Remember malls? Depending on your age, you might not.

They’re pretty much dead now because online shopping, with its speed, convenience, and ability to be completed without pants, has all but destroyed brick and mortar retail.

Even the stores that ARE physical will ship you their stuff, which is great!

Except for when it goes terribly wrong, like it did for TikTok user @krissyrushlow.

“I wanted to share my experience with Target,” she says.

“I ordered a Meta Quest 3 for my fiancé for a Christmas gift. I ordered it back in November. I received a package a few days later after ordering it.”

“Box was completely sealed. No reason to suspect anything bad was gonna happen to me. Wrapped the gift Christmas morning.”

“We opened the box. There’s tabs here on the box that you have to pull open to open the box. I’ve got the tabs right here. We peeled them off, and inside the box…”

Wait for it…

“Plaster.”

She shows a box of messy materials with no gadgets in sight.

Yikes!

“PLASTER,” she repeats incredulously, “no Meta Quest 3.”

“I contacted Target immediately. They did an investigation and told me, ‘Sorry, you had a successful delivery. We cannot refund you. We cannot replace the item.’ This item cost me $529.99 with tax.”

Let’s take a look at the video!

@krissyrushlow

@target @Meta Quest @FOX 2 Detroit #fyp #christmas #stolen #meta #metaquest3

♬ original sound – Krissy Rushlow

So, how does this even happen? Here’s one likely explanation:

You have to be careful with returns:

But that’s only half the problem. Target could have easily made this right:

So what can you do? Well, you can apply public pressure like this woman did, but also:

Shop careful, everybody!

If you liked that story, check out this video from a former Chipotle employee who reveals how the company cheats customers out of food.