Apple Store Customer Arrested for Shoplifting Says He Was Trying to Use EasyPay Self-Checkout

[buxtone17]

A teenager going to the Apple store trying to buy a pair of expensive Bose headphones. Suspicious.

Right, because he couldn't have a summer job at which he made enough money to buy a pair of headphones. Or an allowance. Or well-to-do parents who let him use their credit card.

It's comments like this one that make me wish that we still had down arrows...

 

[725032]

Apple is really doing a number on its own image at the moment.

Everytime i hear something about Apple at the moment it's negative.

I went in to a Best Buy today and purposely avoided going to any Apple product displays... Just annoys me at the moment.

 

[KdParker]

They must have seen this guy pull this before would be my guess.

You could easily monitor if a product has been scanned and if the sales was completed. Since you have already logged in, they also have all your details which is easy enough track.

 

[cgk.emu]

If I was this kid I would sue the living hell out of Apple for damages - good luck proving the kid was intending to steal.

Jobs is rolling in his grave seeing the company he built screw everything up.

You are an entitled person, aren't you? I'd simply ask for an apology from Apple.

Jobs is dead, cremated in fact. So there is no rolling in any grave. But, since you knew Steve personally, I bet you know for a fact he's pissed, right?

 

[marco114]

Was nervous about this the other day

I bought a charger from an Apple Store employee. They offered to email me the receipt so that's what I did. I didn't get a bag and walked out the store with it.. about 50 feet past the store, was thinking, how they know I even bought this? The apple employee at the door was distracted with a customer and he had no idea I bought it.

I just think they should have a better system.

 

[iJon]

I used Easy Pay the other day and it worked great. It did feel weird, and since I worked retail for a long time. I made sure to give an employee a heads up that I used EasyPay just to avoid any conflict.

I'll be curious to see if EasyPay lasts for the long haul.

 

[BugBytes]

I think EasyPay is a great idea, so long as it works correctly. Personally I don't see how a logical person would just walk out of the store with a pair of expensive headphones without paying for them just because he couldn't finish his EasyPay transaction. However, the Apple Store employee should have asked for the receipt. It is possible Eric thought his transaction was completed, but if he was in any doubt, he should have asked before leaving the store. Honestly I think it is the Apple Store employee and Eric's fault this happened, with no blame on EasyPay. I'm not sure if he should have accepted the plea bargain, but if I were him I would consult a lawyer and consider accepting it.

 

[LolaxJack]

I call B.S...

Apple employees aren't allowed to stop or question suspected thief. They would lose their job. It had to be those loss prevention guys apple hires... And there're cameras throughout the store it wouldn't be hard to prove what his intent was.

 

[nzalog]

This is sad news for innovation. Thives around the world now will have to change the way the shoplift. It wasn`t stealing!! Apple is a horrible company for saying no to this guys who may have wanted to steal their stuff. They make tons of money and they are still going after little kids. Horrible news!!

Seriously what is next... first Samsung can't be cool like Apple and now you can't just steal from the Apple store. I see this is going to hinder innovation because you know Apple was Samsung's R & D dept...

 

[Glideslope]

Good luck to the prosecutor on that one.

It will be tricky. If they just say, ok, after things settle down, more will be emboldened to attempt this.

Reality is it was his responsibility to "SEE THE PAY NOW TAB". Guilty with community service hours.

This is why NFC is not ready for Prime Time. I hope it's not on the next iPhone.

 

[lostngone]

what?

Better?
changed "has" to "hasn't"

 

[paul4339]

... The thing is almost certain to wrongly tag some people as shoplifters.

Makes me less willing to go to my local Apple Store out of sheer irritation that they would come up with such a system.

Agree. When someone walks thru a store security system with the security tags on the item still, sometimes you hear an automated voice apologizing. Something like: "we must have forgotten to take the security tag off your item, please return and let us help you pay for it"... in otherwords, never accuse someone of shoplifting unless you are really really certain of it.

.

 

[Want300]

It's hard to judge intent here, but if it were me, i'd make sure I was damn certain the transaction went through to avoid any accusations of stealing in the first place.

Exactly... Any honest person would worry that using that app could look like stealing, so they would make sure not to mess up.

How do they know he had intent to steal?

Even if the kid was honest... Which I have my doubts that he is... I am sure SOOOO many people have tried to pull that stunt/tactic when they got caught trying to steal from the store.

Just like an innocent person would (because they are innocent), a smart thief is also going to "DENY DENY DENY DENY".


ADDITIONAL: I thought about using this app to buy Magic Trackpad the other day... I was too worried they would think I was stealing if I used it (I did not know it told you to ask for a bag)... So I waited and bothered an Apple employee to ring out my purchase.

 

[wordoflife]

Innocent, until proven guilty. : p

 

[Smoothie]

What the story fails to mention is that this kid was wearing an Android tee shirt at the time.

 

[Peel]

I'm curious how they knew he hadn't completed the transaction. If they saw him scan the item and then get a bag from an employee, it wouldn't be obvious that he hadn't completed the transaction unless someone were watching over his shoulder.

Or does the self check-out software show up on a screen in the Apple Store when a transaction is in process until complete, in which case they just have someone watching for uncompleted transactions and following those individuals?

 

[sbrhwkp3]

Apple security is out of control. I went to the 5th Ave store and was messing around with some sound docks with my iPhone to see how they sounded.

When I turned around, I had two huge goons dressed in black with Secret Service style ear pieces asking me what I thought I was doing. Didn't feel like a very welcoming shopping environment.

 

[pragmatous]

Too late. I would say spread the word and get the app removed from the app store.

It is irresponsible to do anything less in a free civilized society.

Whether the kid had an intent to steal or not, isn't the problem. The bigger problem, is that if the checkout system gets a bad reputation, people will be more reluctant to use it.

.

 

[chuckd83]

Good luck to the prosecutor on that one.

He doesn't have to show intent. He took a product out of the store without paying for it. Pretty open and shut.

 

[ghostface147]

That's what happened with me and a 27" iMac.

Sureeee......lol

 

[HiRez]

I've used EasyPay a few times and even though nothing happened, I felt like a thief every time, trying to sneak out of the store with something.

 

[crisss1205]

My guess is that there is more to this story. I don't see Apple employees routinely stopping to ask people for receipts. Plus, they don't want to discourage people from using EasyPay. Perhaps they were tracking him for a while (as he was in the store for an hour), and saw something suspicious. It's easy enough to come in to the store with an "issue" for the Genius Bar. In any case, since he wants to proceed to trial he can give his side of the story then and let a jury decide.

He was in the store for an hour because he brought in his Retina MBP to the Genius bar.

 

[likemyorbs]

Whoa! What? I bought one- those things are heavy as hell to lug around and the only way I got it was by having the employee bring it out- what did they say to you? What idiots!

Did you know the word gullible is in the dictionary?

 

[wallysb01]

If you leave it up to customers to make the payments, mistakes will be made. I can't count the number of times I'm accidentally walked out of the grocery store to realize I forgot to pay for something with those stupid self-checkouts. But do I go back? No. Because a prick manager might get a bug up his butt and try to do this same kind of thing. Plus, its their own stupid fault in trying to reduce costs anyway. Hopefully a round of bad press on this issue will put some pressure on Apple to change their hard line stance.

Apple policy should be that if you at least attempted to purchase it and they catch you leaving the store, then you're given a chance to finish the transaction. If you don't buy it, then you're probably trying to steal it, so call the cops then.

 

[Blackberryroid]

Right, because he couldn't have a summer job at which he made enough money to buy a pair of headphones. Or an allowance. Or well-to-do parents who let him use their credit card.

It's comments like this one that make me wish that we still had down arrows...

Even if he did use his money, he's still careless enough not to realize that he didn't pay. Either way, he deserves to be arrested.