The names of the participants have been changed to protect the guilty.
The Situation
Across the country, the deception continues Mr. White received a package in the mail from his business partner Mr. Pink. In the envelope was an illegally obtained iPod TAP. He cherished the TAP as he held it in his hand, hopeful that the second part of this evil scheme would be as successful as the first.
The Difficulty Begins
Mr. White waltzed into his local CompUSA with high hopes of a successful mission. Mr. White realized the mission would not be as simple as seemed. As soon as he reached the customer service desk, He was informed that it would be three days to “verify” the TAP and obtain a new iPod. Three days to verify a TAP that he held in his hand. This was a little curious, but how could Mr. White argue?
On the third day, Mr. White again came to the CompUSA to “verify” his Apple.com purchase receipt. At this point, he was again told that it would be several days before this process would be completed. Slightly perturbed, Mr. White left the store, positive that the iPod would be ready and waiting for him on day 6.
Day 6 arrived, and instead of driving to CompUSA, Mr.
White decided it would be safer to call; just in case the receipt had not yet been verified. As it turns out, the TAP does not get you a new iPod, instead, it gets you a $399 gift certificate issued by CompUSA. No problem. Pick up the gift certificate and purchase the iPod. All is well and good, right?
Not only did the TAP have to get verified, but the original purchase receipt as well. By this time Mr. White was tired of running around getting different pieces of paper verified.
Verify, Verify, Verify
Day 8 seemed to take no time at all to arrive. Mr. White put in another stern phone call to the store. The service employee on the phone said, “Yeah, come on in. It’s just a gift certificate. You show up, and we’ll give it to you.” After making his way back to the store for the third time, Mr. White spoke with the Service Center employee he had spoken with on the phone only minutes ago. Because the employee was not qualified to issue the gift certificate, Mr. White was passed to the Service Center Supervisor. How in the world could someone not be qualified to issue a gift certificate? The paramount line in this entire saga was only moments from being spoken by the supervisor. Mr. White told him, “I’ve been trying to get my iPod replaced for a week now, and I’d like to pick up my gift certificate.“The Supervisor smiled and replied, “I’m sorry sir, but it has not been verified yet.” Again, Mr.
White leaves the store, unsure and upset.
The Difficulty Continues
That was Friday, and then the weekend passed. Monday the supervisor calls and says, “The gift certificate should be ready later today.” Several hours later a Service Center employee calls and leaves a message on Mr. White’s phone informing him, “The gift certificate has been verified.”“Well it’s about time!” Mr. White thought to himself, but the message wasn’t over. The employee continued, “but it will not be activated until tomorrow.” Mr. White was furious! 11 days since he first brought in his dead iPod, and he had to wait one more because the gift certificate would not be activated until the next day? He couldn’t understand why a gift certificate had to be issued in the first place, and even if it did, he didn’t understand why it had to be verified, and could not be activated the day it was verified.
The Final Stretch
It was day 12, and Mr. White was not up for any sidestepping service employees. He arrived at the store, approved gift certificate in hand and makes a beeline for the MP3 Players counter. He asks the first employee if they have any 5GB iPods in stock. He replies, “I’m sorry sir, I don’t believe we do, but I can check under the counter if you would like.“Yes, Mr. White would like. The employee returned a minute later informing Mr. White that there are currently no 5GB iPods in stock, but they have one 10GB model.
After fifteen minutes of attempting to sell Mr. White a 10GB model, Mr. White begins to mull around the rest of the store before leaving. Moments before stepping out of the store, the same employee who had not thirty minutes ago told Mr. White there were no 5GB iPods in stock came up behind him and pronounced, “Sir, I found a 5GB model back in a locked area of the stock room.” Locked area of the stock room my @ss.
Well, the fiasco was finally over, and Mr.
