Blacklisting help stolen phone

[Fizzy_B]

Hi,

My phone was recently stolen. It is on a virgin pay monthly Sim contract. My insurer refuses to handle claim until IMEI of phone is blacklisted and proof of the blocking is provided. My Insurer told me only the network provider Virginmobile can blacklist it. I called customer services on the 12th March and was told that this could be done , was given a reference and told the letter of proof would be mailed to me in 3-5 days. I did not revive the letter and after a follow up call on the 21st with CS, I was told that in fact they could not/would not blacklist the phone as the phone was not bought from Virgin even though I have the IMEI number make/model and had previously told the first CS rep it was not bought from Virgin. It was then suggested only the people I bought the phone from (Google) can blacklist it. Google said they they have no ability or means to blacklist a phone and only the network provider Virginmobile can do it. It appears I am stuck. Searching the forum it seems that others have been in the same situation and that Virgin CAN (and are the only people) that can blacklist the phone. 

Very frustrating situation and super expensive if this can't be resolved.

Looking for help from someone from Virgin on this forum to assist me.

Thanks.

[Travis_M]

Hi @Fizzy_B

Thanks for posting on our community forum!

Sorry to hear about your phone being stolen. The only thing we can do is cancel the SIM in the phone off and send a new one to you, if the handset wasn't bought from us then there's nothing further we can do regarding the handset unfortunately.

It's impossible for us to blacklist a phone we don't own, it's quite literally impossible.

I do apologise for the inconvenience

Regards

[Fizzy_B]

Reading other Forum posts it would seem this is something you can do and have done in the past.

for example: Solved: Blacklisting a phone brought from apple - Virgin Media Community - 3988070

My situation is exactly the same as this ^^ 

[Travis_M]

Hi @Fizzy_B

Thanks for the reply!
 

My apologies for the misunderstanding, I can confirm we are able to block the handset if you're able to provide the IMEI. I'll drop you a private message now and we'll get this sorted for you.

Regards

[Jodi_S]

Its sods law Fizzy_B

We're really pleased that you have your handset back. I have requested for this to be un blacklisted for you, however this can take up to 24 hours.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Kind regards Jodi. 

[Fizzy_B]

Again, thanks so much for all your assistance.

Regards

Barry

[Jodi_S]

You're most welcome Fizzy_B,

If you have any further issues with anything, please feel free to post back to us through this channel and we'll be happy to assist you.

Have a lovely afternoon.

Kind regards Jodi. 

[Jodi_S]

Hi Fizzy_B, 

Apologies for the late reply. We are sorry that the sim card has not resolved this issue. Unfortunately, there is nothing more we can do to get this situation rectified. 

I have triple checked and had two other colleagues check your to make sure 100% your handset is now un-blacklisted which it is. We have tried your mobile number and it is ringing out, if this was blocked on the network it would go straight to voicemail or you would get the non-obtainable tone. We have checked everything, and as the SIM works in different phones, we know it’s not the network as we can't block a SIM against a certain phone.

We have googled it and there may be a problem with the handset. Unfortunately, as this is a 3rd party handset, we are not able to offer you advice on how to get this resolved, we can only suggest searching on how to fix a pixel 6 pro that wont recognise a sim card. 

Kind regards Jodi.