Best Buy Store Purchase

[SergeDubovsky]

Hi! I bought an iPhone 7+ in the BestBuy. It was advertised as Unactivated, SIM-free. It was supposed to work with any US provider. I activated it with my provider Sprint/MVNO RingPlus. It worked for several month. Now RingPlus cancelled my plan so I wanted to move to a different provider.
Apparently, this phone was sold under what Apple call "Flex" policy, so it locks to the fist used US-provider SIM. This was not advertised and I got no warning about this.

Now I can't move to another provider because RingPlus did not lock any phones and they don't have any way to unlock it. Apple bounces me back to a provider, BestBuy don't want to help me, because 14 days return policy is elapsed.

So I end up with fully paid, contract-free phone. Self-locked to a provider, that cancelled me.

Please help.

[jxs2]

Best buy can't unlock phones. Only the cell phone provider. With the phones as you may have learned, once you put in a sim card it does lock to that carrier. You would need to ask that carrier to unlock it. Since its past the return policy best buy can't accept it as a return.

[SergeDubovsky]

Not all carriers have a policy to unlock phones. Virgin, for example will unlock their phones after one year of active network use. In my case, RingPlus - they don't even have unlocking workflow.

So, BestBuy sold me a phone that supposed to work on any US provider. What they neglected to mention - it will work on ONE provider. If you decide to move - no luck.

Why? Why I paid full price for the contract-free phone and now I have to hear "oh we can't help you" from all over the place. Apple, BestBuy, Verizon, Sprint... 

[ArjunSiva]

Hi,

i bought a universal, unlocked iPhone 7 from your outlet in McAllen, TX. But now i have found that the phone is actually locked to t-mobile. I'm having a nightmare of a time trying to get it unlocked.

This one is on you guys. I need you to get this unlocked for me. 

[GharbiZoubair]

That's very true! I just bought a iphone 7 plus from Bestbuy 3 weeks ago. They told me its an unlocked phone and I can use it everywhere. However, when I found out its locked and I couldn't use it with my sim card, They just told me "there is nothing to do with their end" with the impatient tone. I feel like I am scammed. So there is no way to unlock the locked phone once it cloned to the first sim card?

[TomEnStefanieDewulfRosseel]

We bhot e Iphone 7+ in Stockton Callifornia in a Best Buy store and we are from belgium, they promesd us it wasnt a prolem to use the phone in are country but hes locket and we cant use the phone we even allraedy payed for unlocking the phone but they dont find the imei on any database. So how can we solve this? Please help us and greetings frome Belgium Tom {removed per forum guidelines} and Stefanie {removed per forum guidelines}

[liraptor]

Hi Alexandra, Tasha or any BBY Social Media Specialist,

I purchased 5580147 MN4C2LL/A -- UNV IPHONE 7 PLUS 128GB - ROSE on 11/21/16 21:24 at Best Buy#103 at CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA 91748. On the night I made the purchase in the store, I told the Bestbuy associate that I need to buy an iphone can be used in different countries with any local carriers because my cousin would visit Hong Kong and Japan for a whole month on Dec 13 with the iphone I was going to purchase. The Bestbuy associate clearly stated that the iphone would work with any carriers in any countries. Then, I made the purchase.

My cousin had been using that iphone in the US(T-Mobile) without any problem until she arrived Hong Kong on Dec 14. The iphone keeps saying the "SIM Not Supported" after she inserted the HK SIM CARD. Then, I called the Bestbuy Customer Service for solution this morning. The BB CS operator is reaching out to Apple CS for me and promised will give me a call back this afternoon. While I am waiting for the call back from the BB CS, I found this forum and notice. 

Now, all I want is making this iphone can be used with SIM cards from different countries with any local carriers as the Bestbuy associate stated in the store while I made the purchase. I can provide the receipt in email form Bestbuy sent to me ( my original copy is on my cousin hand now) which has all info for this purchase. Also, I can go to Bestbuy store to show you my ID and the receipt email as needed. Please note that Return is not an option for me because it is not going to happen this iphone can be brought / sent back into US until my cousin come back before Jan 30 2016. However, she may be able to go to the Apple Store in Hong Kong if needed.

Please advise.

[liraptor]

I made the 2nd phone call to Bestbuy Customer because the 1st operator did opened a case this morning but didn't call me back. I explained the whole story again. The 2nd operator told me to call the carrier in the US that I first used with this iphone which is T-Mobile. He stated the iphone I purchased from Bestbuy would activate the SIM LOCK by the carrier(T-Mobile) I first used in the US. This is sound weird to me and I don't believed it would work. Anyway, let me call T-Mobile to see if it works or see how the T-Mobile support person laugh at me.

Also, I did asked the operator will I be able to return the phone in case there is no solution to fix this oversea Sim card issue. He asked me to go back to the store I purchased the phone to ask because this is their decision.

[manban]

Did your issue get resolved ? please share how

[charliewang]

last week we bought one new iphone 7 -128GB gold in Best Buy #2898 , name is UNV Iphone7 128GB Gold , now we cannot active it use normal simcard , we asked apple , apple told us  , this phone is locked by some communication or best buy locked it , now how can I unlock it ?