No, its not April and obviously this is not a misplaced Fools’ Day article. It happened. In the UK. How would you react if you walked into into a store (a trusted one for that matter), bought the gadget of your dreams and rushed home for that one-in-a-million exclusive unboxing experience only to find clay stashed in the box in place of a shiny new (space gray) iPad?
Colin Marsh, a baker by profession, “bought an iPad” from popular UK retailer Tesco but was surprised to find clay stashed inside the box despite assurance from staff that it was the iPad he had ordered and paid for and that it had even been registered under his name. To his surprise still, he was arrested when he returned the “clay iPad” to the store and asked for a refund. He was arrested on suspicion of fraud but later released after 3 hours in a holding cell when the police ascertained that no purchased iPad had been registered under his name. Instead the iPad he was allegedly sold was registered to another buyer. Marsh was later refunded by Tesco after it became clear that he had done no wrong and was infact the victim.
What a way to spend a cool £470! Lesson: every time you buy a device from a store, be sure to confirm that indeed it is there lest you find some nice stash of upcountry clay in there.
This is not the first time that such an incident is happening. Back at the start of 2012 some Canadians found themselves in the unenviable position of owning some unique pieces of junk, clay iPads!
I don’t know why but iPad buyers tend to be the targets of such. Here’s another case from not long ago: Woman shopping for iPhones conned into buying Apples, literally
Source: Kent Online