We’re often told that the first steps in dealing with a problem is to accept that you have one. I have a problem. There, it is out in the open. The problem with my problem, if you’ll excuse the repetition, is that I don’t really see it as a problem. My problem is this: there is something about mobile phones and tablets that I find utterly bewildering, magical and obsessive. I want the newest, shiniest, most feature-packed model and I want it NOW. That’s where CEX come in.
CEX, or Complete Entertainment Exchange, to give it its full name, was first started in central London in the early 1990s. Since that point it has expanded to several hundred stores in the UK and has branches in six countries. Move over Ebay, this is the real place to buy and sell gadgets.
I don’t remember how I first discovered CEX but it was definitely love at first sight. The grubby shops, unfriendly staff, and total disdain for anyone in the shop was actually quite appealing. Since that point rarely does a week go past without checking their website. This is part of my love for CEX – you can actually check to see if the item you require is in stock before leaving the safe confines of your house. If it is, there is that mad-dash rush to get there before it is bought or, heaven forbid, it still shows up as available but no-one can find the blasted thing.
And the best thing is that you never quite know what you’ll find. Mobile phones and tablets are graded from A, meaning perfect, to C, meaning imperfect. Sometimes a ‘C’ phone will have a whacking great scratch or some other fatal injury but sometimes, just sometimes, the phone will be perfect and missing a set of headphones or USB cable. This is the moment when your heart flutters and you have secured that most important of things, a mobile phone bargain. I have fond memories of getting a ‘C’ grade Samsung Galaxy Note 3 that was simply missing the box. Discovering that I positively despised the phone, I bought a box on Ebay and sold it back to CEX for a profit. Who says that addictions can’t be good for the soul!
Check their website to get digging!