There have been simply too many jokes relating to Americans and how ‘some’ of them lacked common sense. The latest incident of the US tech giant Apple refusing a refund to a man from Birmingham in UK simply because of his surname Hussain appears to give credence to jokes about Americans.
The company asked the father of two to prove that he was not the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein claiming that he was on the government’s Denied Parties list.
A man called Sharakat Hussain from Great Barr area in Birmingham had recently bought an iPhone for £799 (nearly Rs 80,000) to gift his sister, who later said she didn’t want the gift.
The 26-year-old Hussain took his newly bought gadget to Apple store seeking refund. The company said that since the amount was high, the refund will take place via online bank transfer.
However, when he finally finally heard from Apple after waiting for weeks with no refund, he couldn’t believe the content of the email.
In the email, Apple had asked him to prove he was not former Iraqi president, who was hung in 2006 following the military intervention of the US government.
Hussain told the Sun, “I thought the email was spam, I was stunned to learn it was real. I was furious to be linked to Saddam.”
Apple has not commented on the issue so far.