Bryan Shlager bought an iPad from Best Buy in Dorchester, Massachusetts that he suspects is a fake – and says also claims the store knows there are at least five or six other fakes sold from the same store.
Neither he nor his college freshman son, for whom it was a gift, could get the iPad to turn on.
Shlager took it back to a Best Buy near his son’s Florida campus – where he says Geek Squad employees told him it wouldn’t work because it was a fake.
Shlager has been trying to no avail to get a refund.
“They accused me of bringing home a new one and replacing it with a dummy and trying to return a dummy,” said Shlager.
Not only does Shlager deny trying to pull a bait and switch to the tune of $830, he says that Best Buy called and left his wife a message.
“They told her that this happened to five or six other people in the store and they realize that there is an issue,” said Shlager.
Best Buy is keeping mum, saying they are investigating the issue.
This is the first report of a fake iPad from a big box store we’ve seen, but it probably won’t be the last in the Christmas rush for this season’s it-gift.
Source: W7News
Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you’re doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.
