Why is RIM sending me a New BB?
 

I've got a problem that I guess RIM is resolving, but I'm pretty new to the Blackberry universe and I'd just like a better understanding of the situation.
I got my unlocked BB 7290 off of EBay in December. I added the BB plan to my T-Mobile account, but couldn't get the data working. I went through tech. support at T-Mobile, but could never get the gprs in caps. Finally, T-Mobile went contacted RIM, and RIM did something---I was never told exactly what---which got it working. I then took an extended trip out of the country, and while I was gone I got rid of the BB plan so I wouldn't have to pay for it. I added it back when I got home, and had the same problem. I called T-Mobile again this week, and after a couple of troubleshooting steps, they again called RIM. I had a T-Mobile and a RIM support person on the phone at the same time. The T-Mobile person looked back at their old support notes, and in those notes it said that in December RIM had "updated me in the DWC." The RIM person said that he had never heard of "the DWC." Eventually, RIM called me back to say that they are going to send a new BB to one of their reps here, who will meet me and swap it for mine. They also wanted the name of the EBay seller who sold me the Blackberry. I'm just wondering if anyone can help me decipher what is going on here. How did RIM solve the problem the first time, and why can't they do it again? Was there something fishy about the BB I got from EBay? I went with a seller with a huge number of positive feedbacks.

Sounds fishy, very very fishy....

It may be, but it was unintentional on my part. I just found this forum today, but I was on HowardForums and asked for advice there. The impression that I got was that buying an unlocked unit on EBay was a perfectly normal, acceptable thing to do.

I wasn't referring to you, rather the seller. I'm guessing they asked for his eBay username so they could contact eBay with their concerns regarding the product he sold or the seller himself.

Possibly you have a prototype that wasn't supposed to be on the street and sold? Take a look at your IMEI (should be listed on a sticker under the battery, etc.) -- does it start with 00? A proto has a special IMEI with those digits.

ref:
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:...ent=googlet#16

Note '001' for North America as per the link above. Maybe this is why your phone is having issues? Also, I *bet* (I don't know, just making an educated guess) that RIM has test PIN numbers as well, which might actually be the data problem. Take a look at your PIN -- does it look fishy in any way (all the same digit, some impossible pattern like 012345, etc.)?

Could have been a reported stolen device that was disabled in RIM's infrastructure.

This sounds like the most likely scenario. Either this, or the problem is so unique that they want to examine the device.

No, the IMEI doesn't start with 00, and the PIN looks "random."

I think they meant BWC not DWC. (Assuming they are using the old term instead of the new term BIS)