AVOID MUSIC MAGPIE AT ALL COSTS!

[cal633]

We had a 3 year old Dell laptop vgc valued by them at £180. All checked & working. Packed carefully, included brand new laptop case for extra packing & sent to Music Magpie. Within a day we’re told that they’ll only offer £19 apparently battery doesn’t hold charge - the laptop case was worth more than that!
But when we get it back it gets worse: there are contradictory stickers on laptop, one says tested & fully functional, another says battery 62%. However they failed to return our Dell charger so we cannot check it. To add insult to injury they send us a teeny charging cable which is for an Apple device! So, thanks to music Magpie - they’ve made our laptop totally worthless…

That’s a shame, I always found them very good. You can buy a new Dell laptop charger on eBay for less than a tenner. Apple cables cost more than that so you could end up making a profit if you sell the one they sent you!

We've sent a few things and never had a problem and also bought stuff off them and all good

That is a shame. I've never see them half a dozen times and always had good experiences

*used them half a dozen times

I’ve used them, all good, but doubt I would send them a laptop though.

I've bought dvds off them that are supposed to be fully checked and working - and then they don't work properly. I avoid buying off them now.
Contact them and tell them the laptop has been returned with the wrong charger, I think they're pretty useless tbh.

I've used Music Magpie over the years and never had an issue. On the one occasion I received a faulty phone they replaced it immediately without issue. I will continue to use them.

I don't think the stickers are contradictory. A laptop can be fully functional ie all the functions work and also only hold 62% of charge. They're not mutually exclusive comments. They've obviously messed up re the charger but I'd just point out the error and ask for your correct charger.

I had issues with them before. Some people might point out that magpies are stereotypically guilty of a certain behaviour...

Some of these companies are more reputable than others, but I think they mostly work to a business model that assumes you just want rid of stuff that is worthless junk to you, and so any money they deign to pay you is a bonus. Anything that they can claim is worthless (to them, at least) they will 'kindly' keep and 'dispose of for you' - and the way they often dispose of 'worthless' stuff is by selling it for money...

Maybe if they can make out that you tried to scam them by misrepresenting something, that's extra profit for them - and hard for you to disprove, whilst they take the upper hand.

They also capitalise on the fact that you have to post them stuff and then anything in dispute has to be posted back, so there's the hassle and opportunity for either party to be dishonest, should they wish to. At least somewhere like CEX, you can both examine the goods together and you can just take it away if they quibble at all.

Not to derail, but has anybody here used Vintage Cash Cow? What have been your experiences? They obviously have to factor in their huge advertising spend to what they pay out. With the fact that they say they'll take pretty much everything, that strongly suggests to me that they see themselves as more of a house clearance service than a specialist trader - with prices to match - but I may be very wrong there.

We used to use them when we replaced items but not any more. They offered us £180 for any iPad and £200 for a laptop and they then offered £20 for each once they received them. One they said was water damaged and the other had a faulty speaker. They were both in great condition and did not have any of the damage they reported. Asked for them to be returned to us and took to Apple and they gave us virtually the same as MM offered.

Would never use them again.

I'm surprised, I've bought several items of them and had zero problems.

To be fair, I think most of the complaints about this kind of company and business model are probably likely to come from people who sell to them - specifically those who feel that they haven't been given a fair price for their goods.

As a buyer from them, I don't think there are as many potential issues for concern.

Ergo if you buy from them and the item turns out to be faulty, it's on them; but if you sell them an item which is (or is claimed to be) faulty or in a poor condition, it's on you.

Just saw this. My son has had a similar experience this week. Sent an old xbox to them with original controller and charger. Offered £46.

When they received it they said the controller was faulty and said they'd only give £5. It wasn't faulty so my son told them so.

Then they said it was the wrong controller. It wasn't, it was the correct one that came with the xbox originally My son told them that too.

So they sent it back. It's very weird. Why change the story?