Sometimes you’ve just got to ask yourself what some would-be criminal “mastermind” was thinking. This is one of them. Nine thousand?! I’m the first to agree with the phrase “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” but even I have limits.
And the stupid-stick apparently whacked Apple here too — did no one there notice that they’d sent thousands of “replacement” iPods to the same address before the credit card number was charged (and declined)? Surely there’s at least one human in the chain, even if it’s only the guy who packs the boxes and slaps the shipping labels on them.
(Thanks for the tip-off, Ploni.)
The only stupid thing I see here is the guy who did it. He had them shipped to him, meaning that when Apple eventually clued in, it was very easy to track him down. I have no idea how he thought he could scam Apple at that magnitude and get away with it. Companies like Apple are behemoths, slow to move, slow to anger. If he had just scammed one or two, it would probably have been too small for Apple to bother taking action. But, if you damage a company like that enough, beware its wrath!
P.S. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the type to scam companies, but I do like to take advantage of holes in the rules they have. For example, until tomorrow, Rona is having a ‘double coupon’ sale on specialty compact florescent light bulbs. The original coupon is $4, which they then double to $8 off. So, I’ve been going in every other day or so, and buying five of their CFL’s that are selling at $7.94 (after tax). As long as I buy something else I need at the same time (which I can always find), they don’t notice that they’re actually paying me six cents each bulb to take them away!
I’m sure that Apple would have sicced the law on him even for a single Shuffle. Companies that big simply don’t forgive and forget.
And yes, your CF lightbulb trick seems to be both legal and moral, unlike this idiot’s attempt.
I agree, if they caught him for just stealing one, then they’d throw the book at him. But, they probably wouldn’t have gone to the same amount of effort to track the guy down if he had done a half-decent job of covering his tracks.
Oh, and I went back yesterday and found a different bulb that was selling for $6.76 before the $8 discount. Left the store with five bulbs and an extra $6.20 in my pocket. 😉
Maybe so. But I think we can agree that this guy was stupid all the way around.
And while you’re obviously getting a really good deal on the CF bulbs, don’t think that you’re doing anything that the store’s money people didn’t think of. That sort of thing is factored in before such an offer is made. What do they get out of it? Well, for one thing they get you into the store, where you can see firsthand what other things they offer, so if you ever need one, you’ll think of getting it from them. Considering the amount they must pay for TV commercials, that’s almost certainly worth the price to them, in the long run.