CEX - Cash Refund for Stolen Mobile Phone Bought

osxmaniac

Hi, newbie here.

Probably best you all read the timeline regarding my experience with CEX, any advice on how to get a cash refund rather than a voucher one would be appreciated.

• 27/12/18 - Traded in my iPhone 6s Plus for in-stock Huawei P20 Pro on EE so logically accepted a voucher with a higher value of £165.80 and paid the difference in cash of £174.20. Waited 4-hours for checks to be done on my device. All good, bought phone - everyone happy.

• 29/12/18 - Contacted EE to have device unlocked, advised they wouldn't as phone is stolen and with immediate effect blacklisted - killed device.

• 29/12/18 - Returned device with email from EE and obtained part cash/voucher refund as original device was not available and they refused a full cash refund. Fortunately an 'Unlocked' P20 Pro was available at another CEX (62 mile round trip) but I had to drive there at my expense. The supervisor at CEX implied it wouldn't have been blacklisted if I hadn't rung EE. Advised him that had they contacted EE like I had and given the IMEI number they wouldn't have been selling stolen goods to me. We asked a female supervisor if there was anything they could do to increase the voucher value because of the inconvenience and was confronted with "No, email customer services" before walking off.

• 29/12/18 - Arrived at other CEX store and was dealt with by chap who was polite, apologetic and more than helpful, even went so far as to contact EE to confirm the device I was buying from them was okay as it WASN'T unlocked as advised by the original store when they called Weymouth and coincidentally was also an EE phone. He reassured me it was good to go. We wouldn't have gone to Weymouth if we'd been told the device was in fact locked to EE.

• 08/01/19 - Phone network disconnected from device without warning. Went to EE store and they confirmed it's a blacklisted device AGAIN and again stolen. Received email from EE to confirm 'Stolen'. Cut my loses and signed up to a contract thus getting a phone that wasn't destined to be blocked.

I concluded my complaint email with:

I'm sure that if it was you you'd have the same concerns as me and because of my experiences both from staff and what you sell without suitable checks I've now taken a contract out with EE because I have lost any trust I had in CEX and I've been buying games for my son for years now from you. The service from my local CEX has been poor and although you do multiple checks on your devices, you don't do the most simple check of all and call the network to check it's okay - especially as new (£800) devices being sold to you should set off alarm bells.

I asked that under the circumstances they allow me a full cash refund of £340 instead of a part cash/part voucher. I understand their refund policy is to refund how it was paid however I sold my phone in good faith to them so I could have that phone specifically.

As it stands I have absolutely no use for a voucher and their reply to my email is that they won't entertain a cash refund but will give me a £10 GOOD WILL VOUCHER towards another phone???????????

Like i said, i traded my device in to them in good faith to have the P20 Pro, do i have a case for a cash refund or am i stuck with a voucher?

Thanks in advance.

marcarm

Refund to the method you paid, you didn't pay 100% cash so you can't have the full refund in cash.

Take the voucher and either sell it on, maybe you will be able to sell it for the value of the cash you would have got for your original phone, or they are valid for 1000 years(!) so I'm sure you will be buying an electrical item at some point, although after this experience you will probably not be buying from CEX.

DoaM

When selling the 6s Plus, why did you take vouchers rather than cash? Did they give you a higher payout for vouchers?

marcarm

DoaM wrote: »

When selling the 6s Plus, why did you take vouchers rather than cash? Did they give you a higher payout for vouchers?

CEX always give a higher exchange amount rather than a cash amount, completely random example for a 6s on their site at the moment

Cash value £86
Voucher value £118

Weeg_2

"reputable" high street shop selling stolen goods . Is this not an illegal practise ? Sorry just enquiring as to what happens next.

marcarm

Weeg wrote: »

"reputable" high street shop selling stolen goods . Is this not an illegal practise ? Sorry just enquiring as to what happens next.

It's very common, especially with CEX.

Someone gets an upgrade, and then sells the phone to CEX. They do all their checks and it comes back ok. A month or so later, the phone is then reported lost/stolen and the seller claims on their insurance, the phone gets blacklisted and the innocent purchaser ends up with a blacklisted phone.

I have bought things from CEX before, but phones is the one thing I would steer well clear of.

Weeg_2

Thank you marcarm ,, I didnt know this but im so glad you`ve made me aware it x

nyermen

To be fair to the stores, they do a check on some stolen database, but as you say, people wait a month and declare it stolen after upgrading.
My local store now asks to see the purchase receipt (if bought sim free) and they take a copy. If from a provider, they won't accept any phone thats less than 6 months old (and again, they ask to see the evidence).
Sounds like it's a more common issue than I realised.

davidmcn

Weeg wrote: »

"reputable" high street shop selling stolen goods. Is this not an illegal practise ?

Knowingly doing so is illegal, of course. But there are limits to what they can check.