Costco Sells You A 60GB iPod In A 160GB Box, Apologizes, Gives Refund
Reader Sean writes:
This is a copy of a letter that I just sent to Costco, I X'd out the serial numbersWe were about to advise Sean that he'd have better luck talking with his credit card company and doing a chargeback (based on the many stories we've heard from customers of certain other retailers), but before we could post his letter, Sean wrote back to tell us that Costco had made good and the issue had been resolved.
This letter is in reference to my purchase of a 160GB Ipod Classic from the Brick, NJ Costco (store #229) on March 29th. While the packaging and box indicate a 160GB device, I discovered that the box actually contained a 60GB Ipod. I seek a full refund on my purchase and an apology from the store's general manager, Leonard for my treatment.Only one hour after purchasing the Ipod, I opened the box in my apartment in the presence of my girlfriend. To be certain that the capacity of the device was in fact only 60GB, I downloaded Itunes and plugged the Ipod into my computer. Itunes confirmed the device's capacity was only 60GB. Upon discovering the error, I immediately went back to the store and explained my dilemma. The issue was quickly escalated to Leonard, the store's general manager. Before I could even begin to explain what happened, Leonard told me in a stern and knowing voice that "this Ipod did not come from this box". He accused me of going home, switching the Ipod with one that I had previously owned, and was attempting to con Costco for a better Ipod. I felt as if I was being scolded by a teacher in middle school. I was insulted and humiliated. I've never been accused of committing a crime in my life. After a few minutes of trying to explain the situation to Leonard, it was evident that his mind had been made up before he even began to talk to me, and my efforts to convince him were fruitless. I can't help but think that if my girlfriend or mother were the one returning an Ipod that they bought, they would have been treated differently. I believe the general manager saw a young man and assumed I was trying to pull a fast one. Rather than having my issue addressed, I was embarrassed, accused of committing a crime, and escorted out of the store.
I know from working in customer service that the customer isn't really always right, and there are plenty of deceitful people out there who would try to pull a scam like this, but I believe that a loyal customer with a perfect track record, who has never returned anything to Costco, deserves the benefit of the doubt in situation like this. I should not be guilty until proven innocent. I am NOT a thief. I am an IT professional and make a decent enough living that I do not have to scam my local Costco to get an upgraded Ipod. Never in my life have I been treated like this at a retail establishment
From talking with Apple (case # XXX) I've learned that the Ipod that was in my box is a 60GB Video Ipod (the serial # is XXX) that is not in production any more. The serial number on the box that I have (for a 160GB Black Ipod Classic) is XXX. It is also of note that Apple told me that neither of these Ipods has been registered with Itunes, which I believe indicates that neither Ipod has ever been used.
I honestly have no idea how that particular Ipod got in the box that I opened. It was shrink-wrapped when I opened it and I did not notice any obvious tampering with the box or contents. (the pouch with the earplugs was unopened). I'm not sure if Apple is at fault or if it is the misdeed of some warehouse worker along the way who switched out Ipods and re-shrink-wrapped the package. But I do not believe it is my responsibility to figure that out. I just want what I paid my hard earned money for and an apology from Leonard, the general manager for treating me like a thief instead of a customer. Thanks for your assistance in resolving this matter.
Kudos to Costco. These situations usually involve a chargeback or someone calling a local reporter.
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Comments:
Praising a company? Is this Conglomorist? j/k
Good to see Costco corrected itself without too much trauma. It's a shame the shrink wrap switch con is so prevalent that stores assume you are guilty right off the bat. At this point I wonder what the percentage of loss is due to this sort of activity, but we should all be a little more understanding of this fact and not take it so personally when we are confronted with that accusation. Just be firm and be ready to take it up the corporate ladder if the store itself isn't ready to help you out.
Sounds similar to when target sold me 3 blank DVDs instead of Blue Dragon, yes, someone have re-heatsealed it and the security sticker was still there. They gave me another copy, luckily.
I can't help but think that if my girlfriend or mother were the one returning an Ipod that they bought, they would have been treated differently. I believe the general manager saw a young man and assumed I was trying to pull a fast one. Rather than having my issue addressed, I was embarrassed, accused of committing a crime, and escorted out of the store.
I'm tempted to lose all sympathy for you because of this. It's a big pet peeve of mine when people play fast and loose with the sexism/ageism/racism/whateverism card.
Kudos to Costco, indeed.
It's stuff like this that's why I shop there and why I cut up my Sam's Club card.
well, did the serial numbers match or what?
@ClayS: But Costco corporate could have said "We side with the manager, no refund or exchange for you." So they deserve kudos for actually working with the customer.
Besides, how many times have we heard Best Buy corporate side with the store when the customer brings back the iPod box filled with bathroom tiles.
i'm gonna go buy a TV, fill the box with bricks, then return it to costco/bestbuy/walmart.
all i have to do is complain to The Consumerist and i will be exonerated.
I'm willing to bet that he didn't even pay with a credit card, so a chargeback was probably out of the question. Costco has that AMEX-only policy so most people (myself included) pay with check or debit.
after looking at the image posted...
i have a 160GB ipod classic... it sits flush with the box, not exposed like the one in the photo. and because of this, that 60GB ipod would never be able to be repacked into the original 160GB ipod's box without ruining the exterior packaging. the 160GB ipod classic is thinner then the 60GB ipod video.
this truly is a fraud.
I sympathize with the customer and all, but I'm still troubled by that, "I'm being discriminated against for being a man" bit. Seriously? Give me a break. You were treated poorly, yes, but not because your dealing with the tragic oppression of men. Big business has habitually gotten into the mode of treating the customer as a suspect in recent years. Its not about the imagined disenfranchisement of men.
*than. stupid uneditable comments.
@bonzombiekitty: The more I think about it, the more I feel like this whole thing is a scam mostly due to that comment.
plus, if the guy was "tech savvy" as his letter implies, he would have immediately noticed the ipod was white or black acrylic, not the classic's anodized silver or black face.
but of course, "he did not notice". the first thing he noticed was the etching on the back and not the face of the player.
this is purely theft. he either didnt noticed a significantly bulging box OR the look of the player even after opening it. right.
@mduser:
You have a right to your opinion. I don't think I would want to return to that Costco after they insinuated I was trying to pull a swindle. To jump to such a conclusion might be justifiable if he had a record of continually returning purchases. I have never been treated like that and I'm sure this fellow felt insulted and embarrassed.
Meg, i really hope you do the right thing and e-mail the facts along with his letter to Costco and ensure this thief gets what's coming to him for trying to screw them.
@ClayS: "To jump to such a conclusion might be justifiable if he had a record of continually returning purchases."
every thief has to have their first victim. most thieves will case out a joint using whatever means handy before attempting to commit their crime.
in this case, he probably waited until a Sams Club opened up in his neighborhood.
@oakie:
You're assuming he is thief, which is possible, but I don't see any "facts" to prove that. If he is a thief, and got away with it, why would he be writing to Consumerist?
sounds like the manager got a new shrink wrap machine.
@ClayS: "You're assuming he is thief, which is possible, but I don't see any "facts" to prove that. If he is a thief, and got away with it, why would he be writing to Consumerist?"
1. read all of my posts. review the submitted photo. the ipod does not fit in the box as you can plainly see based on the height of the ipod in comparison with the box cradle it is in. if repackaged together, the outer box would have a significant bulge. add to the fact that the first and only thing he noticed about the ipod was the "60GB" etching on the back, even though the new iPod Classic looks completely different, including the COLOR. anyone shopping for an ipod would have noticed this, especially someone who claims to be in the tech biz and be somewhat tech savvy as the writer. this should be clear by the fact that he bothered to download iTunes and verify the capacity instead of simply returning it since it wasnt what was advertised to him. there are way too many "supporting facts and hypotheticals" in his argument, especially the "agism/sexism" argument he also defaults to.
2. why write to consumerist? so he doesnt get labeled a thief in a store he plans to frequent again in the future by trying to exonerate himself with a bunch of possibly gullible bloggers and commenters.
not everything you read on the internet, or The Consumerist, is true... no matter how many times you click your ruby slippers.
now why are you defending the customer, in light of these facts, so blindly? anyone who has owned a 5th gen ipod will be able to see the folly in the photo. i'm not saying Costco is great with jaded eyes... but i AM saying the customer is not right in this case with a VERY speculative eye, triggered initially by the incriminating photograph.
@oakie: I'm fairly tech savvy--I'm the (admittedly not formally trained) 'IT guy' at my job, no less--and I don't know the first thing about iPods. I do know they are mp3 players and very popular, but... aren't these things known for coming in a variety of types?
As for a bulging box; just from the picture, I'm not entirely sure it'd be terribly noticable.
@ClayS: Similar thing happened to me some years ago. I bought a video card there and returned it. There was a big huddle, and the Costco guys came over. Turns out the video card was the wrong brand. They didn't outright accuse me of anything, but I did feel like a criminal, although I did get my refund after insisting that's what was in the box.
Can't say I blame them, though - I mean, what would you think if you were them? Same thing for this 60Gb iPod.
@pinkpuppet: granted you may not be familiar with the ipod, hence even more reason why you wouldnt judge this post about an ipod swindle either way, would you, since you wouldnt know who was swindling who, right?
but the way apple tightly packages their product, and goes to great length to preserve their product's condition when packaged, you'd see that the photo is just wrong. if the ipod protruded that far from the packaging, it would end up scratched/damaged while the outer carton would have a pronounced bulge.
add to the fact that whether he's ipod savvy or not, no one plunks down $400 for a device and not even know what it's supposed to look like.
Last Christmas on impulse I purchased a $50 gift card for my wife at the Newmarket, Ontario Costco. 3 days later she came home in tears after attempting to shop with it - the cashier accused her of taking a unused gift card from the pile and trying to use that. I returned a day later with the card and my receipt to explain the situation to the manager, and he point-blank accused me of getting the card, going to another Costco to spend it, and then returning to spend it in Newmarket again! All this is for $50! 20 minutes of arguing later, he gave me my money back - practically threw it at me then stood there with a shit-eating grin on his face as if expecting a thank-you.
That idiot will never know how close he came to me spending the weekend in jail - again.
and like i had originally said, I OWN A 160GB IPOD CLASSIC. this is my 5th ipod i have bought for myself or for another. it does not protrude from the cradling carton as it does in the photo. it sits absolutely flush.
@dorkins:
I'd say its possible that someone returned merchandise after switching the contents with a lesser model. Costco may have shrink-wrapped it so it could be resold without verifying the product. That might be what happened in your case and the the customer in the article.
In response to OAKIE, his claiming to be an IT person should not be questioned just because he didn't recognise the different material of the iPod. I am a 20 year IT veteran and don't own an iPod and wouldn't know the manufacturing history. My first IT experience with an iPod was last year.
@oakie: So tell us how you know that everyone is intimately familiar with ipods, how you know whether a total stranger is tech-saavy even though you've never met them before, how you know these things about a total stranger. Maybe you have valid points but you're also assuming that someone else didn't scam the store (it happens, as we know) and that somehow they didn't manage to get everything repacked (you don't know that either, were you there?).
You're sounding awful authoritative for not having been there, and failed to explain why you're so sure of what other people do/don't know and so on.
Hate to be knit picky but is the whole 60gb thing a typo? Because there is no such thing as a 60gb ipod classic.
and by knit I meant nit... sorry!
@Buran: yet you are quick to judge the opposite direction.
and i can be authoritative considering i have owned the aforementioned device, and it's previous iterations... with their associated packaging.
read my posts. observe. it's plain to see.
YOU may not be "intimately familiar" with ipods, but seriously... if you bought something to open it up and see that it doesnt even match the photo of it on the box, would you feel the need to "investigate further" as this guy did?
for instance... if you bought kraft mac and cheese, but opened it up to find velveeta shells and cheese, would you have to boil the noodles to be sure?
once an ipod is connected to a computer, it associates itself with that computer as per Apple's Fairplay DRM. connecting it to "see the capacity" helps cover tracks if it is connected to another computer to try and prove it has been "activated" and would be a good "excuse" to otherwise exonerate someone from doing a swap like this.
there are a lot of "coincidences" in his letter. based on those alone, i wouldnt all out call him a thief, but be very suspicious. but the photo "proof" pretty much solidifies the claim against him.
@ClayS: normally i would agree, but in this case, this guy is attempting to cover his tracks "too well".
@oakie: I'll concede the majority of your points as you appear to be something of an expert on the situation, but add that you might be a little optimistic. I know a number of people that, unfortunately, would drop that sort of money on something they're clueless about.
@oakie: I call BS, too, but it could easily be a Costco employee who switched out the units. Shrink-wrap machines are common and/or easy to get a hold of... Employee takes into the bathroom, switcheroo, wraps the box and puts it back in its place. That said, the iPods are surely locked up, so it could be a receiving clerk.
Also, where would the OP get a brand new 60GB iPod? Seems like a lot of trouble to go to... It's fishy, but I just can't tell where it stinks...
@krose:
Just kidding... I didn't read carefully and see that it was a previous generation ipod in a classic box.
I have a hard time believing that apple would make a mistake like this, but I guess it's possible.
The price difference between a new 60gb iPod Video sold online and the price for the 160gb iPod classic is about $100. I don't see someone going to these lengths to "scam" Costco for such a minimal benefit. If this person did waste all of this time and break the law for $100, he obviously doesn't place a high dollar value on his time.
Additionally, I find it incredible that people sitting all over the country (world?) at their computers can act as judge and jury on this kid because they know one iPod is thicker than other, or some other triviality. I look forward to treating all of you with similar skepticism when you get hosed by some company.
P.S. - Costco rocks.
@oakie: You're right! I suspect it's a picture of a 60GB ipod. Costco is trying to pull a fast one on him, he should return it.
Costco has always been one of the "good guys" in the biz. They have the most accomodating return policies of any retailer, compensate their employees fairly, and maintain excellent relationships with their venders/suppliers. I would even doubt the veracity anyone claiming they "repack"/shrinkwrap returns. This guy is a cheat and is scamming the consumerist audience as well. One can only hope that karma takes a good bite out of his ass someday soon...
@oakie: You're missing two important points.
1. Neither of these iPods had been connected to iTunes, which meant that our OP supposedly found some place still selling the 60GB Video iPod just to pull this crap? That's beyond reason.
2. When you buy an iPod at Costco, you do not browse through boxes. You take an empty plastic shell up to the register. They ring it up and then bring you an iPod they store somewhere else. He would not have had other boxes for comparison.
@oakie: Wow. You're making a lot of blind assumptions based on little evidence. (I was going to say "completely insane" but that's pretty unkind.)
I don't think it's unreasonable at all that the guy would have plugged the thing in to verify that it was only 60GB -- if you opened the thing up and saw that it seemed different but was in seemingly new packaging you might be perplexed and check it out further too.
I'm constantly confused myself, over people who accuse OPs of being scammers. I'm sorry, I don't think any criminal masterminds out there are executing complex schemes of shaming/extortion to scam a couple hundred bucks out of Costco/Walmart/Apple by manipulating public opinion via Consumerist. Just not buying it. I sincerely doubt that this nefarious plan extends to OP writing to Consumerist to convince the store that he is not a thief (as no Costco employee will ever know, care, or be convinced).
So you have a couple of questions about the post, make a couple of large, baseless logical conclusions, and start screaming "this truly is a fraud!" Congratulations. Feel better now?
@bonzombiekitty: Sad to tell you that -isms are still very much a part of life, and they do have a material impact on people. Ignoring it won't make it go away. This guy was right--a 60-year old would not have been treated as he was.
@oakie: Sure people buy stuff all the time without knowing the details. I purchased my last notebook, which cost a lot more than an iPod, without knowing exactly what it would look like. It was sort of like Christmas that way. In the photo, the guy has unpacked everything, so of course it won't look like it did when still in the unopened box. He likely took the photo after discovering the problem.
You know, when you wonder how customer service can get so bad, so ineffective, so surly? You don't have to look any further than the comments on this website to see that some people are unduly accusing, unsympathetic and, were they in a position of any authority whatsoever, they would only make things worse.
@oakie: You say that it sit Flush in the packaging. Are you sure this is not a packaging change. Both the 60GB iPod Video and the 160GB iPod Classic measure 2.4 inches in width.
@Buran: Excuse me, but my skepticism of your high horse is, I think, justified.
"first and only thing he noticed about the ipod was the "60GB" etching on the back, even though the new iPod Classic looks completely different, including the COLOR."
How do you know that this guy should, apparently, have known if the color was significant in any way? You know nothing about how familiar he is/isn't with iPod changes. You know only that he noticed the stamp on the back, and there have been labeling mistakes on all kinds of goods in the past, especially in cases where "60" is part of "160" so it could be treated as a printing error.
"especially someone who claims to be in the tech biz and be somewhat tech savvy as the writer"
Just being in the "tech biz" does not guarantee that the writer is familiar with the branch of the "Tech Biz" in question. There's a very wide range of things one can be an expert in and still be able to call themselves a tech expert but not know a lot about ipods.
"not everything you read on the internet, or The Consumerist, is true... no matter how many times you click your ruby slippers."
Maybe not, but I don't really think anyone who wants to get away with something is going to publicly expose themselves on a widely-read site. You shut up and hope that no one notices what you did. And it's not like switch-the-contents schemes don't happen. Remember the box of rocks? Remember the floor tiles? Those are just two recent examples that come to mind immediately.
"now why are you defending the customer, in light of these facts, so blindly? anyone who has owned a 5th gen ipod will be able to see the folly in the photo."
I don't see a problem with the photo so are you going to smear me too? ipods have a shiny back. So does this one. It's a very easy thing to get away with returning the "wrong" thing in the box, especially at a place like Costco which is very liberal with return acceptance. It happens, deal with it.
"for instance... if you bought kraft mac and cheese, but opened it up to find velveeta shells and cheese, would you have to boil the noodles to be sure?"
Uhm, that doesn't make any sense whatsoever. What does food have to do with tech items like this? It could have been a labelling error, as I explained one possible variety of already, so the guy did what makes sense and checked to be sure it wasn't a labelling or other error. So you're smearing someone for using common sense?
And why do people take such glee in screaming "I CALL BS!!OOMGWTFBBQ!!!111!!!!oneone!!111!!!" on posts by total strangers? How exactly does it benefit anyone, other than feeding some sort of superiority complex where one can feel smug about "seeing" some maybe-imaginary "issue" where everyone else is so stupid that they fall for it?
@ChuckECheese: And I wonder why people have already forgotten that we were specifically told that the blaming-the-victim is out of hand. Now we're not only blaming the victim, but somebody is going through screaming repeatedly that the victim is a criminal.
Kudos? The Costco manager treated the guy like a thief and apparently had him escorted out of the store. This guy needs an ass-kicking. Great that Costco made good on it (and I believe the OP's tale; it's far too easy for someone in the back office to swap a returned old 60GB video model for a 160GB classic and re-shrink the box), but the manager is a dick.
@jordy777: People will risk arrest for shoplifting for far less. If certain unscrupulous types of people think they can pull a fast one on someone and get something for nothing, they will do it.
Kudos to Costco?
That doesn't sound like a real pleasant experience to me. A simple purchase and the customer was put through the wringer.