I hate to break it to you....

[Dave1982]

...but you got hosed....

I got called over to electronics to help a guy find a replacement cell phone charger since the only tech on was with another customer. This guy wasn't sucky, but he did get the ripped off by someone.....

Cust: Yeah I lost the wall charger for my phone and I need a new one.

Me: Oh no problem. What kind of phone is it?

He handed me the USB cable for the phone to show me what kind of connection he needed. He gets bonus points for that, since most people don't bother to even bring the phone in and expect us to know what kind of charger they'll need.

Just one problem.....he pulled that out of an iPhone box, but the cable clearly wasn't an iPod/iPhone cable.

Me: Can I see the phone?

Cust: Yeah sure, it's an iPhone *hands me his "iPhone"*

I looked it over. It had a slightly modified Apple logo on it, but it was no iPhone. It was one of those imitation "gPhones" that some ripoff outfit peddles.

Me: Um....I hate to break it to you, but this isn't an iPhone.....

Cust: What?! How can you tell??

Me: Well, that's not the Apple logo, and this *holds up USB cable* isn't an iPhone cable.

I pulled out my iPod touch and showed it to him.

Me: If this was an iPhone, the connection would be like this *shows him the dock connector* This is a fake. But let me see if I can find a charger for it.

Unfortunately, not one of the chargers had the right cable on it. I had to sell him a universal USB wall brick for $40.

I have never seen a customer quite so crestfallen. He must have really believed he'd gotten an iPhone......sorry dude....you got scummed.

[Whiskey]

He must have really believed he'd gotten an iPhone......sorry dude....you got scummed.

This is why I buy retail when I'm buying things like that. Yeah, I paid more, but I know its real.

[Magpie]

I really hope that the poor guy had thought he found an incredible deal for his iPhone, rather than paying iPhone prices for a knock-off. (And frankly, in the first case I have less sympathy).

[tropicsgoddess]

Ouch baby, ouch. I do feel bad that the guy got hosed on that yPhone.

[roothorick]

This is why I buy retail when I'm buying things like that. Yeah, I paid more, but I know its real.

I always buy electronics online, but I buy from companies with established names and addresses in the first world (Newegg is a favorite of mine). That way you can take them to task if they sell you a bum product or a knockoff. (Some such companies knowingly sell knockoffs, but they make it very clear that you're not getting an official unit, which I'm perfectly fine with.)

[smileyeagle1021]

2:1 odds says that he did a google search for cheap iPhones and that he didn't look past the price. House odds says that it was made in China by a plant manager who stole just enough manufacturing specs to make a decent knock-off, 1:2 odds that the FBI will actually investigate this poor attempt at bootlegging, 1:10 odds that they will actually find anything, and 1:1,000,000 that the Chinese government does anything about it. I have a report about this stuff due in three weeks in my international business class, and it is terrifying just how often stuff like this happens.

[Wenchie]

I always buy electronics online, but I buy from companies with established names and addresses in the first world (Newegg is a favorite of mine). That way you can take them to task if they sell you a bum product or a knockoff. (Some such companies knowingly sell knockoffs, but they make it very clear that you're not getting an official unit, which I'm perfectly fine with.)

Newegg is one of my favorites for electronics as well... I've never had a problem with anything I've purchased from them.

[MadMike]

I did a computer repair for someone a few years ago, who had a lot of spyware. One of many things I found was one of those bogus spyware scanners. When I finally got it fixed, she mentioned to me that she had paid to register that particular product, but it didn't seem to help.

I didn't even try to sugar-coat it. I told her, "I can't think of any nice way to tell you that you got screwed, so I'm just gonna tell you: You got screwed!"

[Wenchie]

I did a computer repair for someone a few years ago, who had a lot of spyware. One of many things I found was one of those bogus spyware scanners. When I finally got it fixed, she mentioned to me that she had paid to register that particular product, but it didn't seem to help.

One of my friends called me, panicking, one day... he had one of those bogus antiviruses as well. I had to walk him through putting his computer into safe mode with networking and then installing malwarebytes and fixing his problem. All over the phone, on my lunch break, during a 12 hour day. But the time I got him to where he could scan his computer, I had to log back in to my work phone.

[Mytical]

I warn everybody I can about those bogus anti-spyware things. People refuse to believe it. Absolutely refuse. "But it says it found and fixed 2,000 problems!"

Yeah, it would tell you that you won 2 million in the potato farmers sweepstakes if it thought it would get you to download it.

[Hyndis]

One of my friends called me, panicking, one day... he had one of those bogus antiviruses as well. I had to walk him through putting his computer into safe mode with networking and then installing malwarebytes and fixing his problem. All over the phone, on my lunch break, during a 12 hour day. But the time I got him to where he could scan his computer, I had to log back in to my work phone.

For those people I'll fix it for them when I'm good and ready to fix it for them. If I'm busy then I'm busy.

However I will tell them to turn the computer off and do nothing to the computer. This always seems to confuse them for some reason. Do nothing at all. Let the computer be, don't touch the keyboard or mouse in any way. This will contain the damage until I have time to look at it. The concept baffles them.