Gizmodo
For her birthday, a 14-year-old girl from Texas wanted an iPod. So her mother took her to the Target in Fort Worth to buy her one. After surely promising to not load the device with "devil music," the family purchased the new $350 iPod. And then they opened it. And it was full of rocks. (And not pretty rocks like we used to make this article look better.)
Ahh, but they lied, you say? They went home, took the iPod, grabbed some rocks, refilled the box, high-fived like mofos and cashed in? Not the case. Because when the family returned to Target, they were forced to take in-store credit and so they had to head to another Target to buy another iPod (because apparently the Fort Worth Target store carries one iPod at all times). At the second store, the girl bought another iPod and opened it in front of store employees. What did they find? More rocks.
Lesson of the day? Buy your gadgets online and save tax. [startelegram via ars]
Comments
what... ???
Save tax?
My state says you need to pay it at the end of the year in your income tax.
Of course, I also have to pay a city tax and a school district tax. I should just move.
And who buys electronics at Target?
"I wanted to listen to Rock music but this is taking it too far"
@crucifix99: I buy electronics at Target. They are often the cheapest out there, especially with the 10% off coupons floating around.
iPod rocks!
Awww, that's unnecessary.
Exact same thing happened to me at Best Buy a few years ago with a PC power supply. I felt like such a douche returning a box of rocks and foam rubber but I wasn't going to eat the loss. I asked if I could open the next on at the Customer Service counter before I left and....voila....more rocks. I felt justified at least.
Here in Texas (and a handful of other states) we have no state income tax. There is, however, a state sales tax which, along with the city taxes, come in a around 9% or so depending on the city / county.
But more importantly....
Apparently, her IPOD rocks.
(sorry)
I can't decide which is funnier, this story or the one about the airport worker's Nano spontaneously combusting in his pocket.
Sounds like this should really be on consumerist.
do you think that if she bought a Zune, the box would have been filled with poo?
all this fuss about loading your iPod with rockbox ?
This reminds me of a something that happened at a previous job. We pre-configured computers for businesses all over the country (anyone remember the company inacom?) so we would see a couple hundred computers pass through our doors each day.
We started getting IBM Thinkpad boxes that would contain large rocks instead of Thinkpads. Upon examination you could see where someone had cut the IBM security tape and then resealed with clear tape.
Curiously, all the "RockPads" had an extra sticker on the box "Hencho en Mexico" We reported the problem to our on-site IBM rep. Within a couple weeks, all the "Hencho en Mexico" Thinkpads had an extra set of thick plastic banding straps around them. No more "RockPads."
No real point to the story, but the rocks in the iPod just brought back some memories. Good times...
shouldn't the iPod packaging not sound like a maraca? that would have tipped me off.
That reminds me of my Navy days, where guys would buy "cameras" off street vendors, only to find a box of rocks when they opened the box back on the ship...
That's HARD to believe.
BOULDER Dash
The other Target was just a STONES throw away
@CEOself:
give yourself a promotion
Although she probably didn't, why could she not have faked the first one just to get in store credit. Whats wrong with a free ipod and in store credit?
@CEOself: Booooo... bad pun(s) :(
@adamgamble: She could have, but if your scam is "I'm going to pretend that the item I bought was filled with rocks instead and return it to the store with that story", you've gotta have pretty big, uh, stones. And the fact that the second one she bought had the same problem backs up her story.
I mean, what's she supposed to do? Prove that she didn't steal it? How would a person even do that?
There's a joke in here about begin bricked but I can't find it. I think the rock music joke motif has been covered.
@iHeartApple: yes
It's a good thing they didn't take it for GRANITE that the second box contained an iPod...
Charlie Brown is getting a kick out of this story.
I don't know what iPod she's buying, but all the ones I've seen come in clear acryllic cases where you can actually see the iPod. Anyone see any different packaging on the iPods?
@iHeartApple: no it would have had a zune in it. That's just as bad.
@jimmyznutz: the only one that comes like that is the Shuffle and maybe the nano. The iPod classic and touch come in matte black boxes.
I LAVA this story. It's so IGNEOUS. Really QUARTZ me up. But I feel sorry for that KID ROCK. I hope they have PRUDENTIAL insurance on their GEODE Metro. Maybe she'll get to SLATE in the SANDSTONE to make up for CHERT.
EMERALD.
maybe its some sort of promotional tool for www.ipodrocks.com ??? haha
@92BUICKLESABRE
Bwhahahahahaaha!! how punny... and what makes it more hilarious is i'm sitting in a geology class.
What a stroke of luck it would've been if one had a diamond in the middle.
Too many rock puns...far too many.
Obviously, she was about to listen to "Jenny From the Block" by Jennifer Lopez. Don't be fooled by the ...
@iHeartApple:
For sure! But shiny poo if she'd waited for Zune2 LMAO
I really hope they take PUNitive action against unscrupulous employees and unfunny Gizmodo commenters.
Lol... it's 1983 in the back of an alley all over again!
@crucifix99:
Yeah... my state says that too... Yet I don't.
My friend, have you heard of:
"No taxation without representation?".
I'm certainly not paying tax in a state I do not live in. You shouldn't either.
If you want to volunteer your tax, be my guest.
I hope she searched the contents carefully! If there is a golden rock inside, she wins a tour of the Apple Campus by Steve Jobs himself!
Same thing happened to me at the Toyota dealership a couple years back. I went to buy a new Camry and all I got was a pile of rocks. When I took it back for an exchange, the next Camry I got was also a pile of rocks!
lol, I have the book from where that photo is taken.
My god you guys are freaking sad with your rock puns. Seriously its dead already.
It was the Fred Flintsone commemerative edition!
Anti-props to Gizmodo for not pointing out the ridiculous position Target took in sticking to a store credit policy and not offering a refund after the second rockPod, forcing the mother to buy her daughter something other than she wanted for her birthday. I'm betting they cut up their Target card whent they got home. I know I sure won't be buynig any electronics at Target - EVER.
Target should be ashamed for the way they treated this family. They should apologize and offer them a free iPod.
Something simular happened to my uncle a few years ago. He bought a dvd player with hdmi out, so I guess it was expensive. Anyways, when he opened the box there was an old PS2 and and 2 dvd cases. One of the dvd cases was the kind aol used to mail out and it had the guys address on it. lol
You said it, Mark. Buy online...from Apple. Get it engraved (with something useful), and have it shipped to your door within 2 business days (at least that's how long the journey is from China to Atlanta).
Then scour YouTube for Texas Target employees filming when they scored it big time by Indiana Jones-ing iPods.
My Best Buy a couple of years ago opened up a box for a $6500 plasma television only to find a wooden pallet inside, stamped with the name of the security company that protects their warehouse.
A couple of weeks later it happened again.
Not sure what the resolution is, but I remember being there when they found it and were showing it off to the employees.
@eebs: I kind of thought that was my point. I think it got lost.
I bought a "new" shrink-wrapped ATi video card for my PC one time at a local Best Buy, and unboxed it to discover a three-year old obsolete ATi graphics card inside. Took me FOREVER to get them to allow me to do a simple exchange. They kept trying to convince me that since only shrink-wrapping is done at their warehouses, it couldn't possibly have happened. Anyone who's ever done inventory control (as I have) for a warehouse, knows what a load of dingo's kidneys that excuse is.
True story. Target has terrible return policies. I went and bought BF2142 when it came out. I got home ready to install, someone had taken the discs, printed CD artwork and pasted it on blank CDs. It was obvious too, the artwork was printed on a cheesy printer, really bright, and pixelated. The paper was even coming off the CD. They must have had a shrink wrap machine too.
@92BuickLeSabre: Must...beat you in face....with your owpuns....
*own puns, even!
Maybe China is getting rid of all their unwanted rocks one box at a time?