CeX — Attraction in Great Britain

I never expected it to be such a massive hassle just to sell a laptop! I have sold old phones and a laptop previously there, on those occasions there was always a minor hiccup, but then I guess that usually comes with selling second hand electronics.

Last week I went into the George St branch to try and sell my laptop, they gave me a quote, however did not have the sufficient cash. Little bit annoying but that's not their fault. They do not do bank transfers there so advised me to go to the Brighton branch, which I was really trying to avoid because going into Brighton on a weekend is a living nightmare.

I reluctantly proceeded to go to their Brighton store, and somehow they could not get a quote for my laptop? Which I thought was very strange as the George St store managed to get a price there no problem. I offered to call them so that they could speak to them personally, but they were not having it. They then said it would be 20 minutes to call up and get a quote for the laptop, which was a big pain but I suppose it is what it is. I do give retailers the benefit of the doubt, having worked in retail for several years so I understand these things happen.

I came back and they managed to get a quote, which was a lot more than what the George St offered me. I was really chuffed with that, so I said I would take the cash. They also did not have the sufficient cash, so they set me up on a direct bank transfer. They said it would take about 2 hours to test! So presumptuously I'd have to come back in 2 hours time so they can let me know whether it passed or failed. Somehow I managed to kill 2 hours in Brighton, bearing in mind it was a Sunday and the shops were near to closing time!

I went back after 2 hours, and a different staff member served me and told me I did not have to wait 2 hours for the test! Which I was never told, and also I was never told that if the laptop failed the test, they would call my mob number or if it passed, they'd just email me. I didn't receive either of the two, until an hour later an email pinged through. The lack of communication is appalling! It took nearly all day on Sunday just to sell a damn laptop, which was my only day off last week! I did not anticipate spending my whole day being messed around by CeX. I would love my 2 hours of kill time back please!

Needless and unfortunately to say, I will not be returning...

DO NOT BUY TECH HERE. Bought a £750 gaming laptop from the online store in May and by November it was broken and unusable. I took it in-store and was told they'd either replace it with the same model or give me my money back. I asked for a replacement and stood there for about 10 minutes in their noisy (don't know why they play music that loud when there's lots of people in there talking at once and some customers such as myself have hearing impairments) and too-hot store while the staff member faffed about and had conversations with other staff about other issues when they were supposed to be helping me. I was then assured that the new laptop would be with me the next day. No-one explained to me that it might fall through or that if I was refunded I wouldn't get a full refund.

Next day I got a partial refund with no explanation, £90 less than I originally paid. £90 less than the same model goes for anywhere else. The replacement had fallen through and because the laptop broke ONE DAY past their stupid 6 months refund policy I wasn't entitled to a full refund. That is deeply unfair considering the fault with the laptop was nothing to do with me, and I would NEVER have sent the laptop back if I'd known I wouldn't get the full price back for it! I feel like I've been utterly swindled, completely mugged off. I am a college student and I could have got the laptop repaired for £90 and that way wouldn't have gone through the MASSIVE inconvenience of not having my laptop in the middle of assessment week. I'm furious that staff in-store didn't fully explain the process to me so I could make an informed decision. I feel like I've been stolen from. This has had such a negative impact on my mental health and on my academic future.

I will never purchase technology from CEX again and I urge others to avoid making large purchases from there because the quality of their products is not good and they will mug you off if given the chance. I will be writing a full complaint as soon as I have been...

I visit a lot of CEX stores and usually can't complain, but my experience today was one I had to leave a review for. I usually do a check before I go into any store for what's in stock to save me time, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a guitar hero guitar for PS3 being sold at £25. Go in, ask for it, and a completely different guitar gets brought over. Overhear another staff member tell the one serving me that there's been a mistake, and that's not the £25 one. He goes on to say they've sold another customer the £25 one at the price of this more expensive one. The staff member serving me then turns to me, knowing I've overheard this, and has the gall to say, "There's been a mistake, this one is actually £55. I'll have to change it on the till, are you still happy to buy it?". Hmm, I wonder, am I happy to pay over double what I was expecting, having to wait for the privilege while you mess around on the till, after just hearing about you ripped someone else off?

Long story short: staff spoke openly in front of me about having missold a cheaper item at a higher price to another customer, tried to charge me more than I was expecting having looked at the site, and I still don't have a guitar for PS3. I'm annoyed, but the worst part is someone out there got screwed over worse by their incompetence.

EDIT: In response to the company response, I completely agree that staff should be checking items and honouring the quoted prices for the items they're handing out. Maybe if they'd done this with the first customer, there wouldn't have been...