Add your feedback on gadget recycler Cex

simples23

Tend to agree with what everyone else has already said, they do tend to grade phones lower than their true condition so they can buy them cheaper and sell higher! I remember trying to trade in a brand new (box still sealed so they seen me open it for the first time) Nokia E71 "3" gave me as an upgrade. They tried saying it was a refurb and they'd only grade it a "B"! I showed the invoice etc, it was brand spanking new and completely immaculate...I do not know where they got refurb from!

Ended up selling on eBay.

I think Gordon Gekko is their CEO.....For CEX, Greed is good.

AndrewMy

After reading many reports, mostly bad, on various forums I went to the CEX store in Bristol on Saturday morning with a not small amount of trepidation to try and sell 5 Blackberry handsets.

When i got to the store (about 9.30am) we were seen immediately, which was a surprise, the guy who took the phones in to be checked was friendly enough and seemed to know what he doing. The process was smooth enough, i was given a receipt for everything and asked to come back in an hour and a half.

Upon coming back, and a very small wait, we were seen by somebody else, and then it all started to go wrong.

The assistant went and got all the items left with them, then spent about 15 mins scanning them and typing huge amounts of information into her computer.

We were then offered a price that was about what i expected, a much higher value for a credit note, but told that they didnt have the cash in the store to pay me, so i could either have the store credit note, or come back another day and start the whole process again.

So far, this process had taken

A 45 minute drive (including City Centre Parking)
A 90 min wait in Broadmead waiting for my phones to be checked
A 20 min wait while they typed War and Peace into the EPOS system

I asked to see the manager, and when HE came over and commenced into a very well rehearsed speech about the problems they faced with cash in cash out (while alternating between gazing into the distance, or trying to stare me out) it was obvious this is not an isolated event for CEX and their customers.

My argument was that when they took my items in to be checked, they should have indicated then that they would be unable to make a cash payment.

It was then suggested that we leave all the phones there and email the store regularly to see if they had enough cash at various intervals over the next 14 days!!!! Obviously my wife and I have nothing better to do than chase them up - like work?

At this point, when I said ok, we'll forget about it, and give me my phones back, they miraculously found enough cash - what a surprise!!!!

I have to assume therefore, that this is standard ploy to encourage you to take store credit, and would advise you to stand your ground if cash is what you're after - the store was quite busy, and raised voices will obviously influence other customers waiting.

---

I also need to get off my chest my how impressed I was with most of the male staffs choice in nail varnish, both Sparkly Pink and Luminous green, and all over the store a dazzling array of facial piercings

pEst410

I recommend you save yourself from wasting your time with this company, and I hope MSE remove it from their lists soon.

I took a phone to them that reading the description on their website, was somewhere between A and B condition. For A they should give me £36, for B £25 and for C, which is pretty much broken, it would be £17. I would take £25 for it.

I returned the next day to see how they had valued it and they said it failed the test on the speaker for it being too quiet (lie, the phone was working perfectly). He then proceeded to call to it and repeat 'hello, hello' with a very quiet voice in a shop with music blasting to prove his point.

He offered only £15 for it, which is even lower than the lowest value listed online, claiming he took £2 for the speaker "problem".

I took it back and will sell on eBay instead just out of principle so I don't deal with crooks.

outwar6010

i bought a dodgy galaxy s back in december that keeps restarting and erasing ALL MY DATA like ever month or so. went back to the goodge street branch today explaining the problem guy took the phone for about 10 mins and tells me because he couldnt replicate it theres nothing wrong with it what a !!!!! im NEVER buying anything from there EVER again.

suee_3

Have iPhone 3G 8GB to trade in. As far as I can tell I complied with their Good category (bordering on better than that) - no real wear and tear (one crack on rear, not long, from syncing point), original box with charger, instructions and earphones. Requested paid for package to send it, package came with a sticky label but postage was not paid for me. I paid for special delivery just in case.

I had requested that if they wouldn't honour their offer (£120) that they return the phone to me. Phone was sent back by return of post with no indication of why. There's nothing on my account on their website to tell me why either. Will try for a refund of my postage... Wouldn't recommend them or bother with them again.

RoxyK

suee wrote: »

Have iPhone 3G 8GB to trade in. As far as I can tell I complied with their Good category (bordering on better than that) - no real wear and tear (one crack on rear, not long, from syncing point), original box with charger, instructions and earphones. Requested paid for package to send it, package came with a sticky label but postage was not paid for me. I paid for special delivery just in case.

I had requested that if they wouldn't honour their offer (£120) that they return the phone to me. Phone was sent back by return of post with no indication of why. There's nothing on my account on their website to tell me why either. Will try for a refund of my postage... Wouldn't recommend them or bother with them again.

The crack would have marked the phone C condition minimum, if that I'm afraid. B grade really means very lightly scratch and def. no cracks.

I recycled my phone with them last year and they downgraded it from A to B which I wasn't best impressed with at the time, though payment was quick. I did it online.

This time they're prices even for C cat are higher than Mazuma which are fab so I will chance them again. I have had no trouble in store with them either and happily sold them my MacBook.

thepurplegoldfish

I have both experience with CEX as a seller and a buyer (neither of them good).

As a Seller.

I took in a brand new phone it was 1 day old, it'd bought the wrong phone on PAYG and the P4U wouldn't exchange it, anyways CEX website said for a 'Grade A' they'd offer £60, when I got to the shop they said it was 'Grade A' and asked whether I wanted cash or credit, I said cash, they looked at it and said it needed testing and to come back in 30 mins on my return however they deemed the phone to be 'Grade B'! which was £45, the phone was BRAND SPANKING NEW! I showed them the receipt from the day before they said that was irrelevant and they could only offer the £45 and during the 30 minutes I'd been away they'd run out of money so could only offer a credit note. COWBOYS!

As a Buyer.

I decided to give CEX a try when it came to buying a product, thinking there wouldn't be the whole carry on I had a few months previous when it came to selling.

I bought a HTC Desire in Jan '11 and it developed an intermittent fault, the web browser would keep closing and erasing my bookmarks. I took it back to CEX, the 'assistant' (I use this term very very loosely) played with it for approx. 2 mins, if that, as the the phones INTERMITTENT fault didn't happen during these 2 minutes they pretty much said 'tough', not our problem, phone HTC.

I wouldn't buy from them again, nor would I try to sell to them again. Customer Service is 'lacking' <--- That's the politest way I could put that.

P.s The mobile I bought by mistake at P4U, I sold for the full retail price (less £5) via Gumtree and the in relaion to the faulty HTC, HTC diagnosed the fault, repaired the phone and returned it in 4 days. (It was a problem with the motherboard, HTC said retailers had been made aware and that it should have been sorted in house)

thepurplegoldfish

verybigchris wrote: »

I used to shop in CEX quite regularly, but I had to stop going in because of the smell. I've found it reeks of stale sweat and body odour, as well as other things that the forum's word-filter probably won't let me post :silenced:

I thought it must just be my local store, but if you put "CEX smell" into Google you'll find it's pretty widespread.

So in future I'll take my business to people who wash.

Our CEX stinks too! The smell - I'm sure it's the staff, they all look as though they've just crawled out of a skip, at lest the one by me. You know what else annoys me about the place - The God Awful 'Music' and it's played at a deafening level.

Abbafan1972

I have used them a few times, as both a seller and a buyer. Generally they have been ok apart from a couple of occasions.

I traded in a Nokia N95 and I knew it was a grade A, but it got graded as a B, the assistant said that there was a mark on the camera lens, which I knew was untrue. I still accepted the price though, as I couldn't be bothered with all the scammers on Ebay.

I traded some games and a couple of blu-ray discs. One of them was "Hancock" 2 disc version with digital copy. When I left the shop and checked the receipt, it was on there as "Hancock - w/o digital copy". I didn't bother going back and complaining though.

We bought an Iphone from them ages ago and had no problems though. The phone has since been sold on.

spacegrego

I posted a phone to them three weeks ago and have heard nothing. Can't even find any way of chasing them. Any ideas anyone??
The letter I have says I can track the progress of my order on the website but there doesn't seem to be a link anywhere. It also says to use my order number at the top of the letter in any correspondence but there is no number on the letter!!!!!

Am beginning to doubt I will ever see my money...