Boston family puzzled over Best Buy tablet boxes stuffed with roofing shingles

BOSTON — A Boston family is left with many questions after an item bought at a local Best Buy leads to a disappointing Christmas present.

The Websters told Boston 25 News that the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 box purchased at the South Bay location was stuffed with roofing shingles.

They made that puzzling discovery while the family was opening presents on the day after Christmas.

The item was out of stock when they went to return it.

They were sent to Best Buy at the Square One Mall in Saugus where the plot thickened.

“They asked to open it in the store. When they opened the new one in the store, that one was also shingles,” said Michael Webster, whose brother bought the item.

Michael Webster’s brother purchased the tablet for his wife.

The couple couldn’t believe it when they discovered the same item had been tampered with at another location.

“I’m curious to see how many other Microsoft tablets are out there switched out with shingles,” said Webster. “There’s no way there was just two, and we happened to get both of them.”

Webster’s brother and sister-in-law are now waiting for the item to be delivered from out of state.

A Best Buy spokesperson sent the following statement to Boston 25 News:

“This is obviously not the experience we want any of our customers to have and we appreciate their patience while we worked to replace their tablet. We’re looking into what happened and how we can prevent it from happening in the future.”