Australian Stores Refuse to Sell You an iPad Unless You Buy Unnecessary Crap

You mean other than the iPad?  HEY-oooooooo!

But seriously, folks.  Consumers in Australia say that some JB Hi-Fi stores told them that they could not sell them an iPad unless they bought other stuff too.  Like a docking station, screen protector, Telstra SIM cards, or charging adapters, even after having it pointed out to them that the iPad box said that the charger was included.

When customers asked why they couldn’t just buy an iPad, the stores answered: Apple policy.

There is, of course, no such Apple policy.  The Sydney Morning Herald spoke with an Apple spokesperson who wanted consumers to know that they could purchase an just an iPad from Apple at any time.

One customer, who asked the Herald not to print his full name, says that the store fed him misinformation in their attempt to get him to buy a new SIM card.

Like you have to buy a Telstra SIM because the iPad is locked to Telstra,” Ryan said.

Needless to say, this is also not true.

While this is probably just a case of a couple of stores taking on some definitely illegal but not corporate-level strategies to pressure their customers into buying more, it serves as a reminder.  Apple may have done some creepy things lately, but there are still some creepy things that it’s not responsible for.

(via /.)