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iPhone Sprint Scam!

ladytonya said:
It might be morally or ethically wrong to do this, although that even depends on your personal morals, but it definitely isn't illegal. It's called free enterprise. The store has an item that is in high demand and is trying to make a buck, nothing wrong with that! I wouldn't fall for it and would definitely complain, but there is nothing illegal about what they are doing.

If you truly think that they are breaking the law, call the police or speak with your local magistrate and try to press charges, I guarantee they'll laugh in your face!
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It is 100% illegal. You cannot advertise something as costing X, then charge Y. This has nothing to do with morality or the like, it is a legal matter.
I started with Radio Shack first and they acknowledged their mistake and corrected it.

i.e. I once went into a Fry's Electronics to buy something and also checked out their cameras. I noticed that a camera I had wanted had been listed as on sale for $299 when it cost $499 everywhere else. I went to buy it and it was $499 but I mentioned the $299 sign. I was okay with not buying it as I knew the $299 sign was wrong but the Fry's manager knew the law and that he had to honor the sign regardless. Long story short, by law he HAD to sell the camera to me at $299 even though it was a mistake. He offered, and I accepted in the end.
I am a business owner in CA and its obvious that very few people know the first thing about the laws of running a business. You cannot state that an iPhone costs $199, then charge $225. It's really simple people!!

So go ahead and get screwed with your ignorance, it makes no difference to me. But if you want to know what's legal or questionable, feel free to ask. I'm always happy to help and give educated suggestions.
 
I work in the printing industry (for 20+ years) and I’ve seen it happen where a quote was written up wrong; a customer was quoted incorrectly, much less than what it was supposed to be, but BY LAW WE HAD TO HONOR THE QUOTE as it was an official business document.

There was no question that a mistake had been made but like I said earlier, if you say something costs X, you cannot charge Y, end of story. Yeah, it can lead to some costly mistakes as I have personally witnessed, but the truth stands. Most of the time the customer realized the mistake and let it be corrected or divided the cost, but this is different in the fact that the buyer and seller agrees the price is X, but upon checkout the seller forces you against your will to buy something that you neither wanted nor asked for as a condition of buying X. That is 100% illegal in America and if this has happend to you I hope you take steps to get it corrected.

I cannot believe that any American citizen does not realize that this is illegal.
Please let me know if something like this has happened and I'll be happy to assist you in getting your rightful compensation.
 
You continue to spout your ignorance, showing us that you are clearly clueless! Show us a local code, a state or federal statute, UCC, case law, law review article, anything that proves your point and maybe your argument will hold water but continuing to spout "it's illegal, it's illegal!" only shows your OWN ignorance, not ours.

BTW, if you feel that Radio Shack is acting illegally, have you called the police? Have you gone to your local magistrate's office to place charges? Yeah, didn't think so. I have to deal with idiots like you all day long, calling my office wanting to sue somebody when 99% of the time they have no claim for relief. Again, if you feel so strongly that it is truly "illegal", call the police.

Do I condone what they're doing? Heck no!
Is it a poor business practice? Yes, I agree with you that it is.
Is it illegal? No! Again, big difference between illegal and unethical. Go take a business ethics course and maybe you'll understand. Something tells me you won't try to educate yourself though, you'll just continue to muddle on in spite of yourself.
 
Lol are people really debating this?

Two areas where this is likely illegal.

1) False advertising. Unless Sprint specifically advertised the IPhone + AppleCare bundle as the only thing they sell, they have to honor their $199 advertisements. So, if you find any sort of advertisement in print or media with a $199 price tag on an iPhone 5 that references Sprint then what Sprint did was illegal.

2) Bundling/Tying. it is illegal per the Sherman Antitrust Act to force a buyer to purchase a different product in order to purchase the product the buyer intends to purchase. This was/is a class action lawsuit against Apple for the AT&T tying which is much less obvious than this due to you signing a contract with AT&T agreeing to go into arbitration before the court of law. That case is still pending (AFAIK). You may ask how is this different from say bundling for promotions etc and the key word is coercion.

btw these are all Federal laws. This goes into inter-state commerce which is regulated by the Federal Government.

p.s. About the police not showing up... Please understand the difference between civil and criminal...
 
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I'm missing something here. How does the Sprint retail store benefit from selling AC+ vs their own insurance? They get nothing from Apple in return for selling AC+ other than the ability to instruct customers with broken screens to visit an Apple Retail Store.
 
SpyderBite said:
I'm missing something here. How does the Sprint retail store benefit from selling AC+ vs their own insurance? They get nothing from Apple in return for selling AC+ other than the ability to instruct customers with broken screens to visit an Apple Retail Store.
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I guess they pass off on having to replace phones to apple.
 
Pretty sure they get a commission. Sprint, RadioShack etc probably buys AppleCare+ from Apple at discounted rates and resell them. That is how a lot of Ebay sellers are able to sell below $99.
 
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MOD NOTE:

Calling other posters names or other personal attacks are against forum rules.

Also political discussions are limited to our PRSI forum and to those who have access to it. Any overtly political posts will be removed as off-topic.

B
 
When I was testing out the S3 I tried to buy it at Radio Shack and they said I had to get an acessory, I thought they were kidding. They would not sell me the phone without one so I left and went to another store.
 
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