Xbox 360 returned, critical components not included

While we've certainly seen a few items get returned without, shall we say, everything in tact, this example just might take the cake. Details are fairly light, but the long and short of it is that some sly customer managed to return an Xbox 360 and get a full refund, but the most critical components weren't repackaged. Reportedly, the store decided to allow the refund just this once without thoroughly checking the innards, and sure enough, the decision came back to bite 'em. Packed within was a gutted console (stuffed with a used textbook, no less), a bunch of totally random cabling and an official Xbox 360 headset. Needless to say, the store got burned torched, but if the culprit received his / her refund as a credit card charge-back and / or was caught on camera, we've all ideas the retailer will get what it's owed one way or another.

[Via Digg]

[senzung @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:05PM]

very bad behaviour but .. classic!!

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ Nov 22nd 2007 7:04PM]

The perfect crime!

[what @ Nov 23rd 2007 1:17PM]

The textbook wasn't Ethics, was it?

[4honor @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:06PM]

what a noob... didn't he think that retailers can just track you back down if you an credit card?

[Adrian Williams @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:09PM]

They said if he used a credit card which I highly doubt and if they have him on camera he/she just don't have to go back to that store

[4honor @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:18PM]

I read some more into the incident, which now I think the store clerk and the thief are probably in this together... I mean, no return/CS rep is THAT stupid/lazy right? Sigh...

[Joshua Walters @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:12PM]

Yes, they are that lazy. I return crap to Wall*mart all the time and they never check it.

I had a friend pull something like that, but not as bad. His console was banned from Xbox live, so he bought a 360, swapped the insides and kept the HDD (it was an elite, he had a Pro), returned it.

He got away with it I guess. I mean, they didnt catch him then, and its been about 6 months since.

[erhan @ Nov 23rd 2007 12:45AM]

Its called cash and not giving your info to them. Also It is easy to do this kind of crap. You can even open the box from the bottom by undoing the folds take the xbox and put Dog Crap wraped in aluminum foil and put it back like you never opened it and return it for cash. If they give you store credit. You quickly use that to buy 2 giftcards and sell it to someone or on ebay.( you might loose a little money but what the heck). Its easy and people do this stuff all the time. The CA are not dumb.
this is funny, although a textbook? put something funny man like a clown that pops out when you open it. jeeez.

[kyle @ Nov 23rd 2007 12:08AM]

yeah, csr's can be that lazy/dumb. i used to work at a big box, and we would get all kinds of stuff returned. people used to buy bike helmets and return the visor for a full refund. if you have the balls to ask, you can return virtually anything.

[WS @ Nov 23rd 2007 6:04AM]

There is not legal recourse here. The employee should have checked the box... plain and simple. By accepting the return and issuing the refund, the clerk accepted whatever was in the box. They may have thought it was an XBox 360, but it obviously wasn't. Too bad for Wal-Mart... legally, there is nothing they can do.

[mattclarkie @ Nov 23rd 2007 6:40AM]

I am not sure if you have Argos in the States, but it is basically a shop which has a catalogue, sells lots of stuff.

I bought a router from them as it was cheap. I got it home without checking it, and the box was unsealed, all the cables were missing, and the thing didn't work. Someone had clearly just returned it and it was put back up for sale. At the same time I returned to the shop to complain about it, someone was returning a TV they just didn't want (he said I don't like this tv, but that it worked fine) without even having the original box, and they actually gave a refund.

If is quite shocking what some shop assistants will refund.

[Adrian Williams @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:07PM]

I known people who would buy a item gut it go to another store buy the same item go to their car and put the gutted item in the new box and return it within ten minutes of buying it

[paul34 @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:07PM]

What an idiot! LOL!

I surely hope he gets pwned - and the article posted here. THAT will be classic.

[Fred @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:39PM]

What does that achieve? Why would you need to buy a second item? Couldn't you just put the gutted one back in its own box?

[Adrian Williams @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:50PM]

@Fred
the time issue when you place the gutted item in the second box and return it within 10 min more than likely the clerk will not check it now keep in mind you still have the first gutted items' box you could either sell the intact one to someone or place the intact item in the first box and return it to the first store

[Beef Supreme @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:12PM]

best...post...ever

[slug @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:22PM]

brilliant banter!!

[Zeus the God @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:23PM]

You're giving me ideas. >:D

[DarkAardvark @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:30PM]

too bad they cant do anything to this guy. even if / when they find out who it is, they cant touch him.

if it goes to court, the question of "who's to say the store associates did it" will come up. i have a couple of friends who work at best buy / circuit city and theyve had their fair share of "return items" filled with things other than the purchased product (book ends, rocks, old computers, etc)

yeah, so unfortunately, this guy will be off the hook =(

[McGinley @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:34PM]

I bought a PC (dont exactly remember where) 2 years ago.So I get the new PC have it unboxed and all set up when BAM lightning hits my house.(Lightning doesnt make a noise,that was for dramatic effect.

The PC was bricked.

So I brought it back in the box,into the shop,tell the clerk that it "just didnt work" and played dumb...he goes out the back,brings out a brand new one,carries it out to my car.I asked him did he want to see my receipt or anything (he hadnt asked) and he said "no you better keep it in case something happens to it"....so id reckon these sorta things are more commonplace than you'd expect.

[Chris McCarthy @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:03PM]

ever heard of thunder? yeah, that's the sound of lightning

[Will @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:30PM]

Light travels faster than sound, and it's doubly noticeable when it comes to lightning...

[John Doe @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:01PM]

Light and sound are moving at the same relative speeds, at least perceptible by a person, when its close enough to hit your house. Now if your house was hit by lightening 12 miles away that would be a different matter but 12 miles ain't going to happen.
Chris is wrong though. You can have lightening without thunder. I don't know what they term is for it but I've seen it before. Its spooky as hell. Think it might be ball lightening or something like that.

[John @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:44PM]

You can have lightening without thunder, and you can have lightning without hearing the thunder... but if you get a power surge from lightning, you're going to hear the thunder.

[Chris McCarthy @ Nov 22nd 2007 7:44PM]

well i'm not wrong because thunder is the sound of lightning. ball lightning is a rare form that is not understood. as stated, you can have lightning without thunder, but only because you're too far away to hear it. the sound comes from the shockwave caused by the temp and pressure spike that occurs due to a lightning strike.

[Oban @ Nov 22nd 2007 7:48PM]

The guy who said light and sound travel at the same relative speed is a complete moron. Light travels 300,000km/s, sound travels at about 16km/s. You can definitely see lightning before you hear thunder, you can see an explosion, even a very close one, before the sound hits you. Good God! Don't they teach anything at all in school anymore?

[bearoflittlebrain @ Nov 22nd 2007 9:44PM]

Oban if you are going to call someone else a moron, make sure your own facts are straight. The speed of sound in air is about 0.3km/s (1200km/h), not 16km/s (57600km/h).

[devon @ Nov 22nd 2007 11:36PM]

If lightning were to strike close by, the brain wouldn't be able to recognize the μs gap between the lightning and the thunder, so the "relative" velocity over such a short distance would be near-equal.

[Tiptup300 @ Nov 23rd 2007 1:06AM]

Wow, you people are weird.

[Tony @ Nov 23rd 2007 5:15AM]

(Even) In Soviet Russia..

..if you look outside during a lightning storm and see lightning, you can be sure that the thunder will follow soon after.

[Steve Chandler @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:36PM]

My mate worked in DIY store a few years back (B&Q for us brits) and I was told of a story where a guy was returning a toolbox of tools and asked for a refund instead of an exchange. The girl serving did exactly that without checking the box. When the guy had left, the manager happened to walk over and perform a routine check. In the toolbox? No tools. Just ROCKS. Cheeky beggar had kept the tools.

[ReverendGadgetBoy @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:12PM]

That guy sure is a toolbox.

[Ricochet @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:38PM]

Intact is one word.

Returning it without tact would be the owner using a shotgun in order to extract a refund.

[Zhalfim Deyn @ Nov 22nd 2007 10:28PM]

best example ever to highlight a grammar mistake...

[Kevin @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:52PM]

Happened to me at Target. Bought an HP ink cartridge that had an old ink cartridge from 2004 stuffed inside. Box had no defects so I'm thinking someone took the cartridge, carefully resealed it, and returned it back. The store doesn't know any better if it looks like a sealed box. Damn bastards.

[elmuchachos @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:57PM]

Well i can say that i have returned 3 faulty xbox 360s to best buy with my replacement plan and the clerk has not made me pay for a new warranty and i have kept the hdd everytime without question.

[Andrew @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:14PM]

Ben Heck is obviously getting stingy!

[jamma @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:38PM]

well he had to get some money back, that laptop cost him loads to build!!

[scolen2 @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:16PM]

It probably runs cooler now.

[Technex @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:20PM]

Wow didn't realise there were so many theifs in the world! :O

[John Doe @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:03PM]

theifs no. Asshats...yes. Very much yes.

[Irfan @ Nov 23rd 2007 12:39AM]

thieves ;)

[Technex @ Nov 23rd 2007 3:34AM]

Thank you :). My spelling isn't the best, sorry...

[michael @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:38PM]

Back in the day my brother swapped a japanese nintendo 64 by purchasing a local one and taking advantage of the relaxed returns policy at a store. He gave all the fake details and got a brand spanking new console.

[Chebwa @ Nov 22nd 2007 7:08PM]

Riveting story.

[Chaj @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:42PM]

At least this one is guaranteed not to have a RROD (Red Ring of Death)

[applefreak @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:17PM]

a store was showcasing a 360 that had the RROD

[Ricochet @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:58PM]

I actually bought a 360 from a store which had it on display suffering from the RROD issue. They let me look at the serial number, I called Microsoft right there to make sure it hadn't been registered and was eligible for repairs and then struck a deal with the store to sell it to me for a couple of hundred dollars off.

I immediately took it out of the store, called Microsoft who emailed me the packing slip to send it in for free repairs, mailed it off the next day and a week later I received back a fully-working system with a year's warranty left (which then got upped to 3 years). So it's worth a shot to haggle with the stores on these!

[jb007 @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:46PM]

I can only say this much: I went to buy my 360 around halloween and I got a nice scare: A broken launch 360 in a new premium box. Bought from Target near where I live, someone just returned thier original and got the money for it. Sadly, it happens all the time especially with a broken system liek the 360.

[krunal @ Nov 22nd 2007 7:10PM]

It looks like the place is a costco and from my own experiences working their... this happens alot... we have the return tags with their member number so they will just put a block on his account that says something like "Do not accept returns without fully checking members items or call...(the store it happened at)" and most of the time these guys come back and try it again and get caught.