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Tuesday, Sep 01, 2026

Woman orders iPhone 12 Pro Max and gets broken kitchen tile instead

Woman orders iPhone 12 Pro Max and gets broken kitchen tile instead

Buying a shiny new iPhone is a significant investment – especially when it’s the latest iPhone 12 Pro Max where prices start at £1,099.

So you can imagine how fuming Olivia Parkinson was when all that turned up in her iPhone box was a broken kitchen tile.

After ordering from Virgin Media, the cutting-edge new smartphone was delivered by Yodel. However, at some stage, it had been swapped out for the tile before arriving on her doorstep on April 14.

Olivia took to Twitter to call out the companies. Initially, she got brushed aside by Virgin Media.

‘Don’t you just love a new phone day to then receive this… iPhone 12 ProMax who?’ she tweeted.

And then in an updated tweet, Olivia wrote: ‘Just to top it off that @virginmedia can only get back to me within 3-5 working days. Is this a joke???’


According to Olivia, the telecoms company initially refused to believe she had been the victim of fraud.

In another tweet, she wrote: ‘Day 7 of receiving no answers off @virginmedia for the brick I received and not the phone!

‘They’ve opened an investigation to see whether they’re liable or me. A loyal customer who buys a new phone could be liable to still pay for it.’


However, when the tweets started to pick up steam, the company relented.

A Virgin Media spokesperson said: ‘Our investigation found Olivia was the victim of a fraud so we have closed the account, written off the outstanding balance and will be returning all of the money she paid.’

A Yodel spokesperson added: ‘Following a thorough investigation we have confirmed that the parcel was sealed in its original packaging when delivered.

‘We’ve been in contact with Ms Parkinson to keep her updated and encourage her to contact the retailer to resolve this.’

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