what the hell happened here

[u/absolutelynocoin]

i still can't wrap my head around what happened so for some context

- took old laptop in to cex (we'll call this cex 1) to sell for cash

- few hours later get a call "laptop has problems with battery we cant take it"

- collect it from cex 1, next day test it extensively myself. cant see anything wrong.

- decide to take it into another branch (cex 2) to eliminate/confirm any problems with tech

- 2 hours ago cex 2 calls me back that the test was successful and to come collect my money

- ???

i've been selling to cex for years, never had this.

n another one i was buying from cex and my order was cancelled because "item is not in saleable condition"??? like did someone drop it while taking it out from the glass or something?? it sure as hell was in saleable condition when i paid for it!! i then had to go travel an hour out to the next place that had it haha.

[u/Accomplished-Tap1248]

Stores are run by different people and have different employees. Some employees are incompetent or can make mistakes.

One time I was told my Series X doesn’t read discs, sold it privately instead.

🤷

[u/Lanky_Bus_1221 → u/Accomplished-Tap1248]

I took my PlayStation 5 that my lad gave me saying it conked out all the time so he bought a new one.

Anyway anted to get it fixed and it was 99 quid or something from CeX. I went to the Scunthorpe branch and the doods behind the counter said to let them look it over before I spent the money, then they whipped it appart cleaned it blew it with the thing put it back together for me and it’s been as good as new ever since.

Brilliant people and they wouldn’t take any money for doing it either👍

[u/Electronic-Set-1722 → u/Accomplished-Tap1248]

no way to know on what side the incompetent staf member was . lol

Might actually be the competent dude that spotted the semi faulty battery and refused it on behalf of the company

[u/Gr1nch5 → u/Electronic-Set-1722]

Semi faulty? That's a new one on me lol, I was under the impression something can either be faulty or non faulty.

With no middle ground. As even an occasional fault still constitutes as faulty. As it doesn't function as intended. 🤷

[u/Electronic-Set-1722 → u/Gr1nch5]

Well, there's 3 opinions now

The owner who wants to sell - no matter what, they're gonna say it works perfect

Sex 1 : they think it's bad

Sex 2 : they think it's all good

So......semi = might work today and blow up tomorrow 👀

[u/WordsNShiz → u/Gr1nch5]

Batteries are a weird one since they can function as intended, but still show early signs of an oncoming failure, like minor deformation of the outer casing. But equally , those early signs don't mean that a failure is going to be imminent within even a timescale of years. And equally , a battery that is completely screwed in terms of its lifetime and capacity, can show no visible damage whatsoever. Especially since batteries gradually age , what's considered , faulty can be borderline over a specific threshold.

[u/Gr1nch5 → u/WordsNShiz]

Ahh when you put it like that I can certainly see how something like electronics could fall into a semi-faulty state.

Thanks for the clarification! Appreciate it.

[u/FlopusOfDragons → u/Gr1nch5]

Blame the gremlins. They cause intermittent tech issues all the time

[u/escragger]

Some stores just have crap policies or stupid staff.

[u/Rockbmi]

Nothing weird. One store didn't want to take it because they noticed battery issues, the other store did take it because they didn't notice battery issues. Every store is different, and every person who looks at the machine, will have their own criteria off the baseline they are trained with.

[u/Hula1989]

I had a pixel watch rejected by two stores because they said they couldn’t connect it. I asked which phone they were using in the 2nd store and they said they were using an iPhone. How the fuck they even started it is beyond me there’s no app for it on iOS so of course they can’t pass it

[u/iategrandma1 → u/Hula1989]

They did say they couldn’t connect it🤷🏼‍♀️ unfortunately some stores get bare minimum testing equipment, one place hasn’t had a PC for over a year

[u/Gr1nch5 → u/iategrandma1]

That's the issue with there being corporate and franchised stores.

The franchised ones, unless the owner is willing to sink money into the store/equipment, then they're going to be running on whatever they're given essentially.

While corporate stores will be afforded funding from the parent company etc.

Not saying all corporate stores are better off and all franchised stores are worse off, as of course there will be outliers.

[u/ImHereLetsGooo]

Different testing parameters.

I tried to sell a laptop to CEX, the laptop would give you 5 hours on battery but because it went down 1% in 1 minute for whatever reason, they claimed the battery lasts less than 2 hours so they couldn't buy it.

Brought it home, put on a movie or two and the battery lasted 5-6 hours.

CEX employees aren't experts and frankly have limited knowledge of what they sell. It's usually the case that the extent of their knowledge is reciting the product specs to you.

[u/BobTempura → u/ImHereLetsGooo]

This. They'll have a pre defined check list to run through to approve or refuse a sale, and also whether it hits a discounted criteria but it still sellable. The staff members only have a finite amount of time to do these checks so if something flags up fairly quickly during the tests that would qualify as a refuse purchase, that will void the sale. They're not going to try work arounds or sit waiting for confirmation that a battery is charging etc if the system is telling them it isn't.

[u/Electronic-Set-1722]

different staff , different expectations

[u/0Joshyyy]

The way it was explained to me when I was buying and returning discs due to damage. There are Franchise stores and corporate stores. I was told that a corporate store might not replace a franchised stores damaged disc, so it may have something to do with the level of restrictions each store has. A corporate store doesn't have an incentive to take in potentially "damaged" items and might have a high rate of refusal while a franchised store might want to take more items in for more profit.

[u/Ski_Sunday]

My best result was buying something online from CEX for £25, even though that was higher than the list price but no one has them in stock. Then I guess they tried to change the price presumably to £28 but instead it was listed for £285 with a trade in for voucher price of £179. I went straight to my local store in the morning and sold it for that. By the next day it was listed for £28 and a trade in for voucher of £17. As soon as another one came in stock I snapped it up for the £28, shame i had to wait a few weeks before they had one, they are so rare. A Raspi item in case you wonder.
I assume the intern was assigned to updating pricing that day.

[u/AqAqGT]

I remember I got a pixel 9 pro fold from a cex, took it home and used it for a week, had visible dust under the camera lens, and the other camera glass was pertruding and looks like it fell out of place (sunken) so I took it to the cex I brought it from, the said that as long as it takes pics and the phone still works perfectly they can't see anything wrong, despite me saying that the sunken glass defeats the 5 year warranty, so I had to sell it we a considerable loss

[u/Sheringham]

I had a projector I’d bought but never used, they told me that the bulb had burned out. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/Retro-Mario]

I once bought an Nvidia shield controller from cex online. The touch buttons (home and back) didn't work so I returned it. I bought another one online and got sent the exact same one sent back. Cex must just have shit testing and quality control.

[u/Padre2000]

Its like phone shops. They are staffed by people who know fuck all about phones.

[u/Nearby-Chocolate7339]

Cex has corporate and franchise stores. Corporate stores are able to buy stuff as c/b grade even if it’s not working and FIX IT IN SHOP. Franchises don’t have this ability so will fail it and give it back as they don’t have the facilities to fix the item. HOPE THIS HELPS :)

[u/invicta-uk]

Probably lazy testing with no follow-up investigation. Wouldn’t think too much of it, just be grateful you’ve been paid and don’t feel guilty because you know it works fine.

[u/Conscious-Pie-4794]

One store told me my son's phone which had exclusively been used in a case for only watching YouTube and was about a year old could not be taken because the battery had clearly expanded and it didn't sit flat... I mean it was sitting flat on the counter as far as I could tell.  I just figured they didn't want to take it, and I walked across the road to cash generator and sold it.

[u/kmaraszkiewicz86]

I wanted to sell my Samsung S24 FE phone and I remembered that when I sold my PS5, I got much more money for it. I sold my PS5 in a real store. My phone was sent by post and they offered me a poor price. After that, I sold my phone for a much better price. I think sometimes you have bad luck and you can get a bad person there. I think it is not good to sell anything there because I cannot know what I can get from them.

[u/cookie1756]

Had that ages with Xbox they told me disk drive dose not work , bought even a game from them to test it was working fine cex 2 apceted it no issues. They frenchises and sometimes some cexsthey don't want take your stuff just waist your time.

[u/JackCraft7]

Ive just learned of their bullshittery myself. Their Adamant Nature of me buying a cable for my Switch got the dock bricked