Mum's shock as daughter, 9, finds pornography on phone bought from Burgess Hill shop

A mum has spoken of her shock after her nine-year-old daughter found pornography on a second-hand phone bought from a shop in Burgess Hill.
Tina Preston and her daughter ReahTina Preston and her daughter Reah
Tina Preston and her daughter Reah

Tina Preston, 32, of The Nursery, Burgess Hill, bought the Samsung Galaxy S2 from CeX in the Market Place Shopping Centre for her daughter Reah’s ninth birthday.

She took it home to set up and handed it to Reah on her birthday who was soon ‘in tears’ after finding a number of explicit pictures and videos.

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She told the Middy: “The battery was already dead when I bought it so they said to take it home and charge it.

CeX in Burgess Hill. Picture: Steve RobardsCeX in Burgess Hill. Picture: Steve Robards
CeX in Burgess Hill. Picture: Steve Robards

“When I gave it to her on her birthday I took a couple of pictures on it of her and some guinea pigs we were looking after.

“I gave the phone back to her and she went to look at the pictures I took and there were three to four pornographic pictures and three pornographic videos.

“I thought oh my god, I was shocked. She handed me the phone and she was in tears.

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“I grabbed it off her and switched it off. I then phoned her dad and he came over. We then took it back to the shop together.”

Mum-of-two Tina said when she went into CeX staff said there was nothing they could do about it.

“They just told me to put a complaint in on their website, which I have since done,” she said.

“They didn’t offer us a refund or anything. I was quite shocked, there was no help at all, apart from the advice about complaining. They wrote down the IMEI number too.”

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Tina has since received a response from the retailer after submitting a complaint online.

She said she was advised to take the phone back to the shop for a refund and was offered expenses for going there and for the ‘inconvenience’.

“I don’t feel it is good enough because someone else could purchase a phone there and the same thing could happen to them,” Tina added.

“We deserve a bit of compensation, especially for what Reah had to see. You just don’t expect this sort of thing to happen.

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“I phoned the police too on 101, but they said they couldn’t do anything about it as it was a civil law matter – they told me to contact Citizens Advice.

“I know that the law says if you sell a second-hand phone you should clean it beforehand.

“I have had confirmation from CeX that this is the case as well.”

CeX said this week that it took the concerns about the phone ‘very seriously’ and added that it wiped all devices prior to sale.

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A spokesman said: “We take this feedback very seriously. CeX wipe all devices prior to sale. CeX has 25 years experience in second hand electronics and handle many thousands of phones daily in hundreds of stores across the UK and beyond.

“CeX is more than happy to receive the phone to check it and if necessary send it to an independent tester to run a diagnostic check on it, so will be requesting for the customer once again to allow us the opportunity to do this. From there we can conclude if there has been an error on our part and ensure we resolve this as soon as possible.

“To date, the phone has never been passed to any member of staff within the store to verify the photos on it and have any timestamps verified and as such, in line with the Consumer Rights Act 2015, we cannot resolve an issue until we have been allowed to inspect a returned item and confirm what we are being told, as well as having proof of purchase which also has not been provided.

“The customer was advised in our emails that the store would be required to inspect it, but to date the store have unfortunately not been able to.

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“With a complaint such as this, as you can hopefully realise, any company needs the opportunity to investigate it first and conclude that the information they are being told is accurate and correct before resolving it.

“CeX is more than happy to receive the phone to check it and if necessary send it to an independent tester to run a diagnostic checks on it, so will be requesting for the customer once again to allow us the opportunity to do so.

“From there we can conclude if there has been an error on our part and ensure we resolve this as soon as possible.”