I recently started with Sprint, and I opened two lines. A few days ago I was talking to a friend of a friend, he sold me his Mogul for $200, stating that he was moving back to a small town in Mexico and he couldn't get coverage over there.

It turns out, the guy had a past due balance on the account of something like $1,100! Sprint won't activate the phone for me until he pays that and I have no way of getting in touch with him (not that he'd pay it if I could). I know, I'm stupid for buying the phone without checking it first, but he seemed trustworthy at the time.

Do you guys have any suggestions? Anything I can say to Sprint? I called corporate and they said they won't help me. Is there any way to reprogram the phone on my end so it will work?

Anything would be appreciated.

you have to get the balance paid in full before you use the phone...period.... no other way...

Marctronixx, are you sure?

There has to be something, I can't be the first person this has happened to.

When I last spoke with someone from corporate they told me something about that when the person I bought it from's account goes into collections the phones would be let go because the service will be canceled. Does anybody know if this is true? Or how long it takes for an account to go into collection?

point is the phone is tied to an unpaid past due account. sprint usually wont release the phone. we have had people get phones off ebay with past due accounts and got screwed just as you did here.

anythings possible but i dont think there is much you can do...

Buying a used phone without checking if it has a "clear title" is like doing the same with a car. Some are stolen. My wife's was stolen, and I hope it shows up and get confiscated.