Couple Gets Pasta Sauce Instead Of Camcorder

[Renew Deal]

ST. LOUIS -- The Rittenbergs planned to shoot family movies with a new camcorder. They may have to settle for a family pasta dinner, instead.

The couple paid about $1,600 for a camcorder at a Best Buy store in the St. Louis suburb of Ellisville last week. They said when they opened the box, they found something they hadn't pictured: a jar of Classico pasta sauce where the camera should have been.

"The only thing I thought was, 'you've got to be kidding me,"' Melisa Rittenberg, 36, of the southeast Missouri town Perryville, said.

Also inside the box was a telephone cord and an electric outlet cover, all positioned in the box where the camera equipment should have been. So far, they're stuck with the spicy red pepper sauce, though a Best Buy manager said the company is working to resolve the matter.
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http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/10406375/detail.html

Sony and Best Buy have been getting some tough press the last couple weeks. Let's see if they resolve this properly.

[ruiner4u]

1. thats some expensive sauce

lol... I do feel sorry for them, thats horrible .. but.. lol

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. I bought a digitial camera ($600+) at Best Buy, and they gave me an empty box

I didn't realize it 'til I got home and opened the thing up. They gave me the box that the counter model came out of, and then I had to haul my ass all the way back (about 30 miles away) to wait for them to count all the boxes and cameras in the store to make sure I wasn't lying.

Pain in the ass. I finally got the damned camera, though, when their count came up with same number of boxes as cameras, thus proving that I wasn't lying.

And a $10 gift certificate "for the trouble".

:eyes:

[Renew Deal]

3. I love Best Buy

But that's annoying.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

7. I hope you enjoyed that chewing gum you got with the $10. (nt)

[Richardo]

4. This reminds me of the thumb in the Wendy's chili...

...I think they're looking to get a free camera, meself.

[underpants]

5. Employee theft is the main generator of shoplifting

Why do you think inventory is such a priority of management?

[ProfessorGAC]

9. They Already Paid For The Camera

How would it be free? They paid for a camera and got nothing. The store can make it right by just giving them the camera they paid for.
The Professor

[Richardo]

12. Unless they DID get a camera, took it out of the box,

...and will now try to get another from Best Buy. :shrug:

I'm not saying this is what's happening, it just reminds me of the other case. I subscribe to underpants' theory that, if legit, it is employee-related, not manufacturer related.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. OK. You're Right!

That never occurred to me. Must have too much conscience or something. Thanks.
The Professor

[Bassic]

6. They better do it fast.

This is just friggin ridiculous.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. They Should Just Shoot Movies With The Sauce

I don't know what the problem is. Tomato sauce and a video camera are almost exactly the same.
The Professor

[kmla]

10. Happened to me a few years ago...

I bought an ergonomic mouse from a computer superstore. Took it home, opened the box.

Nuthin'.

I took it back, and they did give me replacement for the mouse that I never received.

But it was kind of weird, paying for a box of air...

[LynneSin]

11. Damnit, I bought some pasta sauce and opened the jar - it was a camcorder

Damnit, who did this to me!!

[jmowreader]

14. Sounds like returns fraud to me

And not on the part of the Rittenbergs.

A jar of pasta sauce probably weighs as much as a camcorder, so whoever bought the camera the first time carefully worked the bands off the box, removed the product, put the pasta sauce, outlet cover and telephone cord in the camcorder box, worked the bands back onto the box and took it back to the store, claiming they "didn't want it anymore." Best Buy, in possession of a valid receipt and a "sealed" box, cheerfully refunded their money.

You guys want to know why we in retail want RFID so much? Well...if it weren't for criminals who would do this, we wouldn't want to spend the billions it would cost to outfit a large chain with RFID readers, tags in high-dollar products and the back-end IT infrastructure to support it.

It COULD be employee fraud, or an employee working with the person committing the returns fraud. Retail is a business that attracts some percentage of lowlifes--pay is low and we only do the most perfunctory investigations on new hires. But I would be willing to bet a small sum of money, if I had any extra at this time of year, that this camcorder box was purchased and returned.

[Mutley]

15. Yup

I once had a customer try to return a Playstation 2 box with a phone book inside. :eyes:

Some people will try Anything.

[jmowreader]

16. Quite possibly the most insane case of returns fraud ever

Some asshole bought a bunch of 16-foot pressure-treated lumber--a whole rack of deck boards (120 in a bunk), some 2x6s, some 2x8s, like that. Nice sale. He wanted 14-foot lumber, but we don't have it and I told him that.

This fucking idiot took it home, cut two feet off the end of each board (making sure the price tag was on every offcut), put all the offcuts in his truck and tried to return them for full price.

Okay, let me ask you something: if someone walked up to your register with a shopping cart full of two-foot-long scraps and claimed that they were sixteen-foot-long boards, would you think something amiss? The returns cashier did and called me. I got up there and asked what the problem was. "I'm returning all the lumber I bought because it's not what I want." Gee, dude, if it's not what you wanted why did you keep the fourteen feet that you DID want? I picked up the phone and called the store manager: "I don't care what you're doing, put it down and get to returns right now." He came up (because he knows I wouldn't use that kind of language unless the world was coming to an end) and I explained what was going on.

The boss called Loss Prevention, Loss Prevention called the cops, the cops sent an officer in a minivan to pick up the evidence along with the suspect...I swear, if there's a special DU that a lot of cops hang out on, that officer is telling the exact same story. Our intrepid carpenter got six months and a felony conviction on his record. (And no, we didn't give him his money back.) I had to go to the trial and the judge was classic: "How stupid do you think retail employees are?"

[Mutley]

17. Ha!

I would've had no idea what to say to that guy. Shock would have set in at the sight of his stupidity.

That's much better than one of my favorites.

I once had a customer try to return a pair of jeans she'd bought two years prior. Purchase date was right on the receipt, of course. When I pointed out to her that the receipt was two years old, she accused me of altering the date. Even better, she called corporate to complain that I wouldn't let her return the jeans, and they sent her coupons in apology. :eyes:

[AnneD]

18. I tend to believe these folks...

I bought a brand spanking new, sealed Wahl hair trimmer at Wally World. Imagine my surprise when I took out the shaver and saw all that hair in the blade. OK I bought it to shave my dog's butt, but still. Nothing like buying new and getting used. Try explaining that to Customer Service. I learned a lesson-I always open the box before I get to the counter.