Samsung S10 5G network locked

[Jmellis86]

Hello,

I bought a Samsung S10 5G directly from Samsung Liverpool One in August 2019. I paid it outright. I put our EE SIM (SIM only pay monthly) in and used it until April 2021.

Due to a screw up with the billing team, we decided to leave. Moved over to Virgin Media. Put the VM SIM in and a message prompts that I need to enter a network lock code.

I filled in the form but the IMEI is not recognised. 

I used chat to help out. Still waiting over a week later. Called EE and asked them to look into it. The agent could only email his colleague and wait further.

Anyway, he mentioned that if they can’t unlock it I would then, need to find a 3rd Party.

My question now is. Why is EE locking my privately owned phone and why would I need to go to 3rd party? I mean, it’s my phone and EE decided to lock it down and brand it their own.

I would also like to know, will EE cover the cost from the 3rd Party? Since EE is responsible for locking the phone in the first place.

That is all for now. Thanks.

[Chris_B]

@mikeliuk   All I can say is roll on December.  

 
 But even then it’ll be phones sold not phones already owed.   So stick around and wait for those comments. Lol.   

 When I got my iPhone 12 Pro Max from EE it was already unlocked and I no others who I’ve got them through EE and they have been locked to EE. 

[Jmellis86]

@mikeliuk ,

Good point. However, I am trying to get this resolved without involving outside parties such as Credit Card or Insurance. To be told that the network lock the device means to me I go to the network to unlock it. Also, being very patient in the process. 

There are various links I have published that back up the locking subject. For example, Samsung, Ofcom (The regulator), and some well known websites like uSwitch and MoneySavingExpert etc. They all point their big fat fingers to the network. The SIM locking very well still exists but only EE, BT and a couple of others still insist on locking. Whether the vendor is to blame for locking, that's debatable. My assumption is, the vendor supplies the tool that allows it, the network decides for itself to utilise it. 

I don't have a preference, I just want it unlocked and at no cost to me. We have had no use for the new SIM in the Samsung, its in my iPhone 12 as I have the eSIM as my primary EE SIM and Virgin Media in the SIM slot. Works fine. I bought the iPhone 12 Pro Max outright from Apple directly (Pre-Order). No locking... But this has caused my wife and I problems.

[mikeliuk]

In this particular case, it's possible that Samsung Liverpool One has thrown EE under a bus. And it needn't have been EE, it could have been Virgin Mobile if you had put their SIM card in first.

The expert opinion on this thread seems to be that a SIM card cannot choose whether or not to device/network lock a phone so it must have been a property of the phone to begin with.

It also appears to be the case that once a phone is locked, the right party to unlock it would be the service provider. But I can also understand that the service provider may not have the tools to do this if your particular phone was never intended to be locked to EE in the first place.

On reflection, it seems to me that Samsung Liverpool One may have thrown both you and EE under the same bus together, and I'm a big fan of Samsung over Apple and others.

Contractually where this situation should go is unclear to me. Your best line of attack seems to be that a phone was sold to you as fully unlocked when that was not the case. Obviously that is backtracking a lot when the easy fix would be for the EE to unlock it. But if EE advises that is impossible due to lack of tools, I see no reason why they would lie about that.

[Jmellis86]

@Chris_B ,

You have made a very good point. One thing that hasn't occurred to me, regardless that I purchased it from Samsung, it is subject to the same locking even if I bought say from Carphone Warehouse. 

[mikeliuk]

*Makes a note never to buy a mobile phone from Carphone Warehouse.*

[Jmellis86]

@mikeliuk ,

It just doesn't seem plausible that Samsung Liverpool One would sell a phone specifically unlocked for it later to be a locked phone. The packaging is clear, there is no other branding or network. It was brand new. The seal was intact.

I can't say for certain, what the technicality behind it is. Is it the phone, or is it the SIM or when there is a connection established. I can't say for certain and the information available online is vague at best.

The contractually you mention is a grey area. Neither Samsung or EE define this clear at all. It appears that one must expect or be subject to locking regardless how the handset was acquired. This all comes down to common knowledge. Would the average phone user know this? They buy a phone and use it and after 2 years get a new one. Any small print is completely disregarded. In my case, I read the small print and I was at the understanding I was clear from locking. I would consider myself tech savvy and hold onto things for a bit longer. I do from time to time read these things and I have to, as my job is around understanding tech and legal stuff.

[Chris_B]

@mikeliuk  it’s not just the carphone warehouse it can be any third-party seller.  

 @Jmellis86  I find it strange that if you bought it directly from Samsung that its actually done this though. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they sent you out one of these devices because they didn’t actually have any unlock devices to give to you at the time but they had stock of this type. 

[Jmellis86]

@mikeliuk 

*Makes a note never to buy a mobile phone from Carphone Warehouse.*

Don't worry about them. I've bought a phone from them before and they were very good. 

My method is getting Pay Monthly SIM and buying phones outright and direct. The purpose of this, was to avoid locking. On this occasion however, I was caught out. Perhaps as @Chris_B mentioned, Samsung sold surplus stock intended for EE customers. As we were EE at the time, it would go unnoticed. 

We did intend to stay with EE. But, we had some billing issues and my wife lost trust in EE because of it.

In the meantime, we took out a 12m Virgin Media contract for her that fulfil her needs.

[mikeliuk]

I've been with Carphone Warehouse before and was happy with them.

I was unaware that I could buy an unlocked phone from them that might actually be unlocked at the time of hand-over but is actually a locked phone in the sense that it would lock itself to the network of the first SIM inserted. To my mind, a phone should only ever be advertised as unlocked if it is fully unlocked and usable with all service providers forever. Any phone which will lock itself to a network should be advertised clearly as such.

I also go SIM-only and buy phones separately so that they will be unlocked forever. Perhaps I've been lucky, or perhaps I've fallen for this but never realized.

[Jmellis86]

For the purpose of the community. This is now resolved.

It is not record breaking but it took nearly 5 weeks. There were several Emails involved.

My advice, be persistent and keep all the notes, dates/times and names. 

I will be leaving when my contracts are up. Time for a "clean break".