I bought a mobile phone listed as brand new and unopened and received a potentially illegal item

[nobspe-0]

I bought a phone listed as brand new and unopened and received a potentially illegal item. The phone is the property of an NHS organisation, is "not private" and is controlled by NHS admin, according to what it told me when I switched it on for the first time. That is a government organisation and this seller has sold me what I believe to be an illegal item.

I bought this phone as a replacement for my current one which has recently died, and I used guest checkout to purchase it. How do I contact an agent by email or chat? eBay customer service robot is useless. I keep telling it I need to speak to an agent by chat or by email, and it keeps telling me that an agent will call me on the phone. For obvious reasons I can't accept phone calls at the moment. What can I do?

[**peaseblossom**]

Here's how to claim as guest buyer:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/returns-refunds/returning-item/returning-items-bought-guest?id=40...

[nobspe-0]

I've already tried that. It says it's too early to start a return bought with a guest account, as the item only arrived this morning. I will need to return the item for a refund as soon as possible, but for now I need to report this item and this seller to eBay for potentially illegal activity. I've just bought a phone listed as "new and unopened" but found that it belongs to a government agency, and I just plugged my SIM card into it before I switched it on and found that out.

So obviously I have to report this for legal reasons, and eBay is not making this possible. The chat robot is useless as I've explained, and I can't seem to contact an eBay agent any other way.

[**peaseblossom**]

We only have callback at the moment.    Do you know someone whose phone you could use?  

[nobspe-0]

No, not at the moment. If you're saying I can't even email eBay about this in any other way then that's pretty poor from eBay. This needs to be reported now.

[nobspe-0]

Can the appropriate eBay agent email me about this please seeing as you've made it impossible for me to email you or contact you in any other way? I have to report this immediately. I have all the order information.

[tressygirl]

There is no email facility for eBay that they can answer to, it's a Call Back option which is usually a few minutes wait.  However,  if it's just reporting this as an item which should not have been sold being NHS property I would suggest calling only very first thing tomorrow morning when the lines first open at 8 a.m. as there's more chance of Dublin answering  and understanding the matter.

This is the easiest and quickest way to contact eBay Customer Services, for a Call Back option.

 https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

Lines open between 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays.

9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends.

I recommend contacting CS very first thing in the morning, when the lines first open,  as there's more chance of Dublin answering.

@nobspe-0 

[nobspe-0]

I haven't got a phone. Please re-read my posts. This seller has sold me an item that is apparently the property of a government organisation. I need to report that now. There must be another way to do it rather than over the phone, because I do not have a phone. I just bought a new one because of that problem, and the phone I received is the phone that I suspect is illegal. I can't use it at all. It's locked out, and controlled by NHS IT admin.

[*vyolla*]

You'll need to open an eBay item not described return tomorrow.

[nobspe-0]

That is my intention, seeing as I seem to have absolutely no other option. But as I plugged my SIM card into this, I need to report it to the police as well according to the NHS website: https://reportfraud.cfa.nhs.uk/

I really think eBay needs to email me immediately. I've been able to contact the seller about the item and informed them that this is what I will be doing.

[*vyolla*]

It's possible that the seller is unaware of this, or has bought a job lot of old NHS phones that just haven't been restored correctly (which wouldn't be unlikely).

It doesn't matter if you put your SIM card in it, it's really not an issue that the Police will be interested in.

[nobspe-0]

Possibly, but I am not at liberty to take your word on that.

[*vyolla*]

---

@nobspe-0 wrote:

Possibly, but I am not at liberty to take your word on that.

---

Put your mind at rest by checking with your local Police station.