UKC

Any one bought one or have experience of getting a second hand refurbished iPhone?

Did a search through the archives but surprisingly nothing there.

Any info appreciated, cheers

Toby

In reply to Tobes:

UKC has bought a couple of refurbished iPhone 5s's for testing the Rockfax app and they've been perfect.

There was quite a few people selling locked ones last time I looked tho. So long as you steer clear of those you should be fine.

In reply to Tobes:
I've bought several refurbished I phones on E Bay and it's worked fine for me.

The important bit is that refurbished phones should include a new battery if necessary. The batteries themselves are pretty cheap but expensive to pay someone else to replace.

In reply to Tobes:

I bought one and my observation is that "refurbished" doesn't mean what it means if you buy kit from Apple (fully rebuilt to as-new condition), it means "given a quick clean, if that".

Consider it means "used" and you can't go too far wrong.

In reply to Tobes:

Cheers to all so far.

I should have mentioned that I would need it to accept a local sim card overseas eg Asia, Africa etc so unlocked would mean 'world wide connectivity'?

Cheers.

In reply to Tobes:

I've had a couple from the Argos eBay outlet - been fine. One wasn't unlocked (I only buy the unlocked ones) and they refunded no problems.
Come with a 6/12month warranty depending on the condition.

Can't say for taking abroad SIM cards tho sorry.

In reply to Tobes:

Yes, if it's unlocked then you'll be able to use a SIM abroad.

My iPhone 6 was from O2, and hence locked to their network at purchase but their own app has a utility to authorise the unlocking of the phone.. takes less than 24 hours and is free

In reply to Tobes:

Take a look at this, you might be thinking of buying from a non-reputable source!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/item/a8326b09-3d3b-40e2-a6fc-8bcb57579a5d

I bought an refurbished iPhone from a company that comes up on page one of a google search, arrived faulty, had to send it back by recorded delivery (very costly), they replaced/repaired it and sent it back to me still not working, had to send it back again. Took weeks and weeks to get refund and loads of phone calls and inconvenience.

In reply to cragtaff:

Thanks mate, yeah looking at the feedback scores of some of the eBay sellers makes for grim reading. Seems a hit or miss affair if buying online, clearly they don't test the phones after they've done the work so some might be good to go, others clearly not.

Bit of a gamble innit!

In reply to Tobes:

ebay is useless for 2nd hand phones, what could be a good system is spoilt by greed.

I've tried 3 times over the years, all misdescribed eg an 'as new' phone that smelled of smoke and had photos on it.

Always got my money back via the resolution centre, but a waste of time still. I can only think there are some buyers that put up with this crap, as the guilty sellers feedback wasn't too bad.