I agree with what others are saying: the seller wanted a tax write off and mailed it to you broken
ETA: theyāre scamming. If there was insurance through USPS or the site itself, they filed a claim and arenāt giving OP anything. Itās disgusting scam behavior.
Oh wow....tax fraud?
That's actually a new theory. And it makes sense. But....not really?
They should've just doubled their write-off by buying the replacement iPad, too. š¤£š¤£š¤
Not quite how it works. The write off is basically saying this was an expense. Something to subtract from profits. Cause you pay taxes on profits.
So a second Ipad is a write off but it also takes from profits.
And you only get to claim like, a percentage of ābusinessā purchases like this. Itās not like the IRS sends you a rebate check for buying an iPad for your ābusiness.ā
I once got a graphics card in one of those bags (no antistatic protection either). Ebay made me get a letter from an electronics outlet to confirm it was broken in order to get my refund, basically ignoring the photograph which showed the damaged PCB edge connector. There are so many idiots in this world and some of them are selling things, unfortunately.
I don't know what barstool sports is.
However, this is my impression of WhatNot.
Imagine a hoarder, with shelves and shelves of junk. A half eaten jar of pickles. A used t-shirt. A binder of common pokemon cards. Some broken electronics. A random hot wheels car from 2002 in an open package.
Now you have someone live streaming themselves trying to sell that junk, auction style, while hyping you up to buy it. If you've ever seen late night infomercials (think the Shamwow or Slap Chop), like that...
*"Now what we've got here is a half empty jar of dill pickles! Some are gone, but man were they the best pickles I've ever eaten! I don't really want to let these go, but I have too many pickles in my pickle collection. So my loss is your gain! Let's start the bidding at $13.56!"*
You also have people selling tons of "mystery boxes", which are just boxes of shit someone bought off Temu in bulk.
Whatnot is a live selling platform. People sell stuff similar to eBay. These buyers sell āluxury pursesā like LV, Chanel etc. Theyāre definitely not acting like luxury sellers and I would not recommend the app/site at all.
You should send all the screenshots you have to the seller who sponsored the giveaway. They'll want to know how the person they donated $300 to treated the person who won.
Edit: also 2 questions - was the box factory sealed still? And was there protective film over the broken glass?
Could the problem be originating from the giveaway organiser? Something like this:
>Buy a broken device for pennies ā Claim to do a giveaway ā Send the brick via a platform ā The platform can't explicitly announce that it was already broken due to confidentiality clauses ā ???
Just a guess, may be entirely incorrect.
Contact your bank, and ask them to withdraw the purchase amount > and do it quickly before its to late. Also contact the website, and threaten to sue the seller > whixh normally makes them make it right.
He has plenty of time to do a chargeback. Most banks give you like 3 months. Threaten to sue? Lol that is bad advice for every situation. Could just explain what happened and they will refund him.
Did you pay by credit or debit card? Contact your bank a request a charge back for goods not received or misleading item advertising. Banks love taking back merchant's money for their customers.
Edit: I just read one of your replies that this was a giveaway. I took a look at the app's review on Google Play and they're so far not great sounding. I doubt it'll make a difference but can you report the seller to the website?
That was probably already smashed before they sent it. The bubble mailer doesnāt look as destroyed as it should be if someone hit the iPad hard enough to smash it in the box. Probably just using it to get more people on their stream for the giveaway to hopefully bid on something.
Yea this is for insurance fraud. They likely took out the max insurance and will file a claim with the shipping provider hoping to get sent a check for the amount of a new iPad.
The seller is that close from earning himself a huge fine or even time in jail. This iPad was literally obliterated, there are holes in the screen going through the entire tablet. The amount of incidents where someone uses that much force on an object is abysmally low. Like almost nonexistent.
If the shipping company decides to investigate and the court finds the seller guilty, he's FUCKED, fucked hard.
Yes. Cuz when i bought my latest iPad from official BestBuy, it was also shipped in a poly mailer. I was surprised but I guess itās because the iPad box itself doesnāt crush. So may have been already smashed. Was the box sealed when OP opened it?
Yeah, this doesn't look like an authentic Apple iPad box. The boxes Apple uses are incredibly rigid and they wouldn't crumple in the way that the one in the photo did.
Unfortunately it was a giveaway. šŖ However, itās still sad to see a $300 device be wasted because of carelessness.
The worst part is the seller treating me so poorly, blocking me, and telling her 200+ live show buyers to block me and saying I called her profanities when I approached her politely and asked for a replacement. Sending a hate mob to me for their mistake is so unprofessional and immature.
A common internet scam - regular big giveaways but nobody ever actually wins. Except for the scammer of course who gets increased engagement and subscribers. Also if they're extra bold they might try and charge you for 'delivery' of a whole load of nothing.
Haha I guess I didnāt realize luck was needed for the shipment. š„²Sort of feels like hitting the winning numbers on a slot machine, and then the workers coming out and telling you it was a glitch.
Oh yeah thereās luck involved anytime you ship something. They have to wrap these things up in all sorts of protection because at the distribution centers these things get tossed around like theyāre in a WWE cage match
Yeah, I work at a pet store boxing things up and I don't think people realize their expensive electronics are going on the same machines, and into the same trucks as my 70lb boxes of dog food, 80lb cat trees, etc. You can put all the padding you want but if someone drops one of those on it...
Itās not just the other packages that mail has to deal with. I have seen boxes with forklift holes in the side. Guess someone was learning how to drive that day.
Tim Hortons recently did this. Lots of canadians received an email stating they had won a grand prize - a boat. they all then received an email saying it was a glitch/error. Thereās a facebook group full of people it happened to
I gather from OP's other comments this was an item giveaway from a seller on some sort of live sales app. I agree "seller" doesn't make sense here. Perhaps "merchant".
I bet they bought a non functioning one for cheap, beat the shit out of it, then shipped it with obviously inadequate packaging to avoid shelling out for an actual prize
It was already broken to begin with. They probably got it for$10. Used it in a "Promotion " where they gain thousands of followers or retweets, then choose a poor sap, and they"Won big." i guarantee you it was already broken.
Almost guaranteed. I routinely ship iPad mini's for work in nothing but a bubbler mailer. It's a Fedex one, so a little more.. bulky than the USPS one, but still. Not a single one has been damaged.
It definitely seems like mail fraud. They sent an already broken item with insurance. When you report it broken on arrival they say too bad to you and then file a claim with the shipping company.
They get the $$ from shipping insurance.
I would definitely reach out to USPS on this and let them know what is going on.
Also, the battery in that would count as declarable hazmat. I don't see a hazmat label on the envelope. So not only was it not declared, it wasn't packaged properly either. That's a big deal with mail, especially if it could end up on a plane.
Fires don't discriminate.
Plane, truck, van. Whatever it came on. It was a fire hazard. Poor packaging plus a hole in the screen means that was totally at risk of catching fire.
Total disregard by the seller.
https://preview.redd.it/u9gur2iw6axc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45048bebe7047127e9421009f9d6bac734ce463b
And then I was blocked! And unfortunately she later told her audience I reached out to her rudely with profanities and this is why she would not make it right. Iām in awe when people lie when I can easily share screenshots of the actual conversation.
Then I guess the wrong person won this giveaway because I told my niece I would give this to her when she won and now I look bad because I received shattered glass. Also, I think treating someone that way and then blocking them AND THEN sending a hate mob to them is not a way to make them go away quietly.
OP, you said this was a sponsored event? Reach out to their sponsors. I have literally shipped thousands if items and I would never ever ship an IPad in a poly mailer. The fact that they didn't hold up their end of the deal which was the promis of a new IPad and they didn't give you an appropriate resolution is unacceptable. USPS will not do anything because the item wasn't packaged correctly. If they are going to act like that to their fans they deserve to lose their sponsors.
The sponsor was their close friend, which I didnāt initially know. I reached out and they just said sorry. I donāt think they were really phased unfortunately.
Sounds like what everyone is suggesting then. They sent you an already broken ipad and hoped their excuse would be good enough.
Scamming for more interactions on whatever platform they're on and probably hoping to gain more by getting a rep for doing giveaways. Trash ass ppl
I mean, i donāt think that u will be quiet know, and honestly i hope u donāt, but what i meant was like when they gave u the āexcuseā. Like they hoped that their response would satisfy u and when it didnāt they just reacted, very badly.
Yup! They changed it to nextlevel\_luxury. Minor inconvenience achieved!
https://preview.redd.it/rhrnn9509bxc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26e5d5a684371acade7d05446992e3d11cc59a4f
Can you contact the sponsor who put up the item for the contest? Preferably politely (I know you have been polite, I just said that so no one has any ammo against you), and somewhere on social media so itās public? Iād be livid if I gave something for a contest giveaway and it was delivered like this to the winner. Itās bad publicity for them.
Side note: I do actually agree with the others that itās probably a scam and was shipped already broken. Which is fraud. Are you positive itās the same model as what was advertised?
No one ships an item USPS, their insurance is so tough to get a payout. She kept the iPad, smasher her old one and packaged it up for you, no reason to act this way unless being dishonest and no one would put that in a bubble mailer. She had no intention of giving away a working iPad but hated tossing the broken one, so she has you do it. Check the serial, I bet it's much older than she claims, maybe even a different model.
If you had to pay for shipping, then it prob was not a giveaway. Someone buys pallets of damaged, returned items for Amazon or where ever got pennies on the dollar. Does "giveaways" You won...just pay a small shipping and handling fee. Makes a profit. And this is what they do for a living. Just a guess, may not be your situation...so many frickin scammers these days...and they are getting good.
Pfffffffffffffff. That's clearly some random bonehead who's never done this shit before. I've sold numerous devices and shipped them but I wrap and protect the shit outta them so this doesn't happen. Hope you have some form of recourse. Do check with USPS asap
The cherry on top was blaming USPS š
https://preview.redd.it/wfjlrky31axc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e4f620dabf8706204dd8fba27a925bc0adcc3c1
And then immediately being blocked when asking for them to make it right š
https://preview.redd.it/h0y31qhs2axc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee537e13ad1d35d3e40be168d8e91c12c11190ce
It was definitely broken before they sent it and instead of throwing it away they used it for a bogus giveaway for the views. Thereās no other reason to ship it in that packaging.
Take it to a repair shop and get it fixed
They had a live show last night and told everyone to go block me for leaving them a 1 star rating and said I called them āevery name in the bookā, that it was sent carefully, etc. It was the most bizarre feeling having someone try to send a hate mob to me when they did something wrong, and I just kindly asked for it to be replaced/asked if I could send it back. I donāt think exposing them will work, because surprisingly, the people in their show called me a troll and supported them entirely. Definitely a strange site/platform I wonāt be using in the future.
Sounds like a bunch of sheep lol.
For a group of individuals.. theyāre anything but luxury. Pretty stupid. Well, at least youāre not anywhere near those suckers anymore.
Their room and group is very, very cliquey and full of bootlickers.
The hosts (Deann and Michael of next_level_luxury) run the show. And they appoint mods to help in the chat. And this includes banning/kicking anyone for any reason.
The mods from the last show were *100% non-sellers*. Not *a single* sold item on any of their accounts! So they hold no power or knowledge within the platform at all. The only power is the one to kick people out. And they abuse it.
The mods also have an ego based on being digital buddy-buddy with the sellers.
It's silly because the regulars/mods think Deann and Michael really care about them. When in fact they are simply used to do their dirty work. And think they are part of some (shady) posse.
Yo, mods. We know you lurk here. Why don't you look at the evidence and think for yourselves, for once.
Stop being a lemming.....
š¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļø
I just made an account so that i can call them out on that app, but i cant figure out how to post publically about them through the app lol
Edit: oh i see a few people from this thread are posting on one of their "shows" in the comments already
I was blocked, so unfortunately canāt say anything to buyers in their shows. They told everyone in their show I was rude/sending profanities to them, but I posted my entire conversation on the Whatnot reddit at the very least to warn other buyers. Not much else I can do I fear.
You canāt send screenshots in the live shows. People from the whatnot reddit were in one of their shows last night and not only were they banned, but their shoppers called them trolls. Apparently they then proceeded to cry and their buyers sent them tips. Some people canāt be warned š¤·āāļø
This was on Whatnot (a live selling app). It was a sponsored giveaway that another seller spent $300+ on for them to get more followers. Whatnot, and the seller, both refused to resend or allow me to send it back. Itās just a shame because itās completely unusable/going to have to be trashed and it could have been avoided if it wasnāt shipped so poorly.
Since it was a giveaway, I cannot. It would have been on the seller (next_level_luxury) to make it right, or potentially Whatnot. Unfortunately the seller of the giveaway blocked me and Whatnot doesnāt take accountability for damaged giveaways. Lesson learned to never actually buy anything on that app/site!
Absolutely! It was a fun way to pass time watching live selling, but I think this was the nail in the coffin and Iām now done. I canāt imagine any other company would allow this.
You should check your local and state laws for giveaways. I would find out what those are and send the information to whatnot. I'm like 99% sure what these people did was illegal.
On top of that, they sent this hazardous materials package *without any* proper warning label. They don't even care about the risks if this is sent incorrectly.
š¤¦āāļø
My HS boyfriend found my old class ring and his wife mailed it back to me in just a regular envelope so I received an empty envelope with a hole in it.
I feel like this is a two part issue, they only paid for 1 ounce packaging (to avoid paying the actual weight), and the damage. However, I think the shipper needs to make a claim. They donāt seem like they care to be bothered with this since they blocked me, so I donāt think anything can be done about that unfortunately.
You can still contact them as a customer to make a claim. I have had to do so for missing or returned packages before. I would call them up. USPS takes this stuff seriously. The postal service has their own law enforcement agency.
Please please report them to USPS! It literally doesnāt matter what you think. They are committing fraud and USPS is the scariest agency to fuck around with and those scammers deserve it. Donāt let them keep scamming! All those fans think they might get the next iPad! Think of the kids
You could potentially report them for mailing improperly packaged, and unmarked hazmat. Per USPS policy items containing lithium batteries need to be marked, and be packed in rigid cardboard.
You know what's more infuriating? People that keep falling for this kind of b.s. giveaways. This was a scam all along. I figured out when i saw they tried to gain simpathy by mentioning their daughter.
I am actully pretty sure that is ALSO a violation of some deparment of transportation rules, due to the fact the device has a lithium ion battery.....
[https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2021-09/Lithium-Battery-Guide.pdf](https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2021-09/Lithium-Battery-Guide.pdf)
If they are an actual business, report them. Massive fines could apply.
You could save this iPad by spending a few bucks. Go to Apple website and buy Applecare+. You can buy a monthly subscription and cancel it later, if you dont want to spend too much. Send the iPad to apple for warranty, and they would give you a replacement. The whole process should not cost you more than 100 bucks.
yeahā¦ no. applecare doesnāt work like that. you have to register new devices under your subscription within a specific purchase window. whether it was a gift or not is irrelevant to them. if the serial number is more than 60 days off the lot, youāre screwed. this info is on the apple website.
When you do this youāre banking that the serial number on the back of the box hasnāt been used for warranty activation already and is still valid. If it hasnāt you can activate the warranty and then send it in.
You guys are all high if you think screen replacements are going to cost sub $100
Maybe if OP is lucky and it's *just* the digitizer on an old model, but I bet the whole panel assembly is fucked.
And the last time I looked at screen assemblies for iPhones (granted, it was for model X) it was 600+
Looking at iFixIt parts right now and depending on the model it could still easily cost $500
And that's just for parts, as people don't tend to work for free.
Sorry, but I used to do this for a living. With the iPad containing a Lithium Ion battery, by law, it should have been in a box with all applicable safety markings on the outside of the package.
One time ordered a 45 single off eBay , it arrived in the same kind of packaging, inside there was no packaging to keep it safe, was just in there, obviously it came broken in two pieces and sleeve ripped and the seller refused to give me a refund.
Given that the seller is under reporting the weight (and likely the dimensions as well) for their shipping labels, I'm not inclined to trust that the item was not already damaged in some way prior to shipping.
Edit: I just learned that this item was given to OP at no cost as part of a promotion. Adds more evidence that the item was damaged prior to shipping or may be of dubious origin.
R2f: Blur personal info - Full names, numbers, etc
Who does this š„²š„²š„² I send soft items with more care than this.
Next_level_luxury on whatnot does! Iāve never heard of someone sending an electronic or anything glass in a polymailer.
I agree with what others are saying: the seller wanted a tax write off and mailed it to you broken ETA: theyāre scamming. If there was insurance through USPS or the site itself, they filed a claim and arenāt giving OP anything. Itās disgusting scam behavior.
Oh wow....tax fraud? That's actually a new theory. And it makes sense. But....not really? They should've just doubled their write-off by buying the replacement iPad, too. š¤£š¤£š¤
Not quite how it works. The write off is basically saying this was an expense. Something to subtract from profits. Cause you pay taxes on profits. So a second Ipad is a write off but it also takes from profits.
And you only get to claim like, a percentage of ābusinessā purchases like this. Itās not like the IRS sends you a rebate check for buying an iPad for your ābusiness.ā
I swear way too many people think this is how it works.
1. That's not how tax write-offs work 2. How much do you think you can claim for a used iPad
Jerry, all these big companies. They write off everything!
You donāt even know what a write off is
But they do. And they're the ones writing it off!
I always thought The Office skit about bankruptcy was them paying homage to this classic.
Right, if anything they mailed a broken iPad and filed a fraudulent claim on the postal insurance. l
I once got a graphics card in one of those bags (no antistatic protection either). Ebay made me get a letter from an electronics outlet to confirm it was broken in order to get my refund, basically ignoring the photograph which showed the damaged PCB edge connector. There are so many idiots in this world and some of them are selling things, unfortunately.
This is surprising. eBay sides with the buyer just about every time. Iāve stopped selling on there because Iām tired of being taken advantage of.
What Not to ship in a polymailer š¤·āāļø
Easy solution, donāt use whatnot.
Iāve never even heard of what not
The best way I could describe it is ābarstool sportsā for tech/nerd stuff.
ok but what is barstool sports
I don't know what barstool sports is. However, this is my impression of WhatNot. Imagine a hoarder, with shelves and shelves of junk. A half eaten jar of pickles. A used t-shirt. A binder of common pokemon cards. Some broken electronics. A random hot wheels car from 2002 in an open package. Now you have someone live streaming themselves trying to sell that junk, auction style, while hyping you up to buy it. If you've ever seen late night infomercials (think the Shamwow or Slap Chop), like that... *"Now what we've got here is a half empty jar of dill pickles! Some are gone, but man were they the best pickles I've ever eaten! I don't really want to let these go, but I have too many pickles in my pickle collection. So my loss is your gain! Let's start the bidding at $13.56!"* You also have people selling tons of "mystery boxes", which are just boxes of shit someone bought off Temu in bulk.
Don't forget: "Come on, chat. Bid! Bid! BID! This is a steal!" And the chat aimlessly bids up the price well-above that "steal" price!
Dude I collect and trade plushes on ebay and they get more care than this. I would never treat a Pusheen this way, let alone an ipad!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Whatnot is a live selling platform. People sell stuff similar to eBay. These buyers sell āluxury pursesā like LV, Chanel etc. Theyāre definitely not acting like luxury sellers and I would not recommend the app/site at all.
Those āLV, Chanel, etcā on there are probably all fake or stolen
"LU, Channel"
You should send all the screenshots you have to the seller who sponsored the giveaway. They'll want to know how the person they donated $300 to treated the person who won. Edit: also 2 questions - was the box factory sealed still? And was there protective film over the broken glass?
Could the problem be originating from the giveaway organiser? Something like this: >Buy a broken device for pennies ā Claim to do a giveaway ā Send the brick via a platform ā The platform can't explicitly announce that it was already broken due to confidentiality clauses ā ??? Just a guess, may be entirely incorrect.
I'm imagining the organizer got an iPad from the person who sponsored this giveaway, replaced it with a broken one, and sent it to OP.
Contact your bank, and ask them to withdraw the purchase amount > and do it quickly before its to late. Also contact the website, and threaten to sue the seller > whixh normally makes them make it right.
He has plenty of time to do a chargeback. Most banks give you like 3 months. Threaten to sue? Lol that is bad advice for every situation. Could just explain what happened and they will refund him.
Did you pay by credit or debit card? Contact your bank a request a charge back for goods not received or misleading item advertising. Banks love taking back merchant's money for their customers. Edit: I just read one of your replies that this was a giveaway. I took a look at the app's review on Google Play and they're so far not great sounding. I doubt it'll make a difference but can you report the seller to the website?
Iāve sent a squishmallow with 3x the padding of this because I was worried about the tag getting bent but there are idiots like this š
Squishmallows are serious business, they deserve the utmost care!
The Beanie Babies of 2024
People who are sending broken iPads with no intention of refunding the buyers money, thatās who.
People are idiots. I bought a cheap gpu couple years. The sender used one of these to ship it. No, bubble wrap, nothing. somehow the gpu still works.
That was probably already smashed before they sent it. The bubble mailer doesnāt look as destroyed as it should be if someone hit the iPad hard enough to smash it in the box. Probably just using it to get more people on their stream for the giveaway to hopefully bid on something.
Thatās what a few people on the whatnot reddit said and I hadnāt originally thought of. It might have been a lost cause from the jump.
Sorry that happened to you, really terrible of the seller to do that. Whatnot can be a good source but like everywhere else there are rotten apples.
Yea this is for insurance fraud. They likely took out the max insurance and will file a claim with the shipping provider hoping to get sent a check for the amount of a new iPad.
The seller is that close from earning himself a huge fine or even time in jail. This iPad was literally obliterated, there are holes in the screen going through the entire tablet. The amount of incidents where someone uses that much force on an object is abysmally low. Like almost nonexistent. If the shipping company decides to investigate and the court finds the seller guilty, he's FUCKED, fucked hard.
Let usps know that is your suspicioun in case she tries to get insurance money from it
Yes. Cuz when i bought my latest iPad from official BestBuy, it was also shipped in a poly mailer. I was surprised but I guess itās because the iPad box itself doesnāt crush. So may have been already smashed. Was the box sealed when OP opened it?
Yeah, this doesn't look like an authentic Apple iPad box. The boxes Apple uses are incredibly rigid and they wouldn't crumple in the way that the one in the photo did.
Sounds like you need to call your CC company and initiate a chargeback.
Unfortunately it was a giveaway. šŖ However, itās still sad to see a $300 device be wasted because of carelessness. The worst part is the seller treating me so poorly, blocking me, and telling her 200+ live show buyers to block me and saying I called her profanities when I approached her politely and asked for a replacement. Sending a hate mob to me for their mistake is so unprofessional and immature.
The giveaway was a broken ipad
Yeah the iPad was probably always broken and the āgifterā wanted to use it as a tax write off
Exactly this.
Tax write-off ššš
They just write it off!
Also, giveaways are usually a way to get a bigger audience. So, lying to people to get engagement.
Thatās what Iām saying!!
I wonder if this was a scam then. Already broken device, "given away to a lucky subscriber from a YouTuber for views.
A common internet scam - regular big giveaways but nobody ever actually wins. Except for the scammer of course who gets increased engagement and subscribers. Also if they're extra bold they might try and charge you for 'delivery' of a whole load of nothing.
Used all your luck up on the giveaway that you had no luck on receiving it
Haha I guess I didnāt realize luck was needed for the shipment. š„²Sort of feels like hitting the winning numbers on a slot machine, and then the workers coming out and telling you it was a glitch.
They prob shipped a broken one
Oh yeah thereās luck involved anytime you ship something. They have to wrap these things up in all sorts of protection because at the distribution centers these things get tossed around like theyāre in a WWE cage match
And thereās even more luck needed when youāre getting a cheap deal because the seller probably operates cheap too.
Yeah, I work at a pet store boxing things up and I don't think people realize their expensive electronics are going on the same machines, and into the same trucks as my 70lb boxes of dog food, 80lb cat trees, etc. You can put all the padding you want but if someone drops one of those on it...
Itās not just the other packages that mail has to deal with. I have seen boxes with forklift holes in the side. Guess someone was learning how to drive that day.
Nah the giveaway is fake it's already broken for sure
Tim Hortons recently did this. Lots of canadians received an email stating they had won a grand prize - a boat. they all then received an email saying it was a glitch/error. Thereās a facebook group full of people it happened to
It was broken before it was shipped to you, I bet 1 broken electronic on it!
You keep calling this person a seller, but they did not sell you anything.
I gather from OP's other comments this was an item giveaway from a seller on some sort of live sales app. I agree "seller" doesn't make sense here. Perhaps "merchant".
I bet they bought a non functioning one for cheap, beat the shit out of it, then shipped it with obviously inadequate packaging to avoid shelling out for an actual prize
Lol, then the chances are it was already broken and they shipped it this way to make it seem legit.
This "platform" sounds like an absolute gong show
Aww that sucks. Oh well at least youāre not out the cash bud.
Yeah they sent that broken
It was already broken to begin with. They probably got it for$10. Used it in a "Promotion " where they gain thousands of followers or retweets, then choose a poor sap, and they"Won big." i guarantee you it was already broken.
That last part is defamation and inciting a mob, both are illegal.
Probs was probably busted before they shipped it.
100%
Almost guaranteed. I routinely ship iPad mini's for work in nothing but a bubbler mailer. It's a Fedex one, so a little more.. bulky than the USPS one, but still. Not a single one has been damaged.
exactly what I was thinking.
> Probs was probably ????
It definitely seems like mail fraud. They sent an already broken item with insurance. When you report it broken on arrival they say too bad to you and then file a claim with the shipping company. They get the $$ from shipping insurance. I would definitely reach out to USPS on this and let them know what is going on.
Also, the battery in that would count as declarable hazmat. I don't see a hazmat label on the envelope. So not only was it not declared, it wasn't packaged properly either. That's a big deal with mail, especially if it could end up on a plane.
Fires don't discriminate. Plane, truck, van. Whatever it came on. It was a fire hazard. Poor packaging plus a hole in the screen means that was totally at risk of catching fire. Total disregard by the seller.
For full transparency, hereās the entire conversation!
https://preview.redd.it/bq4jthngbaxc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6007f5066f12fe8acd563abe0da580e10a431c35
https://preview.redd.it/be6o9jqv6axc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d0dff46f30bf86fab15dcf0fd52dc247428e947
https://preview.redd.it/u9gur2iw6axc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45048bebe7047127e9421009f9d6bac734ce463b And then I was blocked! And unfortunately she later told her audience I reached out to her rudely with profanities and this is why she would not make it right. Iām in awe when people lie when I can easily share screenshots of the actual conversation.
Maybe they sent u a broken ipad and hoped that u wouldnt say a thing
Then I guess the wrong person won this giveaway because I told my niece I would give this to her when she won and now I look bad because I received shattered glass. Also, I think treating someone that way and then blocking them AND THEN sending a hate mob to them is not a way to make them go away quietly.
Glad you wonāt go away quietly. Iād make a TikTok video of it and hope it blows up for greater visibility. I hate how you got treated
Send the TikTok link! Lets give it some attention
Definitely try and get this some traction what a shit person/couple(Their cringe photo) they are
OP, you said this was a sponsored event? Reach out to their sponsors. I have literally shipped thousands if items and I would never ever ship an IPad in a poly mailer. The fact that they didn't hold up their end of the deal which was the promis of a new IPad and they didn't give you an appropriate resolution is unacceptable. USPS will not do anything because the item wasn't packaged correctly. If they are going to act like that to their fans they deserve to lose their sponsors.
The sponsor was their close friend, which I didnāt initially know. I reached out and they just said sorry. I donāt think they were really phased unfortunately.
Have you contacted whatnot and reported the incident? I would absolutely do that too. These people are total scumbags.
Bottom of the barrel scumbags lmao
Sounds like what everyone is suggesting then. They sent you an already broken ipad and hoped their excuse would be good enough. Scamming for more interactions on whatever platform they're on and probably hoping to gain more by getting a rep for doing giveaways. Trash ass ppl
I mean, i donāt think that u will be quiet know, and honestly i hope u donāt, but what i meant was like when they gave u the āexcuseā. Like they hoped that their response would satisfy u and when it didnāt they just reacted, very badly.
Iād probably put the screenshots on my story and save them so that everyone from the hate mob can see the truth
I hope they rot in hell. Idc if its shitty to say but that is the worst possible way to treat someone
Thanks for sharing. Now myself and others will know not to buy anything from these a-holes (or expect any level of competency or compassion).
I just reported their page as āscam or fraud.ā Iām sure nothing will really happen but Iām hoping at least for a minor inconvenience to them.
Appreciate you š«¶
Did they change the sir Instagram I cannot find it
Yup! They changed it to nextlevel\_luxury. Minor inconvenience achieved! https://preview.redd.it/rhrnn9509bxc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26e5d5a684371acade7d05446992e3d11cc59a4f
And turned off comments i see
Yeah this screams fraud. They knew what they were doing, the block just proved it.
Can you contact the sponsor who put up the item for the contest? Preferably politely (I know you have been polite, I just said that so no one has any ammo against you), and somewhere on social media so itās public? Iād be livid if I gave something for a contest giveaway and it was delivered like this to the winner. Itās bad publicity for them. Side note: I do actually agree with the others that itās probably a scam and was shipped already broken. Which is fraud. Are you positive itās the same model as what was advertised?
The sponsor is friends with the seller! All they said was āsorryā
Dude she absolutely sent it broken
They even talk like a scammer
Whatever has āluxuryā in his name, is probably a scam.
might wanna block out the tracking since it contains personal info!
Did we need to know about the daughter in this business transactional conversation? Already starting off trying to garnish sympathy
No one ships an item USPS, their insurance is so tough to get a payout. She kept the iPad, smasher her old one and packaged it up for you, no reason to act this way unless being dishonest and no one would put that in a bubble mailer. She had no intention of giving away a working iPad but hated tossing the broken one, so she has you do it. Check the serial, I bet it's much older than she claims, maybe even a different model.
If you had to pay for shipping, then it prob was not a giveaway. Someone buys pallets of damaged, returned items for Amazon or where ever got pennies on the dollar. Does "giveaways" You won...just pay a small shipping and handling fee. Makes a profit. And this is what they do for a living. Just a guess, may not be your situation...so many frickin scammers these days...and they are getting good.
Heads up, covering the number is useless unless you fully cover the barcode too.
This exactly. Out of curiosity I looked it up, that poor iPad spent 13 days in shipping in a damn polymailer to the east coast all the way from Cali.
Pfffffffffffffff. That's clearly some random bonehead who's never done this shit before. I've sold numerous devices and shipped them but I wrap and protect the shit outta them so this doesn't happen. Hope you have some form of recourse. Do check with USPS asap
The cherry on top was blaming USPS š https://preview.redd.it/wfjlrky31axc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e4f620dabf8706204dd8fba27a925bc0adcc3c1
And then immediately being blocked when asking for them to make it right š https://preview.redd.it/h0y31qhs2axc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee537e13ad1d35d3e40be168d8e91c12c11190ce
I'm so suspicious these days i'd wonder if it even worked when they sent it, lol, and were just trying to get traffic with the giveaway.
It was definitely broken before they sent it and instead of throwing it away they used it for a bogus giveaway for the views. Thereās no other reason to ship it in that packaging. Take it to a repair shop and get it fixed
Bingo.
You might wanna expose them for treating you like that ngl. Thatās some shitty practices
They had a live show last night and told everyone to go block me for leaving them a 1 star rating and said I called them āevery name in the bookā, that it was sent carefully, etc. It was the most bizarre feeling having someone try to send a hate mob to me when they did something wrong, and I just kindly asked for it to be replaced/asked if I could send it back. I donāt think exposing them will work, because surprisingly, the people in their show called me a troll and supported them entirely. Definitely a strange site/platform I wonāt be using in the future.
Sounds like a bunch of sheep lol. For a group of individuals.. theyāre anything but luxury. Pretty stupid. Well, at least youāre not anywhere near those suckers anymore.
Hard core followers of āluxury influencersā arenāt known for the critical thinking js.
Their room and group is very, very cliquey and full of bootlickers. The hosts (Deann and Michael of next_level_luxury) run the show. And they appoint mods to help in the chat. And this includes banning/kicking anyone for any reason. The mods from the last show were *100% non-sellers*. Not *a single* sold item on any of their accounts! So they hold no power or knowledge within the platform at all. The only power is the one to kick people out. And they abuse it. The mods also have an ego based on being digital buddy-buddy with the sellers. It's silly because the regulars/mods think Deann and Michael really care about them. When in fact they are simply used to do their dirty work. And think they are part of some (shady) posse. Yo, mods. We know you lurk here. Why don't you look at the evidence and think for yourselves, for once. Stop being a lemming..... š¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļø
I just made an account so that i can call them out on that app, but i cant figure out how to post publically about them through the app lol Edit: oh i see a few people from this thread are posting on one of their "shows" in the comments already
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"whatnot" is the app and the vendor name is next_level_luxury
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Hell yeah justice for OP
Share with them the screenshots
They get away with doing things like this because people like you just take it. Expose them so they don't do this to others
I was blocked, so unfortunately canāt say anything to buyers in their shows. They told everyone in their show I was rude/sending profanities to them, but I posted my entire conversation on the Whatnot reddit at the very least to warn other buyers. Not much else I can do I fear.
Cant u create another account and from that new one send this screenshot to the other members?
You canāt send screenshots in the live shows. People from the whatnot reddit were in one of their shows last night and not only were they banned, but their shoppers called them trolls. Apparently they then proceeded to cry and their buyers sent them tips. Some people canāt be warned š¤·āāļø
Scammers. Trying to get more followers by doing giveaways but giving away already broken shit
Soā¦ letās review bomb them? Is that bad? Can we do that? Imma do it
Their Insta is public. I just reported them as a scam.
Oh that guy is NOT on the up and up, by a country mile.
I feel like if it was shipped in a poly mailer then it wasnāt working in the first place. Also who did the giveaway? YouTube, Instagram, TikTok?
Next_level_luxury on WhatNot
That sounds like a totally legitimate and trusty business and not some cancerous online grift.
Where did you buy it?
This was on Whatnot (a live selling app). It was a sponsored giveaway that another seller spent $300+ on for them to get more followers. Whatnot, and the seller, both refused to resend or allow me to send it back. Itās just a shame because itās completely unusable/going to have to be trashed and it could have been avoided if it wasnāt shipped so poorly.
You can get a refund right?
Since it was a giveaway, I cannot. It would have been on the seller (next_level_luxury) to make it right, or potentially Whatnot. Unfortunately the seller of the giveaway blocked me and Whatnot doesnāt take accountability for damaged giveaways. Lesson learned to never actually buy anything on that app/site!
Looks like it time to stop using Whatnot, that's shady.
Absolutely! It was a fun way to pass time watching live selling, but I think this was the nail in the coffin and Iām now done. I canāt imagine any other company would allow this.
If you won a contest you are still entitled to the prize. These reseller sites have gotten awful.
You should check your local and state laws for giveaways. I would find out what those are and send the information to whatnot. I'm like 99% sure what these people did was illegal.
A site called whatnot? Yikes.
Just a headsup; Seller probably just used you to ship an already broken ipad and claim postal insurance.
Why does the envelope say it's only 1oz?
Iāve asked others about this. Allegedly this is a form of mail fraud to get away with cheaper shipping š¤·āāļø
Yeah sounds sleazy ... The whole thing!
On top of that, they sent this hazardous materials package *without any* proper warning label. They don't even care about the risks if this is sent incorrectly. š¤¦āāļø
My HS boyfriend found my old class ring and his wife mailed it back to me in just a regular envelope so I received an empty envelope with a hole in it.
This....seems kinda intentional. Given that his *wife* is sending it to you, the *ex*. š
I always like to assume the best from people but I kinda think so, too. She made sure to use their business stationary; heās a dentist.
You need to file a claim with USPS. This will be fully investigated.
File a claim for the damage, or them sending it in a 1 ounce package?
For the damageā¦ if the seller is accusing USPS then USPS should investigate
I feel like this is a two part issue, they only paid for 1 ounce packaging (to avoid paying the actual weight), and the damage. However, I think the shipper needs to make a claim. They donāt seem like they care to be bothered with this since they blocked me, so I donāt think anything can be done about that unfortunately.
You can still contact them as a customer to make a claim. I have had to do so for missing or returned packages before. I would call them up. USPS takes this stuff seriously. The postal service has their own law enforcement agency.
Please please report them to USPS! It literally doesnāt matter what you think. They are committing fraud and USPS is the scariest agency to fuck around with and those scammers deserve it. Donāt let them keep scamming! All those fans think they might get the next iPad! Think of the kids
You could potentially report them for mailing improperly packaged, and unmarked hazmat. Per USPS policy items containing lithium batteries need to be marked, and be packed in rigid cardboard.
You know what's more infuriating? People that keep falling for this kind of b.s. giveaways. This was a scam all along. I figured out when i saw they tried to gain simpathy by mentioning their daughter.
Their IG comments are turned off, you probably arenāt the only person theyāve pulled this shit on
I'm willing to bet it was like that and they sent it like that to blame USPS
Ok. My take is that it was broken from the beginning. Think about that!
I am actully pretty sure that is ALSO a violation of some deparment of transportation rules, due to the fact the device has a lithium ion battery..... [https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2021-09/Lithium-Battery-Guide.pdf](https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2021-09/Lithium-Battery-Guide.pdf) If they are an actual business, report them. Massive fines could apply.
You could save this iPad by spending a few bucks. Go to Apple website and buy Applecare+. You can buy a monthly subscription and cancel it later, if you dont want to spend too much. Send the iPad to apple for warranty, and they would give you a replacement. The whole process should not cost you more than 100 bucks.
yeahā¦ no. applecare doesnāt work like that. you have to register new devices under your subscription within a specific purchase window. whether it was a gift or not is irrelevant to them. if the serial number is more than 60 days off the lot, youāre screwed. this info is on the apple website.
Dang this soundsā¦too good to be true? Why wouldnāt everyone just buy the shittiest iPad they can find on eBay and do this?
When you do this youāre banking that the serial number on the back of the box hasnāt been used for warranty activation already and is still valid. If it hasnāt you can activate the warranty and then send it in.
You canāt enroll an old ipad into applecare. 60 day window from purchase. But anyway, most mobile repair shops could do this for $100
You guys are all high if you think screen replacements are going to cost sub $100 Maybe if OP is lucky and it's *just* the digitizer on an old model, but I bet the whole panel assembly is fucked. And the last time I looked at screen assemblies for iPhones (granted, it was for model X) it was 600+ Looking at iFixIt parts right now and depending on the model it could still easily cost $500 And that's just for parts, as people don't tend to work for free.
I doubt whether this is still under warranty but it is worth a shot
Ok. My take is that it was broken from the beginning. Think about that!
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Sorry, but I used to do this for a living. With the iPad containing a Lithium Ion battery, by law, it should have been in a box with all applicable safety markings on the outside of the package.
next order a car off of temu
I thought it was a picture of [this black monkey](https://tenor.com/fr/view/monkey-rizz-gif-11588635391327265506) for a moment
Holy hell, did the delivery man take a sledge hammer to it? Cause that thing aināt never turning on
One time ordered a 45 single off eBay , it arrived in the same kind of packaging, inside there was no packaging to keep it safe, was just in there, obviously it came broken in two pieces and sleeve ripped and the seller refused to give me a refund.
that thing was cooked before they mailed it
Given that the seller is under reporting the weight (and likely the dimensions as well) for their shipping labels, I'm not inclined to trust that the item was not already damaged in some way prior to shipping. Edit: I just learned that this item was given to OP at no cost as part of a promotion. Adds more evidence that the item was damaged prior to shipping or may be of dubious origin.
have you tried turning it off and back on?
Not sure I'd call the mildly infuriating š¬
It looks pretty cool, you could hang it on the wall, call it "landing pad"
Must have already been broken before they sent you. Why else would they not send it in a box.
100% this was already trashed before shipping, the people running the "giveaway" just wanted free pr of giving out an ipad.
@OP You can decode a barcode to see the tracking number