging! Maybe we should start a CEX smartphone thread because this looks to be alot more than just a one off... :)

[Guest bb79]

So I see they are incompetent at all their branches! It was actually a month before I got the SP5 as they were going to get one sent from Nottingham, which I was told would arrive in 2-3 days and they would ring me when it was in. Two weeks later with no phone call I went into the shop only to be told that Nottingham didnt actually have one after all! They then looked it up again and arranged to have one sent from Bristol, same as before 2-3 days ring me when its in. A week later still nothing, then when I look on their website I see an SP5 is in at the London Rathbone store but Ive not had a call!!! So I ring their head office, and after some to-ing and fro-ing (the woman on the switchboard at head office says she cant put me through to the branch, so acts a flipping relay runner between me and someone on the other line from the Rathbone branch) I get the SP5 put aside, it was blooming lucky no-one bought it in that time. Then obviously I had the palaver of the SP5 turning out to be stolen, deciding to compromise on the C600 which was round the corner at the TCR branch. I asked the girl at Rathbone to ring TCR to have a look at it and check it really is a Grade A C600 before I go for the compromise on my voucher and TCR say yes it is. Of course when I get round to the TCR branch it had two noticable scratches on the screen and scuff marks on one corner of the case! There is another (alleged) Grade A at the Harrow branch. So the guy at TCR is good about it and knocks it down to a Grade B (£125 instead of £140) and I take it as at this point i just want a blooming phone. So when I discovered the joystick probs on the C600 I nearly had a coronary.

Ive had just over a month now of nothing but incompetency from CEX. The staff are generally very pleasant which, me being a soft idiot, makes it hard for me to get cross with them but enough is enough dont you think? What do I do now? I just want a nice phone, an SP5 or at the very least a C600, that works. What is my next step?

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Get a full refund and look elsewhere. They had no right to only offer vouchers in the first place as they sold you a defective device. If a phone is blocked it is only because of two reasons, the phone is stolen or there is an outstanding payment on the contract the device was bought on.

After you get your refund or even if you do not, make sure you report them to trading standards for the way you have been delt with and the faulty products they are selling.

[Guest bb79]

I'm gonna see if I can get the £120 voucher value back in cash, which should give me about £190 odd for a new phone. I don't think they're gonna go for that but maybe a strongly worded letter to their head office might work - I'm much more articulate at complaining on paper than in person! Can anyone recommend a *reliable* ebay seller or some other source for an SP5, or failing that a C600? (Or maybe even a StrTrk or SPL, I've not considered them up until now but if the price is right I'll take anything right now!) I know Expansys have SP5s but last time I looked they were just shy of £300! I could always ask my brother for my old SDA back but I'll feel really mean as he's just getting into the wonders of WM phones plus I really want a nice shiny new phone!

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

http://www.modaco.com/index.php?showtopic=248874

StrTrk for a good price.

http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?partner=modaco&i=142874

Definately insist that you have a proper refund it's not as if you could actually use any of the devices.