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

[Colour Scientist]

being nineteen years old and having a four year old kid does not help to paint a picture of a person with a lot of foresight or good judgement at all.

Why is everyone fixating on the fact that he had a kid at 15?
He had sex at a young enough age that resulted in a child, how on Earth does that reflect on his character or intelligence when you have no knowledge of the context?

buying an xbox for this kid is even more questionable, if he indeed bought it for the kid. a little bit much of an investment for a four year old kid who cant even care about next gen graphics yet, dont you think?

The XBox is marketed as an entertainment system, not just a gaming console.
Sure, his kid might not be playing the latest FPS but that doesn't mean he can't use it for other things. Microsoft have been trying to aim the console at families. My two little cousins, 5 and 11, were given an XBox and a Kinect a few years ago and they love it. They didn't get it for the hardcore gaming experience, I can tell you that.

he should get his money back sure. not because he doesnt deserve a lesson, but because its the right thing to do on ebays part. but a free xbox? now that alters the message very much. i read it as this: "if you are too stupid or reckless to apply common sense on the internet in transactions that involve substantial amounts of money, cry, *****, moan, victimize yourself in the media and a dont forget to include a big cup of "wont someone think of the children!?", then not only will you suffer no losses but free stuff will get shoved into your face because everybody wants to be a saint on christmas"

that is what i see and i think its a very bad thing.

It was a goodwill gesture so a company could get some cheap publicity. He didn't ***** and moan for a free XBox, he just asked for his money back which, as you said yourself, was the right thing.

you know why? because there is no free stuff. the employee hours ebay spent on sorting this thing out will be payed by customers. the "free" xbox he got will be payed for by the customers of cex.

you knows who pays for his "free" stuff? everybody else.

How exactly are the customers of CeX paying for it?
Are they going to hike up their prices to recover the cost of the free console?

 

[RJ 17]

To be fair, this is more about the game store wanting some good publicity than about Teen Dad getting a free XBone. Still, I am saddened any time I see such a display of blatant stupidity get rewarded.

It's like one of those news stories where a burglar breaks into someone's house, slips in the kitchen, breaks their arm, and then sues the family that lives there and wins.

 

[hutchy27]

What the hell, a refund fair enough plus a free console, the hell, Central Exchange, the hell.

 

[IndieForever]

It's like one of those news stories where a burglar breaks into someone's house, slips in the kitchen, breaks their arm, and then sues the family that lives there and wins.

No, no it's not. It's like one of those news stories where a burglar breaks into someone's house and then the press vilifies the family for being too stupid to fit window locks. The burglar gets away with all their furniture but the insurance company pays out. A furniture retailer sees the story and gives the family free furniture as both an altruistic gesture and free publicity for their business. A large number of children then scream that the family are being rewarded for being idiots and for playing up the fact that the burglar stole little five-year-old Suzy's bed and she'd have to sleep on the floor.

That's what it's like.

PhantomEcho, Lack, Smilomaniac and Colour Scientist - it was very nice to read some humanity in amongst the bile and vitriol this article was intended to produce.

 

[IAmTheToaster]

And nor did I ever say they did - I said I personally have issues with a four year old child playing games in which one kills hundreds of people. I don't think it would have a long-term effect, I just don't like the idea that four is considered an acceptable age to witness violence.

Though it's not guaranteed and that's just your assumption.

In what way is any of the story our business at all? If you take issue with people judging this story, why don't you take issue with the fact that there is any story to be told here?

Because I'm disgusted with the assumptions people make about some guy getting a free console, because he got duped.
The story here, are the reactions in this thread. Just look at how butthurt people are and how they take it out on some guy they know nothing about - Even worse, how they justify their malcontent.

The article is bullshit. It immediately expresses opinion on some random guy, instead of reporting objectively. The Escapist has apparently turned into a tabloid and people are eating it up, acting like brats. The Gaming community has always had the best and worst people, but this has really brought out the worst.

Not quite sure I'd call the people here the worst of the gaming community. At least they're not foul mouthing each other - yet.

I think I agree with you to some extent - there's a lot of vitriol going on here and while I disagree with the guy getting the console, a fair bit of this has gone too far. Calling the guy an idiot initially was a mistake, but I still stand by my objection to an XBone for a four year old. I also stand by my skepticism that the console was for the child and not for himself.

 

[Skarvig]

This is not the story of some dipshit who went online, saw a PICTURE of an XBOX ONE, and blindly threw more than $700 at it. This is a man who READ the description well enough to later recall that it actually did state that the pictured item was, itself, a picture. But using his deductive reasoning skills, the things apparently half the folks in this thread utterly lack, he determined that in order to be placed in the Home Electronics category... it had to be a home electronics item.

No, this is the story of a man who wanted to buy a new console, at launch, on Ebay. Set yourself in his position. If you wanted to get a new piece of electronic hardware, where would you buy it? Keep in mind that it's just released. Would you go to a)Local retail; b)Amazon; c)The place where people sell used stuff. If you even consider c), it could mean that you should rethink everything you do, at least, a couple of times and if you always come to the same conclusion ask your parents.
Not only that but he doesn't even thinks twice when the description says that its a photo of an Xbox because it's in the right categary. To give you an idea how stupid it is: You walk in to your local electronic retailer, in the "Dollar Bin" someone, for whatever reason, put a newly released game which is adressed at 50$. You see the game lying there and think: "It says 50$ but it's in the dollar bin and everything is sold at the price of 1$, it must cost a dollar, the description is wrong because it's in the dollar bin". Please tell me that even you think that there is something horrible flawed in this kind of reasoning.

 

[Teoes]

What I'd love to know is how the original story ended up in the media. Whichever side of this lovely little discussion you fall on, I'm pretty sure everyone could agree that he'd likely never have gotten this freebie had the initial story not been all over the periodicals.

 

[RJ 17]

It's like one of those news stories where a burglar breaks into someone's house, slips in the kitchen, breaks their arm, and then sues the family that lives there and wins.

No, no it's not. It's like one of those news stories where a burglar breaks into someone's house and then the press vilifies the family for being too stupid to fit window locks. The burglar gets away with all their furniture but the insurance company pays out. A furniture retailer sees the story and gives the family free furniture as both an altruistic gesture and free publicity for their business. A large number of children then scream that the family are being rewarded for being idiots and for playing up the fact that the burglar stole little five-year-old Suzy's bed and she'd have to sleep on the floor.

Nope. No, I'm pretty sure my metaphor worked just fine without your need to spicen it up with extra frills and details. Brevity is the soul of wit, and as such all you've done is retell the story with different wording, thus completely negating the point of the metaphor itself. Allow me to break it down for you so you can understand why my metaphor was perfectly fine and yours was overly complicated.

Someone gets hurt doing something stupid that they shouldn't have been doing in the first place. Such as a burglar getting hurt while breaking into someone's house, or someone buying a product labeled as a picture but still thinking it's the real-deal. That person is then rewarded for their foolish behavior. Such as an injured burglar suing the family and getting hundreds of thousands of dollars, or someone getting a free game console because they fell for a thinly veiled scam.

That's pretty much all there is to it.

While I do agree that there's no need to be cursing this guy's name as some people have in this thread (which is why I simply said I was saddened, not angered), I do believe their distaste for the situation is justified.

Captcha: "Swirling Vortex of Entropy". I think Captcha's feeling emo today...

 

[Genocidicles]

No, no it's not. It's like one of those news stories where a burglar breaks into someone's house and then the press vilifies the family for being too stupid to fit window locks.

The guy read the product description. He knew it was a picture, and he still ordered it anyway.

So it's more like some guy leaving all his windows open and telling everyone what times the house will be empty, and then acting surprised when he's inevitably burgled.

 

[VoidWanderer]

What's starting to wind me up is every asshole on the internet is climbing out of the woodwork to pull this guy down for making a genuine mistake. We all do it.

Why aren't people complaining bout the fact that there are complete nobs put there trying to con people out of their money. £450 is a lot of money for some poorer people in the UK, and to be robbed of that money and THEN slated by the world as a moron is a real insult. I hope none of you calling this guy an idiot have ever made a mistake in your life.

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.

While I would like to point out opinions are flexible, and less rigid with being right and wrong, from my understanding of them I would like to point out one thing.

The Xbox One is a console that has not had the stock level problems of the PS4, so why did he pat MORE for the console, where there was a reasonable chance he could get one for less than what he got 'cheated' out of. And before you claim there must not have been any stock, he just got a free console.

I am curious as to why you are taking this so personally though. There are other people here who seem to have the same opinion as me, yet you make it seem like I am the leader of some evil cult...

 

[hooblabla6262]

No, no it's not. It's like one of those news stories where a burglar breaks into someone's house and then the press vilifies the family for being too stupid to fit window locks.

The guy read the product description. He knew it was a picture, and he still ordered it anyway.

So it's more like some guy leaving all his windows open and telling everyone what times the house will be empty, and then acting surprised when he's inevitably burgled.

I had a GROUP of friends who, shit you not, did this exact same thing. One day on their way over to my house, two of my friends were stopped by some guys who said they were going to steal the bikes my friends had. My friends said no, but preceded to tell the would-be-thieves where they were going. The thieves let them go, but the next morning the bikes had been stolen.

I managed to get the bikes back for them, as I am well familiar with the scum in my neighborhood.

The moral of my story is don't be an idiot cause I won't always be around to bail you out.
I'm not sure what the moral is for some 19-year old using his son as a sob story to get a free console.
They should have given him a Wii-U instead... for his kid.

 

[Directionless]

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.

Thankyou. The guy made a mistake, and all the twats on the internet, who have probably done similarly silly things in their lives, get their kicks by shitting on this guy's intelligence.

Everyone has done something idiotic at some point. People have lapses in judgement that can be brought on by a variety of external or even internal issues.

But fuck that, this guy is scum and should not breathe the same air my divinely crafted lungs do.

 

[IAmTheToaster]

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.

Thankyou. The guy made a mistake, and all the twats on the internet, who have probably done similarly silly things in their lives, get their kicks by shitting on this guy's intelligence.

Everyone has done something idiotic at some point. People have lapses in judgement that can be brought on by a variety of external or even internal issues.

But fuck that, this guy is scum and should not breathe the same air my divinely crafted lungs do.

To be fair, everyone does make mistakes (I bought Dear Esther) but a quick look at this guy's twitter pre-XBone scandal is an education in how to be a football nut..

That said, his latest tweet: "@DevanteHeesom it's not my" is in response to someone asking if he's going to be enjoying Dead Rising 3. It gives me some hope that he genuinely means that and the console is for his kid. Plus, he's inquiring into game age ratings. It could be to counter accusations that the console is for him, or it could be genuine.

While I don't like the idea of a four year old with an XBone, I guess if the guy's genuine, then it's fair.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

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'.

The only issue which even allowed Ebay to issue a refund was that it was in electronics section instead of photography, hence why most scammers sell empty packaging which can be classified as 'electronic goods.'

So he did deserve a refund, but nothing else.

 

[Hyperstorm]

Proving once more that stupidity should be classed a criminal offence punishable with a fine, jail time or both.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

Still proud to say that I was never that stupid when I was 19.

 

[Barbas]

He is 19. His son is 4. Something is seriously wrong here, besides his licentiousness and astonishing credulity. Look at the photograph and you will see the face of a man, a parent, who has traded in what dignity he had for a games console. A games console that was, if we are to believe his story, destined for his four-year-old son. Clatworthy deserves nothing more than ridicule, because he's a con-artist and/or a simpleton.

 

[Foolery]

You know, they could have given the console to someone who actually deserves it more, like maybe to a hospital ward,etc. That would be awesome publicity. Not to harp on the guy, but a 19 year old with a 4 year old? Damn. That means he had the kid at 15. And he admits that he saw it said photo, but he bought it anyway. Thanks for encouraging stupidity.
You touch the stove, you burn your hand, you don't touch the stove again.
This guy only learned that he can go around being as ignorant as he pleases and if he messes up NO BIGGIE, it will all be patched up. No need to think for yourself.

 

[JagermanXcell]

Yeah no, you make a mistake you suffer the consequences, what happens after? You learn from it.
He should have gotten a refund alone, a free console is overkill. Hopefully there will be some kind of awareness in his brain that says "Huh... lets never do that again!" cause I'd like to be one of the people on The Escapists that doesn't call people "morons" for mistakes... cause last time I checked we're not perfect.

"Xbone for his 4 year old son..."
"his 4 year old son..."
"4 year old..."

.... I do hate sleazy 19 year old liars though...
That being said... @#$% him.

 

[DSK-]

Good publicity for CeX. I get most of my console games from there these days, second hand. I save a ton of money. I also got a cheap but powerful (for the amount of money it cost me to buy) graphics card from a CeX in St. Albans. Good times.