Gaming News & Opinions

Some PS5 Buyers are Getting a Nasty Amazon Surprise

Frustrated UK gamers up in arms as Amazon-ordered PS5 packages suspiciously replaced by unrelated items or fail to arrive at all.

  • Sony’s PS5 launched in the UK yesterday.
  • Multiple people who ordered via retailer Amazon report receiving unrelated items in place of a PS5.
  • Received items range from cat food to household appliances.

Some would-be PS5 owners in the UK have been greeted with a nasty surprise upon opening packages received from retailer Amazon.

Sony’s new next-gen console launched in the country yesterday, with many eager fans buzzing at the prospect of what will have been a long night exploring everything the PS5 has to offer.

One person received cat food instead of a shiny new PS5. | Source: Resetera

 

For some, the experience turned sour as they found packages supposedly housing the PS5 contained an odd mix of unrelated items from cat food to Bulgar wheat by way of a foot massager and a coffee machine. Those affected suggest a swapping out of the console somewhere during the dispatch and delivery process. One even reports receiving an empty PS5 box.

People have received all manner of items instead of the PS5. | Source: Twitter
Definitely not a PS5. | Source: Twitter

Anecdotal evidence, shared on familiar social media and forum gaming haunts, from a growing number of people with PS5 orders suggests this isn’t a case of a few isolated warehouse muddles as you’d expect from a retailer dispatching millions of items each day.

A Similar Pattern For Botched PS5 Deliveries

Each of the deliveries followed a similar pattern, with tracking noting a failed delivery attempt, before arriving hours later with the PS5 replaced by other items and held shut by clear unbranded tape instead of Amazon’s familiar black Prime-promoting variant.

Suspicious unbranded tape found on packages. | Source: Twitter

In some cases, would-be PS5 owners didn’t even receive a package at all despite tracking marking it as delivered. Multiple people note spotting the delivery van near their homes, either dropping off deliveries to other households or stopping for a short time before driving off.

Reports of packages suspicious marked as ‘delivered.’ | Source: Twitter

One person on Reddit describes it as follows:

“Hi all got dispatched today and has been on the way. Just tracked the driver and saw he was a couple of houses away on the map. Next thing the van rolls up, backs up to my drive then stops. Driver doesn’t get out, pauses for 10 seconds then drove away. Package then said handed to resident and delivered.”

While these cases only concern Amazon deliveries, other people report similar experiences with UK courier service Yodel for PS5 orders made through retailer GAME, with many deliveries reported as missing.

Last modified: December 3, 2020 8:01 PM

Thomas Bardwell

UK-based writer covering the video game industry. Email me | Bug me on Twitter