Fake IPad 2s Made of Clay Sold At Canadian Stores 265
SpuriousLogic writes in with a link to a story about some Canadian consumers who thought they were getting an iPad 2 but instead got the makings of the world's oldest tablets. "As many as 10 fake iPad 2s, all made of slabs of modeling clay, were recently sold at electronic stores in Vancouver, British Columbia. Best Buy and Future Shop have launched investigations into how the scam was pulled off. The tablet computers, like most Apple products, are known for their sleek and simple designs. But there's no mistaking the iPad for one of the world's oldest 'tablet devices.' Still, most electronic products cannot be returned to stores. For the the stores and customers to be fooled by the clay replacements, the thieves must have successfully weighed out the clay portions and resealed the original Apple packaging. Future Shop spokesman Elliott Chun told CTV that individuals bought the iPads with cash, replaced them with the model clay, then returned the packages to the stores. The returned fakes were restocked on the shelve and sold to new, unwitting customers."
Re:Returns (Score:5, Interesting)
I returned an un-opened set of sockets to Canadian Tire once. The sockets were still in the original shrink wrap, and the clerk cut it open in front of me before she gave me a refund. When I asked her why, she said that they've had people return socket sets full of rocks.
Not surprised really.
Re:future Shop is best buy and they don't test ret (Score:5, Interesting)
I used to work at Futureshop.
They definitively 100% care more about ramming a 30$ printer cable down your throat with a $60 printer then they do about customer service. Everything about their training program is designed to make you seem friendly and build customer trust right before you start hitting them over the head with the extended warranties and Monster cables.
I once got pulled into the managers office for a compliment from a customer. I sold him a Ben-Q burner that was cheaper and better then the Sony equivalent (which cost $100 more and was slower), and said so plainly when I did it. After I rang up the burner he asked to talk to the supervisor, so I paged him up to the counter where the customer proceeded to tell him how awesome of a salesman I was for saving him that money and ultimately deciding to sell him WHAT HE NEEDED rather then what could have potentially made us the most money (we got massive kickbacks on the Sony shit).
The moment the customer walked out of the store, my ass got hauled into the store manager's office and shafted like you wouldn't believe. No extended warranty this. No accessories that (accessories? like a $35 IDE cable?). Suddenly my good-to-great rating numbers are shit and they're threatening to can my ass if I don't start playing scum-ball with the customers, like everyone of their other salesmen.
I quit 2 weeks later. I only ever applied there to help people with technical shit, and I couldn't even do that.
-AC
Re:Advice from above ("upstairs") (Score:5, Interesting)
Note: a "poke" is a bag. Apparently, people would sell a cat in a bag, and tell you it was a baby pig (which you could then fatten up). If you "let the cat out of the bag", you were showing everyone what a fraud the merchant was.
See http://xkcd.com/325/ [xkcd.com] (when the SOPA blackout ends).
Re:future Shop is best buy and they don't test ret (Score:2, Interesting)
Well, I also once worked at Future Shop. In one year I made it from warehouse helper to merchandiser to #2 salesman in the Computer Department (That was when we all waited to get the first Pentium class PC's in). I was the #2 salesperson because I took my time with the customers and told them to call me at the store if they have any questions about the product. Sure enough, a few months into this I got hauled into the managers office, told I was not selling enough extended warranties and that I spend too much time on the phone helping clients. Then he went on to tell me that I can be the #1 salesman and that I have 2 months to reach that goal (or else?).
Here is the thing: Back then I made $40 in commission on a $2000 DELL system and $60 on a $149 extended warranty. Well, who would pay to extend a three year warranty to 4 years for a PC that will be obsolete by then? I never bothered to push on that. $14 printer cables had a cost of $1 and my commission would have been $5 on it.
So you see where the incentives are. Forget customer service, expect you wallet to be raped.
I still shop at Future Shop, but I research what I want online, find out the SKU and walk into FS, grab a salesperson, give them the SKU, pay and leave.
Serial # on the box... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:future Shop is best buy and they don't test ret (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, I can't speak for Future Shop in general, or for this specific location, but I can say with certainty that your statement as a general sentiment about Best Buy's practices is false.
You see, I happen to work at Best Buy, and funny thing...I'm one of the people tasked specifically with testing every piece of returned electronics to make sure:
1) Whether the unit functions, so we know whether it's defective and needs to be repaired, or was simply unwanted and can be resold,
2) If it doesn't function, if the problem is a hardware defect or accidental damage,
3) If the unit inside the box matches the item sold (you wouldn't believe the number of people who will try to pass off a cheap dvd player as a more expensive model, and there are occasional knock-off items)
4) Ensuring all accessories are included.
And when corners are cut, it's always for the sake of the customer. For example, during the holiday season when there are huge lines and we're just trying to get everyone handled as quickly as possible. Most of the time, though, we try to check out every device that comes through the Customer Service counter. Just earlier today, I had to have one of the CS reps decline a retrun because the customer was trying to return a DSLR without the included battery.
One odd, only tangentially-relevant bit: you'd also be surprised how many people lie about why they're bringing products back, even when they don't have to. If the device works and you're within the exchange period, you can return it for absolutely whatever reason you want, but many people seem to think that you have to have some sort of reason to bring it back. All too frequently, the items are being returned simply because the user does not know how to operate them.
Really, though, it's easy to hate Best Buy. I used to hate it before. I mean, why not just get stuff cheaper online? It's not that painful to wait a few days for shipping. But after working there, I came to realize something: the store doesn't target people like me as customers. The true target are for people who don't personally have enough knowledge about electronics, and want some sort of guidance (even if it's from a salesperson). Prices aren't that far off places like Wal-Mart, but the difference is that in Wal-Mart, all you get is a checkout teller, and you're lucky if they know the first thing about electronics. Best Buy salespeople might try to push accessories on you, but at least they have to know the products in their department and can offer at least a little insight into purchases for those who are less technologically inclined.
Specifically, I work in Geek Squad. You and I might be well-informed computer nerds, but there are an astounding number of people who come in, not to try to get repairs, but simply to ask easy questions. "What do you think of this software?," "Is this a good brand?," "Can my device do this?," "What does this mean?," etc. These people are the reason we exist. Not every family has a convenient daughter/nephew/grandson who's a nerd that they can go to for all their tech inquiries.
Oh, and don't blame Best Buy for Monster Cables. We're not the only ones who sell them, we're not the ones who set the MSRP (though, I suppose we could always choose to undershoot the MSRP for something closer to the store's cost), and we do offer alternative brands at more reasonable prices. But if someone comes in, who already associates the high-priced Monster brand with high quality, it's not like we're going to refuse to sell it to them. If you insist that you have to have a technician come to your house to hook your blu-ray player up to your HDTV with that single HDMI cable, why should we argue? Personally, if anyone asks about in-home PC service, I usually try to steer them into bringing the unit into the store (I'm sure my boss would throw a fit if he knew that), but some people are downright afraid of disconnecting and reconnecting all the cables on their desktop and are willing to pay hundreds of dollars to have a repair tech come to their home and fix everything. If that's what you want, we're not going to argue, and if it's really that helpful a service to offer, then we'll gladly help out.
Re:Returns (Score:2, Interesting)
When I've been traveling, I've always seen attractive Aer Lingus flight attendants. I found this list: 2011 Top 10 Most Beautiful Airline Flight Attendants [wordpress.com]. Not surprisingly, no US carriers are listed. Attractive and friendly flight attends are the exception, not the rule, with US carriers. I won't say they don't exist. They're just rare.