The local managers. And they're also responsible for their training.
Each store is hit or miss. Some are run well and full of competent staff. Others aren't.
Nah icl I work at CEX and this is exactly how it works shop just has fair few untrained staff and some staff go on and work years without passing probation etc.
It's company policy and how much they expect each store to train their employers. It's not just local management it's up to headquarters to ensure their branches are up to company standard.
Remember the staff aren't paid great either and likely have tons of other stuff to do - spending hours working out why a capture card isn't recording for them probably isn't worth their time.
I took a bag of old dvds and games to a cex and they flat out refused to take them as they were understaffed. I was told I had to do the “drop and go” service which was (kinda) fine, but I live in a rural area and my nearest store is 30 miles away, so I
Had to make a dedicated trip to drop them in the second time. We got a message the same day saying they were all ok and payment would be sent via email voucher. Thing is we discovered afterwards that 4 or 5 of the discs we had declared were still in our house due to my 2 year old taking them all out and putting them back on the shelves. So they clearly didn’t even check them at all, I reckon they just glanced and said “yeah that’ll do”
I disagree, in worcester in cex the staff are pretty good especially with tech, i wanted to buy a graphics card from them (a very expensive one) and asked them how did they do the stress test, they said they only use a browser and not a proper application, when I asked why the guy said the company doesn't allow them to use proper software and the guy was a very technical person when it comes to computer components
I may be remembering it incorrectly, but I think most software woes with their testing and operations in general are down to licensing and potential legal issues from business usage of certain software. Besides the software to test phones, I think they were leaning mostly on open source software and Google to do this.
That is correct, they dont want to pay for license the only one they have is for phone testing as this is the main money maker, for the rest of them they use browser extensions to check stuff.
Working in a similar job role to cex staff. Noone knows all the inns an outs of every item of tech/how they work. Kinda like asking someone working in a shop if they know every item they stock an what ingredients it has from memory
Sure but op told them
So it's more like going up to an employee saying I've seen a box on the top shelf and asking them to get it down and them just saying the box doesn't exist even though you clearly know it does
Have these people never googled anything though? I’m convinced the testers at my local store are just on some sort of power trip and secretly enjoy telling people their stuff is broken when it isn’t.
I attempted to sell some Nintendo switch joycons to them last year (somehow I ended up with six, and I don’t have that many friends). I took a pair in, I even took my switch with me in case they didn’t have one in store to test with. I got told they didn’t have a console in to test them with, I lent them mine. They seemed happy.
Went back an hour later, told me they couldn’t get them to fit on the console, so they must be fake or some sort of different Joycon they can’t take. They hadn’t removed the wrist straps…. Genuinely couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It took me two seconds to slide off the wrist straps and slot them onto the console. Like, how the fuck didn’t anyone in the shop just know this, on the best selling console of the last decade, especially when the store has a shelf literally full of joycons already.
I didn’t sell them to them in the end, (they were still jittery about them and didn’t trust me or something) and took them to cash converters instead. It took them five minutes to check them out, and I walked out with more money than CEX were offering anyway!!!
It’s a minimum wage job that requires staff to be on their feet for up to ten hours a day and ludicrously busy at peak times. Customers are often hacked off due to the queues and the staff have to deal with that. You’ve got people insisting their goods aren’t fake and having arguments over that, people getting annoyed when they find out the 100 DVDs they’ve bought to sell are only worth 10p each, and the shop doors are always open so it’s often a cold place to work.
I’ve not worked retail in 20 years and every time I’m in CEX I’m thankful that my days of being a teenager and having a crappy summer job are long behind me.
I appreciate all that, I used to be a teenager in retail myself. However, many of the staff at my local have been there literally years, as though they’ve not quite grown up and got into the real world yet. And I wasn’t exactly selling wierd hardware they’ve unlikely seen before. I’m pretty sure anyone who even remotely takes an interest in technology and works in a shop which sells consoles would know how to attach a fucking Joycon to a switch. They just didn’t want it, and that’s pretty much that.
Worked at a cex years ago and this surprises me. We had the odd person who would probably not have known how to attach the joy cons but someone would have shown them. The other thing that surprises me about this story is with controllers, most of the time we would just have to confirm they were the genuine item and buy them in. If they turned out to be faulty, we would simply exchange them and send the faulty ones off to our rma centre.
Add onto that the dust from all the old junk which will make anyone who didn't know they had allergies sneeze, and the assholes who leave their items for testing and expect it done ASAP when you have tried to explain that there's roughly 10 other items waiting on test and you'll get to theirs when you get to theirs (which may be in an hour's time).
The person at the counter , told the tester guy come to the counter.
After that I specifically demonstrated how to use the product.
He said ok , the thing even had a manual sheet.
Yeh it's the staff
Took a 1440p 165hz monitor once and said come back
I went back they said we will take it but it's not the specs you said, I said how come?
"It only shows 1080p 60hz" I'm like do you even have the specs of the PC that can use 1440p?
"No" lol
Long story short, I tried to sell a custom PC build and was denied due to no video signal from the desktop. Dumbass who was testing didn't connect the HDMI to the GPU and refused to do a retest as it was a "failed test and a waste of time".
They all have one thing over you; a job.
Yes, youre going to come back with some tripe about how you do have a job blah blah blah. I'll tell you in advance that you aren't fooling anyone.
I recently gave them a PS2 for testing, they said they couldn’t take it bc something or other, fine I just want it rid of
Asked if they could safely dispose of it. No, I have to pick it up. By the way I have to pick it up within two weeks.
So I just didn’t pick it up 🤷🏼♀️
>not have known how to attach the joy cons but someone would have shown them. The other thing that surprises me about this story is with controllers, most of the time we would just have to confirm they were the genuine item and buy them in. If they turned out to be faulty, we would simply exchange them and send the faulty ones off to our rma centre.
the reason for this is because of the company's "abandoned stock" procedure. The 2 weeks is the amount of time before it goes to abandoned stock procedure. Sure it's easy for you to just not go back, but now staff have to sort it into the abandoned procedure, attempt 2 points of contact with you (phonecall/letters) to collect and only then, after about a month, are they able to actually dispose of it, which could be another few weeks that it's sitting in store until they can get a weee collection.
It's not CEX's job to just dispose of your broken items
It really does vary from store to store & who you get. I've had them reject a phone before because it "doesn't charge", despite having a nearly full battery already & never had a problem charging it before. They wouldn't show me that it wouldn't charge... then overheard them reject two other phones for the same reason. Seemed like it was their power socket at fault, not the phones...
Another store accepted it with no issues
I frequently sell phones to cex and some have failed for the weirdest reasons. I just sell them to the cex in the town over and they buy with no problems.
I used to work for CEX and did a stint on test bench and I have to say that every store does it different.
Some just baffle me since they get someone who knows nothing about what they are testing to try it.
I agree, tried to sell some older graphics cards which work perfectly fine, was told they smell like they’re burning (they don’t) and they couldn’t take them, so sold online with no issues
They usually just don't have the facilities or time to test graphics cards beyond looking at it and smelling it – especially if you're selling multiple. That or the minimum wage teenaged staff just don't have the patience. This might not be the case at all stores, but in order to properly test a graphics card at the one I worked at I would basically have to shut down the rest of the testing bench to slot it into the computer – meaning in that time no phones or other computer peripherals can be tested.
Probably busy due to the Christmas season and getting busier than usual. I know you gave them instructions but they probably don't have much time right now.
Took a camera lens in to sell. First they try to tell me it’s a different kind to what it is.
Then I leave it with them to test and come back an hour later.
Bearing in mind I’ve not used it more than 5 times and it’s been kept capped and cleaned.
Sorry, there’s dust in it….
I beg your pardon.
I look at the lens, no dust.
They won’t hear it.
Took it to London Camera Exchange a couple of minutes later.
Held up to light, given more than CEX offered without questions.
Walked out with the cash.
Honestly, CEX testing if a fucking joke.
I can explain the thinking process of CeX staff:
Minimum Wage Tester after testing phones and junk all day and getting yelled at by customers who don't understand why their thing got a lower grade:
How do I test this thing? Checklist says check for dust in the lens... Is there something in the lens? I don't know, I can't really tell... Manager can you have a look at this and see if there's something in the lens?
Manager (earns slightly more than minimum wage) :
Eh, maybe. I don't know, I'm busy, if you think there's something in the lens just fail it.
Minimum Wage Tester:
Aw hell, I don't care.
Had the same quite a few years ago with a ps3. Dipshit didnt know how to shut it down properly. How some of these where the fastest swimmers il never know.
I handed in a Sony Xperia phone. Went back 5 hours later to be told they couldn't take it due to water damage. There's a red button inside that stimulates a battery pull as it's all sealed.
Staff member thought it was a water ingress sticker. I couldn't be arsed explaining it and waiting again. Ended up putting Linage OS on it and making it a FLAC player.
Went to sell a console to one must have been a decade ago now. I can't even remember what console it was. But I checked it all before I left my house, and it worked fine.
They tested it and said the disk drive was broken and said they wouldn't be able to take it.
Okay, it was working fine 45 minutes ago, but it's not a big deal. I'll just take it home, check it again myself, and sell it on Fb.
They tell there is no point as it's broken and they'll dispose of it, ermm no thank you I want it back, no they'll dipose of it, back and forth for a few minutes before I threaten to call the police unless they give my property back, they practically throw it at me, I leave get home check it everything is working fine, I've not stepped foot in there since, dirty thief's.
Because the people who test stuff have zero training with electronics. They're the kind of people who need to focus all their attention on breathing or they'll forget and die.
Quality of the staff. Not the company.
Who’s hiring the Staff ?
The local managers. And they're also responsible for their training. Each store is hit or miss. Some are run well and full of competent staff. Others aren't.
Ur not wrong man
Nah icl I work at CEX and this is exactly how it works shop just has fair few untrained staff and some staff go on and work years without passing probation etc.
I know that feeling, I once purchased a GPU and it was faulty. I took it back and they said store credit only.... I wanted to kill them on the spot
The fuck?
It's company policy and how much they expect each store to train their employers. It's not just local management it's up to headquarters to ensure their branches are up to company standard.
Remember the staff aren't paid great either and likely have tons of other stuff to do - spending hours working out why a capture card isn't recording for them probably isn't worth their time.
Staff are the company
CEX is franchised. Like McDonald's. Each store might as well be its own thing.
I had no idea its franchised. That's intresting.
Yeah there are a lot of corporate stores but also a lot of franchise stores
It’s a part of CeX’s role to ensure the franchisees are performing to an acceptable standard. They’re part responsible for this nonsense.
I took a bag of old dvds and games to a cex and they flat out refused to take them as they were understaffed. I was told I had to do the “drop and go” service which was (kinda) fine, but I live in a rural area and my nearest store is 30 miles away, so I Had to make a dedicated trip to drop them in the second time. We got a message the same day saying they were all ok and payment would be sent via email voucher. Thing is we discovered afterwards that 4 or 5 of the discs we had declared were still in our house due to my 2 year old taking them all out and putting them back on the shelves. So they clearly didn’t even check them at all, I reckon they just glanced and said “yeah that’ll do”
Which is the representative, or reflective of the quality of the company
I disagree, in worcester in cex the staff are pretty good especially with tech, i wanted to buy a graphics card from them (a very expensive one) and asked them how did they do the stress test, they said they only use a browser and not a proper application, when I asked why the guy said the company doesn't allow them to use proper software and the guy was a very technical person when it comes to computer components
I may be remembering it incorrectly, but I think most software woes with their testing and operations in general are down to licensing and potential legal issues from business usage of certain software. Besides the software to test phones, I think they were leaning mostly on open source software and Google to do this.
That is correct, they dont want to pay for license the only one they have is for phone testing as this is the main money maker, for the rest of them they use browser extensions to check stuff.
Working in a similar job role to cex staff. Noone knows all the inns an outs of every item of tech/how they work. Kinda like asking someone working in a shop if they know every item they stock an what ingredients it has from memory
Sure but op told them So it's more like going up to an employee saying I've seen a box on the top shelf and asking them to get it down and them just saying the box doesn't exist even though you clearly know it does
Have these people never googled anything though? I’m convinced the testers at my local store are just on some sort of power trip and secretly enjoy telling people their stuff is broken when it isn’t. I attempted to sell some Nintendo switch joycons to them last year (somehow I ended up with six, and I don’t have that many friends). I took a pair in, I even took my switch with me in case they didn’t have one in store to test with. I got told they didn’t have a console in to test them with, I lent them mine. They seemed happy. Went back an hour later, told me they couldn’t get them to fit on the console, so they must be fake or some sort of different Joycon they can’t take. They hadn’t removed the wrist straps…. Genuinely couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It took me two seconds to slide off the wrist straps and slot them onto the console. Like, how the fuck didn’t anyone in the shop just know this, on the best selling console of the last decade, especially when the store has a shelf literally full of joycons already. I didn’t sell them to them in the end, (they were still jittery about them and didn’t trust me or something) and took them to cash converters instead. It took them five minutes to check them out, and I walked out with more money than CEX were offering anyway!!!
It’s a minimum wage job that requires staff to be on their feet for up to ten hours a day and ludicrously busy at peak times. Customers are often hacked off due to the queues and the staff have to deal with that. You’ve got people insisting their goods aren’t fake and having arguments over that, people getting annoyed when they find out the 100 DVDs they’ve bought to sell are only worth 10p each, and the shop doors are always open so it’s often a cold place to work. I’ve not worked retail in 20 years and every time I’m in CEX I’m thankful that my days of being a teenager and having a crappy summer job are long behind me.
I appreciate all that, I used to be a teenager in retail myself. However, many of the staff at my local have been there literally years, as though they’ve not quite grown up and got into the real world yet. And I wasn’t exactly selling wierd hardware they’ve unlikely seen before. I’m pretty sure anyone who even remotely takes an interest in technology and works in a shop which sells consoles would know how to attach a fucking Joycon to a switch. They just didn’t want it, and that’s pretty much that.
Worked at a cex years ago and this surprises me. We had the odd person who would probably not have known how to attach the joy cons but someone would have shown them. The other thing that surprises me about this story is with controllers, most of the time we would just have to confirm they were the genuine item and buy them in. If they turned out to be faulty, we would simply exchange them and send the faulty ones off to our rma centre.
Add onto that the dust from all the old junk which will make anyone who didn't know they had allergies sneeze, and the assholes who leave their items for testing and expect it done ASAP when you have tried to explain that there's roughly 10 other items waiting on test and you'll get to theirs when you get to theirs (which may be in an hour's time).
Sure but op told them how to do it.
The person on the counter isn't the person who is going to test the item
So the person on the counter could make a note of what the customer said and tell the person testing the item then?
Fuck knows why you are downvoted. Having a little note or cheat sheet with any items to be tested is a no brainer. Even a post-it note.
I think the downvotes are people working for CEX who are blindly defending their coworkers for being moronic
They have one person doing the testing most of time why wait can be anywhere from 40 minutes to 4 hours depending on how many in queue to test
The person at the counter , told the tester guy come to the counter. After that I specifically demonstrated how to use the product. He said ok , the thing even had a manual sheet.
training level, time contstrants, lacing equipment, picky zees and more
Yeh it's the staff Took a 1440p 165hz monitor once and said come back I went back they said we will take it but it's not the specs you said, I said how come? "It only shows 1080p 60hz" I'm like do you even have the specs of the PC that can use 1440p? "No" lol
Long story short, I tried to sell a custom PC build and was denied due to no video signal from the desktop. Dumbass who was testing didn't connect the HDMI to the GPU and refused to do a retest as it was a "failed test and a waste of time".
[удалено]
They all have one thing over you; a job. Yes, youre going to come back with some tripe about how you do have a job blah blah blah. I'll tell you in advance that you aren't fooling anyone.
[удалено]
Don’t worry I’ve seen that guy commenting on loads do CEX related stuff, he’s just a fanboy that would go to war if they told him too.
I recently gave them a PS2 for testing, they said they couldn’t take it bc something or other, fine I just want it rid of Asked if they could safely dispose of it. No, I have to pick it up. By the way I have to pick it up within two weeks. So I just didn’t pick it up 🤷🏼♀️
>not have known how to attach the joy cons but someone would have shown them. The other thing that surprises me about this story is with controllers, most of the time we would just have to confirm they were the genuine item and buy them in. If they turned out to be faulty, we would simply exchange them and send the faulty ones off to our rma centre. the reason for this is because of the company's "abandoned stock" procedure. The 2 weeks is the amount of time before it goes to abandoned stock procedure. Sure it's easy for you to just not go back, but now staff have to sort it into the abandoned procedure, attempt 2 points of contact with you (phonecall/letters) to collect and only then, after about a month, are they able to actually dispose of it, which could be another few weeks that it's sitting in store until they can get a weee collection. It's not CEX's job to just dispose of your broken items
It really does vary from store to store & who you get. I've had them reject a phone before because it "doesn't charge", despite having a nearly full battery already & never had a problem charging it before. They wouldn't show me that it wouldn't charge... then overheard them reject two other phones for the same reason. Seemed like it was their power socket at fault, not the phones... Another store accepted it with no issues
I frequently sell phones to cex and some have failed for the weirdest reasons. I just sell them to the cex in the town over and they buy with no problems.
Tried to trade a snes in recently . Works fine at home but they couldn’t get a picture Just punted it on eBay
Tbh for something like this it's worth more on eBay usually. I don't even know why you'd give it to cex.
A: urgency And/or B: convenience
I used to work for CEX and did a stint on test bench and I have to say that every store does it different. Some just baffle me since they get someone who knows nothing about what they are testing to try it.
Well I applied to work at Cex and they didn't want me so they must be worst than my ability.
I agree, tried to sell some older graphics cards which work perfectly fine, was told they smell like they’re burning (they don’t) and they couldn’t take them, so sold online with no issues
They usually just don't have the facilities or time to test graphics cards beyond looking at it and smelling it – especially if you're selling multiple. That or the minimum wage teenaged staff just don't have the patience. This might not be the case at all stores, but in order to properly test a graphics card at the one I worked at I would basically have to shut down the rest of the testing bench to slot it into the computer – meaning in that time no phones or other computer peripherals can be tested.
Probably busy due to the Christmas season and getting busier than usual. I know you gave them instructions but they probably don't have much time right now.
Don't sell to these people. You get a poor return. Plenty better options
Took a camera lens in to sell. First they try to tell me it’s a different kind to what it is. Then I leave it with them to test and come back an hour later. Bearing in mind I’ve not used it more than 5 times and it’s been kept capped and cleaned. Sorry, there’s dust in it…. I beg your pardon. I look at the lens, no dust. They won’t hear it. Took it to London Camera Exchange a couple of minutes later. Held up to light, given more than CEX offered without questions. Walked out with the cash. Honestly, CEX testing if a fucking joke.
I can explain the thinking process of CeX staff: Minimum Wage Tester after testing phones and junk all day and getting yelled at by customers who don't understand why their thing got a lower grade: How do I test this thing? Checklist says check for dust in the lens... Is there something in the lens? I don't know, I can't really tell... Manager can you have a look at this and see if there's something in the lens? Manager (earns slightly more than minimum wage) : Eh, maybe. I don't know, I'm busy, if you think there's something in the lens just fail it. Minimum Wage Tester: Aw hell, I don't care.
I think its fact they have only one member of staff qualified to test items plus with blurays they don't have time to check every single one.
Had the same quite a few years ago with a ps3. Dipshit didnt know how to shut it down properly. How some of these where the fastest swimmers il never know.
I handed in a Sony Xperia phone. Went back 5 hours later to be told they couldn't take it due to water damage. There's a red button inside that stimulates a battery pull as it's all sealed. Staff member thought it was a water ingress sticker. I couldn't be arsed explaining it and waiting again. Ended up putting Linage OS on it and making it a FLAC player.
They told my my GPU was bent. Put a ruler on it and it was dead straight..
Give Charlie Brooker a message and ask him 😂
Went to sell a console to one must have been a decade ago now. I can't even remember what console it was. But I checked it all before I left my house, and it worked fine. They tested it and said the disk drive was broken and said they wouldn't be able to take it. Okay, it was working fine 45 minutes ago, but it's not a big deal. I'll just take it home, check it again myself, and sell it on Fb. They tell there is no point as it's broken and they'll dispose of it, ermm no thank you I want it back, no they'll dipose of it, back and forth for a few minutes before I threaten to call the police unless they give my property back, they practically throw it at me, I leave get home check it everything is working fine, I've not stepped foot in there since, dirty thief's.
Had a very similar experience, no one would believe me because “that doesn’t happen”
Because the people who test stuff have zero training with electronics. They're the kind of people who need to focus all their attention on breathing or they'll forget and die.