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PS5 Stolen by UPS
Megatron:
Hey guys. So I thought I would share a rather curious story that happened to me over the past few days.
Long story short, I am fairly certain a UPS driver stole my PS5.
On Thursday I was actually home from work in the early afternoon. I had been lucky enough to secure a PS5 preorder back in September through Best Buy and it was scheduled to be delivered on Thursday by UPS. I’d have preferred to have it picked up at a store, but once the order was placed, I was unable to change shipping options. Naturally as soon as I’d gotten the notification that it had shipped, I was frequently checking the tracking to make sure nothing happened to it. I was originally planning on just having it sent to a UPS store for pickup, but I was able to work from home for most of the day, so I decided to just wait for the UPS driver instead of paying the $6 fee to hold it at the UPS store. Thursday afternoon, about noonish, I get a notification that it is out for delivery, along with Spider-Man Miles Morales, although that was separate order with a different tracking number.
The way my house is set up I have a room upstairs where I work, there is also a window tht lets me see my front yard. Just about 4:00 I notice someone walking up my sidewalk. It’s UPS, but I didn’t see the truck – which is weird. Usually they park in front of my house, but I live on a corner, so it isn’t unheard of for them to park around the side. I hear a beep and see the guy walk away. I immediately run downstairs, open my front door and find….just Miles Morales. I look over and see the truck pull away. I look at my phone and see the Spider Man game was marked delivered at 3:57pm. OK. No problem. PS5 is probably on a different truck. I live in San Diego, and often times I get one package from one driver, and then another package from another later on. I don’t think anything of it….until my phone dings again. I look at it and see that the PS5 was marked delivered at 4:00pm. I look outside, don’t see it. Look around the corner. Nothing. Walked to my neighbor’s to see if it was delivered there by mistake. Nope. I looked at every house on my block. No packages. Keep in mind, it is about 4:01 at this point, so nobody had a chance to steal it from my porch.
My initial reaction, besides a little panic, was to call UPS. I did the automated process, let them know my package was missing, and then kept selecting optins until I was able to speak to a live person. I explained what happened to them, and they checked in their system. They gave me the standard line of “maybe it was marked delivered by mistake” but they did confirm that it should have been on the truck that delivered the game. I then let the operator know exactly what it was, and was very concerned that something this sought after was marked delivered but wasn’t. The operator informed me she would call the driver for more information and would call me back. I then added that I saw the driver walk up to my door and walk away with just the one package. Admittedly this was a lie, but I know he didn’t leave it at my door. I was on my porch with seconds of him dropping it off. I said this just in case the driver insisted he left it at the door. These guys make lots of deliveries, it’s easy to get confused.
After I hung up the phone I looked at my UPS ap and noticed that I had a notification that the tracking number had been changed. It initially said package was cancelled, and I wish I had taken a screen cap because I thought it was being deleted. I opened the tracking and it changed to pending. It never changed again, so maybe I hallucinated the deleted thing, but I did not close the ap after that.
I wait about 20 minutes and UPS calls me back. It was a different woman, one who works at my local distribution as opposed to the national call center. She verified some details with me and then added she spoke to the driver. The driver initially claimed that both packages were left at the door upon delivery. She had asked the driver why the packages were scanned three minutes apart if they were left at the same time. The driver answered that he scanned one in the truck and the other at the front door. The woman then informed him what I had said, about how I watched him walk up and leave just one box. The driver then changed his story, saying that he was mixed up about deliveries, and then stated that he only had the one package. The other was marked delivered by mistake. The PS5 package wasn’t actually on his truck.
At this point I had to stop and ask how it was possible to scan a package or mark it as delivered if he didn’t have the package on his truck. The operator said the driver saw three packages scheduled for me, but only had one. But…I only had two packages scheduled not three. The operator was professional, but I could hear in her voice that she was as confused as I was. I asked if it wasn’t on THIS truck, which truck was it on? She said she knew what truck it was SUPPOSED to be on, but that was this truck. I then had to interject that I find it very difficult to believe that the hottest selling item in the world right now suddenly goes missing within minutes of being delivered to my front door. The operator agreed and probably couldn’t say more, but I basically insinuated I thought the driver stole my PS5 and she didn’t disagree (she didn’t say she agreed either, but she told me she would believe the same thing in my position), she then said it was a seasonal driver not a contract employee. She told me she was going to have the supervisor speak to the driver when he returned to the warehouse. In the meantime, I should contact Best Buy and tell them everything.
So I spoke to Best Buy for about 45 minutes. The long and short of it is that I spoke to three different people including a supervisor, and had to wait while one persona also contacted UPS. I get it. They wanted to make sure I wasn’t full of it and trying to get a free PS5. Ultimately, Best Buy said they could replace it for me, but it had to be store pickup – which I wanted to do anyway, so I was happy. BB told me they had a new shipment going to my store on Thursday of next week (11/19 if you live in the San Diego area) and that one would be pulled for me to pick up.
So while I was irritated I got ripped off I would be getting my PS5 a week late. Could be worse.
But wait…THERE’S MORE…
The next day, Friday the 13th, was my oldest daughter’s birthday, so I straight up took the day off from work. About 3:30pm I get a soft knock at the door. And I mean soft. Like, the way you knock so know one hears you but you can say you tried. I happened to be near the door and opened it. To my surprise was a UPS driver, who also looked a bit surprised I opened the door (the door bell is colorful, lit up, and was right there, BTW). He then greeted me and handed my a large heavy package. He told me to have a nice day and walked away…to his truck parked on the side street, not in front of my house.
I looked at the box. It’s a Target box. Ok, maybe my wife ordered something heavy. Truck drives away. I look at the label. It’s addressed to me. From Best Buy. Wait what? This is a Target box – red circles all over it, with a Best Buy shipping label that looks like it was cut from one box and affixed to this. The box also looks resealed with clear packing tape. Target uses their own printed tape and Best Buy uses a very clear, thin tape. This was packing tape that you’d find at Home Depot. Or the UPS store. **see pics below**
I just stared at the box for a few minutes. No way. No way could this be my stolen PS5 repackaged by the thief and then delivered to me as if nothing happened. After I took some pictures, I opened the box…
My PS5. It looks like it’s still sealed, although is a little dinged in the corners and a little dirty in spots. Like it was taken out of its cardboard box and sat in a bumpy, dirty location – like the back of a truck.
It was about this time I got a notification on my phone saying the package had been delivered at 3:32 on 11/13.
Naturally, the first thing I do is call UPS. It too a while to get someone, but I let them know that I received the package. Then I let them know it was repackaged and offered to send the pictures. They gave me an email address to send them to.
But my PS5 was totally stolen by a season UPS driver who got caught and then tried to cover it up. At least I got my PS5 back.
I had to file an official complaint against the driver, too. While he looked young, and we’ve all made stupid mistakes, I don’t want him trying this on somebody else who isn’t as knowledgeable or diligent enough to realize it.
I opened it, tested it, everything’s all good. So the last thing I did was call Best Buy back and let them know I got it, so I don’t need the replacement PS5. Hopefully that means somebody else local can grab one.
So that’s my story about how a UPS driver probably (definitely) stole my PS5. I’m sharing so everyone out there knows that, sadly, you can’t rely on everything to work the way it’s supposed to. And if you were lucky enough to grab a new console, or some other big ticket item, make sure you watch that tracking like a hawk
This picture shows the target box with the Best Buy label, which clearly looks like it was cut off of another package and affixed to this. Best Buy's stuff is usually very clean cut, and also a sticker. This is taped down.
The picture of the back shows where a shipping label USED to be, likely whoever Target originally sent this box to.
The last one shows the lovely packing job. Really, top quality Best Buy level packaging, here.
rockabilly1983:
This is terrible! I'm so sorry you had to go through this, Megatron. I'm very thankful you got your PlayStation 5. It would have been worse if the UPS driver got away with it. Crime does not pay. Have fun with your new PlayStation 5!
My Covers: https://app.box.com/s/hote51vbfehfqo0yu5j0
Conn:
Wow wow wow, that is a crazy story. Glad it worked out for you in the end!
Arseen:
Good you got your PS5 back.
They should implement ID card scanning and do that per item level (or clearly show which items you are signing for) and not allow stuff to be automatically be left on porch.
Here UPS, FED-EX and such call before they drop stuff and see are you home.
OK I live in rural area and they have plenty of time to call while driving from house to house.
Signing related short story I have told before:
I once got phone call at 6AM that started: Upsista päivää (translation: Oopsie daisy).
I said what (I had slept only an hour and the phone call woke me), answer was again upsista päivää.
I repeated what, and got answer: From UPS delivery company, good day.
Upsista päivää can be translated also: From UPS (good) day.
Turns out the driver knew me (was father of classmate) and he wanted to have little bit fun.
TDIRunner:
Glad it worked out in the end. I have a feeling that no one will get punished, but maybe, just maybe it might have scared him straight so it won't ever happen again.