Best Buy customer purchases $300 hard drive, receives oodles of dried beans

No, this isn't the first time we've heard of innocent consumers snagging some new kit only to find random bits of unwanted garbage in place of the actual product, and unfortunately, we've all ideas it's not the last. This go 'round, a couple waltzed into Best Buy, snagged a "brand new" $300 hard drive and zoomed home to start packin' those platters. Much to their dismay, no HDD was found inside the box -- rather, three bags of dried beans weighed it down enough to not seem suspicious. As expected, Best Buy wasn't about to refund any money for fear that the actual purchasers could be the culprits, and while that's certainly understandable, we're quite relieved to know that a little outside intervention netted the two a $300 gift card to the retailer. We bet they'll inspect that package a bit more closely before taking it home next time (sad though that may be).

[Image courtesy of DKImages, thanks Craig]

[genexk @ Mar 4th 2008 6:53PM]

shake the box before u buy anything

[Spyvie @ Mar 4th 2008 7:00PM]

open the box at the checkout counter

[JohnTitor @ Mar 4th 2008 7:09PM]

screw that, who pays $300 for a harddrive
NewEgg is your friend
the only screw up I heard of was accidentally giving people 5 eeePCs for the price of one

[KangMin @ Mar 4th 2008 7:32PM]

why don't these events ever happen to me?

[asphixiated @ Mar 4th 2008 7:33PM]

@JohnTitor

1TB Drives are almost $300....

[Darkest Daze @ Mar 4th 2008 7:43PM]

Maybe they were high-capacity beans.

[linuxamp @ Mar 4th 2008 7:47PM]

Or solid state beans

[Backlin @ Mar 4th 2008 7:48PM]

Or you can always record the unboxing of anything you buy at Best Buy.
Course, you can't get the camera there.

[xB Owner @ Mar 5th 2008 10:41AM]

To linuxamp:

Even when I get my beans in solid state, they almost always end up in a gaseous state.

[sanchez @ Mar 4th 2008 9:48PM]

attempting to break combo of all highest rank in a reply thread

[AJ in the East Bay @ Mar 4th 2008 9:56PM]

@Sanchez:

I tried voting you up, don't know what they'll do with my entry.

[Ender Wiggin @ Mar 4th 2008 10:50PM]

Continuing the streak. Vote us up!

[HelloJohn @ Mar 4th 2008 11:07PM]

Seems like we've been really + loose today.

[webon @ Mar 5th 2008 3:02AM]

hey were those Faba beans? did he get chianti to go with em?

[Jherez @ Mar 5th 2008 9:04AM]

"A census worker once tried to survey me...i ate his liver with some Faba beans....*slurp*"

[Deputy Doffoos @ Mar 5th 2008 2:34PM]

FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!

[OneLove @ Mar 4th 2008 6:56PM]

Did the box look like it had been opened?

[OneLove @ Mar 4th 2008 6:59PM]

...at least you can eat the beans.

[JohnTitor @ Mar 4th 2008 7:09PM]

they're dried beans foo

[albi @ Mar 4th 2008 7:14PM]

dry... so?

[EBone @ Mar 4th 2008 7:32PM]

With Best Buy re-shrinkwrapping returned merchandise and restocking the shelves, how could you know?

[crow610 @ Mar 4th 2008 9:57PM]

It's a hdd that supports Java Beans
Java Beans
Java Beans

get it know ^^

[OneLove @ Mar 5th 2008 10:34AM]

you can tell because:
1. they put an open box sticker on it (sometimes)
2. they put best buy tape on it (sometimes)
3. you can see the old ripped tape. (most times)
4. users don't open boxes gently, but like opening a christmas present. omg xbox!

[bartoron @ Mar 4th 2008 6:57PM]

Shaking a box isn't always going to help. If the object inside the box weighs about the same as what's supposed to be inside and sounds pretty sturdy, it's going to be hard to tell if the object inside the box is what it's supposed to be or not.

[Kamokazi @ Mar 4th 2008 7:00PM]

Apparently you never used to get Legos for Christmas.

[bartoron @ Mar 4th 2008 9:05PM]

First of all, I'm Jewish, so I don't celebrate Christmas. Second, I used to get Bionicles for Hanukkah a lot, and they're made by Lego. But as far as classic Legos go, I don't recall ever getting them as a present. Though my friend did get a Lego Star Destroyer one year. It was awesome looking.

[Josef @ Mar 4th 2008 9:20PM]

"Hanukkah"?


I think you're making that up. That doesn't sound real.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Mar 4th 2008 9:57PM]

@bartoron:

Star Destroyers RULE!!

[skulldriveshaft @ Mar 4th 2008 11:43PM]

Bionicles have been out for how long now?

You're past your bedtime.

[bartoron @ Mar 6th 2008 3:42PM]

I'm 16, I don't think I need to have a set bedtime.

[Jeremy S @ Mar 24th 2008 5:00AM]

Maybe we should all be using dogs to sniff this junk out.

[Derek @ Mar 4th 2008 7:09PM]

Bean sniffing dogs? What about... package inspecting dogs?

[violentcrayon @ Mar 4th 2008 9:17PM]

bean sniffing dogs are cheaper because they come from mexico

[jivetrky @ Mar 4th 2008 10:53PM]

@Derek
My grandma already has one of these... Everytime I come over, her dog "inspects my package"

[webon @ Mar 5th 2008 3:06AM]

@jive: O man I almost cried laughing so hard.

[OneLove @ Mar 4th 2008 7:00PM]

seems like youve given this some thought...you dont work for best buy do you?

[Chird @ Mar 5th 2008 12:58AM]

Speakin of which...every time I see this I reminded that I was actually TOLD to do this by a friend of mine who used to work at Best Buy. His exact words were:

"Want a free Xbox? Buy one, wait 3 days, put a couple rocks in the box and return it. They never check they just throw em in the back."

I guess more people are catching on that it actually works...

[OneLove @ Mar 5th 2008 10:35AM]

except that one time they check and find rocks. dude, get real.

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 26th 2008 5:14PM]

I usually insert a pipe-bomb into the box. Then if anyone tries to check inside when I'm returning it they promptly cease as they watch me bolting at full-speed in the opposite direction.

Then they just throw it back on the shelf.

[bob sakamano @ Mar 4th 2008 7:01PM]

weeeeeeeeird

the same thing happened to me when i bought

a macbook air
an optimus maximus keyboard
ps3
xbox 360
iphone
sony OLED tv
and
panasonic 150 inch lcd
!!

in my case though they werent dried beans, just refried. they werent that bad actually. but i didnt get any gift cards or anything )=

[phrozunsun @ Mar 4th 2008 8:33PM]

"I like refried beans. That's why I wanna try fried beans, because maybe they're just as good and we're just wasting time. You don't have to fry them again after all."

[ericisshort @ Mar 4th 2008 11:11PM]

Mitch Hedberg FTW!!!

[Francis @ Mar 5th 2008 4:27AM]

Some guys have all the luck

[Neebs @ Mar 4th 2008 7:03PM]

Best Buy: The customer may dutifully buy our products and trust our overpriced Geek Squad service, but you just can't trust them.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Mar 4th 2008 7:05PM]

exactly. My friend wanted them to install an anti virus software as a test on his dell laptop, and he didn't get his laptop back for 2 and a half months. My other friend also got a HDDVD player in a Blu ray player box he bought from Best Buy.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Mar 4th 2008 7:03PM]

Best Buy is hinting that it will make HDD's outta beans!

" Bean storage for dektops are the next wave of the future"

[The Dude @ Mar 4th 2008 7:04PM]

Beans and (HDD) platters (a.k.a: dish, plate, etc.) It had the makings of a punny title but you didn't take advantage. For shame.

[Totalfixation @ Mar 4th 2008 7:04PM]

Sometimes i begin to think is it the consumer pulling these kinds of things. When i return something, they tear it apart even if its brand new. But most of the time i see them not bothering with the package if it's completely sealed. I think because of these stories, people will see it and try to take advantage of the situation. I mean what is best buy going to do? say your lying? They can't really prove one way or another.

[Jeremy S @ Mar 4th 2008 7:04PM]

No, but I was part of these best buy people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkkXCF8ZVc

[snitch @ Mar 4th 2008 7:13PM]

this can happen to anyone, it happen to me but my box was empty at least this guy got beans lol. If your buying a PS3 or xbox 360 you should not leave the store until you open the box. People buy these thinks all the time and to take parts out of them and then return them, and since they have a bunch of Morons handling returns customers get screw all the time