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Usually, if you buy a product from a grocery store, you have a pretty good idea of what’s going to be inside.
That said, there can always be some surprises contained within a package. Sometimes, these surprises can be dangerous. For example, one couple was shopping for bagged lettuce when they spotted a dangerous Huntsman Spider within the plastic bag.
Often, these surprises are just simple mistakes or errors in quality control. Occasionally, however, these surprises can be the result of deception or theft, as TikTok user Georgie (@imgeorgienna) details in a recent video.
What Was In This Barebells Protein Bars Package?
In her video, Georgie shows a package of Barebells Protein Bars that she says she purchased from H-E-B. Her video has over 82,000 views.
“I literally went to open this, right? Brand stinking new from H-E-B,” Georgie says, showing off the package. “Look what’s on the inside, bro!”
Upon opening the package, Georgie reveals that the package is filled not with Barebells Protein Bars, but with individual coffee creamers, snack packages, and oyster crackers.
“Are you serious?” she asks.
She Tries To Return The Box
In a follow-up video, Georgie documents the process of attempting to return the box of protein bars to H-E-B.
Approaching an employee, Georgie explains, “I bought these on Friday, and I went to open them this morning. And look what’s inside.”
She then reveals the opened box, which is filled with the aforementioned creamers and crackers. Showing another box, Georgie says that this second box, too, has had its contents replaced with crackers and creamers.
The H-E-B worker is clearly taken aback but opts to help Georgie, with the video ending as Georgie gets replacements for her boxes.
What Happened Here?
While Georgie suggests that “maybe somebody at packaging was packing a lunch,” there are a few more likely ideas that explain what’s going on here.
The first option is return fraud. This is where a person buys a box of items, such as protein bars, removes them, replaces the contents with similarly weighted but worthless items like coffee creamers, reseals the box, and then returns it for a refund. The store accepts the return without checking inside. And the box ends up back on the shelf.
The second option is that this happened in-store or during some part of the packing, shipping, and stocking process. An employee or customer during the shipping/stocking process—or within Barebells, or the H-E-B location—carefully extracted the protein bars and replaced them with the aforementioned worthless items, and then returned the box.
Both of these actions are crimes, and those caught doing this can be charged with theft. In Georgie’s case, she was not only able to get a replacement from H-E-B. But Barebells also left a comment under her video saying that they had reached out to Georgie.
BroBible reached out to Barebells via email for an update.
The TikToker Responds
In an email to BroBible, Georgie confirmed that she was, in fact, “able to exchange the box at H-E-B for a proper replacement.”
As for the communication with Barebells, she said she has been in touch with the company and was pleasantly surprised by the experience.
“To their credit, their customer care was super kind and responsive,” she wrote.
Regarding how this situation happened in the first place, however, she says it’s still a bit of a mystery.
“As for what I think happened — honestly, it seemed like a packaging mishap at some point in the supply chain,” Georgie explained. “Definitely weird to open a protein bar box and find crackers!”
Commenters Say It’s Happened to Them
In the comments section, many users claimed that they had experienced a similar issue, though these experiences weren’t limited to H-E-B.
“I bought a humidifier from Walmart… got home and there was nothing but a bunch of rocks and dirty socks in the box,” recalled a user. “took it straight back the next morning.”
“This happened with my baby’s Car seat at Nordstrom,” offered another.
“Bought something at TJ Maxx and it was replaced with something else. I didn’t have my receipt and the manager tried to accuse me of replacing it to get my money back,” detailed a third. “I said, excuse me?!? What???? I got a refund, but d—!”
BroBible reached out to H-E-B via email.
Content shared from brobible.com.