Walmart: Santa Brings A MP3 Player Full Of Porn To A 10-Year-Old Girl
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.Snap! You tell 'em, Mr. Hill."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.
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!)
Attention, Walmart shoppers! This ad is for you! Woo hoo!
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Comments:
I guess the guy who returned the mp3 player thought he was doing some 'guy' a favor?
WalMart has proven once again that they are a bunch of jack-asses, but is there really a basis for a lawsuit?
I agree with Meg...I'll be checking any devices which could have data on them BEFORE they go to my daughters.
There were video clips of XXX rated sex scenes, and the pornography was so graphic that Channel 4 could not broadcast it.
If only that pornography had been slightly less graphic - then they could have broadcast it.
It amuses me to see the convoluted and sometimes nonsensical crap people come up with when they are trying to add emphasis to an idea.
These stories make me wonder if there is some sort of fetish involved with buying an electronic gizmo, filling it with porn and returning it.
Check technology items before you hand them over to your kids, people!
So everytime I give a gift, I should break the wrapping, making it obvious I opened it? That is just being paranoid.
I'm not saying Wal-Mart is good, but at the same time, look at all the transactions they do on a single day, compared to how many bad things show up on here about them.
Yes, it sucks this happened. But I'm not going to open every single gift I give, just to check for porn.
@MPHinPgh: Maybe. It depends on whether (and when) Tennessee recognizes Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress as a cause of action.
Anyone else think this sounds like it could be a scam?
@B: Shop Drop!
It couldn't be too hard to track the original purchaser, unless cash was used. Credit Card/Check trail?
Could be a fun trial.
@levenhopper: In this case, someone already "broke the wrapping", and clearly it was not obvious that it had been opened.
But your last sentence made me giggle, I'm now picturing some 74-year-old man opening a toaster oven he plans to give his wife, just to make sure there's no porn in it.
Surely the package was marked as a return item, in which case he sure as hell should have checked to see what might have been on it.
Damn, that's what *I* would have liked for Xmas!
@rasbach: It's not always clear something has been opened, especially if the person who returned it made an effort to make the item look new. My mom bought my dad an impact wrench for Christmas. The plastic case had been completely glued shut, but through the window it looked like new. Once he pried it open the wrench was clearly used merchandise. Luckily the store let him exchange it without accusing him of trying to scam them.
@Levenhoffer,
"But I'm not going to open every single gift I give, just to check for porn."
I am. I'd hate to give away porn that I could be watching myself!
@rasbach: Um, no it wasn't marked as a return item -- it was sold as new. Isn't that the entire point of the article?
I think it's complete insanity that you're blaming the parent for not checking for porn. He bought what he believed was a brand new iPod, making it a legitimate expectation. It does sound like some joker filled the iPod up with the most vile crap he could find before returning it.
Maybe it WAS new...just a special edition of the MP3 player. Like the iPod that came with U2 stuff on it.
"Walmart offered to replace the MP3 player and confirmed that used merchandise is not supposed to be placed back to the floor."
Horse shit that may be the policy but I've never seen a store that doesn't do that. If you go to walmart late at night you'll see carts lined up with isle # on them and a breif description of what items go into the cart. They are all lined up outside of customer service and associates are packing them with returned items.
@clevershark: That's what I want to know. I keep hearing theses stories but I've yet to hit the porn-lottery.
At least it was an iPod, not a brick or a phone book.
It sounds more like someone trying to scam Walmart than a real event. The device carried sex, violence, and drugs, just to cover all the bases.
I hate Walmart. I recently had to return an item that was obviously used and put back on the shelf. It wasn't something I could tell until I had opened it.
The really sucky thing is that it was a heated foot bath/massager. That's just NASTY to put back on a shelf after being used!
I bet they put it back on the shelf after I returned it.
@randotheking: Those aren't returns. Those are items that come in what are called "Break Packs". Generally it is small items that probably wouldn't survive the truck ride to the store so they bundle them together in larger boxes and then re-separate them when they get to the store. Not to say that a lot of returned crap doesn't go back on the shelf... it most definitely does. Just not the case you are referring to.
@rwakelan: Uh, not really true. At Target, we had carts behind guest service were you put stuff the was returned/exchanged. You're not really supposed to take back obviously used stuff, but sometimes it happened. The carts were then sent back to the departments and the stuff was put back on the shelves. So I think those might be the carts Rando was referring to.
Didn't a similar story like this happen a few years ago? I thought it was an African-American family that had experienced the same problem.
Actually, I work at Wal-mart and he's correct. Returned items do end up in that cart, and back in the department, but a good 90-95% of the items in those carts at night are new.
I work in the electronics area, and I always check returned MP3 players and stuff to see if they've been used/have anything on them. I'm the only one though.
Oh well, Hopefully this means we won't have to sell any returned mp3 players. Same thing happened with computers after one got returned and resold with porn on it. Always hated putting those back on the shelf.
@Televiper: I'm not so sure that anyone is blaming the parents. It sounds like there's just a new Rule of Thumb...you can't trust that anything purchased as new IS new, especially electronic devices with the capability of storing data like MP3's and such.
this happened b/c walmart employees dont care anymore since theyre being treated like crap from the company.
@Quellman: They couldn't trace the original owner at store level, perhaps at the manufacturer level if the item had been registered. Even then, once it has been resold, you can;t prove the original owner put the content on the player.
@randotheking: You have it mostly correct. I used to manage an electronics department at a Walmart. The carts are behind customer service with department numbers, not aisle numbers on them (Department 5 being Electronics, 7 being Toys, etc.). Items that are returned and specifically stated as being defective are not returned to the shelf. However, if a customer just doesn't like the item or has another reason for returning it, as long as it is not media, it is placed back on the shelf.
I had a hell of a time reselling obviously opened mp3 players, stereos, computers, etc, but I had to do it. With computer returns though, I personally wiped the drives and reinstalled the OS, but it certainly wasn't required of me.
@B: I think people do this either because they like the idea of someone who shouldn't be looking at it seeing it, they think whoever gets it will like that there's porn on it, or they actually think the store is going to delete everything on the device before re-selling it.
Actually, it's probably a combination of all three.
NOT the fault of the mother, but does not warrant a lawsuit against Wal-Mart. I am sure a company as big as wal-mart has some mix ups. There was no intent on wal-mart's part, so these people should just move on with their life. But hey, I guess suing someone IS easier than going to work
@rando
there is a difference between "returned" and "used" - Walmart's policy is probably not to put stuff that was clearly opened back on the shelf, but if someone returns something that doesn't appear to have been opened, it's going back on - they can't afford to throw out every returned item that someone changed their mind over.
When I worked at Toys R US, we called those carts "reshop", and cashiers would get to put stuff back. It was kind of a coveted job, since you could disappear in the back for a while. It was a combination of unopened returns, stuff that people took to the cash register and then changed their minds about buying (or couldn't pay for), and stuff that was mis-shelved or picked up by a customer and put in another place.
@ROLLA: I totally agree
Nice, a William Jennings Bryan reference! The "Silver-Tongued Orator" was a resident of my hometown.
Smart move by the guy to not give the MP3 player back to Wal-Mart. I am totally in favor of a lawsuit here. I'd like to say it's all because of the damage that might have been caused to the girl, but I have to admit part of it is to stick it to the Man.
When I worked at Circuit City someone put the Kama Sutra (it was called the "Palma Sutra") on a Palm Pilot on display in the store. They had to stand there and beam it in with an infra red connection. A mother found it and told me about it so I yanked it off the shelf.
Moral of the story..... Some people are just weird. Some people are just perverse. A few people achieve perversely weird status.
Whatever happened to giving kids stuffed toys? I rather get a Netherlands-made stuffed Tux Penguin plushie than an MP3 player filled with porn to my neices and nephew (three of the stuffed birds, in fact, this Christmas).
But a trial? Eh, why not. The process would be justice enough.
Had they been able to broadcast it, we would have seen nubile vixens stripping off their Totenkopf shirts.
um...not to walmart bash or anything, but isn't that store kind of "known" for selling certain electronics that have been used as new? I thought I remember something about them selling referb tv's as new....
Anyhow, if i buy something as NEW, I would expect it to be new & unused, if I buy an open item, refurbished, or returned item then I would expect it to possibly contain some files, or music or whatnot...why is it that now when I buy something (as new) I need to double check it, are none of the stores competent enough to separate new from used??
Man, what was that girl thinking, asking for a porn filled MP3 player!
Now that it's out of the way, this is no shock. You see stories all the time out on the interwebs about stores that have shrink wrap machines and will use them to "newen" up an item.
Hell, Gamestop will sell you a 'new' game (sometimes complete with saves on the cartridge if you're a gameboy person!) and offer to shrink wrap it on the spot. Oh, never been played, ignore the scratches!
@ToadKillerDog: Ha! Aside from the pretty lame pun, that's hilarious. "Sir, what are you doing?" 'Uh..nothing..just uh..standing. Not broadcasting, not me!'
@STrRedWolf: That's all well and good for the younger, but as you go up in age, the expectancy is there for other stuff. Plus when you're buying for your kids rather than someone else's...
@levenhopper: You need to anyways to make sure you didn't get a phone book or a pile of bathroom tiles.
I don't care if it is a scam, anything to embarrass, steal from, sue, harass or destroy Walmart is A-OK and legal in my book. Look what they have done to their employees, customers, Mom-and-Pop businesses and America. In this case, two wrongs do make a right.
That's what I asked for, but didn't get...damn that little girl!
As I said in my comment about the wrong Disney CD post:
WHY IS THIS EVEN NEWS?
Oh, yeah, cue lawsuit in 5...4...3..
Suing for this is stupid.
Period. When I was 10 I found some porn mags a guy was throwing out, I guess my parents should have sued him for not burning them in his fireplace first?
Don't get me wrong, Wal-Mart needs to figure out what's going on with selling used merchandise, but suing over your kid seeing stuff they could stumble into almost anywhere anyway is just profiteering.
Shame on Wal-Mart, and shame on the family if they sue.
One time I bought a "new" phone and answering machine as a gift for a sibling at Target. It was marked as clearance and was a great deal. However, my sister told me when she hooked it up, there was already a message on the machine. This happens a lot more than is reported.
Just think, if an adult had gotten this, we probably never would have heard about it. Or even if the kid in question had been a few years older, and maybe a boy. It's no wonder why this always seems to just happen to young children. It's just that everybody else who gets it thinks "awesome!" and locks their door, instead of showing a parent who immediately thinks "lawsuit!"
But, basically everybody's right about the Wal-Mart policy, by which I mean while there is a policy in place, every store (manager) enacts it differently depending what kind of bottom line is being aimed for. One store I'm all-too-acquainted with took a pretty moderate stance and typically Claims'ed any obviously open/used electronic merchandise, along with a few other departments. But not everybody was so lucky, and plenty of other goods went back on the shelf with it being clear they'd had a previous owner. Sometimes if I could manage it, I'd find a reason for them to be defective, like suddenly some part just goes "missing."
The carts at customer service are actually a mix of "unshopped" items and actual returns. Something to think about next time you're shopping and decide you really don't want this or that and just set it somewhere. Working at Wal-Mart sure changed a lot of my attitudes about what's okay and not in a store.
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