Man's small iPhone order turns into $100,000 iPhone 15 Pro Max mix-up

AppleInsider

A man allegedly ordered four iPhone 15 Pro Max models from Apple and was surprised when he received 60 -- a mistake totaling about $100,000.

According to TikTok user Giovanni Petruzziello, he had ordered one 1TB iPhone 15 Pro Max for himself in September. He then ordered three more 256GB iPhone 15 Pro Max phones for his employees.

However, on November 1, when the smartphones finally showed up, he got significantly more than he bargained for. Instead of receiving the four iPhone 15 Pro Max units he ordered, he received 60 -- and they were all the one terabyte version.

Petruzziello shared a video, spotted by The Daily Dot, which showed him unboxing three identical cardboard boxes, each filled with 20 iPhone units. The mistake would have cost Apple roughly $96,000 -- before taxes.

@legends_gio Someone reallyyy screwed up #fyp original sound - Legends_gio

"I could probably get in trouble for posting this because they're probably searching for it now," Petruzziello says in the video. "But what do I do?"

Many commenters on the video have suggested that he return the iPhones, noting that Apple is likely aware of the mistake now that the video has gone viral.

Apple announced the iPhone 15 lineup at its annual September Apple Event in 2023. The iPhone 15 Pro line boasts a number of upgrades, including a titanium frame, 5x zoom, and the A17 Pro chip.

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22july2013

1 phone + 3 boxes does equal "4", which is a number he used on his order. That's my best partial explanation. Human error is the rest of my expectation.

ITGUYINSD

22july2013 said:

1 phone + 3 boxes does equal "4", which is a number he used on his order. That's my best partial explanation. Human error is the rest of my expectation.

The other explanation is iPhone 15 x 4 = 60. 

theanticrust

Do people still regard anything posted via TikTok as being newsworthy??? Or is it all just a play to get numbers???

lesterkrimbaugh

When Amazon does something like this they'll often just say keep the extras because the shipping is more expensive than the product. Here's hoping.

ronn

lesterkrimbaugh said:

When Amazon does something like this they'll often just say keep the extras because the shipping is more expensive than the product. Here's hoping.

Over a six month period I got phantom deliveries from Amazon. We hadn't ordered anything and there was no info/packing invoice. We begged them to pick up the items and they told us to just keep the items each and every time. Nothing too expensive. If he wasn't charged I wonder if he keeps the excess. IIRC, he isn't obligated to send them back if he wasn't charged and they sent extra by error. At least not legally.

anome

ITGUYINSD said:

22july2013 said:

1 phone + 3 boxes does equal "4", which is a number he used on his order. That's my best partial explanation. Human error is the rest of my expectation.

The other explanation is iPhone 15 x 4 = 60. 

The theory I saw him put forward (I did see this on TikTok) was that, as he was a business customer, his customer liaison put through his order for the 1 TB phone, and then put through a restock order for an Apple Store (or other reseller) but didn't update the delivery address. Note he actually got 61 iPhones. One single order, and then 3 boxes of 20.

He did also suggest he might sell them all, and kept showing references to laws around unsolicited deliveries (he is correct that Apple really don't have any redress here, it's their error, and he is entitled to keep the phones). Personally, I'd be tempted to take them back to Apple to curry favour with them, but that's me. While it may be legal, keeping them and selling them on feels like a dickish move.

entropys

Explains the pro max delays.  Hoarder!

FileMakerFeller

lesterkrimbaugh said:

When Amazon does something like this they'll often just say keep the extras because the shipping is more expensive than the product. Here's hoping.

I'm guessing the shipping costs were significantly less than $96k...

netling

ronn said:

lesterkrimbaugh said:

When Amazon does something like this they'll often just say keep the extras because the shipping is more expensive than the product. Here's hoping.

Over a six month period I got phantom deliveries from Amazon. We hadn't ordered anything and there was no info/packing invoice. We begged them to pick up the items and they told us to just keep the items each and every time. Nothing too expensive. If he wasn't charged I wonder if he keeps the excess. IIRC, he isn't obligated to send them back if he wasn't charged and they sent extra by error. At least not legally.

Chinese companies often engage in a deceptive practice where they order products and have them delivered to random addresses in order to leave a 5-star "Verified" review. They obtain stolen credit card information and use it to order a large quantity of cheap goods, which are then sent to legitimate addresses in the US. Most recipients simply accept the goods without paying for them, while a few take the time to report the unsolicited items to Amazon. In response, Amazon typically allows the recipients to keep the goods since they were not paid for. However, only a small number of people manage to contact the right individuals at Amazon to alert them about the review scam and request the removal of these cheap products from the platform.

From a consumer's perspective, imagine you're browsing Amazon and come across a reasonably priced product with a significant number of positive reviews, even though it's not the cheapest option available. You might be tempted to purchase it based on the seemingly positive feedback. However, the reality is that these reviews are often fabricated, and the product itself is of poor quality, potentially posing risks to children, animals, and human users. The Chinese companies behind these scams quickly move on to new products and set up new fake businesses, leaving behind a trail of fake reviews.