MIDLOTHIAN, Va. (WTVR) -- A Midlothian woman says she has been through the wringer after experiencing both the best and worst Christmas of her life.
“I drove him crazy about wanting this iPad [for Christmas],” Mary Liz Bergstein told Angela Pellerano Thursday.
She thought her dream had come true on Christmas morning – until she opened the box. When she opened up the iPad box, she discovered several yellow notepads stacked on top of one another. And the bottom one was taped to the bottom of the box.
Mary Liz said her tears of joy quickly turned into sorrow.
“We called the police and they came immediately,” she said.
After filing a report, her husband, Jonathan, rushed to Walmart the next day. He said they gave him the runaround.
“When I brought it back at 7 a.m., they said the loss prevention department would take care of it," Jonathan Bergstein said. "I waited all day. Nobody called back.”
Mary Liz says after dealing with Walmart for two days, she contacted CBS 6 to get results.
Upon hearing her story, CBS 6 News contacted Walmart’s customer service department online:
I am pursuing a story for tonight about an I-Pad purchased Dec. 18th at the Wal-Mart store at 900 Wal-Mart Way in Midlothian, VA by Jonathan Bergstein of Midlothian. He was shown the I-Pad by a store worker, who scanned it then it was packaged. When the package was opened by his wife on Christmas morning, it contained notepads of paper, no I-Pad. Mr. Bergstein has been to the store more than once…
Mary Liz said that around 15 minutes after CBS 6 News contacted them, the couple received a call from the retail giant.
“And [Walmart], said, ‘Come down, just bring your receipt. We’ve got a new iPad for you,’” Jonathan Bergstein said.
However, even after receiving a higher end iPad from Walmart for her hassles, Mary Liz said she is still worrying that it could happen to other people.
What happened to Mary Liz happened to at least three other women across the country: one woman in Texas and two in Michigan.
All of them had purchased an IPad at their local Walmart store that turned out to be merely a box stuffed with yellow notepads.
“It was the worst and best Christmas we've had before,” Mary Liz Bergstein said.
As a precaution, the couple said the next time they shop for electronics, they are going to ask the store to open the box before they buy it.
