Little girl opens iPod, gets book instead
updated 02:20 pm EST, Thu December 27, 2007
iPod replaced with book
A little girl in Maryland this Christmas opened a box that was supposed to contain an iPod classic, only to discover a book and a strange note in place of the portable player she thought she had received, according to myfoxdc. The box, which her father purchased at a local Wal-Mart store, contained "Awakening Loving-Kindness" by Pema Chodron accompanied by a strange letter, which reads: "Reclaim your mind from the media's shackles. Read a book and resurrect yourself. To claim your capitalistic garbage go to your nearest Apple Store."
The man who purchased the 'iPod' claims the box was completely sealed when he bought it, and learned that he was not the only customer to receive a surprise instead of the expected gadget. A Wal-Mart store manager said the store had already offered a refund to another customer who had a similar problem, and considers the entire ordeal to be Apple's problem.
Wal-Mart offered the little girl's father another iPod, but he declined, saying he would purchase his next iPod directly from an Apple Store.
One of many
The Maryland iPod switch is the latest event in a growing list of similar scams occurring across the U.S. MacNN reported the story of an Alabama man last month who purchased what he believed to be an 80GB iPod classic for his daughter, only to find a used and scratched 30GB iPod video in its place. Two Texas-based Target stores during the month of October unknowingly sold sealed boxes filled with rocks instead of shiny new iPods, and one Hawaiian customer even opened a shrink wrapped iPod box to discover a sealed fish or meat product nearly a year ago. Yet another unhappy Wal-Mart shopper found six AA batteries inside a 'new' iPod box, which bore a piece of paper taped to the top with a hand-drawn picture of a screen and buttons designed to look like the missing iPod within.
Looks like..
12/27, 02:43pm reply
A case of "Shop Dropping": http://weburbanist.com/2007/12/26/shopdropping-the-subversive-art-of-reverse-shoplifting/
mixtli
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2003
hmmm, books aren't media?
12/27, 03:24pm reply
what confused hippie smoked too many drugs to realize that books and publishing are one of the biggest media channels out there? also one of the biggest industries resisting efforts to go digital, one of the biggest industries to fight efforts of libraries to offer easy access to content, one of the industries still holding on to its only hope of survival: the fact that there's no real bittorrent for books?
cmoney
Dedicated MacNNer
Joined: Sep 2000
Reclaim
12/27, 03:24pm reply
Reclaim your mind from the media's shackles.
bloggerblog
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2007
Not!
12/27, 03:27pm reply
Walmart claims it is Apples problem but I would bet money that the iPod is in the hands of a walmart employee at that store.
rspress
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2002
RE: cmoney
12/27, 03:30pm reply
Totally agreed, since books are to some extent part of the media channels. It's like buying Bill Oreilly's book, would that have been part of "Reclaiming ones mind from the media's shackles"?
I don't think so.
bloggerblog
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Joined: Aug 2007
A pox on the person...
12/27, 03:46pm reply
who cheated that little girl. Since when is music bad for one's soul.
Constable Odo
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Joined: Aug 2007
walmart
12/27, 06:03pm reply
Walmart, it's time to get an x-ray machine just like the one in airport.
coffeetime
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Joined: Nov 2006
I wonder...
12/27, 06:09pm reply
>>Does and electronic reader count as one bound by these nasty shackles?
Faceplant
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2003
Who's to blame?
12/27, 08:33pm reply
How can a Wal-Mart spokesperson point the finger at Apple? After all, I highly doubt some Chinese factory worker is going to take the time to do a swap to make a point like that...
legacyb4
Mac Elite
Joined: May 2001
EASY SOLUTION
12/28, 12:24am reply
These problems could be easily solved if Apple used some type of "security" plastic wrap on its products rather than something that can be replicated by almost anyone with a hair dryer. Apple logo-embossed plastic would let a buyer know the product has not been tampered with since leaving the factory. I'm sure there are a dozen other ways I can't even think of to assure a purchaser that the product has not been tampered with.
Just a thought.
- TMO
TheMacOracle
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Joined: Jul 2003