Bought a stolen iPad from CEX

chubsta

In short, as the title says - I traded a few bits in and paid the balance on credit card towards an iPad from CEX in my local town on Friday. The Police have just been on the phone - it turns out that it was stolen. I now have to take the iPad into the local station tomorrow morning, which i don't have an issue with at all, no reason why the original owner should suffer.

So, I am a few items and £150 down as a result! I have checked the Sale of Goods Act which states that the seller of the goods must have title to them, which in this case regardless of whether CEX made proper checks etc or not (and according to the Police it wasn't exactly crime of the century as the person went in with their passport etc when it was sold to them) they clearly did not, so are in breach. I guess from a legal point of view it is a pretty open and shut case, however, what are my chances of getting either my money and traded-in items back, or a replacement iPad? Will CEX accept responsibility for selling me stolen goods and try to sort it amicably, or am i likely to have a fight on my hands? Will the fact I paid the balance between the value of my traded in items and the cost of the iPad on my Credit Card help me?

Any and all advice on getting this sorted as soon as possible would be appreciated!

visidigi

Just go into CEX on the way in to the police and see them. They should sort you out, this wont be the first time this has happened.

bluenoseam

What did the police say with regards to the situation? I would be surprised if they are telling you to be out of pocket without any advice as to how to get the situation rectified!

Problem with the proper checks is that ultimately they're the proper checks at THAT time - depending on the service they use they may be updated if the situation changes, but that's depending on times as well. So for example it could've been that person traded the iPad in at say 10am for sake of a time, you buy it at 1pm, person reports that ipad stolen at 2pm - CEX don't stand a chance. Best bet is to liase with CEX as to your rights to a refund, ultimately though someone's going to be left "out of pocket" temporarily & I'm willing to bet CEX will do anything to avoid it being them. (Despite the fact they really should be the ones out of pocket as they'll simply reclaim the loss from either insurance or the courts)

What I will say is that chances of getting your products that you'd traded in back are minimal, unless they have a licensing agreement in place requiring them to keep items an agreed time after trading in. (I know in one such place I worked in was Gamestation years ago where things had to be "held" for 48 hours before they could be processed & sold)

Fingers crossed you get a good outcome.

timbstoke

If you hand the iPad into the police and then head along to CEX with a story of "The iPad was stolen, the Police have seized it, please refund", I can see you having a battle on your hands, since you won't have any evidence that the iPad you've handed over is the same one they sold you.

So first, take a note of the serial number etc of the iPad. Ideally, go directly to CEX and kick up a fuss with them before returning the iPad. They'll want to take the iPad back, but at least if you're still in possession of it you're in a stronger position, and you can call the non-emergency number directly from the store if you need to confirm details with the police.

If you can't get to CEX first, make sure you get a receipt from the Police, and that the receipt includes the serial number of the iPad rather than just saying "1 iPad". That puts you in a much stronger position, since CEX can look up the item they sold you and confirm that it's the same one the police confiscated. Also, make sure that if they refund you, you get the trade in price for the goods you traded in, not the cash price. After all, you DID trade in - they're the ones who ripped you off, and it's not right for you to be short changed because of it.

chubsta

well, that was a lot easier than expected!

Took the iPad into the Police station - the officer in charge of the case wasn't on duty so i couldn't get a crime number but they took it off me and gave me a reference.

i then went to CEX expecting the worst - went in, quickly explained to an assistant who called another guy over who said he had spoken to the Police the other day and knew all about it - he was very apologetic and explained to me that he could either give me store credit or arrange for another one to be delivered to me tomorrow as they didn't have one in stock at this particular store. I chose to get one delivered so lets hope all is well, but am very impressed with how it was handled, makes a nice change to actually get good customer service!

Valli

Well, the police aren't psychic - they must have got your details from CEX in the first place.

What does stink is that CEX could have contacted you as soon as they were aware of the issue, told you what they intended to do about it and saved you a lot of stress! IMO you're owed a HUGE apology from CEX. So not THAT good at customer service then!

RS2000.

Valli wrote: »

Well, the police aren't psychic - they must have got your details from CEX in the first place.

What does stink is that CEX could have contacted you as soon as they were aware of the issue, told you what they intended to do about it and saved you a lot of stress! IMO you're owed a HUGE apology from CEX. So not THAT good at customer service then!

The police probably told CEX not to contact the OP to prevent the loss of the iPad.

chubsta

Valli wrote: »

Well, the police aren't psychic - they must have got your details from CEX in the first place.

What does stink is that CEX could have contacted you as soon as they were aware of the issue, told you what they intended to do about it and saved you a lot of stress! IMO you're owed a HUGE apology from CEX. So not THAT good at customer service then!

Although i can see your point I'm afraid i would have to disagree - according to the police there was no way they could have known it was stolen at the point it was traded in which was only shortly before i bought it and they followed reasonable procedures in that they took full details of the person who traded it in. The Police did get my details from CEX to contact me but of course that was yesterday, and I went into CEX this morning for them to sort it out, which they did. Of course, I agree it is unlikely that they would have contacted me themselves but the way i was dealt with when i did go in was very good and i have no complaints.

chubsta

RS2000. wrote: »

The police probably told CEX not to contact the OP to prevent the loss of the iPad.

that would make sense - after all, i am sure there are people out there who would say they accidentally lost it on the way back from the store rather than hand it to the police!

chubsta

Replacement iPad arrived this morning through the post - very pleased with how it turned out!

RS2000.

chubsta wrote: »

that would make sense - after all, i am sure there are people out there who would say they accidentally lost it on the way back from the store rather than hand it to the police!

And potentially commit the offence of handling.