FRP on refurbished phone?

[Cerebra]

Hi folks, just looking to pick your brains over an issue we're having here. More so I want to confirm my suspicion before going back to EE with it (our network provider and device supplier).

We have an S7 Edge here that a user had been provided with as a replacement for her S6. This phone was provided by EE and we were told it was a refurbished phone. The user had no issues using this phone. The user has now left us and in doing so handed her phone to a developer in my office. He took it upon himself to reset the phone, doing so via the bootloader reset. 

Upon returning to the office I was informed of this and discovered FRP was active on the phone. Not thinking anything of it, I used the details for the account the user who'd left was using. To my surprise and horror, this didn't work. I have tried absolutely everything and this particular Google account is DEFINITELY the one she used. 

Is it possible, with this device being a refurb, that it can only be unlocked via the very first google account it was activated with back before it was refurbished by EE?

Otherwise I am absolutely out of ideas.. 

[TracyR]

Hey @Cerebra,

The FRP lock is linked the account that was on the phone before it was reset, this can only be removed either by entering the details or by taking the phone and the original proof of purchase to one of the Samsung Stores for it to be flashed.

[Cerebra]

Thanks for your reply Tracy. We're a bit lost as to why it's not working in this case. We've even gone as far as having the phone tell us it is the correct Google account by going through "I forgot my email" and using the sim card still in the phone which came with the phone to receive the security text message, sure enough it told us it was c********n@gmail.com and we used the correct password but then it throws us straight back out with "Please sign in using one of the owners accounts for this device". We're at a loss, the phone itself has confirmed it's the correct email address and the user has confirmed not only is it her sole gmail account but she never actually uses it so she'd have no reason to use any other. So we're left with no option but to contact Samsung in regards to this I guess?  Very disappointing security feature, it's left a staff member in a large charity with no phone now for over a week 😞

[TracyR]

I appreciate that it's a very frustrating situation and hope you get it sorted asap! Have you reached out to the Google accounts team directly as they may be able to reset the password or be able to assist in some way?

If this doesn't solve the issue then I'd advise heading to a Samsung Store with the proof of purchase to get the phone flashed.