To Get iPod Refund, Apple Required Confidentiality Pact, Family Contends

A reported attempt by Apple to get a British family to sign a confidentiality agreement in exchange for getting a refund on an alleged exploding iPod music player has apparently backfired.

Instead of signing, they told their story to the London Times. The newspaper wrote an article about the incident, which has caught the attention of bloggers worldwide.

“We didn’t ask for compensation, we just asked for our money back,” Ken Stanborough, 47, of Liverpool, England, tells the newspaper. He says he dropped his 11-year-old daughter's iPod, which "made a hissing noise" and, after he threw it into the back yard, popped, emitted smoke and went briefly airborne.

Apple declined to comment, the newspaper reports. It says the company responded to Stanborough's complaint with a letter denying liability but offering a full refund for the cost of the iPod.