Add your feedback on gadget recycler Cex

Acewilts

Further to my post on Monday Re: CEX Swindon. They offered £75 to me by phone after their shop closed - insisted my iphone 4S phone was B Grade due to the "scratches" - although while I was there they said it was A Grade. When I said I had photographed the phone while I was there to prove its condition they changed their mind and said it was "the corners" that were scratched.
I told them thanks but I would sell the phone elsewhere. I rang yesterday and said I would come back to pick it up today and could they make sure it was the same IMEI number as the one I had left, as they had made me really paranoid with their determined attempts to say there was some sort of damage, they then said oh well we wouldn't have bought it anyway we have JUST noticed it is "water damaged!"
Maybe the fact I am new to selling a mobile stuck out a mile but I just can't believe this - within the space of three days they have offered me £82 then knocked it down to £75 then when I say I want it back they say its got water damage! I asked if the phone still worked as it did when I left it - the guy said oh yes it is working fine, but said one of the water damage indicators was "pink". It wasn't when I left it.
I made the 50 mile round trip, (groan!) and got my phone back! (the guy actually apologised for his staff saying there were scratches that he now admitted didn't exist). I have thoroughly examined the phone - with a head-torch on to be sure- seriously! And both indicators are clearly white, although there was a bit of fluff in the earphone jack where the indicator is. Maybe CEX Swindon just need better lights so they can actually tell if something is pink or not! Totally weird experience,but perhaps I was just unlucky! Bit nervous to try again somewhere else - maybe I should take my dad's head-torch with me next time!:)

Metarie

Just traded in my unlocked Nexus 4 at CeX Wimbledon. They asked me to wait an hour, but this wasn't a problem as I expected this and went there first on getting into town. Told the chap about the minor scratches on the screen. When I went back I had a very pleasant young lady who told me they would give me full price listed on the website for the phone - over double any offer from Mazuma etc. even with the small scratches. Really easy and pleasant transaction and would definitely use again. Worth mentioning that mine had box, charger etc. and would have been very easy to resell.

verg70

Recently bought a stereo from them for £230. Everything seemed fine, got a tracking number the next day. Turns out they have sent my stereo to the wrong person and the wrong address. Now I have no stereo and no money and no reply to my emails.

I would definitely stay away.

If anyone has any ideas of how to get my money back, that would be appreciated

grumbler

Chargeback - if you paid by a card.

• Visa, Mastercard & Amex Chargeback

verg70

Ahh, that then leads to the next problem. I part paid using a voucher. So I could get half the money back, but not the other half.

This is so disappointing. I only sold the other bits to put towards the stereo, so now the voucher is useless to me, if I ever get it back.

grumbler

You can try claiming the rest via the SCC, although I don't know how it works for vouchers.

• Small Claims Court

verg70

Thanks for the help, I'll give them another week as it's only been a week and if they still don't respond, then I'll see what the SCC has to say.

Cheers

mobilejunkie

Send a Letter Before Legal Proceedings giving them 7 days to pay up and informing them that you will immediately commence legal proceedings to recover the value paid, plus court fees, incidental costs and statutory interest if you don't receive the payment (if you used one of their vouchers you would have to accept a new voucher for the same value, or £ plus voucher).

darkmatter280

I don't think you understand what constitutes being a 'crook'. They didn't rip you off in any way. You assumed your phone was fine but they didn't think it was good enough to sell and so gave it back to you...nothing dodgy there whatsoever. They simply didn't want your phone. Not in any way the behaviour of a crook. If you offered me your phone and I said 'provided it meets my standards I'll give you 30 quid for it' then decided I wasn't happy with how it worked and opted not to buy the phone - I haven't done anything wrong. There was no contract in place and I just didn't want to buy it and I'm allowed to do that. I agree with a lot of complaints about CEX but yours isn't really fair.

grumbler

darkmatter280 wrote: »

I don't think you understand what constitutes being a 'crook'. ...

Who are you addressing? The last time word 'crooks' was used in this thread was about 2 years ago.

That said, like the majority of other similar companies, they show inflated prices on the website to lure you, but almost never honour them whatever good condition the actual phone is in.