CEX Steinway
We Buy - Ripped off with cell phone purchase

I visited this store numerous times after being referred to it by a former co-worker of mine. I was told they buy used games, sell used games, among other electronics.

All of my visits to this store have been depressing, at best. I tend to ignore these things because people are stupid and the staff at this establishment is no different. However, everyone draws a line..

The staff is completely incompetent and smug. Absolutely none of them know what they're doing or why they're even working there. You ask a question, and they give you a "umm".. Or "i don't know..." or they simply ignore you. Seriously. They ignore you. Or they'll ask fellow co-workers and they don't know a d*mn thing either.

Getting to the point. I wanted to buy a Blackberry and I had decided that I would buy it from CEX. They have a display case with all of the used Blackberrys at "reasonable prices." (2 year old scratched up phone? $195). I asked to see some of the Blackberrys and discovered most of them were broken. Broken buttons, scrollpads, scrollballs. Broken, broken, broken. What makes it worse is the staff was completely clueless about it. And they did not give a d*mn about it either. Their reaction? A pretentious "Wow. I can't believe this got through testing."

Speaking of testing, when they buy used phones from their customers, they test them rigorously before actually buying them. They test for any defects or problems or malfunctions. The slightest problem and they would not purchase them. How do I know this? Because I tried selling phones here.

One of my phones worked perfectly, but apparently the charging port was "mangled" even though I never had a problem with it.

Back to my problem in a nutshell: I finally decided to buy a scratched Blackberry 8900. The cost was $175 tax which came to around $190. The battery was completely dead and I was unable to test it until I got home and charged it. The charger they gave me was a cheap $2 charger you can get at any thrift store as well.

The phone gave me problems at first. The scroll wheel was unresponsive and I discovered the certain model I bought was very old. The staff did not know the model # nor did they know how recent it was. What's the criteria for pricing these phones if no one knows how old they are?

I looked for a telephone number on their website so I could call and inquire about a refund, but alas there is no number. Why? Because this business is shady. I contacted them via e-mail and they told me I could only be refunded with store credit and there was nothing else they could do. I was furious. I was stuck with this cheap phone I had paid a fortune for and they could not do a d*mn thing about it.

I am seriously done with this store. The smug attitudes on the pretentious 20 year old employees, the overly expensive goods, and their awful service.

Company: CEX Steinway
Country: USA
State: New York
City: Astoria
Address: 30-60 Steinway Street
Site: webuy.com

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