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Apple Branded Mysterious iMeat?

Surprises

from the how-many-songs-does-it-hold? dept

Thu, Dec 29th 2005 12:14pm — Mike Masnick
It looks like someone somewhere in supply chain line supplying Apple iPods to a Wal-Mart in Hawaii wanted to swipe an iPod. Rather than just pocketing the box, though, the person swapped it out with some "mystery meat," making for a rather disappointed 14-year-old on Christmas morning. Walmart claims the box wasn't tampered with, and say it must have happened before they received the box. They have, of course, promised to replace it with a real iPod as soon as they get new ones in stock. And, oh yeah, the meat was "sealed" which probably explains the lack of give-away smell. Of course, this also sounds similar to random scams we've heard about of people pretending that the product they bought wasn't in the box. Update: Boing Boing points to an article saying that a Wal-Mart employee is being blamed for putting meat in a few iPod boxes -- though that article indicates that the recipient of the meat was a 14-year-old girl, while the original article said it was a boy.
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19 Comments

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  1. identicon
    ZOMG CENSORED, 29 Dec 2005 @ 12:22pm

    iMeat eh?

    I wonder if it looked pretty, tasted average, and was actually worth the same amount as a full cow.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    matt, 29 Dec 2005 @ 12:30pm

    No Subject Given

    so was it beef, pork, or poultry. and did it use firewire? it it did that would be really awesome. i would just laugh when i opened a supposed iPod, and got a hunk of meat. i would be suspecting a person that worked at wally world. cuz the iPod people don't sell meat. it also makes you think, what if the person that bought it did the self check out thing, where it weighs your items to make sure u don't have any sticky fingers. and if they did use the self check out, did the person that used the meat replacement weigh and actual iPod, then cut a slab of meat to weigh the same, then do the switch. either way it is pretty frickin hilarious.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    AngryO, 29 Dec 2005 @ 12:59pm

    No Subject Given

    I ordered an Nano from apple.com for a christmas present. I opened the shipping box to find... nothing.. nothing at all...
    Between the apple warehouse and the delivery company someone had swiped the Nano out of the box.
    Apple said they would get back to me on it and I was a little weary but I got my replacemnt in 7 days to it worked out ok

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    David, 29 Dec 2005 @ 1:15pm

    Happens All the Time

    I work in Retail and this sort of thing happens all the time someone will buy a product and return it with something else in the box. I had this happen to me once where the guy bought a Hard drive and returned the box with a rock inside rather than the hard drive. The cashier didn't think to look in the box since it was shrinkwrapped (a machine anyone can purchase for this sort of thing)

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Brad L, 29 Dec 2005 @ 1:54pm

    Ipod meat

    I heard Fox is coming out with a new show based on this scam. They stack beef 5 feet tall in the shape of a woman and swap it for a mother for two weeks. Called "Meat - Your New Mommy" it will surely delight the same target audience of mouth breathers who watch reality shows.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    anon, 29 Dec 2005 @ 2:07pm

    Re: Ipod meat

    That was awesome. I love it. I will definately Tivo the premier.

    ;)

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Brewski, 29 Dec 2005 @ 2:13pm

    Re: Tivo meat?

    I will definately Tivo the premier

    Assumes you have an actual Tivo, not a brick.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2005 @ 2:21pm

    Re: Happens All the Time

    uh are you sure about that? Because how can someone claim to know there's a rock instead of a hard drive in the box if it supposedly hadn't been opened yet because it's still shrinkwrapped?

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    David, 29 Dec 2005 @ 2:25pm

    Re: Happens All the Time

    They return it for the money. It gets put back on the shelf because it has been "unopened" and some other poor shmuck buys it unknowing and gets home to find he bought a rock and not a hard drive at all.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2005 @ 2:30pm

    Re: Happens All the Time

    ...because they are the one doing the scamming.

    1. Buy hard-drive
    2. Remove from box. Keep.
    3. Place rock in box.
    4. Shrink-wrap.
    5. Go back to store.
    6. Greet unsuspecting teenager.
    7. Use tech-speak: "The RPM speed on this SATA drive doesn't meet the gigapod standards of my motherboard. I have decided I would like my money back, or a gift card for store credit.
    8. Receive money back / store credit.
    9. Leave quickly
    10. Laugh all the way home.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Joe Schmoe, 29 Dec 2005 @ 3:22pm

    No Subject Given

    swapped it out with some "mystery meat"

    So it was an iPod shuffle right?

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Digi, 29 Dec 2005 @ 3:23pm

    Re: Happens All the Time

    when we were kids my buddy was the master at this kinda thing. He would buy an NES game and slip it and the manual out, replace it with a chunk of soap, and return the seemingly unopened game.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Tim, 29 Dec 2005 @ 3:24pm

    Re: Happens All the Time

    unless of course the teenager happens to be a geek and claims that the hard drive will work just fine. i personally would go for a mid-20s woman... :)

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    haggie, 29 Dec 2005 @ 4:14pm

    No Subject Given

    Q: What's the difference between getting meat in your iPod box and getting an actual iPod?

    A: Your meat will still be good in a week. Your iPod will be three generations old in a week.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Dylan, 29 Dec 2005 @ 5:28pm

    No Subject Given

    I am soo going to be a deliverman.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    tempest, 29 Dec 2005 @ 5:40pm

    Re: Happens All the Time

    thank you very much but a mid-20s woman may know more about the hard drive than you

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    JohnRoss1968, 29 Dec 2005 @ 5:56pm

    You think thats bad..thats nothing

    I bought a pack of Ribeyes esterday and when i opened it up there wasnt any steaks just a couple of these damn IPod nanos

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2005 @ 11:43pm

    Re: Happens All the Time

    11. profit!

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2005 @ 7:52am

    Re: iMeat eh?

    I bought a Big mac and lo and behold I bit into a nano. I bought a vacume cleaner and inside I got a 7 year old brat. I bought a book but when I got home home it was just blank pages (seems someone needed letters for those irritating fridge magnets). I am tired of purchasing one item and actually getting something else. Tivbrick Vacboy, Big nano, ugh the list goes on and on.
    So do you think they will beleive me when I say I bought a car and instead all I got was a dumpster?

    [ link to this | view in thread ]


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