AT&T retailer accused of pawning used Nokias as new

Notice that your freshly-purchased N75 smells more like a week-old head of cabbage than a bundle of brand new plastic, glue, and circuitry? That's gross, and no, we don't want to touch it (seriously, get that thing away from us). Turns out you may not be alone, though -- a new class-action suit filed in federal court alleges that CommClub, an independent retailer in California, was selling used Nokias for AT&T's network as brand new devices. For whatever reason, AT&T and Nokia are also named as defendants in the suit, though we're not sure exactly what role they played in CommClub's potentially nefarious dealings; at any rate, the class is looking to bring home some bacon for "injuries" suffered as a result of the bait-and-switch. You're going to go smell your N75 now, aren't you?

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ Jul 16th 2008 5:01PM]

Gotta love the cigar. Shows "class-act". hehehe...

[rock99rock @ Jul 16th 2008 5:19PM]

Looks like Smokey from "Smokey and the Bandit". In disco attire.

[OneLove @ Jul 16th 2008 5:49PM]

You could probably charge most carriers with this. (just spray some "new phone" scent on it)

[aanidaani @ Jul 17th 2008 8:02AM]

Looks like an older Roman from GTA IV.

[Rainier @ Jul 16th 2008 5:03PM]

He looks like he could be a character from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jul 16th 2008 5:09PM]

definately!

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jul 16th 2008 5:04PM]

Great pic!

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Jul 16th 2008 5:08PM]

That is one funny pic. Makes me think this is like a pic Consumerist would use.

[Kaiser-Machead @ Jul 16th 2008 5:18PM]

Un....Uncle Angelo?????

[Derek @ Jul 16th 2008 5:20PM]

Guys, they use the pic all the time...

[wrabbit @ Jul 16th 2008 5:24PM]

First time I see it

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 16th 2008 5:25PM]

Im surprised. Usually new york city is infamous for these unscrupulous business owners.

[kjb434 @ Jul 16th 2008 5:28PM]

That's why you should only go to the store owned by the carrier and not the independents.

Going outside the carrier store should only happen to get unlocked phones that you can't get from the carrier.

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ Jul 16th 2008 5:46PM]

PWN3D!!

[deyanimay @ Jul 16th 2008 7:22PM]

such as the nokia n75.

[Sora @ Jul 16th 2008 5:37PM]

Rofl, epic pic.

[o29 @ Jul 16th 2008 7:35PM]

Yes, 500x397 is quite large...

[mark @ Jul 16th 2008 5:55PM]

so this guy was independent att dealer selling junk phones, does not mean all of them are shady ive been dealing with an rogers Dependant for years and havent gotten ripped off yet( rogers is the one ripping off people)

[Todd @ Jul 16th 2008 6:27PM]

What!?!? AT&T are a bunch of low rent, "wanna buy a watch?" crooks, from the lowest store salesman, all the way up to the board of Directors?

No way!

[The Dude @ Jul 16th 2008 6:31PM]

While AT&T doesn't deserve to be defended, as they are with the Dark Side, it behooves you to R.T.F.A.

[Andrew @ Jul 16th 2008 9:18PM]

That may be, but the article was only talking about an independent retailer of theirs.

[clysher @ Jul 16th 2008 6:34PM]

At&t sold me a used phone as new, and when I returned it they just opened another phone box and gave me the new phone and put the old one in the box. The phone they gave me had about 15 numbers saved on the phone already, two of which were friends of mine, lol. It is fairly obvious that these guys do not give a crap.

[AlphaTeam @ Jul 16th 2008 6:50PM]

This is why I buy unlocked phones in a sealed box.

[majortom @ Jul 16th 2008 7:35PM]

uhh .... in 1969 I bought a carton of Cool cigarettes with the seal unbroken and the ATF stamp on the bottom of each pack. The only "problem" was that each and every cigarette was hand packed with great dope. Vietnam was not all bad.....

[RC @ Jul 16th 2008 8:07PM]

Post a link to a Gizmodo story as a comment on Engadget?
Are you insane?

[roberto luongo @ Jul 16th 2008 8:59PM]

you know, i could post the following comment on any story and it would still be relevant (and funny):

i was trying to see this on my new iphone but it wouldn't load.

we are such tools of Steve Jobbs and his stupid iphone.

and while i'm at it, i am not a microsoft fanboy. i hate microsoft fanboys. and apple fanboys. there is no rite answer to the microsoft vs apple. different ppl have different needs. If you are just doing email and word processing then you need windows. if you are doing graphic design and stuff, then you need apple. apples are wayyy overpriced for what most people use them for. and ipods work fine on windows. if you have itunes. did i mention what tools we are of steve jobbs?

[SeditioN VII @ Jul 16th 2008 8:45PM]

Thanks for the worthless banter. WTF does it have to do with ANYTHING? So your iPhone doesn't load the page. Move along then.

[Madison @ Jul 16th 2008 9:53PM]

I had a T-Mobile corporate store sell me a used shadow, I kinda thought it was fishy when there wasn't any plastic on the phone and the sales rep insisted on "setting up" the phone when it was only an upgrade and I had my old sim card to put in. I got home and was playing around with it and saw pictures of somebody elses living room and I was like FTW?!

I took it back the next day and the guy told me that yes it was a return and argued with me when I asked for a new sealed one and insisted that I payed $200 (1yr upgrade price with a $50 mail in rebate, so actually $150) for a new phone, not a used one.

What pissed me off most was that there is a memory wipe/ reset to factory shipped ROM function on all HTC phones and they weren't even smart enough to do that before they sold me someone elses phone. I did it myself in the store to clear all my personal data, and I also cut out the serial number panel and gave them a paper copy so they wouldn't try to pawn it off on anyone else.

[allan @ Jul 17th 2008 3:12PM]

You were like FTW? Really?

[Madison @ Jul 17th 2008 9:56PM]

Verbatim

[Datharo @ Jul 16th 2008 10:03PM]

This has happened to a few people I know. This is why I never go in store for anything, unless it's for accessories.

[OM @ Jul 16th 2008 11:31PM]

Why is this a class action lawsuit? This is something that could be easily handled in small claims court. And instead of getting back the cost of the phone, the original plaintiff will now get a $10 voucher toward any accessory in an ATT store.

[allenvanhellen @ Jul 17th 2008 12:36AM]

What do you expect from a provider with commercials that imply coverage in Europe when everyone at least moderately informed knows it's just (expensive) roaming agreements?

[Madison @ Jul 17th 2008 12:53AM]

Well, considering the other carriers tend to have even more expensive roaming agreements and that half of the US carriers' phones wont even work in 80% of the rest of the world (I'm talking CDMA here guys)...

Besides, this article is about AT&T third party resellers.

[solarbuddy @ Jul 17th 2008 2:04AM]

C'mon, Engadget, get your diction straight. When one "pawns" something, it is deposited as collateral against a loan. What you meant to write was, "AT&T retailer accused of pawning *off* used Nokias as new." To "pawn off" does, in fact, imply an intent to deceive and defraud. And how can I be the 32nd commenter on this and nobody else caught it? Huh? HUH???

Yes, I *am* the diction-dude . . .

[aanidaani @ Jul 17th 2008 8:03AM]

Looks like an older Roman from GTA IV.

[Aanidaani @ Jul 17th 2008 8:04AM]

Looks like an older Roman from GTA IV.

[Silverfrog @ Jul 17th 2008 2:19PM]

If they sue this store, then they gotta sue Gamestop as well. Gamestop frequently sells people "new" games that have been removed from the box and stored in a sleeve so the box can be displayed. Only problem with selling games this way is that they aren't new/sealed--they are display models. Even more disturbing is that GS employees frequently play these games.

[VwX @ Jul 17th 2008 6:20PM]

AT&T sold a buddy a resealed apple headset, i bought a 2.5G iphone and apple could not find my serial number at all!!! A FAKE SERIAL FROM AT&T.... always selling used phones as new,,, even the corporate stores!!

[macserv @ Jul 18th 2008 12:13AM]

That picture makes it look like Roman Bellic is getting into used car sales.

[Drewba @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:28AM]

I work at a call center for a phone company I'm not at liberty to mention and I have to say...

1. If you think anything is wrong with your phone take it back in buyers remorse.

2. Shy away from indirect dealers.

This is partly because the phones that get returned in buyers remorse I often see that they were resold. The warranty doesn't transfer between phone lines once its entered into the system so in effect they are selling you a broken phone with no warranty after the 14 days.