Had a Playstation 5 lost in Transit? Here are some tips from my experience!

News has emerged over the past few hours that people who have ordered a Playstation 5 have been opening their packages, only to discover the context of the box are very different from what they imagine. Instead of Sony's new gaming console, people have been greeted to kitchen appliances, toys and even... a bag of rice! To illustrate this, I created a lovely image below that might be the sort of picture used on a YouTube thumbnail:

I thought I'd discuss this subject because I encountered a similar situation and you may be curious to find out how I dealt with an expensive device getting "lost" in transit. Rewind a couple of years ago, I was on Amazon browsing gaming laptops to replace my aging unit which served me well during my academic studies. After deciding the model I wanted (with a value of nearly £800), I placed an order using prime delivery. Given how reliable Amazon deliveries were in the past, I thought nothing of a more valuable item and expected to receive my laptop as intended. 

As I picked up the box, I noticed something was a little off based on how suspiciously light the package was when I collected it. When I opened the package, I was greeted with this:

As you can see, these are flowers; they do not look, feel or resemble a computer device in any way shape or form! Okay, you could argue the RGB colours resemble the keyboard lighting typically found on the keyboards of gaming laptops, but the one I chose didn't even come with this feature. Fact of the matter is I have ended up with something I didn't order, potentially leaving me £800 out of pocket.

I have to give credit to the Amazon customer services where it is due; thankfully the team was able to get the situation resolved in a matter of days after a couple of online exchanges and phone calls. With that said, it's not ideal I had to go through this situation in the first place and was fortunate enough to have a working computer during the interim. Here are three simple tips I would recommend:

1. Act fast - As soon as you received an incorrect order, report it through the website as soon as possible. The quicker you do it, the more geniune the report seems
2. Don't hesitate to call someone - If you show proactivity, you are more likely to have your issue dealt with as a priority
3. Don't panic - When communicating with customer services, remember there is a human on the other end who has nothing to do with the incident, so don't take your frustration out on them. Be respectful and have all your order details handy for the best possible outcome.

With the Playstation 5 situation, I can see things playing out less smoothly. With scalpers avidly picking up units to resell them well in excess of their retail price, finding replacement units will be hard to come by meaning it may much longer than anticipated for the end user to finally receive an actual Playstation 5.

As for Amazon, my encounter back in September 2018 shows that high-value items getting lost or even stolen in transit is anything new. I would give them the benefit of the doubt, but there were too many giveaway signs that there was some malicious intent at play. My favourite detail was the slogan of the flower company: "Let us surprise u" - You certainly gave me a surprise alright. But back on the subject of device thefts, I'm glad to hear these incidents are being investigated which should give customers more confidence when buying more expensive items online.