A digital lock on our smart phones makes the process difficult, but a law signed by President Obama allows for those phones to be unlocked with a code. Unfortunately, it proved difficult for a South Bay man.
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In an ideal world, unlocking the code to Tom Pinney's phone should have been easy. It wasn't.
The San Jose resident wanted to switch from AT&T to T-Mobile. AT&T gave him the unlock code, but T-Mobile told him the code didn't work.
Pinney went to a local AT&T store for assistance. The staff there couldn't help, so he went home.
"Got on the phone with AT&T support and was passed around in circles," Pinney recalled.
He eventually talked to a manager who promised him a replacement phone and a new code. "'Here's the unlock code.' Went back to T-Mobile. Tried it. Wouldn't work."
Apparently the model sent to him was so old, the carrier no longer serviced it.
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By now, two months had passed since Pinney asked to switch carriers. He contacted 7 On Your Side, and we contacted AT&T.
The company sent him a second replacement phone, but it still wouldn't work. Pinney's frustration reached a boiling point. "I'm tired. I'm done with this. Can't you just refund the money I paid for my phone?" Pinney wondered.
AT&T told us: "after working extensively with the device manufacturer, technical issues prevented us from successfully resolving this. We issued the customer a credit in the amount of the device."
Now, Pinney is a happy man.
Take a look at more stories and videos by Michael Finney and 7 On Your Side.