$1,300 for wood? Must have been an eMachines

For the protection of both parties, at checkout time the store should open and verify that the box really contants what it says it does. (granted this will make the lines longer at christmas time)

Shoe stores already do the by verifying that we have both a left and right shoe of the same size and model in the box.

This has happened before with some guy but only with a plasma screen and a brick.

Someone else had a plasma tv shipped that was like $5,000, or something rediculus and it arrived with a shattered display and ups would only give them $500 even though they had purchased shipping insuance (of course after the story went public they paid-literally and by bad publicity)

How hard would it be to reseal a package to look as though it had not been tampered with?

Either way, Best Buy is only making themselves look worse by not handling this situation discreetly.

Why do all of the above commenters *assume* Best Buy is at fault? If I was a Best Buy manager, and this customer brought in a box of wood saying that he wants a refund/replacement, I would stop laughing my ass off just long enough to call security and have their asses booted out.

Incidentally, RFID tags would solve this problem before it even started. So if you are against RFID tags too, what the hell is Best Buy supposed to do, just take losses/shrinkage/scams lying down?

I don’t think that everyone is assuming Best Buy is at fault. I for one am saying that Best Buy is better off replacing this guys computer for $1,300 instead of having to deal with the publicity of Best Buy having “sold a computer as new with wood inside the box”.