PJCNET

Introduction:

Computer Exchange or CEX for short is a well established chain of computer stores that are based throughout the UK. Some stores are run by CEX themselves, while other stores are operating under a franchise agreement which means the shop trades using the CEX name and sells CEX products like the rest of the stores, the big difference is the business is privately and independently owned by another person, persons or business. By offering franchise opportunities, CEX have been able to expand the number of retail outlets throughout the UK quicker than they would have otherwise.

CEX are mainly geared towards PC and console gaming although they also sell computer hardware (especially graphics cards), DVDs and mobile phones. What’s different about Computer Exchange is the fact that they allow customers to bring in used games, computer hardware and mobile phones for either an exchange or for the cash value, although your property will be worth considerably less if you decide to walk away with the cash value instead of the exchange value.

The Name CEX (Pronounced as SEX!)

Firstly Computer Exchange is shortened to CEX. This is all very well, but when phoning their head office, the answer service answers, “welcome to CEX”, except “CEX” is pronounced clearly as “SEX”. I can’t understand why they do this instead of simply saying the 3 letters individually as “C.E.X.”, especially since many of their customers are in fact children and young teenagers, for this reason they shouldn’t do this in my opinion.

Prices of Their Goods:

Many products are competitively priced at CEX , while other products can be very expensive, so please look around and compare prices elsewhere. Many classic used games and DVDs are very cheap and are well worth the money. Some computer hardware is reasonably priced, while other hardware costs more 2nd hand than one can buy it brand now on-line. The 2nd hand mobile phone prices are generally extortionately priced to the extent where I’ve seen old models sell in CEX for more than one can buy a newer model brand new. I can’t understand how they manage to sell 2nd hand phones at these prices, although they must do as in Birmingham, UK there’s 2 branches and one is purely for the purchase and exchange of mobile phones. Both stores have been successfully for a number a years now.

Prices Paid for Your Used Items:

CEX buy and exchange used DVDs, computer games, some computer hardware and mobile phones. As I’ve mentioned earlier, you are offered 2 prices on your used items where the exchange value is usually considerably greater than the cash value. Even though the cash prices offered are usually less than you’d probably get via a private sale in the Bargain Pages Etc, they’re still usually the best prices paid in the high street, especially if you compare the prices paid at places like Cash Converters. If you’re planning on exchanging an item or items for other goods, the prices offered are often closer to what you’d expect to get privately. The prices paid for mobile phones can be unexpectedly high as they appear to be living in the past at the time of writing where they’re overcharging for used phones as if they’re newer models than they really are, this reflects in their value and resale value at CEX. Before they agree to buy any used item for exchange or cash, they will obviously want to test the product, this can take from a few minutes to a few hours for some computer hardware, especially when they’re busy.

Customer Service – My Experience:

What’s awful about CEX is there’s absolutely no way you can phone your local store as the phone number is purposely kept secret and is even ex-directory. In the past I’ve explained in store why I need to call them and I’ve asked for the local number in the Birmingham branch, but have been refused point blank by the manager who explained that it’s not company policy to give out their phone number. This can be absolutely infuriating, especially if you’re having problems with an item you’ve just purchased or if you for-instance want to check on an item you’ve ordered from another store when they don’t call you back as promised. The only way one can talk to any branch directly is by visiting in person no matter how inconvenient that is. One can search and might come across their head office number, but you’re lucky to speak to someone and they’re unhelpful and won’t put you through to your local store either, also it’s an 0845 number which isn’t included in many free call phone plans.

The staff in store are generally helpful most of the time, but recently I’ve had a much less than a good service from their main Birmingham branch as I’ll explain further. I visited the store and wanted to purchase a graphics card that wasn’t available in the Birmingham branch. I was told that they had it in stock in other branches in the UK and that they could order the item for me without a problem where it would take up to a week for delivery. I had no option but to do this instead of ordering via mail order as I wanted to exchange my older graphics card which can only be done in store. They clearly said they’d order from a non-franchise store as they’ve had problems with franchise stores not sending ordered items in the past. My details were taken down and I expected to receive a phone call within so many days when the item arrived as promised. After over a week I’d heard absolutely nothing and since it was impossible to call my local branch due to them being ex-directory, I had to make a special visit to the Birmingham branch at my inconvenience to find out what was going on. I asked about my order and just got blank faces from the sales staff, then the manager stated that he’d just had the graphics card I’d ordered in stock, but had just sold it over the counter before I arrived. I asked where my graphics card was since my order was overdue, but I was told by the manager that it hadn’t arrived. I then asked why the graphics card that was sold wasn’t reserved for me since I’d ordered one beforehand, but the manager gave me what was in my opinion a dire excuse, explaining that the graphics card sold wasn’t the one with my name on, even though it was identical and that my graphics card just hadn’t arrived. I then got told that it’s not guaranteed that other CEX stores will send what is ordered anyway and that they rarely do, which was totally different to what I was told over a week before. I asked what I can do to get the graphics card that I’d ordered, but I was told that they could only attempt to order another one since it hadn’t arrived, although delivery wouldn’t be guaranteed. The only other alternative was to travel to another part of the UK to collect, but even then it would be a massive gamble as reserving was impossible and they could sell out before I arrive. I was obviously very annoyed at wasting over a week when I could have shopped elsewhere, but ordered another anyway on the off-chance since the graphics card was considerably cheaper at CEX than anywhere else since it was used, plus I wanted to exchange my old graphics card which meant that every time I visited, I had the further inconvenience of removing it from my PC in case they had the graphics card I’d ordered.

The next day I checked the CEX website and saw they’d got the graphics card I’d ordered in stock in the Birmingham branch, yet they still hadn’t called me despite all that was said and done the day before. I again couldn’t even call them to reserve it as they’re ex-directory, so I rushed in a taxi to the Birmingham store at my expense, gambling that they’d still have it in stock this time on my arrival. I was at last lucky this time as they actually had 2 in stock, although the manager said that I was very lucky as he was considering buying them both for himself, what sort of dire service would this have been when I’d ordered it? Anyway I advised I wanted to exchange the item as previously agreed with my older graphics card, but they said that because it was so late in the day that they didn’t have time to test my old graphics card properly until the next morning. I therefore asked them for the exchange value the following day after they’d tested it, explaining that I’d pay the full price for the newer graphics card first as I needed my PC up and running that evening and I didn’t want to be without a graphics card at all. The manager then gave me the pathetic excuse that the following day I’d only get cash value for my old graphics card even though I’d brought it in at the exact time I brought the new graphics card since their computer system only works this way. This was extremely unfair, especially after being messed around so much by CEX and I was in my opinion ripped off over £10 because of their terrible service and unfair system, but this was the only way I could guarantee getting the newer graphics card I’d ordered with my PC up and running that evening as otherwise CEX would have been holding both graphics cards until the next day, plus I simply couldn’t trust them not to sell the new graphics card I’d ordered again based on past experiences, so I wanted to ensure I walked out with it this time.

An old friend of mine visited CEX and had stripped a couple of his old PCs of parts to sell for cash as he suddenly had an urgent unexpected cash flow problem. On going well out of his way to CEX Birmingham, the manager stated that most days they’d take these items perfectly fine for cash, except today they’d decided not to give out cash to anyone, asking him to return tomorrow or another day. He demanded a reason since he’d gone way out of his way to visit the store and again he couldn’t phone beforehand to check since they’re ex-directory, but he didn’t get valid reason except that they choose to do this occasionally. He pleaded with the manager to be reasonable to no avail. In conclusion, don’t rely on CEX to produce the cash for your used goods as they can refuse with the most stupidest of reasons at any time, potentially causing extreme inconvenience.

Return of Goods:

CEX are generally fairly reasonable when returning faulty goods within a short time, although sometimes they will test the product themselves and if they decide the product isn’t faulty they will usually only offer an exchange or a credit note. Sometimes arguments can erupt however as sometimes certain computer hardware for-instance won’t work on certain PCs that it’s supposed to and isn’t fit for the purpose, but it will on their test system. If the item is found to be faulty, then they will change the product or will issue a refund in full without a problem. I haven’t had any experience of returning any faulty items that have failed after over a month under guarantee or warranty, so I can’t comment. All second hand goods have at least 3 months warranty, although some items have longer, used hard drives have a 1 year warranty for-instance. New products generally have 12 months warranty as most stores.

Risk of Buying Stolen Goods:

As someone who once knew a lot of people throughout Birmingham and the City Centre (UK), I have known of past acquaintances selling stolen goods to CEX on a regular basis. They boasted that they took bags of stolen computer games and DVDs for a number of consecutive days over a period of quite a few weeks to CEX where the cash value of the games and DVDs was around £200 a time, CEX finally banned the hardened shoplifters, but this was after them accepting often 2 or even 3 copies of the same game or DVD without even challenging them and after shelling out what must be quite a few thousand pounds for hundreds of stolen titles. I know this since these shoplifters were then going around town asking other people to go into CEX for them with the stolen games, offering them a small cut for their trouble. They found it comical that they were able to do this and even checked the top paid titles in CEX regularly so they knew what the best titles were to steal. Sometimes they’d even travel to different CEX stores where each one had separate membership, allowing them to sell again and again. So when you buy a used item from CEX, it’s well possible it could be stolen property and unfortunately there’s no way to know either way. I sincerely hope that CEX have tightened up their security successfully to help prevent this, at least they’re more strict now about potential members producing the relevant ID to allow them to sell items. It’s also less likely that any of their mobile phones are stolen as they insist on the person producing the original charger if they wish to sell it (not a replacement charger).

CEX Website:

The CEX website is one of the better parts of CEX, it’s well designed and it’s kept up to date. One can check the products available throughout the UK or at an individual local store, for each product one is told the sale price, the price they buy the item in for cash at and the exchange value. Each item has a reasonable description and usually a photo, but this could be improved however. Unfortunately there’s no decent technical support pages or live support. The worst thing missing is the inability to reserve items for store collection and without a local store telephone number being made available, it makes doing this impossible. Overall however the website is still good.

Please click here to visit the CEX website.

Mail Order:

Any item sold in store anywhere around the country can be brought via mail order using their official website, but since I haven’t used their mail order service, I cannot comment on how good the service is or isn’t at the time of writing. The disadvantage of mail order is that you can’t see used items to inspect the condition before ordering and you can’t exchange used items.

The CEX Store Itself:

CEX branches are usually busy places and the main Birmingham branch is no exception, especially in the evenings and weekends. The stores however are well laid out and packed with items for sale, especially used games and DVD where one can often pick up a bargain. Expect to have to queue up however, especially at the PC / phone counter for assistance as this is also where people sell and exchange items.

Conclusion:

I’ve had a good old moan about CEX, they might not be perfect, but in truth I’d really miss them if they ever went out of business. Over the years I’ve had good and bad experiences with them, but I’ve also used them to sell unwanted items for reasonable prices and I’ve picked up a few bargains along the way. If they only had a local store phone number, it would greatly improve their customer service.

Legal Disclaimer

This article and any future comments are my own personal opinion and shouldn’t be taken as definite fact. We cannot be held liable for any mistakes made. It is without prejudice to CEX (Computer Exchange) or any other person, persons or organisation. If CEX would like to reply to this article, we will be happy to print it. This article, any comments and all articles Etc on this website are covered by the full legal disclaimer.

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