I was on Jason D. O’Grady‘s PowerPage when I saw this article about an iPod soap scam and started cracking up. We’ve all heard of the iPod’s vaunted “clean design,” but this is ridiculous. Someone named Sean bought what he thought was an iPod from the Smalldog Electronics website. However, after removing the shrink-wrap and opening the box, he found two bars of soap inside.
An iPod Scam Everyone Can Laugh At
As you can imagine, Sean was pretty pissed off. I found a write up of how his conversation with a Smalldog customer service rep went on Consumerist.com.
“I picked up the phone and gave Smalldog a call… I was ready to really tear into someone when a supremely polite and nice customer service rep answered the phone. When I told her about my situation (and not too nicely, I might add), she started laughing. For a second I was shocked! I mean, first you screw up, and then you laugh at me!? But the next thing I knew, I started laughing too. She used just the right amount of humor and seriousness in helping me figure out what had happened… She also wanted to know if I took any pictures, saying that she’d love to have a few to show the other people in the office… It was good to see that someone could have a sense of humor and still be incredibly accommodating at the same time.”
How Did The Scammer Re-Shrinkwrap The Box?
The big mystery in this story is how did the scammer re-shrinkwrap the iPod box? There are two theories.
- Someone in the iPod factory swapped out the iPod with the soap and batteries before the box got shrink-wrapped. Unlikely since Apple’s iPod manufacturing takes place overseas and Irish Spring soap probably isn’t easily accessible.
- Someone at UPS or Smalldog might have done a homemade shrink-wrap job. All you need is a roll of plastic and a heated cutting device.
The iPod Soap Mystery – What Really Happened?
We will probably never know exactly what happened, but this iPod soap scam does have a happy ending. Sean got a replacement iPod. The moral of the story: just because something is shrink-wrapped, doesn’t mean it’s actually in the box.
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