so, long story short: i bought a Pixel 6a to replace my broken 5a. i bought said phone from Amazon, “refurbished and UNLOCKED,” needless to say: it was not unlocked; in fact, it was locked by VERIZON.

i call Verizon, hoping for a miracle, wondering if they’ll unlock it: they won’t.

i start #googling and find a few “unlock” sites; all of which seem very shady, so i look at reviews, forum posts, etc. and finally come acorss one that, according to #SOME people “had good luck with”; the site is “The Unlocking Company.”

i give this “company” my imei number, make/model/carrier, and $27: they say they’ll have an “unlock code” and “instructions” to me within the next 72 hours.

so the burning question for this community is:

WILL THEY UNLOCK THE PHONE?

i am strongly inclined to think they will either 1) never get back to me or 2) say they can’t unlock the phone and give me a partial refund

bets? and has anyone ever tried this before, any luck?

    • buru@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      10 months ago

      unsure what i’m looking at; i input the IMEI and it takes me to a cart-esque page with checkout options; how do i tell if it’s “clean”

      • random65837@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        10 months ago

        Its clean, it wants you to purchase a plan for it. Do you know anybody on Verizon? Putting a Verizon SIM in that and letting it connect to the network MAY unlock it.

        Verizon auto unlocks phones after 60 days when theyre paid for, I’m not sure if that would be noticed right away, or if it would need to be on an acct for that long, its long shot, return is probably still best but worth a shot if you know somebody crazy enough to be a VZ customer and have access to an active SIM.

        • buru@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          2·
          10 months ago

          my in-laws, lol.

          will try that and see. still waiting on that unlock company to get back to me, as well. ultimately i feel like i will end up returning the phone, wanted to go for a quick fix though. we’ll see what happens.