[vardigital]

hi guys.

just wondering if anyone here has experience with used equipment purchases? I bought a portal off of person on Kijiji who was selling the gateway along with 2 portals at the time. He gave me the original box, cables, serials instructions etc, the unit still had the plastic shrink on it. Said he was selling it as they no longer wish to use shaw; fair enough. I took it home and contacted shaw and provided them with the serial number of the portal. They said the original owner needs to contact them and release the portal for use with another account. I promptly contacted the guy who returned my call quickly and said he understood and that he would get his brother who worked at shaw to release the portal. 2 weeks now after going back and fourth with the guy who no longer responds to emails and phone calls, my portal is not working. I have contacted shaw several times regarding this matter and they say they have attempted to contact the original account holder by email and phone but have not received a a response to releasing the portal. Shaw did confirm that the portal does fall under a shaw employee account but would not release the name of the user.

Have i been had? If this unit was stolen, the guy who sold it to me would not have kept answering my phone calls and email for the 1st week, apologizing saying he would fix it ( i think). IF it was stolen, the original account holder would or should have contacted shaw stating this and shaw would tell me this was stolen property correct?

Do I have any alternatives aside from going to the guys house and taking matters into my own hands or landing in the hospital? Should i report to shaw and say I think this unit is stolen? I dont really care too much about the money but i really want to nail this creep if it is stolen or if not, bring the rain down on him or the original account owner for not simply giving a phone call to release the unit. Is this something i should take up with shaw? Kijiji? or the police? I have Phone numbers, names, addresses and pictures of the person i bought it from. any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm in Manitoba, Winnipeg and I'm not sure what the law is regarding purchasing potentially stolen equipment. I'd like to contact this guy one last time to say I'm providing his phone number,pictures etc to higher authorities and saying this unit might be stolen. maybe that might light a flame under his @$$ to release it??

thanks for any suggestions

 

[Jetranger]

Sounds like your last idea is the way to go. We always recommend any potential buyer call Shaw prior to a purchase and confirm both the ability to purchase the equipment and that there are no outstanding fees or charges associated with it. I have done this while standing in the person's home when I have bought boxes off Kijiji like you did. One can never be too safe.

I would call again and leave a message suggesting you are at the point where you are considering calling the police if he doesn't get the box 'released' and see what happens. If that doesn't get results, the fact that Shaw has admitted the box is on an employee's account should mean that someone in customer care should be able to assist you in getting it transferred to your account. I have some contacts that might be high enough up to get some action if you can't get the original seller to get it done for you.

It's just a simple matter of the registered owner granting verbal permission to 'release' the box from their account. If the box was stolen from that Shaw employee, you would think they would want to know who wound up with it and sold it, which you seem to have all the information for. The only other thing I can think of is that there is some kind of shenanigans going on with that Shaw employee but they aren't very bright if they are trying to pull something. They would be risking their job if you ask me.

If the latter is the case, I would think Shaw would be happy to contact the 'employee' who the Portal is registered to and get it released and then added to your account so they can start charging you for the services as soon as possible. Contacting Shaw and seeking higher authority might be the less confrontational way to go with this.

 

[57]

Here are the procedures for buying/selling - it's for Rogers, but it's the same for Shaw. Good Luck.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=64632

http://www.digitalhome.ca/2011/05/buying-a-used-cable-set-top-box-in-canada/

 

[vardigital]

success

just wanted to update this thread.

shaw was actually very helpful in this matter. I explained to them about the reluctance of the original owner in releasing the portal and my fear of this being stolen equipment. They were very persistent in trying to contact the owner. I also sent a very threatening phone call to the person i bought the portal from stating that shaw was made aware that if this issue wasnt resolved I would assume this equipment was being sold illegally and I would pursue police action.
Sure enough the next day shaw followed up and called that the portal had been released and was added to my account. They had mentioned that they had charged the original account holder for the portal, i'm not sure exactly how much or what they charged him with, but i'm thinking it was that plus my threatening phone call that got him to do in one day what he wouldn't do in several weeks.

I should've mentioned to shaw that he was also selling a gateway and another portal but that didnt seem my concern at the time. Perhaps I should report him to Kijiji but he seems to be the original owner selling his equipment only very lazy to release it.

Bottom line like others have mentioned in this thread is the check that the serial is free for transferal to a new account. I like how a previous poster mentioned that he would actually call from the persons house before handing over the money. I did check with a tech at shaw with the serial number and one did ok it and recorded it to my account saying it was good to go. But when my installer came the next day and told me that the portal had not been released, i phoned shaw back and another tech said that the serial number had been recorded but was not released. Bottom line I think i will stick to buying new if i can; but the prices dont seem to be coming down

Thanks to all who posted and messaged me regarding the matter. Your help was very much appreciated.

 

[Jetranger]

Glad to hear our suggestions and input helped and that you are now up and running alright. Thanks for the update as many posters forget to share how things turn out after asking for advice.

Cheers.