Ever wonder why retail boxes for videogame consoles have windows in them? It's so that retailers can scan the serial numbers when you buy them and then do so again should you decide to make a return, in theory preventing you from pulling a switcheroo. They're also
supposed to take a peek inside and make sure that you're not trying to return a plastic shell and two turquoise weights, or a hunk of wood with a bar code sticker slapped on the back.
Joystiq has acquired photos of what happens when they don't, submitted by a worker at a Sony distribution center, also showing an empty PS2 case full of towels and another with a flip-top cover still installed that (with a boot disc) enabled its former owner to circumvent that console's lackluster copy protection. All were returned by customers to retailers who then passed them right on to Sony, asking for credit. Surely the above craftsmanship is worth something, right?
posted Feb 6th 2009 10:24AM
sad and funny.
LOL that's great! Whoever accepted it at the store is just a duma s s.
Is a PS2 really worth that much?
Sorry to hijack but I can beat you all:
I used to work at a large ASDA in Manchester (UK) which was built next to a stinking poor area. When it first opened people used to abuse ASDA's returns policy (no receipt = store vouchers) by simply picking up a £300 Dyson vacuum cleaner and carrying it to customer services for a refund. After a couple of weeks security cottoned on. That takes some nerve!
Isn't that a 1st gen PS2? Who is still taking those for returns?
Must have been Best Buy.
That's funny--I remember doing that with an original PlayStation that we swapped for one that we had busted trying to mod chip it. We even switched the serial number tags so we wouldn't get caught.
Ah to be young again...
"Young" and "criminally fraudulent" are not synonymous.
SOMEBODY GET THAT MAN'S IP ADDRESS
"Ah to be young again..." - I think you still are.
"Anonymous Coward" sez it all. (well, maybe one could add "shoplifting douchebag")
Just when my opinion of people was starting to improve...along comes this post.
I was sitting here looking at the pics of these "returns" thinking to myself that it never would have occurred to me to do this...I'm sure your parents would be proud.
while i think he's a tad insane, i'm sure none of you above average citizens don't own any Burned DVD's of movies you don't own, have all obtained your mp3's legally by purchasing them from a store, don't own any rom's of any type of video game, etc etc. easy to call him a douche when you yourself havn't sinned...
Sony can go F@#K themselves way to stick it to the man!
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
As I said at Joystiq, it would be nice to know that the story has a happy ending... IE that Sony refused to reimburse the stores. Sadly we'll never know for sure, probably.
reminds me of the time somebody returned a psp box with a brick in it and got away with it. -_-
"Hey, can I return this PSP? I think it's BRICKED!"
I intentionally corrupted a friend's UMD IDStorage key on his Phat PSP so the UMD drive wouldn't read and he returned it and got a Slim.
@Kurian
Why?
It happens more than people think. I've seen at Best Buy people try to return 1980's knob dial TV's in new TV boxes.
Funny as hell when the store employee takes the TV out of the box and says there is no way this TV belongs to this box. And to see the people scream and swear up and down that it's the TV and they have a right to return it!!! LOL good stuff
Way back in the day for me, I used to check defectives at large national accounts for a major car audio manufacturer, Saw crap like this all the time. My favorites were finding the OEM speakers/Radios in the aftermarket product box and then the retailer would be incredulous that I would not approve the return.
About 12 years ago I bought a "new" modem from Best Buy that turned out to be someone's old broken video card.
If that happened to me, I'd be worried that when I took it back they wouldn't believe me! How would I prove it?
I worked in retail in the 80's and saw the same things happening.
One person returned cartridge based video games and placed plastic cassette holders with some weight in it in place of the actual cartridge. Got away with it too - the chick at the return desk never looked inside.
Another interesting trick was someone used a roll of dimes to pay for a purchase. Inside the roll of dimes there were a few pennies in place of some of the dimes which had been filed down to fit perfectly! What a lot of work to save a few cents!!!
I once opened a Nintendo video game and inserted a lame game that came with Nintendo for a very cool game.
Man it takes serious balls to do this. What's your escape plan if they take it out of the box? Moral or not, it' must be scary as hell trying to do this.
Run.
if they figure you out, they won't accept the return, and you would continue pleading innocence while nothing happened. if they dont accept it, you've still paid for it, so it's not too much skin off their backs.
There was a guy and his young son who would buy high dollar computer components and then return their original crappy parts in the newly purchased boxes for full refunds. Customer service caught on after a few returns and had the police waiting for the pair when they tried to get another refund. I actually helped them pick out one of their video cards they later "returned." Go Circuit City!
Had the same thing happen with a MacBook. Although they did make a photo copy of the top of the laptop and taped it on to the block of wood. I now always tell the customer service reps to watch out for LogBooks
Wow, that's really bad. The worst I ever did was return something without the manual.
You're a monster!
The worst I've done is return a discman with a half-working display, it was actually my fault (damaged the flat cable when trying to mod the thing) but since RCA was somehow stupid enough to not put in any seal, they never noticed :-D
While I was at it, replaced the covers of the new headphones with the dirty ones from my old headphones, and put the new clean ones in my old headphones. Can't hurt much since they replace them anyway.
The sad part, is that reading this thread makes me feel good that _that_ is the worst I've done XD
(BTW, I included the manual when returning.. And didn't get any money, got another one of the very same discman)
Back in the day I purchased a 9800 pro at Comp USA, got home to put it in and there was just a book inside. they let me exchange it for a real one thankfully. (probably why they are out of business).
someone has a lot of time on their hands.
A friend of mine used to buy laptops, then pull the hard drive, replace it with a bust old one, pull the ram and replace it with old 128mb simms and switch the dvd drive with a cd drive.
he was doing well hitting pc world and stuff until he tryed to hit a store that actually knew something about computers.
I returned my Aerosmith Guitar in the World Tour's Guitars place. They were none the wiser.
"How long has it been since you last confessed your store-scamming sins?"
"3 years, Engadget..."
I wish they'd videotape that and post it. THAT would be funny.
I once ate a Toblerone from the mini bar in an upscale hotel room - then filled the empty box with the tiny soaps from the bathroom - carefully re-sealed the box and replaced it in the fridge.
I'll be damned if they'll charge ME $9 for some chocolate... I'm just sorry for the next guy who got a mouthful of soap.
Dirty mouth? Clean it with Orbit!
=D
I once returned an xbox I bought at best buy to wallmart cause I couldn't find the receipt.
About 15 years ago I worked for a computer distributor. Software Etc was one of our customers. They were so bad about accepting things like this that we had to institute a pre-return inspection plan. Every few months, I would go out to SE's distribution center and check every item one-by-one to make sure that it was what they said it was.
The biggest problems were hard drives. I would find old MFM drives in boxes for new drives. My favorite was someone who took an old broken Walkman, broke the plastic off (to expose the circuit-board) packed it with clay (to make it heavier and closer to the size of a 3.5" HD) and then sealed it inside of an antistatic bag before boxing it up.
I returned a 3rrod xbox to wal-mart on occasion.
my buddy used to buy gamecube games, open the shrink wrap with an xacto knife, swap the disc out with a blank, then super glue the packaging back together. he'd return the games & always hit up different stores in different parts of the city.
I can smell the disappointment
also, another friend is thinking of swapping the old guts from a broken 360 with the new one he just bought & modded & taking it back & getting a refund. so even if they do check, the casing has all the right info & serial on it.
your friends are fucking criminals, and should be jailed accordingly
The fact that several of you admit to doing this is astounding. I think I hate thieves the most out of any criminal. If I ever suspect someone of stealing, I report them. Damn bastards. WORK FOR YOUR SHIT!
Hell yeah they should. Bloody scummy schemers.
WOW!