My So-Called iPod

Friday, Oct. 17, 2008 - 12:52 a.m.

As my regular readers recall, about three weeks ago, John got himself a new-to-him gently used second-generation iPod Nano for fifty dollars. This older Nano is compatible with his older system software, and the price was definitely right for something that's been so well-maintained.

We were so delighted at this bargain, I asked permission to get an iPod Nano of my own, because even if we ended up paying full price for the model I was looking for -- 3rd generation, 8-gig -- the total price for both would stil be under two hundred dollars, and we'd each have a device we wanted, and happily ever after, yadda yadda.

A few days after John acquired his Nano, I spotted a seller on eBay who was selling last year's third-generation 8 gig iPod Nano for a Buy It Now price of 99.95.

Hooray! So, I jumped at the chance to own one, especially at this price, because I'd become such a huge fan of my iPod shuffle. I figured a Nano with video capability would be just the thing to cart around with me when I travelled, so I could have video of my loved ones (John, Old Buddy Dave, Solange, et. al.) at my fingertips. My cell phone is handy, but it's three years old now, and it's only capable of creating videos that are fifteen seconds in length.

I went ahead and Bought It Then, paid with PayPal within about five minutes of the purchase, and settled in to wait for up to four weeks because that was the listed drop-dead date.

The seller herself seemed nice enough; she's a young mother with five children and the eBay shop allows her to work from home, and her ratings prior to the commencement of her iPod sales was one hundred percent.

Seemed like a safe enough transaction at a real bargain, and I'm one of the rare birds who hasn't been burned on eBay.

Until now.

---

Here is what finally arrived on Thursday morning, mailed from China:

Now, unless I'm very very mistaken here, the inverted Sony Walkman logo shouldn't be appearing on a box for an Apple product, no matter which country it was packed in.

Obviously I'd been sent a foreign knock-off, but I couldn't resist looking in the package anyway:

Here, we see the mini CD of installation software, which would severely munge my laptop's CD drive if I'd been dumb enough to try and insert it. Likewise, please have a look at the instruction booklet, which contained text in broken English and in Chinese, but no mention of the word 'Nano'.

The device itself looked enough like a third-generation iPod that it would have fooled people. It was a valiant effort at duplication, but the collateral material was an obvious dead giveaway.

Within ten minutes of my opening the package, I took a deep breath, and logged on immediately to leave negative feedback and file a protest on PayPal.

This was when I discovered the email from eBay letting me know that the seller had yanked the listing, which was a bad sign, and to admonish me that I shouldn't complete this transaction and to recommend I contact PayPal to resolve any disputes.

Yeah, NO SHIT, Buckwheat, thanks a bunch.

---

I had corresponded with a couple of other people who were waiting for their iPods, and one of them, Chip, also received a knockoff, and asked me to keep him informed as to the status of any dispute resolution I would be filing. Chip had already owned an iPod before, so thankfully, he could also discern Shit from Shinola.

The next thing I did after discovering the counterfeit iPod, and the disappearance of the seller, was to look on the receipt from China, and lo and behold, there was the seller's home phone number. I did a reverse lookup, found the snailmail address, and shared that info with Chip.

About thirty minutes after I emailed Chip the info, he emailed me his own phone number and said he'd just spoken to the seller.

So I called him, and what he told me was that the seller offered to refund his money, if he would box everything up and mail it back to them at the address provided by PayPal. I received that same address upon filing my dispute claim. Seller also claims she never had a problem with the player, thought it was a genuine Apple product because the words APPLE and IPOD were all over the box, and was apologetic for the confusion.

Before I send this knockoff back, though, I'm going to get one more thing to put in the package.

We're going to go to The Mac Store in Berkeley. We'll have those whiz kids inspect the device and then write a letter on their stationery, stating that the item I purchased was counterfeit. Then I'll send that letter in the return parcel with a signature required so there will be a paper trail that shows that the seller has been made fully aware that she is selling fakes. Chances are, she might just be aware of this now anyway, but in some instances, there can never be such a thing as Too Much Paperwork.

---

John is taking the counterfeit Nano to work for show and tell today; he works with the lady who takes care of the Apple account -- a lady who also happens to be a multi-lingual native of China.

This should be a kneeslapper.

---

At present, I feel a little upset, a lot ripped off, and a whole bunch of relieved to hopefully get this resolved and get my money back. I made a nice acquaintence with Chip, too.

In the meantime, John keeps insisting that he wants to give his Nano to me. I've reluctantly accepted, on the condition that it's a loan, not a gift, and that if I ever acquire a REAL third-gen 8 gig iPod Nano, he'll have to take the other one back.

I'm also going to find my poor little Shuffle and apologize to it for letting my head be turned by this treacherous non-Nano strumpet from eBay.

---

Okay, that's it. I'll keep you all informed as to what happens.

Have a good Friday.

And happy birthday to Ronn Owens.

---

what you missed - what's next - leave a note
first post - cast page - diaryrings - top ten

THE LEGAL STUFF: All content on this site that was created by me is copyright 2003-infinity by Brin Marie McLaughlin. Steal my stuff and I'll squash you like a bug. All incoming email or any other form of communication with me is subject to publication or other distribution by me in whole or in part at my sole discretion. This diary features the sole opinions and experiences of one person, namely me, the person who is paying for this space. In the interest of safety and accountability, no anonymous input will ever be allowed here, ever, for any reason in the entire history of ever. Whenever there is a comments section appearing in this diary, it's to be considered part of my paid presence on the web, and shall be used by my readership to supplement the things I have written here with relevant information in a polite manner. Comments that do not fall in that category are subject to deletion at my whim. Your visit to my diary along with your use of my comments section constitutes the understanding of this statement. Anything else on these pages including any comments belongs to whoever created it. All external links are current as of the date of the entry in which they are first featured, but at no other time. News excerpts used here are for educational purposes and are permitted under the Fair Use Doctrine. Hold hands when you cross the street, and play nice.