A lot of readers sent us the story of a Florida teen who received the awesome birthday gift of some rocks and crumpled up Chinese newspapers inside a Nintendo DS box. After some fuss and the discovery that another customer had already returned the same box of rocks, Wal-Mart made the situation right. Reader Ryan found himself in a similar situation, but without the happy ending (yet!): a Texas Best Buy sold him a paving stone instead of a Macbook Pro.

He wrote:

When I got home I opened the box and found a paving stone packed with bubble wrap, instead of the Macbook Pro.

I returned to the store and the manager, “Keith”, was not too willing to help me out. He kept falling back on the line “Apple seals the boxes, not us. Take it up with Apple.”

I have sent an email to Best Buy corporate and have contacted my credit card company. Unfortunately, they can’t do anything until the charge posts.

So right now, I paid $2164.89 for a very nice red brick.

Contacting your credit card company was the right thing to do. Here’s a post about how to avoid this situation, and also what to do if it happens to you.

What To Do When A Store Sells You A Box Of Crap And Won’t Take It Back [Consumerist]
$138 box of rocks?? [10 Connects] (Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.