Kid Wants a PS3 for Christmas, Gets a Phone Book Instead
By Jonathan on Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 at 8:11 PM PST In Game Companies, Game Consoles, Gamer Life, Sony, Sony, Videos
December 26th is really the time for memories of the day before (well, that and crazy crowds at the malls). Most of them are good, but sometimes there are memories just so strange and ridiculous that even the mainstream news covers them. In Camarillo, California, a 13-year old boy tore open a gift on Christmas morning to discover a brand new PS3. But instead of happily hooking up the machine and settling into a nice game of Skate, he opened the box to discover a phone book along with the usual cords and controller found inside. The boy was mostly amused, but the parents weren’t, since they’d paid about $400 for a box with a phone book. They apparently purchased it from an EB Games in a nearby mall, so they’ll be heading back there to return it as soon as they get the chance. Their best guess is an employee decided they wanted to swipe a PS3, though they’re going to have some trouble playing it without all the cords and such. You can watch the video report of the whole ordeal here.
The little deviant inside me is now recalling how many empty PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii boxes I see the dumpster by my apartment all the time. And I do get a lot of phone books left on my door step. Hmmm. *cue the theme song from How The Grinch Stole Christmas*
Thats insane! Jow did thids happen? Some sort of Quality control should be in the stores too; don’t want some idiot doing this with a wii or something else.
oops..spelled “how” and “this” wrongly.
omg that Ebgames employee what cheap basterd!!!!!
holy crap!!!!! how did that happen?
Actually i work at an GameStop, which now owns EB (off topic), and it really wouldn’t be that tough to jack the ps3 out of the box. But wow thats some bad work ethic.
Ouch. I got a PSP for Christmas, and if I had opened up that box and gotten a (insert PSP sized reference material), I would have been very mad. Of course, it was sealed doubly or triply times tamper proof.
Man that’s funny can’t believe that would happen though
Those phone books are more useful that a PS3
this is why I always open boxes at the store whenever I purchase expensive electronics. I definitely check games too. I have been on my way out of a Gamestop on numerous occasions just to realize they threw the wrong disc in the game case. The problem I see is that once you leave a store, it’s extremely hard to prove what happened.
In Portugal there is a thing called “seal”, and only a stupid would buy a PS3 that wasn’t sealed by the original seal from Sony.
Dumb people…
And all those phone books are much heavier than a PS3…
I’m guessing that like most parents, they didn’t know how much a PS3 weighs or that there was a seal like prescription drugs on the box. The cashier at the front of the store didn’t notice either. And whose to say it wasn’t the delivery guy or someone else along the line ? I guess that would make most of the population only stupids, eh ?
Hey dude who works at LameStop…….you wanna explain to me how the hell LameStop can sell me an open game as “New”???????
And STOP ASKING ME IF I WANT TO PREORDER!!!!!!……If I want to Preorder anything….I will tell you….
Hello everyone, I am joining the filefront commenting ‘team’, I used to comment over at game life, but if you go look at this story over there and then here, then you will notice a much higher level of intellect coming from this site, I’m gonna hang out here for awhile.
O and remember people, that picture above is not the actual phone books used to replace it, watch the FOX news report to see the book.
And shame on EB, or the courier driver, whoever it was is a sick human being. That could have been anyone’s console (or any console for that matter)
BTW, I own all consoles that matter: Wii, PS3, and PC
at $400, i think we can safely say weve found the worlds most expensive phone book!
This is a reply to the one that said, “…only a stupid would buy a PS3 that wasn’t sealed by the original seal from Sony. Dumb people…”
This goes to show that the victim had been living in an honest, productive area for falling for the deception. Calling people dumb for falling for someone else’s premeditated tricks is just senseless…
If every customer is expected to check for every diverse types of security seals in a product package, that is putting the customer into a state of paranoia.
OMG. this unbelievable that that happened. just goes to show how the parents are setting a bad example for us kids. usually parnets check stuff b4 they buy it(atleast mine do). they should have checked it.