PHOENIX, AZ — A brand new cell phone packed full or porn may have been a dream gift come true for the boyfriend of Shelby Hinds, but it wasn’t exactly what she had planned. Nonetheless, that’s precisely what she got when she bought a T-Mobile phone from a brick-and-mortar location. It wasn’t just any brick-and-mortar retail outlet that brought so much excitement into Hinds’ life, either – it was the infamously “family friendly” big box Wal-Mart that sold her two phones from a T-Mobile kiosk.
The media reports that Hinds watched the sales rep unwrap the two telephones and program them, before handing them over to her tender care. Soon after, she presented one of the phones to her sweetheart – and the next day she learned that she’d unintentionally given him 60 still images along with his new communication device; most of them of a highly erotic nature.
In a move that can only be described as a prime example of bad customer service, Hinds encountered a highly unsympathetic representative when she called to complain. Instead of sharing Hinds’ wonder at the unexpected binary payload, she insists that she was told that she or her boyfriend must have been responsible for the downloads, transfers, or direct photo captures.
Not satisfied with this answer, Hinds took the offending phone to a T-Mobile store for some one-on-one conversations about its contents. Once there, a rep admitted that he’d never encountered a situation like this and didn’t have a clue how the photos could have arrived on the phone.
Finally, cooler heads prevailed and the location manager hit upon a likely solution: the assigned phone number may have been previously associated with an online photo gallery that included nude images.
In a reversal of its telephone support’s insistence, T-Mobile has offered to replace Hinds’ phone, give her a new number, and reimburse her activation fees. It also issued an official statement, saying “We regret this isolated incident, and are taking appropriate measures to correct it.”
Hinds is said to be “considering” this offer, while observing that she’s “just grateful” that her boyfriend’s mobile device friendly 9-year-old son “didn’t pick up the phone” and get a surprise education.
