Amazon UK PS5 Orders Are Allegedly Being Stolen, Swapped Out For Other Items

Update (Nov 2oth): Eurogamer did additional reporting on this today with even more reports of Amazon UK PS5 deliveries arriving as random other items instead. The new article notes that most boxes are sealed with clear tape on top instead of Amazon’s branded tape, and even cites a few efforts by delivery drivers to not deliver the package based on “damage” when the customer managed to catch them and receive delivery anyway. Amazon UK has pledged to “make it right” for anyone who contacts them about the issue, but as difficult as it is to get your hands on a PS5 right now, it’s unclear just how they’ll accomplish that.

Original: The PS5 just launched in the UK today, but excited players aren’t getting what they hoped for. Imagine opening the delivery box on PS5 launch day only to find an empty box or a random kitchen appliance you didn’t order. That’s what happened to journalist and presenter Bex April May, who opened her PS5 shipment only to find an air fryer instead. And this isn’t some one-off shipping mistake. Quite a few Amazon UK customers are reporting similar situations, either with PS5 deliveries never arriving, empty boxes, or random other items in the box.

May watched her delivery show “missed” during the day (despite nobody attempting to deliver a package), before seeing the package deliver later in the evening with the air fryer instead of a PS5. Her tweet caused a number of people to share their stories of Amazon UK PS5 deliveries gone awry, with the new console failing to arrive.

One of the most common stories is people watching the delivery driver approach the house—thanks to Amazon’s very specific tracking system—actually seeing the delivery van pull up, then watching the order get marked as delivered without any attempt at delivery made.

May’s tweets are filled with replies of people saying “same here” and “this happened to me too,” sharing in the disbelief that they are all experiencing such a widespread issue with Amazon UK PS5 deliveries, while having to reconcile the fact that they won’t have the new console on launch day. One person even said they received the PS5 box, but it was empty.

The Reddit thread posted in one of May’s tweets also has a few people lamenting similar issues. Most allege that the driver somehow clued into the fact that the package was a PS5 and stole it, either for themselves or to resell at a premium. While this can’t be definitively proven, and some of these issues could just be standard shipping or sorting issues, it’s certainly suspicious that multiple Amazon UK PS5 orders have experienced the same problem, and that’s just the people who have seen the tweets and responded to May. It’s unclear how many Amazon UK PS5 orders aren’t actually making it to players’ homes.

The worst part about this situation is that while people are technically protected in terms of getting a refund, they won’t be getting the PS5s that they had managed to preorder for launch day, short of locating the original package and managing to get it delivered. With limited stock and people have difficulty with any new orders that come up, it’s unknown when they’ll be able to get lucky enough to actually snag one.

Right now, it seems like Amazon support isn’t offering much in the way of answers or help for people who just want to play Sony’s latest console. Did you order your PS5 from Amazon UK? Did you get your delivery today, or are you running into similar issues? Let us know in the comments.

[Via: VGC]