legalities - found iphone

I found a 3GS in Tesco a while back on a stack of Carling crates. Incidentally, I'd seen a guy walking out with crates of Carling on my way in.

I assumed the same guy owned the phone and this was confirmed when he called it and I arranged to meet up with him at Tesco about 20 minutes later. No reward (although he was understandably thankful), but at least he didn't lose out.

Colleague of OP = a bit of a spong TBH.
 
dmpoole said:
I started a thread about this when it happened but my youngest daughter found an IPhone at Leeds festival and for 48 hours people only texted the phone and we couldn't get into it.
I waited and waited for somebody to actually ring it but I suppose I was asking for a miracle.
After about 50 texts & Facebook messages I thought the owner must be a dick so I hovered over the program that would make it mine but a text came in off the Dad pleading for his daughter to get in touch.
That hit my parental conscience so I waited until a really stupid Facebook name come up and did a search.
I eventually found the girl who had facebook'd that she'd lost her phone and set about messaging her and at least 25 of her friends but still no answer.
Around midnight I got an old person who obviously knew the old method of speaking to someone and it was her Dad from the USA.
He passed messages on but I only got texts for 2 hours which I can't reply to.
Eventually her Uncle who knows how to speak to people rang up and we gave him an address where she could pick it up.
She arrived, forgot to bring a reward, begged my daughter to lend her £10 to get home and she would send it on.
We've heard nothing and my daughter has learnt a lesson.
I really wish I had pressed OK when I had the chance to.
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That goes to show the sense of entitlement that some people in the country have. It's rather sad, you did what morally was right to do and ended up out of pocket.

In hindsight you should have let her use the phone to get someone to come around with the reward and the tenner... but it's always easy in hindsight.
 
Even if it is blocked in the UK it can still be used abroad, that is what a lot of theives do. Steal and then just sell on for a quick profit.
 
AHarvey said:
Hi all,

One of the retards at work found a new iPhone 4 in the street.

He turned it on and it had loads of texts offering a reward if found etc.

But he's said he is keeping it.

Is he breaking any laws by keeping it? Everyone is saying he should hand it back but he is set on keeping it despite hating apple products!
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Yes he is breaking the law and if he is stopped and searched later in the future the police have the right to check the imei number.

If it has been reported stolen he could get into a lot of trouble.

Its not worth it.

I found a Nokia 6220 walking by an estate. I phoned the last dialed number and it was the persons friend. they came in the car and picked it up and called his mate who was 2mins around the corner.

They bought me a pint.
 
passepartout said:
That interesting why do you say that,the reason I ask is because the eldest has just got an iphone and is looking for insurance.
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I did the Geek Squad one through Carphone Warehouse. Got me a brand new 3G when I accidentally smashed mine. It's around £11 a month.
 
passepartout said:
That interesting why do you say that,the reason I ask is because the eldest has just got an iphone and is looking for insurance.
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They have very large excesses. They have payout limits that are lower than the cost of the phone. They exclude anything seen as negligence.

It's 6 months since I looked at them so I can't be exactly specific, but I looked through the T&C for (I think) 6 policies and although there were different T&Cs even the best of them was poor.

Add to that it was very difficult to get hold of the companies and when I did a search on their names I found forum posts going on about how claims had been refused, and premium rate numbers, long hold times, etc.
 
IceBus said:
I did the Geek Squad one through Carphone Warehouse. Got me a brand new 3G when I accidentally smashed mine. It's around £11 a month.
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I had a quick look at it. Assuming my phone is the most expensive banding then it's going to cost £250 in premiums for the 18 months of my contract. My phone cost £450 new. It isn't worth more than half of the cost of it new for insurance.

If I lose it half way through I could get a replacement, likely, for £200. Phones are only cutting edge for a short time.

If I lose it I also lose the £80 SD card inside it which I'd have to buy myself. plus pay an excess.

So if I lose it I'm out £390 - SD card, excess, insurance, and all for a phone I could replace for less than that which costs less than £500 including the SD card.

Not to mention for me personally my earphones are £470.
 
Your friend is an outright thief.

Get the phone from him and call the number stored as "Home" or "Mum" or "Dad" then arrange to return it. If it's locked or you can't work out the owner, take it to the police station.

Its IMEI could be blacklisted from use in the UK, on the majority of phones it's possible to change the IMEI, but I don't know if it can be on the iPhone. Most stolen phones are simply sold abroad.
 
Used to have insurance on my phone, primarily started when I was at university in 00-03 and it wasn't as expensive then (think at some point it was included in my plan and otherwise it was a fiver a month).

But then the only time i lost my phone, I thought i'd left it on the train but couldn't remember (was drunk) and since I still had a decent phone left from before (I had an SPV and the phone i lost was the next model) I couldn't be bothered to jump through the hoops to claim on insurance.

Anyway I phoned up orange to ask them to send me a new sim card and they were trying to get me to report it to police and claim on the insurance. Said I couldn't be bothered and I had my old phone to use etc and eventually the guy said, its coming up on my screen that we can replace your phone for free anyway as you've been a good customer for a few years..presumably why he was so keen for me to claim on insurance.

Cancelled my insurance pretty soon after that but have a phone from work these days so don't have to worry about it.
 
I know someone who found an iPhone 3GS 32GB almost new, and now uses it like its his (constantly checking Facebook etc), annoying to say the least, because he thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread.

But yeah, I would personally hand it over to your nearest police station.
 
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