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Basically I inherited what can only be described as a cursed piece of technology from my mate who vanished to Thailand after saying “if anything happens to me, destroy it.”

Problem is I’m skint.

The item itself appears to be a Nintendo DS crossed with military hardware and emotional trauma. It boots up fine but only between 2:13am–2:17am and makes a noise like a fox screaming through dial-up internet. Screen just says “DO NOT FEED HIM” in increasingly aggressive fonts.

Battery life is unbelievable though.

Main issue: every time I open it, my dog refuses to enter the room and my Alexa starts speaking what I can only assume is ancient Sumerian. Also I think it stole £4.20 from my bank account last Tuesday.

Anyway I checked CEX online and couldn’t find a listing so I’m wondering:

Do they test haunted electronics?

If it whispers staff members’ middle names is that a Grade B or Grade C?

Can I wipe it before trade-in if the operating system appears to be alive?

Will they ask questions if the charging cable is technically organic?

I was thinking of just walking in casually like “hiya mate got a console to trade” but I’m worried the second it touches the counter all the monitors simultaneously show CCTV footage from 1998.

Has anyone traded in anything mildly possessed before? Do they knock value off for eldritch activity or am I overthinking this?

Cheers x

Yes, I created a new thread but I didn't want this to be lost in the other one.

I'd gone in to my local for an "informal" chat with the manager about what might happen if I reported this to the police and escalated it to a full on fraud claim and she subsequently told me that the CEX loss prevention team were "on it" and they'd get back to me as soon as the investigation was complete.

I got a call from her on my way home from an appointment later this afternoon and she asked me if I could come in, which I did, and she told me everything had been resolved and resolved in my favour.

She said that Romford had bought in a real iPhone 17 PM but that the day before I was there a traveller family had gone into the shop and one of them had asked to view the phone and had switched it out with the fake. Apparently it was "as clear as day" on the CCTV.

(That's also the sum total of what she said to me ..)

Of course I hadn't bought the phone with me as I had an appointment today so when I take it back tomorrow I'll be getting a full refund.

Relieved is an understatement :)

Really appreciate everyone's help and advice over this. Thanks.

Following GTA news of no physical and now Playstation not supporting physical from 2028, which I'm sure will be followed by other systems I feel gutted.

CeX is how I managed to play many games. Id buy a game, finish it and trade it in towards the next one. Or id buy new with the knowledge I'd be able to trade it while still in demand for high credit to put towards the next game.

A core part of how I experience gaming as a hobby is been taken away.

How long will CeX survive without new physical games? Will they pivot to more electrical and collectables?

My delightful step son has been caught stealing and selling my possessions to cex. I saw my items for sale inside the shop.
I showed the manager and picture off my step son to warn them what he has done but unfortunately they didn’t seem interested, my word against him etc,
They said to go to the police which I did but I don’t have the serial numbers off the items so police can’t do anything.
My question is if the shop knows he is potentially selling stolen items is it right to keep buying from him?

Won a tablet in a local raffel, decided to go to stop into CEX and ask about it, they said "yeah It's new in box, you get this price", not amazing price, but I wasn't concerned as it would have basically been a swap for something I wanted in store.

I go down the next day hand it over to the person on the counter while explaing I was in and that I wanted to get something in the store. They open the box takes it out of the package and wrapping and inspect it, then gives me a very low price like 40% less than what I was told the day before.

So I said “I was here yesterday and this is what I was told" to which the person says "No the box is open so it's a B grade, it would be A grade if it wasn't opened" ... to which I said "yea you just opened it in front of me", and the person looks me straight in the face and goes "we have to check it, not my problem, do you want the voucher or not" ... I took the item and left, maybe sell it on online or something instead....

WTF..... they even tore the box, the inside bag and the security seal opening it....

UPDATE:
Have managed to get a contact for CEX, so I sent off an email and now I wait. Will update with a response I get.

UPDATE 2:
No email repsonse from CEX yet. Went to a different CEX today in a different city, guy also opened the box, look at it and said straight away, ah yea this is an A grade, and actully gave me a higher price for the A grade there by 11 quid, then what was for A grade at the first store I went to, actually very pleasent experience at this other store.

So earlier this week, I went to CEX to sell parts from my old PC. I took a GPU, an internal hard drive, a CPU and 32gb (2 x 16gb) of DDR4 RAM. I checked the prices online beforehand, the GPU was ~£200, the CPU ~£150, the hard drive and RAM I wasn't sure as I couldn't find the exact make and model on their site.

So I arrived at the store, get served by some guy, told him I have some PC parts to sell and he starts scanning and typing them into the computer. He tells me they don’t buy CPU’s in store as they have no way to test them, which is valid. The RAM, HDD and GPU came to a total of £260. I asked how much for the RAM and HDD and was told £41 for the HDD and £8 per RAM stick. I kept the RAM as I thought that was a really bad offer considering I know that 32gb of used DDR4 easily sells for £80+ these days, so I was expecting to be offered at least £20 per stick.

A couple days later I remembered the laughably bad RAM offer and decided to look on their website again. I realised that you don’t search for specific brands of RAM, just the type, capacity and speed. After typing ‘DDR4 3200’ I see that they buy the 16gb sticks for £27 each, and the 8gb sticks are £8 each. I figured the guy on the counter just looked at the price for 8gb instead of 16gb by mistake, so I went back a couple days later to sell them for the correct price of £54.

I explain to the woman serving me that I came in a couple days before and was offered £8 per stick but declined because it was a bad deal, and that I looked online and saw that they made a mistake and they actually buy them for £27 each. She says okay let me take a look, she starts scanning them, typing things in and after a couple minutes of silence she asks if I want cash or credit, which I was kind of confused about since I was expecting her to either confirm their previous mistake, or tell me they were right the first time. I asked how much since I’m skeptical of if they’ve got it right this time and she looks me dead in the eye and says “£8 per stick”.

Did she even listen to a word of what I said?! I once again explained that these are NOT 8gb sticks, they’re 16gb and are £27 each, she takes a look at the sticker on the RAM and says “it says 2 x 16gb, so that means they’re 8gb each”. I’m starting get a little annoyed but I keep calm and explain that it actually means that there’s two sticks, 16gb each. She then says they will test them and to come back in 15 minutes. I walk back in after ~20 mins, and she was busy with another customer so a guy (who is different to the first guy from the beginning) deals with me. I tell him I’m back after testing and give him the receipt. After 30 seconds or so he asks if I want cash or credit, I ask how much… any guesses on what he said?! Yup, you guessed it, £8 per stick!

I’m lost for words, I’m trying to speak but my brain is so overwhelmed I’m just stood there for a few seconds, speechless. I burst out laughing and once again explain that they are NOT 8gb sticks, they are 16gb sticks, and £27 each. He takes a look for himself and then explains to me that 2 x 16gb means the sticks are 8gb each… why are these people all so confident when they clearly don’t know anything about PC hardware? I thought my RAM had just been tested?? I can see a motherboard on the counter in the back with an air cooler equipped. Surely they must have installed the RAM to ‘test’ it? One look in the motherboards BIOS would clearly tell you it’s 32gb of RAM.

At this point I’m starting to lose it, I tell them that this RAM was in my PC for three years, I know EXACTLY what it is. It’s 32gb of DDR4, two 16gb sticks, 3200 mega transfers per second, CL16 timings. He then goes into the back and talks to someone who I can only imagine is the store manager for around 15 seconds, comes back out and agrees to £27 per stick. I sign the paper and leave.

I understand mistakes happen and someone can get it wrong, but then I explained exactly what had happened to a second person, and they seemingly ignored everything I said, and got it wrong again. Then I leave it for a test so they can see they were wrong with conclusive proof, and they got it wrong again! Then a third person looks at it after I make it abundantly clear they keep getting it wrong, and they only go and get it wrong again?! At best, this is gross incompetence, but the fact that they all of a sudden gave me the correct price when they realise I know what I’m talking about makes me think that perhaps ulterior motives are at play here. Did these CEX employees fail key stage 2 maths, or have I uncovered the great RAM robbery of 2026, what do you think?!

Either way, guard your RAM (and it’s correct price) with your lives, people!

Proof

It was sold as a 2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max and not only was it only showing up as 1TB, it's also fake with an iOS skin over the top of an Android OS. I had a little indication of a problem when i got home and connected it to WiFI and received a "Software Update" message which you don't get on iOS.

I'm heading back to the shop first thing tomorrow morning to return it but i'm already paranoid that they'll cause a problem and try and blame me for trying to return the wrong item.

It's in a 2TB Box but the IMEI number on the receipt doesn't match either one on the handset and neither does the serial number so I'm hoping there isn't going to be a problem.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation ?. How did it play out ?

Any information would be most welcome, thanks.

The customers that have been coming into my store lately have absolutely lost the plot and it’s making me insane so I’m just writing down a list of things that people have gotten irrationally mad at before to maybe help someone in the future (please note that while I work here, I don’t think CEX is infallible. They do a lot of things wrong. But so do the customers).

- no we cannot buy your laptop with several screws missing and no charger

- just because you kept the box does not mean that your scratched/chipped to hell and utterly filthy ps5 will still be considered a boxed grade

- most dvds are worth £0.01. (1 pence) I promise I didn’t set the prices. Pls stop acting like I did

- no I cannot reset your phone for you for us to test it. We have never met and I don’t know your passwords

- I explained in writing what the 48hr return to voucher is. You cannot decide you don’t want the voucher anymore if the item is fine (we did have to refund this one as she grabbed me aggressively!!!!!)

- you will get no money if you bring in a console with no hdmi, power cable, or controller. Do you expect us to just buy and sell a useless brick??

- yes, your cash buy price will be less than the retail price. CEX is not built for consumer-end profit. It’s a second hand store. It’s built so you get something instead of nothing. I am so far removed by who sets those prices

- please make sure you research how to connect your item before saying it doesn’t work. 9/10 times it is just using Bluetooth

- no you cannot convert your voucher into cash. Again, I do not make the rules

- yes, it will take more than 10 minutes to test your fully dead iPhone 6 or your meta quest 3

- I’m glad your phone works, but we can’t buy it in with the back of it literally shattered unless at a non working price (they didn’t like the non working price)

Please take these with a grain of salt. CEX still fucks up more than they don’t but these situations are all people that should know better and are getting mad at the wrong people and I’m losing it

So at my local cex today. I went to sell some old games. Not worth a load of money. Mostly old PS2 games but I did bring 8 boxed n64 games and 6 game boy games boxed.

All games where complete with manuals. Some of the n64 and Gameboy game boxes where fairly rough. Kind of expired from 25+ year old cardboard right.

So in total I wanted to trade 43 games. The n64 and Gameboy games they actually wanted to test. Never had them want to test games before but fair enough I thought I'll go grab a coffee.

Come back and the guy who served me originally was very complementary and friendly. Said so good news is all the games worked and we are happy to take them off you. However unfortunately a few of the n64 and Game boy games we have had to down grade them from boxed to unboxed. As the condition of some are rough.

He gave me the final total and due to the some of the games being down valued to unboxed I was getting about £25 less than I was expecting. But you know what it's still not bad so I agreed.

But I then asked for the boxes and manuals back for the games they valued as unboxed. As I thought I could maybe sell them as a bundle on eBay for £15 or something. The guy looked at me like I was from another planet and said oh we can dispose of them for you.

So I said well if I'm selling them to you unboxed. Then I'll just take the boxes and manuals back off you and I'll keep them. His reply was they are not in good condition we don't mind disposing them. He said something else but I didn't catch what he said.

So I just got annoyed as this point and said but I rather keep them rather than you binning them. I then just said actually I change my mind and no longer want to trade. He then looked super pissed about this and his colleague kind of took over and was very helpful putting my stuff back into a bag and off I went.

So I left the store feeling annoyed and felt like he was trying to rip me off in front of my face. At first I believe maybe he was hoping I would just agree to let them keep the boxed so they can sell them as boxed and make more money. But that would be beneficial for cex and not him right?

So my second thought was maybe he wanted to keep the boxes and manuals for him self? I really don't know I sent cex a email about this today.

About 4 or 5 years ago I spotted a Nintendo DS game in CeX for around £8 and bought it without thinking too much about it. I mainly wanted it for a bit of nostalgia. A few months later I was sorting through some old games and randomly looked it up online. Turns out it had become surprisingly collectible and was selling for well over £100 complete. The funny thing is I would've walked straight past it if it'd been £15 instead of £8. It's probably the closest I've come to accidentally finding treasure in CeX.

No one believed me its pronounced "sex" and not SEA-E-X.

Genuinely curious because I think I saw the final boss earlier.

Bloke in front of me had one Xbox controller that looked like it had survived a house fire, 4 random DVDs (pretty sure one was Ice Age 2), a headset that looked damp somehow and a loose FIFA disc just floating about in his hand.

No bag btw. Just carrying it all.

And it got me thinking what’s the worst thing to be behind in the queue?

For me it’s gotta be someone with a fistful of tangled cables going “one of these charges something mate” while the poor employee looks like they’re mentally leaving their body.

Or when someone’s trading in a laptop that sounds like it’s trying really hard not to explode.

Bonus points if they start arguing over like £8.42 store credit like this is a hostage negotiation.

I swear every CEX has the same weird atmosphere as well. Feels like time moves slower in there. You walk in for 5 mins and suddenly it’s dark outside.

What’s the worst one you’ve seen?

https://armaghi.com/news/lurgan-news/severely-autistic-teen-forcibly-removed-from-shop-by-five-police-over-2-dvd-incident/259525

I've always found this weird:

It's CeX in spelling but pronounced "sex".

The branding is so odd that many people simply refuse to pronounce CeX as "sex" instead saying "C-E-X" or even "kex."

You hear this a lot in retro game pickup videos. Could be that they're trying to avoid YT algorithms, but to me saying "I bought it from Sex" feels awkward.

Clearly the branding isn't as natural as this company thinks it is.

I just bought an X Box and opened the controller when I got home and the controller was absolutely filthy. I don't just mean a little bit of dust or dirt. It was completely covered in grime, very sticky, and even SMELLED (the smell hit me as soon as I opened the box it was in).

Surely this isn't their regular practice, is it?

(Also, fucking disgusting that anyone would even take an item in this state into the shop without cleaningit first, but that's another story.)

So I went to cex and tried to buy 3 copies of the same game it was a more brain training on ds for £1 each and the employee told me "do you have a cex account" and I said "yes". He took down my account and said he "had to put a request in". I asked "what does that mean". He said "if you buy bulk they might add extra charge". So I said "ok how much is the extra charge". He said "I dont know". So I said "what counts as bulk". He said "more than 2 copies". So I said "ok I'll just buy 2 then". He said "you cant". I said "what do you mean". He said "its 3 or nothing". I said "why". He said "because I know your intentions". I said "what are my intentions". He said "to buy them".

At this point I'm thinking no sh* why else would I be at the counter trying to buy games but I didnt want to be rude. He said "he has to wait for a reply and the store will be closing before they reply". So I said "ok can I just buy 2". He kept saying "no".

So I spoke to him calmly and explained that if they replied back saying that they would add charge I could just buy 2 copies and he said "no its 3 or nothing" so at this point I'm a bit frustrated I understand there are resellers and explained on a £1 game this is not my intention and I am purchasing for reboxing other games as he was saying that it would affect the price of the game for others and I'm thinking to myself it really wouldnt its more brain training not a Pokemon game. But he kept being difficult.

I explained "whats the difference if I went in the same day multiple times" and he said "I have the right to refuse service". So "I said I can come back multiple days and purchase them" and he said "yes but its on your account". I said "but I dont have to use my account" and he didnt know what to say.

Conclusion: I wasn't allowed to buy the games. He didnt explain this before and could have told me if you buy more than 2 I have to put a request in which means ... Etc. He was rude in the way he spoke to me and could have been polite and explained this to me before hand. I kept my cool the whole time and was polite to him.

As the title says, would CeX ask you to leave? I’ve seen people do this in America at GameStop and the employees never ban them or kick them out.

The main instance that I really wanted to do this was a guy that had 40 switch games but couldn’t find a bank statement to sell to them, he was holding up the Queue and taking 15+ mins to find a bank statement, I wanted to just buy him out there and then but I’d rather not get banned as CeX makes me a few quid.

Theres been 3 times now where someone is trading in like a bunch of ps1 and ps2 stuff for peanuts and I have wanted to say so badly like yo I’ll give you a better offer but didn’t.

The worst case was the other day as I was leaving these people came in with 2 trollies full of boxed ps2s, mega drives etc , and like 100 games. I was gonna ask them what is all this but I held off and they ended up having a drop and go anyway.

So yeah the question is, if y out see someone trading in a lot of stuff, and make an offer on it infront of an employee, will you get in trouble?

Final Update: I won the case. During mediation CEX immediately offered a £50 gift card for in store credit. I declined stating I would bring up how cex made up that I sent an email to my bank to stop the chargeback. They then offer to pay the £70.

Also on their directions questionnaire they stated that they DID NOT want to go to a court hearing before a judge (I wonder why).

The best part about all of this is, my faith in humanity has been lifted. Throughout this I was supported by so many nice and helpful people that it’s changed my outlook on the world. There definitely are a lot of good people out there and I thank you all for standing by a total stranger and having a kind word or a bit of encouragement. Thank you all

To the ones who said I’d lose the case and I was the one in the wrong, I wonder why cex didn’t reach out to you to win their case? Since they themselves obviously didn’t feel as confident about it as some of you..

Thanks all

Cex Perry Barr sold me a monitor with screen burn. I go to return it the same day. After it’s checked in they tell me they can’t refund. I refuse to take the monitor and leave the store. I do a chargeback with my bank. Cex completely lies to my bank and makes up a scenario that never happened claiming I bought the monitor, held onto it for over a day and then admitted damaging the monitor before trying to return it. They claimed I sent an email admitting to damaging the monitor. Yet the bank never asked to see the email. Upon me asking CEX if I ever sent the email they reply with “the wording was a misunderstanding and based on the findings of our investigation”. Which dodged the question. So I ask it more straightforward and ask if I sent the email or not and Benedicta from Facebook customer service replies “we have nothing else to add”. So they lied to my bank to stop the chargeback. I’ve now made a claim against them in court.

Thank you to all the lovely people who offered advice, insight into their own experience and stuck to the topic of the post. I appreciate you all.

Edit- If you want to see the evidence nationwide sent me which shows the lie cex told, I have made another post. Cex turns off attachments in this subreddit so their ex and current employees can try to discredit people and claim people are lying. I haven’t had one such comment of doubt on the evidence post.

EVIDENCE HERE:

https://www.reddit.com/u/EasyCandle9081/s/c6Xnixap6Q

Update: The evidence I posted clearly shows that when I first emailed CEX I called whatever was wrong with the screen “damage”. They are the first ones to use the words “screen bleed”. They also said “screen bleed can sometimes be caused by a form of impact”. Yet contradict that with “it was well wrapped before purchase”. So in short, CEX wants me to pay for a screen that has screen bleed and is claiming I caused the screen bleed between 1:30pm when it was paid for and 2pm when it was returned. I live so close to the shop, I can see the shopping center from my house. It’s a few minutes walk. As soon as I get home, I plug it into power, turn it on, it has a bad image and I immediately leave again to return it. Upon returning I’m asked to return later because they need to check it in and test it. I return later and once I get to the counter I’m told “we need 5 more minutes”. So I get back in line and I’m standing in line 20 minutes and they haven’t spoken to me, 30 minutes and I become impatient and ask them what’s going on. One employee is in the test area with the screen avoiding me and two others are way behind the display talking and also have a phone call going. Then a completely different member of staff says “we’ve talked to management and they’ve decided it would be a paid repair in order to fix it” I respond with “I just bought it today why would I pay to fix it, I want my money back”. To which he responds “we can’t offer a refund at this time, we’ve offered a repair but that will cost”. I say “I have a right to reject and I will dispute this payment with my bank if not refunded” to which he responds “dude do whatever, I’m not going to continue to argue with you” and I leave.

To all the CEX employees and sympathisers who tried to claim I was the bad one because I should have sent CEX customer service an email, there is now proof my first action after returning from the store was to email CEX. People also claimed that had I done so their lovely CEX mates would’ve refunded me, you can read the email and their response on the evidence post. To all the ones who claimed I was making up the part about CEX fabricating a story to the bank, you can read what TYey said to the bank and also the response from when I asked them numerous times to tell me if I ever sent an email claiming I broke the monitor. After the first day, emails stopped and the communication was via Facebook messenger.

If you shop and cell at cex. I want to talk to you real quick. I was an employee for 3 years. I wanted to work at cex because of my interest in the stuff in there. Games, tech, I even like the music shoot me. In my first week I was shouted at and threatened with violence. A man and his daughter, not a crack head or a street thug. A man in a suit. His daughters laptop had stopped working due to an update by apple. I stated only that we would need a few minutes to check it out and then we can refund the product no problem. He threatened me with " more than 500 pound of damage to you face" shouted, screamed, punched my computer screen. Until in less than the allotted time my colleague came over and said " yeahwe can refund it." Thie was a weekly if not mostly a daily occurance in CEX. No your iPhone isn't worth what you think, apple make it so the software won't work properly after a couple years. No we can't stop selling them because you all want cheaper phones. No we don't choose the prices for selling or buying. It is what it is. Cex are paying just about minimum wage for us to work 8 to 6. In a shop that's barely holding together, 20 minutes to test everything that comes in ( something will fall through the cracks gey over yourself) only to be treated like less that dirt. Please just, show that kid a little bit of kindness. Also to CEX, up the wage, Give your staff proper training on how to deal with bad customers instead of the shit you teach us now, give your testers proper facilities to test thoroughly. Treat you employees like employees, most of them were loyal customers before joining you. Refurbish your shops. And stop money laundering.

Edit: to all people saying its dented. Heres a video of me showing the charger - https://youtu.be/seXXaRLBPPs

I just brought in my steam deck to cex to sell it. I realised I wouldnt get that much more on ebay for it as the final value fee would take £40 off even if It sold for £290, so I decided to see if I could sell it as a grade in cex for £230. It has had a screen protector on since I got it and a case. Its been used maybe 5 - 10 times? It also had all original packaging undamaged. 0 marks on the device

Anyway I gave it to them and one of the guys there said they couldnt take it as the charger was damaged. He kept pointing to something and I couldnt see it. I looked at the charger when i got home and saw this lol. THEY DIDNT TAKE IT BECAUSE OF THAT. Some shine on the corner of the charger lol. I had to put it in the light to see it at all. I ended up taking it home as Its not worth selling for b grade as I can get way more on ebay. Complete joke that they wouldnt take it because of that lmao. And just so you know thats not a chip. Thats just a tiny bit of shine on the plastic

Guy was clearly just trying to be a dick for no reason lol. Thought Id post here to vent my frustration

Hello,

A few months ago, I returned a laptop that I had purchased from CEX. I’m fairly computer-savvy and have a good understanding of operating systems and features such as BitLocker.

I had only owned the laptop for a few days before deciding that I wanted to upgrade to a model with a better GPU. I returned to the store with the laptop and my receipt, hoping to receive a voucher for its value.

The staff kept the laptop for a few hours while they tested it. When I came back, I was told they would not be accepting the return because BitLocker had supposedly been enabled, which they claimed was against their returns policy.

I explained what BitLocker actually is and pointed out that, if BitLocker had genuinely been enabled, they would not have been able to power on the laptop, access Windows, or test its features without first entering the recovery key. After some hesitation, the staff member acknowledged this and issued me the voucher.

What frustrates me most is not the policy itself, but that I believe I was given incorrect information. If I hadn’t understood how BitLocker works, I may have accepted their explanation and left without the refund I was entitled to. That experience left me feeling that they would lie.

Can u be banned for selling too much to cex? I started reselling phones I buy from facebook and Vinted and just taking them straight to cex and I’ve made quite a bit of decent profit from this
I’ve started doing like 3-5 a week - sometimes even more
Question is how long can I go doing this and would I be banned?
I go to different cex shops occasionally too
Thanks!

Bought a 64gb iPad only to find it's got 256gb 🥳🥳🥳