Many of our regular readers would argue that this was all Matt’s own fault for going to Best Buy. They had a great promotion for iPhone screen protectors and cases, though, and how could they possibly screw up selling an iPhone case? By only selling Zagg InvisibleSHIELD screen protectors. We’ve heard great things about these products, but Matt was horrified to notice that the company puts its name, in black letters, on the screen protector itself. The effect is subtle if you have a black smartphone, but could be irritating if you have one of any other color.

I recently went to my neighborhood Best Buy to purchase a case and screen protector for my new iPhone 5. While there are dozens of cases to choose from, when it comes to Best Buy there is only one brand of screen protectors available to purchase – InvisibleSHIELD by Zagg.

Now, is $30 for a plastic screen protector expensive? I would say so. Nevertheless, Best Buy was having a sale where if you bought a case at the same time as the screen protector, the total would be significantly discounted. Seeing it as a solid deal, I even bought the same case/protector combo for my employees (A total of 6, or roughly $200).

However, upon opening Zagg’s InvisibleSHIELD, I discovered it was anything but invisible. As you can see in the attached pictures, there is clearly a “Zagg” logo on the corner of the screen protector. Further, as depicted on the box itself, there is no mention/image of this Zagg logo on the Invisible Shield anywhere.

I called Zagg immediately, and couldn’t believe the ridiculous response I got from their customer service representative. First, because I said I owned a black iPhone, I was told “it shouldn’t be THAT visible”. Oh, great… What about the white iPhones my employees own? I was told they shouldn’t mind so much, as “ this is nothing more than what Nike does, when the company puts their logo on their sneakers.” I disagreed, saying this was more like if Sony put their logo in the middle of the TV screen at all times.

I was shocked at how surprised the customer service representative seemed with my dissatisfaction. I pointed out, after doing a quick Google search, that this had happened with some of their other products, and that many people were upset and Zagg said they would stop manufacturing their screen protectors with their logo on them. Clearly, this is not the case. For $30, Zagg wants you to constantly advertise their logo, on top of the emails you read, the sites you browse, the games you play… There it is, “Zagg”, a reminder that you’ve blown a wad of cash straight up a greedy corporation’s you-know-what.

And in return? I was told I could “Special order” Zagg InvisibleSHIELDs without their logo… but I’d have to pay shipping and handling, in addition to returning my purchased Zagg shields to their company. No thanks. Instead, I’ll be returning every Zagg product to Best Buy, which unfortunately also includes the cases the deal was packaged with. I’ll be going to Amazon.com, and will buy an equally protective case at a much cheaper price point. I will never buy ANYTHING from Zagg again, and would encourage Best Buy to stop carrying Zagg products, as they are losing business of their own as a result of Zagg’s incompetence.

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