Man Who Bought $735 Xbox One Photo Gets Free Xbox One

[Steven Bogos]

Man Who Bought $735 Xbox One Photo Gets Free Xbox One

The moral of this story is... huh. Stupidity gets rewarded?

Remember Peter Clatworth, that unfortunate young lad who fell hook, line and sinker for one of the oldest eBay scams in the book, and forked over £450 ($735) for a picture of an Xbox One? [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.835951-U-K-Teen-Buys-735-Photo-of-Xbox-One-on-eBay] We all had a good giggle over that one, and because of all the media attention he got, eBay did end up offering him a full refund via PayPal.

But the teenager still didn't have his Xbox One, and was about to upset his four-year-old son (whom he claimed to have been originally trying to purchase the console for) on Christmas. Luckily, UK retailer CeX has swooped in to save the day, offering Clatworthy a free Xbox One console.

Staff at CeX's store in Exchange Walk, Nottingham city center, presented him with the console on Saturday. "I'm just overwhelmed by the reaction to the story," said Clatworthy. "All I wanted was a refund. I cannot believe this."

The store's assistant manager, David Draycott, who handed Clatworthy the console, said, "We as a company are always looking to do a good thing for somebody. Hopefully Peter and his son will both be able to enjoy this together."

When Clatworthy initially made the purchase, he acknowledged that the eBay listing stated that the item was in fact a photograph, but because it was in the proper category, he thought it was legit and so went ahead with the purchase.

So what's the lesson that we take home from this? If he had just gotten a refund, he would have learned a harmless yet valuable life lesson about eBay scams. But the fact that he was also given a free console in the end? I don't know what to make of this. How about you guys?

Source: Nottingham Post [http://www.nottinghampost.com/CeX-saves-Christmas-teenager-hit-Xbox-eBay-scam/story-20296103-detail/story.html]

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[008Zulu_v1legacy]

He is being rewarded for being a complete moron. I'm sorry, but no. This is not how society should work.

 

[Kaymish]

i don't know getting an Xbone foisted on him seams like punishment enough to me? the poor guy probably just doesn't know it yet

 

[Teoes]

Hmm, so what we do to scam our way to success is as follows: create fake eBay account -> set up listing for photo of console -> switch accounts, bid and win -> pay, get refund, lose fake account -> cry to media -> free console -> PROFIT!

Am I doing it right? No, because that's not how things should be functioning.

The lesson I learn from this is indeed that stupidity gets rewarded. Nice guys finish last and all the rest of it. My energy company switch-over is taking three times longer than I was told it should and I'm getting no compensation for the trouble - I've just got to suck up the higher bills in the process. Clearly I need to get some (inter)national attention on the matter. Being litigious is the way forward.

 

[rofltehcat]

So he won't really learn anything from this?
I understand them giving him a free one because this guy had lots of publicity and every site who reported on him will also report on them giving him a Xbone. However, this seems to be a local retail shop. I'd expect the Xbone to come from somewhere higher up, e.g. MS PR.

 

[Revolutionary]

I saw this article and thought hmmm... what new and interesting way will sony fanboys find to be negative nancys in this instance.
You guys never disappoint...keep going you crazy wonderful bastards.
OT: hats off to ceX, I mean I'm aware it's purely PR move, but whatever an xbox is an xbox.

 

[CookieDemons]

@rofltehcat There are hundereds of CeX stores around the world. There are some in America, India and Australia as well as the UK.

I agree with what you guys are saying about how it was ridiculous, but it's great publicity for the store. I just hope that the nottingham store are run by their manager and not by head office; otherwise I can imagine the backlash they might get

 

[VoidWanderer]

He is being rewarded for being a complete moron. I'm sorry, but no. This is not how society should work.

Nuts, I was going to say that this is encouraging idiotic cry-babies. The guy even admitted that it said PHOTO in the item description, and he still somehow got news coverage because he was 'scammed'.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Good for him. It was probably a pretty stressful ordeal and while I can't say he deserves it, I'm definitely not unhappy that they're giving him one. And good on the store, even if they're just doing it for the publicity.

 

[VoidWanderer]

@rofltehcat There are hundereds of CeX stores around the world. There are some in America, India and Australia as well as the UK.

I agree with what you guys are saying about how it was ridiculous, but it's great publicity for the store. I just hope that the nottingham store are run by their manager and not by head office; otherwise I can imagine the backlash they might get

I theorize it to be run like EB Games in NZ and Australia, under the parent company whose name currently eludes me... They are all links in the chain, and are apparently run by people who forget that these stores need a bigger payroll budget during the busiest months of the year.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Everyone is so negative. Yeah he was a moron, and didn't really deserve it. Come on, though, if that happened to you, wouldn't you be pumped? Just be happy for the guy and move on!

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

He is being rewarded for being a complete moron. I'm sorry, but no. This is not how society should work.

Nuts, I was going to say that this is encouraging idiotic cry-babies. The guy even admitted that it said PHOTO in the item description, and he still somehow got news coverage because he was 'scammed'.

He also read the fucking category which said that it was not a photograph, which was why he bid on it. Why is everybody being so intentionally dense about this? It's not like the guy went out and hurt anybody, he was a victim of a con, and even if it is something that is fun to laugh about, that doesn't make him unworthy of any kind of sympathy. He's the victim here.

 

[Teoes]

I saw this article and thought hmmm... what new and interesting way will sony fanboys find to be negative nancys in this instance.
You guys never disappoint...keep going you crazy wonderful bastards.
OT: hats off to ceX, I mean I'm aware it's purely PR move, but whatever an xbox is an xbox.

Uhh, not one person before you (or since, for that matter, at the time of writing) mentioned Sony or Playstations. Folks are just generally peeved that this idiot is being rewarded for being scammed.

I'm not denying it's great for him and his lad. Bonus, what a lovely Christmas present. I suppose the hard work he put in in saving up initially has been rewarded. But yeah - the only lesson to take from this is media attention = free shit. He deserved reimbursement, sure, but this leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

 

[VoidWanderer]

He is being rewarded for being a complete moron. I'm sorry, but no. This is not how society should work.

Nuts, I was going to say that this is encouraging idiotic cry-babies. The guy even admitted that it said PHOTO in the item description, and he still somehow got news coverage because he was 'scammed'.

He also read the fucking category which said that it was not a photograph, which was why he bid on it. Why is everybody being so intentionally dense about this? It's not like the guy went out and hurt anybody, he was a victim of a con, and even if it is something that is fun to laugh about, that doesn't make him unworthy of any kind of sympathy. He's the victim here.

Would have agreed, if he didn't admit it said photograph, and not the console in an interview.

If he admits he read it wrong and bought it anyway, that is not a con. This to me is more life-lesson than 'con'. If he took the time to read the description where it says photo and not console, and figured he would get the console anyway, needs to really think about his priorities.

He is only a victim of his own idiocy, and I am not meaning being a father at fifteen. Hell, the people who fell for the actual con of 'unlocking backwards compatibility' on the XB1 get more sympathy from me, cause most people aren't tech-savvy enough to know it wouldn't work, but he failed basic logic and reading skills.

Sorry Revnak, but I disagree with your opinion with my own opinion.

 

[IAmTheToaster]

Ridiculous. This idiot is an idiot who made an idiotic decision and has been rewarded by a clever marketing scheme.

But on a more serious note, he should not have been rewarded for this. He should have learned the "always read the description" lesson. He already got his refund via PayPal and so could have bought another console as soon as one was available, having thoroughly checked the legitimacy.

What offends me more about this whole story is that he claims he's buying an Xbone for a four year old. Can we all recognize that he's a 19 year old teenager. Call me a cynic, but he's buying the console for himself. Not to plug Nintendo, but surely one would buy a Nintendo console for a small child?

 

[marurder]

Stupidity should not be protected or rewarded.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

The story would be funny if he got a free PS4. But this is just boring and not really newsworthy.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

He is being rewarded for being a complete moron. I'm sorry, but no. This is not how society should work.

Nuts, I was going to say that this is encouraging idiotic cry-babies. The guy even admitted that it said PHOTO in the item description, and he still somehow got news coverage because he was 'scammed'.

He also read the fucking category which said that it was not a photograph, which was why he bid on it. Why is everybody being so intentionally dense about this? It's not like the guy went out and hurt anybody, he was a victim of a con, and even if it is something that is fun to laugh about, that doesn't make him unworthy of any kind of sympathy. He's the victim here.

Would have agreed, if he didn't admit it said photograph, and not the console in an interview.

If he admits he read it wrong and bought it anyway, that is not a con. This to me is more life-lesson than 'con'. If he took the time to read the description where it says photo and not console, and figured he would get the console anyway, needs to really think about his priorities.

He is only a victim of his own idiocy, and I am not meaning being a father at fifteen. Hell, the people who fell for the actual con of 'unlocking backwards compatibility' on the XB1 get more sympathy from me, cause most people aren't tech-savvy enough to know it wouldn't work, but he failed basic logic and reading skills.

Sorry Revnak, but I disagree with your opinion with my own opinion.

Oh come on, you know for a fact that it did not say "this is only a photo, do not buy if you want a real console" and instead likely used the word "picture" once along with some bad grammar or something so it would look like it just might have meant something else. Just like people going after this guy are willing to ignore parts of the story so that they can make hasty judgements, he did as well. It was in the home electronics category, so it must be a home electronic (which by ebay's terms of service, it must be). He's just admitting that "technically" it said it was a photo while also pointing out that technically it didn't at the same time. He got his hopes up and went for it.

The rest of your post just disgusts me though. Getting conned out of 700$ is not "a life-lesson." It's a fucking crime. And the world should not in any way work like how you're seemingly implying it should. Just because he made a mistake, that doesn't mean he "deserves" to face some terrible consequence. It is always better if we work to help one another and avoid what terrible consequences life throws at us. Life isn't some series of transactions, where one's faults purchase suffering and one's positives purchase happiness. It's just fucking life, and we'd all be better off if we just stopped fucking each other over. There are far better ways to learn these kinds of lessons, and I am absolutely certain that as a 19 year-old dad, he is probably quite familiar with the typical lesson plan of the school of hard knocks (see what I did there?). He doesn't need it worse, and it is great that he caught a break here. It is a positive thing.

And "opinions" can be wrong. Hiding behind the inherent uncertainties of morality is just intellectual cowardice. There is rarely an absolute right or wrong, but you damned better do what you think is best, and you damned better be willing to make your case.