CeX grading / missing cable issue — am I being unreasonable?
I sold an iPhone 17 256GB to CeX recently. The phone was basically mint. I had a screen protector and case on it since I bought it and there were no scratches that I could see. I put it in the original box along with the original Apple charging cable.
After waiting about 4 days, I was told the phone had been downgraded from A to B because of “wear and tear” and because there was supposedly no charging cable in the box. This knocked about €30 off the original offer.
I rang the guy who graded it because I was confused about the cable. He told me multiple times that there was no cable in the box. I told him I definitely put the Apple cable in there and asked what happened to it. He basically said it wasn’t there and that he’d have to check the cameras.
Then when I went into the store to speak to the manager, I got a completely different explanation. The manager said there actually was a cable in the box, but apparently it wasn’t the official Apple one. I know for a fact I put the original Apple cable in there.
I asked if I could see the cable they were talking about because surely that would clear the whole thing up, but I wasn’t shown it.
The whole thing has just left me feeling really suspicious because I’ve now been given two different explanations. I’m not saying I can prove someone took the cable or damaged the phone, but I know what I handed over and I know the condition it was in.
I went into the store to try to discuss it with the manager and it turned into a pretty unpleasant interaction. He seemed more interested in the fact that I’d called the staff member a “scumbag” in a text when I was pissed off about the situation than actually discussing why I was getting completely different explanations about the cable. Security ended up being called even though I wasn’t shouting or trying to cause a scene.
I’ve made a formal complaint with CeX and left a review, but I’m curious what other people’s opinions are. Am I being unreasonable here, or would you also be questioning what happened to the cable and why the explanation changed?