Daryl Hill of Cookeville, TN purchased an MP3 player from Walmart for his 10-year-old daughter. He handed the player over to his daughter thinking it was new, when in fact the previous owner had filled the player with pornography.
From WSMV:
There were video clips of XXX rated sex scenes, and the pornography was so graphic that Channel 4 could not broadcast it.
“I wish I could take the thoughts and images out of her head,” said Hill.
The Hills had bought three MP3 players for their children that came from a Wal-Mart store in Sparta, Tenn. It turns out one of the MP3 players had been returned to the store from a previous owner who loaded sex clips, graphic war scenes and lyrics about using drugs.
The Hills want to know why Wal-Mart would sell used merchandise as new in the first place, which is in violation of its own policies.
“If they want to be a major retailer, they need to act like it,” said Hill.
Snap! You tell ‘em, Mr. Hill.
Walmart offered to replace the MP3 player, and confirmed that used merchandise is not supposed to be placed back on the floor. The family declined Walmart’s offer because, “They’ve already bought their daughter a new one and are hanging onto the controversial one until they talk to a lawyer.”
Good luck with that one. The great inappropriateness lawsuit of 2008. Is William Jennings Bryan still alive?
Check technology items before you hand them over to your kids, people!
Child’s ‘New’ Player Loaded With Porn [WSMV](Thanks, Michael!)
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Selling returned items as new is not too uncommon for Walmart. I recently worked at one as a greeter (and THANK GOD no longer do) and there were tons upon tons of open items being returned to the store after the customers did God knows what at home with them. When there were too many greeters on the door the managers would often have them go through the store putting returns back on the shelf. I never once seen a item put back that was marked as used and some were VERY obvious that the were.
This not only applied to potentially smut filled mp3 players but think of all the dangers with things like clothing. Hats could have lice or someone did very unsanitary things in that pair of undies you just bought before you bought them for the second time.
I say, bottom line, Wal-Mart sold used merchandise without labeling it as being used. I don’t know if suing is the key, but if I gave my 10 year old an MP3 player, I wouldn’t just pink him or her down in front of a computer and go “be back later!” and walk away. I’d probably help out my kid pick music and download media. And then I’d see that there was something already on it.
@EXVEE the carts at customer service are the ones we had to put up, and I’d say less than 5% were unshopped items and could contain ANYTHING the store had. Yes, even seen perishables in them at one time or another. Never had to put anything like that up myself or I would have refused to do so.
Wal-Mart has sold returned items as new, and they don’t always check to make sure the right items are in there. I picked up a Glade Plugins Extra Outlet from there, and when I got home, I saw the package was taped up, so I could tell it had been a return. I opened it up to find a regular Glade Plugin, so it meant a trip back to Wal-Mart for an exchange, which they let me do without a hassle.
Back before DVDs were commonplace, my buddy went to Wal-Mart to pick up a new VCR. We get the box back to his place and open it up to find that not only is it a different model VCR in the box, but the stereo inputs are broken on the back.
We immediately returned the VCR, and the service desk wouldn’t return the VCR because the serial number on the VCR didn’t match the box. It took about 15 minutes of arguing with her and another 15 with the store manager until they acquiesced and let him exchange it for a different VCR.
So just what kind of porn *IS* acceptable to show on the TV news?
@MPHinPgh:
Whether it would be a negligent infliction of emotional distress would depend on the jurisdiction as was stated above. Usually NIED is found in cases where someone (usually a blood relative, depending on the jurisdiction) witnesses some horrible act happen to a member of their family. The example used in my Torts final was a grain silo fell on a house and killed a little kid. The parents could sue for NIED because they witnessed the death of a blood relative based on the negligence of another.
Don’t think something like NIED would fly in a situation like this. They’re would have to be some showing of extreme emotional distress as a result of the negligence. Unless it was some bizarro midget snuff porn…
Sue-Happy USA coming to the forefront again. Is this the answer to everything? My coffee is cold: Sue. My cheeseburger wasn’t cheesy enough: Sue. The air isn’t airy enough for me: Sue. And I want 10 basquillion dollars because that’s what it’s worth to me. It’s pathetic. Everything gets more and more about money everyday. Here’s an idea, if you want lots of money, get an education and earn it and stop looking for the slightest excuse to try and sue it out of some corporation. Geez, it’s good to get that off my chest. I’m sure no one cares about it, but big woop, wanna fight about it?
I’m having Deja-Vu all over again!
I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this kind of thing (either the incidents or the lawsuits).
What I want to know is why every time a story out of Tennessee gets nationwide or netwide coverage, we look like a bunch of unwashed, inbred hicks. Sheesh.
@MPHinPgh: Yeah, the fact that this was packaged as new, claimed as new, and appeared new should have tipped off the parents immediately. (/sarcasm)
How is there not a basis for a lawsuit? This store’s (or one employee’s) negligence against common sense and its own policies have scarred a little girl for life.
@gingerCE: Yeah, but was the phone message pornographic?
@Klink: Hard to prove damages for one. Emotional damages are hard to calculate. Juries like physical injuries, because they can put a price tag on it.
Not saying that they couldn’t try, but it may not be worth the effort. Of course, its always worth a shot.
@MPHinPgh: But not to your sons, because they need to start early discerning good porn from bad?
I can’t help but laugh. I had a stint at our local Big Lots store. Granted, they tend to receive a lot of the overstock and the factory refurbished items. Still, it’s assumed that everything there is either new, or has been fixed in whatever necessary ways and is thus resold “like new”, meaning any information on a computer or iPod (yeah, right) would be wiped, DVDs would be removed from players, etc. However, the trend of throwing returned items back on the shelves was a daily process for us. There was never a discussion of company policy as to returns, just a big cardboard box behind the customer service box. All returns went into it, and at the end of the day the cashiers who weren’t busy loaded up shopping carts with return items and placed them back on the shelves. If an item looked as if it was opened, we repaired the packaging ourselves and put it back. The only things that we didn’t put back were items that were obviously dysfunctional or broken.
Makes me wonder if we would have been required to put a box of opened condoms back on the shelves (if we had even sold them in the first place).
The best part was that people would return things to us that they obviously hadn’t purchased there, but that the original store wouldn’t take back.
Seriously, though – Wal-Mart (as much as I hate them) shouldn’t be sued for this. So your kid saw a few “inappropriate” body parts, a couple of cuss words, and maybe heard a gun firing. I hope for their sake that this kid doesn’t move to New York.
@shufflemoomin: I agree with you.
I can’t imagine that porn is that scarring. People make it such a big deal that when a kid does get there hands on it it’s something major. I remember the first time I saw a porn mag (I’m female), I wasn’t scarred I did want to try some of it out though, i think I was around 11. I hate to say that kids are learning about this stuff at a young age. My son is 11 and he told me about 3 weeks ago that he had looked at porn on the computer. I had to explain to him about it but I didn’t yell or punish him for it. I want him to be able to tell me things and I want him to learn about the birds and the bees from me. I don’t want him to learn the wrong things from his friends. I’m not condoning him to sit and look at porn.
My email to Walmart yesterday explains what happened to me:
I just read on the news about a used MP3 player that was sold as new that the previous owner had loaded pornography on it and a child received it as a gift.
The article states that selling used merchandise as new is against Wal-mart policy.
I wanted to tell you that what happened to that family was not an isolated incident. I bought a Conair massager 4 months ago, for approx. 10 dollars. When I brought it home and opened it, it was obviously used for nefarious purposes. It was coated in a slimy substance and had pubic hair embedded in the casing. It was disgusting. I returned the used massager for a refund and was assured that this was NOT something that happened, ever. Obviously it does.7 months before that I bought 2 identical Home Trends Torchier lamps. One was broken and missing pieces and the other was fine, and before THAT I had to return a broken (and used) Singer Denim Star sewing machine 4 years prior to that event to a store in Columbia Missouri.I exchanged it for the same machine, and was pleased that the other machine was in fine NEW condition.
This is something you really need to address on a corporate level. This isn’t just ‘one’ store or ‘one’ area. Either you are somehow condoning the practice or something fishy is going on in Denmark.
Wow, Melanie, that is gross.
I hope you broke that e-mail up into paragraphs or something, dude, because it is difficult to read.
This is blasphemy!!
This is madness!!
THIS IS SPARTA TENN.!!
sorry, but i had to do it
happy new year.
@nwogoldberg99: MP3 players are storage media … and yet they’re being put back on shelves?
Cookeville Tennessee is a small college town (Tennessee Technological University) about 75 miles east of Nashville. College prank?
A MP3 player…did you fire your proofreader?
I skipped a good part of the comments, so pardon me if these two points have been covered.
First, while Wal*Mart does commonly resell returned merchandise (all a part of the effort to cut costs and reduce markdowns), *ANY* items with internal storage on them (MP3 Players, Cameras, Memory Cards, current Video Game systems, etc.) that are returned are supposed to be sent to claims to be sent back for credit. This story is exactly the reason. Unfortunately, there are many stores/employees who don’t follow this policy.
Second, how would one go about proving that this MP3 player actually had porn on it when it was purchased? Can I go to the local Wal*Mart, buy an MP3 player, load it up with porn, then complain and “talk to a lawyer” about how I can’t get the thoughts and images out of my head? I’m not saying the people in this article are guilty of Intention to Defraud or anything here, I’m just pointing out that it’d be a hard thing to prove that the MP3 player had the porn on it when you purchased it.
OMG; walmart can re-package stuff to look like new??
Ah Classic…
You may remember the Syringes being found in Diet Pepsi Cans a few years back, or the fingers being found in Wendy’s Food.. All False Acquisitions. I remain skeptical.
So I guess WalMart’s mighty arms should extend into our homes, and be responsible for parenting our kids. Death to Walmart! Long Live the Walmart!
Seriously now. It’s Christmas, and you left your kid to play with a new toy… Didn’t you think something was weird when the other two kids didn’t have any content on their toys?
I am getting tired of this victim mentality, and people thinking they struck the Lottery Jackpot when they’ve been “wronged”.
Equally interesting is that I love the fact that “Paperwork” is going to fix the problem. (By Paperwork I mean lawsuit). Grow up, and play with your kids, Daryl Hill. They miss you.
“Check technology items before you hand them over to your kids, people!”
This isn’t some video game or movie. This is supposed to be a new, that means unused/unopened for those who can’t grasp that. If it takes me 5 minutes to extract my player from the plstic cage of hell, I’m going to think its new.
Every retailer will try to resell returned merchandise as new. They have shrink wrap machines and will reseal the item and put on a new price tag. The OP should take the MP3 player to the District Attorney’s office.
Porn on the MP3 player is the “roach in the burger” of the 2000s.
/this stuff only happens at places like McDonalds and Wal-Mart. Coincidence?
//they probably curse in front of their kids, too