21 ms·

I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

408 points by headmelted 9y ago

jarym 9y ago
How embarrassing (for Nintendo). As soon as someone threatens legal you just have to tell them you'll only be engaging via lawyers and you'll be seeking to recover your legal expenses from them once the situation is resolved.
- Kurtz79 9y ago
  A pity that multinational companies can usually afford much better lawyers than the average Joe. It's really not the same as threatening your neighbor with a "We'll see each other in court", for a parking lot dispute.
  - hackerguy99 9y ago
    >A pity that multinational companies can usually afford much better lawyers than the average Joe. It's a $400 device, that is the extent of the damage; how much do you think they are willing to spend on their legal?
  - jarym 9y ago
    Yea but a case like this doesn't need high-powered lawyers. Usually a high-street solicitor will write a letter outlining what's happened, objecting to the legal threat and asking for information on how to return the merchandise. All in all, it should cost ~£60.
    - cultvoid 9y ago
      £60 is a hell of a lot of money to buy nothing. He doesn't need to do any of that, just arrange to return the item and if Nintendo (or The Hut Group, which is sounds like) screw up the collection, it's their problem. Just keep records of all correspondence.
  - denzil_correa 9y ago
    This itself is an interesting question. The foundations of the justice system talk about testing everyone equal in the eyes of law but somehow equal access to legal resources is never talked about. I think we need to think over this as a society. There are some countries like Germany where for people with low income the state pays money to hire a lawyer rather than providing a lawyer.
    - DougBTX 9y ago
      http://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/human-rights-institute/files/equal_access_to_justice_-_cerd_shadow_report.pdf http://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/h...
    - richardknop 9y ago
      But that is also problematic. What if you have an average income, are part of middle class and have normal job. Now according to this system you are not poor so state won't provide lawyer to you. But hiring a lawyer to represent you against some ridiculous lawsuit by company with huge bankroll and lawyer company on retainer will ruin a person like this. You might have to sell your house just to afford it or something similar and this would financially ruin you and your middle class family.
      - denzil_correa 9y ago
        > Now according to this system you are not poor so state won't provide lawyer to you. I never said that is system is perfect. You can create mechanisms where you look at incomes and look at percentage of fees to be paid to a lawyer. Similar to how fines are calculated in some countries. The larger point being made was the current system of representation of giving a public counsel definitely doesn't work. We need to move towards better systems.
        richardknop 9y ago
        I agree. Also law firms used by companies have massive resources (thousands of employees) so a regular person can't fight against a machine like that even if he/she can afford to hire a single lawyer. The system needs to be changed from ground up to give people better options to defend themselves.
  - bufferoverflow 9y ago
    It's a bluff. Nintendo wouldn't involve lawyers over a Switch, it makes zero financial sense. What happened likely is some tech support drone made a threat, which the corporate never approved.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - sametmax 9y ago
      It make zero financial sense to send 3 switches. But here they are.
  - notzorbo3 9y ago
    > A pity that multinational companies can usually afford much better lawyers than the average Joe. I'm always amazed at how afraid customers are of companies in the US/UK. Like this article, where they threaten legal action and make the customer responsible for being available to hand off the third Switch. As a customer in a western European country, I'd laugh straight in their face and wouldn't lose a second of sleep over threats like that. I may live in a country that has a weird and at times annoying obsession with rules and regulations, but when it comes to being a consumer, it's great.
    - icebraining 9y ago
      The UK is a western European country, and still part of the EU (and therefore bound to its regulations).
  - CM30 9y ago
    Wouldn't a solution be either to: Force both parties to pool resources, and hire legal help from that pool and no others. So if a large company sues an individual or small one, it pays a large percentage of the latter's legal costs. Simply to ban private legal representation and have everyone represent themselves in court? I'm sure large companies would act a bit more nicely if any court case meant the CEO had to personally leave the office and fight it out in court.
    - TheAceOfHearts 9y ago
      It is my understanding that if you win a case, you can request that the other party pay for some legal fees, within reasonable degrees, of course. Banning private legal representation would be more likely to hurt everyday citizens, rather than CEOs. Large companies would just start to hire lawyers or equivalent as their CEOs. The law system is incredibly complex because our society is equally complex. This is why we train professionals for so many years, and expect them to take regular classes every year so their knowledge is kept up date. I think it would be interesting to review outcomes of cases where a regular person or small company challenged a large company, as well as the inverse. Just how much power do large multinational companies have? I'd also expect more leniency to be shown to individuals and smaller companies acting in good faith. As I understand it, intent is a large factor in many cases.
- sundvor 9y ago
  I'm hoping this blows up in Nintendo's faces; they forgot to treat and respect their customers as fellow human beings. The writer ought to be compensated for his wasted time thanks to their incompetence.
  - headmelted 9y ago
    Thanks, I appreciate your comments today as I've been getting a little worried here that the traction this article is getting this morning is going to come back to bite me in the backside. Whether it's Nintendo or a UK-local entity they sub-contract (it's a bit unclear - either way the address is store.nintendo.co.uk and Nintendo-branded), the policies could use some work.
    - mirimir 9y ago
      It's a great post, and Nintendo does indeed owe you. But, at this point, I do recommend engaging counsel. As I understand it, truth is not a defense against slander under UK law. Edit: I meant "libel", not "slander". Also, I was wrong about truth not being a defense. It's just that you need to prove the claims.
      - mpclark 9y ago
        > truth is not a defense against slander under UK law. It most certainly is. Defence #1, in fact.
      - matthewheath 9y ago
        It is a complete defence, but the burden of proof rests on the defendant.
        mirimir 9y ago
        Yes, that's what I meant. Under US law, the burden of proof rests on the plaintiff.
      - tehwalrus 9y ago
- wbhart 9y ago
  My understanding (IANAL) is, that's not the best strategy. If you have a complaint against a company, it is often the case that the company has an internal complaints procedure (usually a simple 9 step affair that only takes a year or two of constant, vigilant effort). If you don't follow it, you might actually find it very difficult to recover expenses for hastily employed legal services. You always have to ask yourself, who will most enjoy/benefit from/be able to afford engaging lawyers, you or the company's legal department?
- dudul 9y ago
  Would it be a better alternative to threaten to take it to Twitter or to specialized press? I've never done it, but I observed that contacting customer service on Twitter is usually very effective.
  - CM30 9y ago
    Specialised press would probably work well. Send the story to a few gaming news sites, post it on some Nintendo subreddits and the guy's situation may improve at least a bit.
  - TheAceOfHearts 9y ago
    Companies don't like it when you air out their dirty laundry. I'd say being able to speak openly about a company is one of the few ways regular people have a chance of standing up to multinational corporations.
  - beerbaron23 9y ago
    Very much so, in all the call centers I've worked in there was no "complaints department" we are just told to listen to the customer, relate with their concerns and tell them it will be "reviewed" by another department. In reality, it goes absolutely no where. Even if I 100% agreed with your complaint, I have no place to record it or know who it's supposed to go to to get further up the ladder. Some managers will accept your complaint, put it on their desk, then throw it out. If you been employed long enough the managers wont even accept it, cause honestly I don't think they have anyone to pass it up the chain to that would actually accept it. Best way to go is social media, companies have "Social Media Experts" that are employed solely for online damage control. Another way to get something done is by sending a plain snail mail letter addressed to someone high-up at the company in question. You have to figure that out yourself as if you call the call center, the reps are never allowed to give out that information or they are told to tell you a fake address/fake person or the general C/O Complaints Department. Those go to no one at all and directly to the garbage. Now if you successfully send a written complaint letter to someone high up, everyone knows about it, cause the internal police come to investigate if anyone at the call center gave out that information (It's a huge deal and grounds to be fired). Another thing, youtube clips, if you are recording and posting on youtube your conversation with a rep, the company has a team to watch for that stuff. Once they find you doing that, you then become a "Flagged Customer" and we prepare while we leave you on hold, get one of the better reps available and have 2-3 other managers listening in on the line guiding the rep through the call step by step.
- supergirl 9y ago
  yeah, I'm sure Nintendo would be scared of losing some pocket change battling one guy and his budget lawyer.
- totalZero 9y ago
  Interesting suggestion. Have you tried this? What were the results?
- wodenokoto 9y ago
  I dont "have a lawyer", and am not sure what people mean with "my" in phrases such as "talk to my lawyer". In the situation you describe, how would I go about finding a lawyer to receive communication and how much would it cost me out of pocket to simply be allowed to use their name and address when telling nintendo "talk with these guys, their my lawyers"
Klathmon 9y ago
I'm no lawyer, but at least in the US I was under the impression that once something has been mailed to you, it's yours. A company cannot send you something then require payment or for you to return it.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- Depllo 9y ago
  https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-rights/can-i-keep-goods-delivered-to-me-by-mistake https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-righ... Mistakenly delivered goods are not unsolicited.
  - justherefortart 9y ago
    I had to explain this to some friends. They can sue you for unfair enrichment. This is to keep places from sending you things intentionally then trying to bill you. Plus, have some friggin morals/values/ethics.
- kissickas 9y ago
  Looks like you're right. >Q. Am I obligated to return or pay for merchandise I never ordered? >A. No. If you receive merchandise that you didn’t order, you have a legal right to keep it as a free gift. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan...
  - bencollier49 9y ago
    I don't think the FTC cover the UK.
    - mathgeek 9y ago
      It took ten seconds to Google the UK equivalent, and it seems to be the same rule. Unsolicited goods, which are defined the same as the FTC' s definition, seem to be treated the same: https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-rights/can-i-keep-goods-delivered-to-me-by-mistake https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-righ...
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
kakarot 9y ago
Looks like you got yourself a free Switch. Enjoy it, and if your other Switch is in good condition, offer it to your son or a friend. If Nintendo threatens further legal action, take your lawyer out to dinner and spend the evening laughing over it.
- headmelted 9y ago
  I perhaps should have done, instead I took the threat seriously and took the day off work to await the courier (who collected the Switch). So I'm down another day's income, and honestly starting to feel like a bit of a mug given the responses here.
  - cultvoid 9y ago
    You're not a mug, you've an honest person treated badly by an incompetent company. You would be a mug if you dealt with them again ;-) Don't be surprised if you haven't heard the end of it. They might well lose the item and then attack you again. If that happens, do not waste any more time or money on them.
  - midnightmonster 9y ago
    I would have notified them, too, and have done similar in the past. Amazon botched initial delivery of a $500 item, then sent a new one, but both eventually arrived. I called back and they thanked me and emailed me a shipping label and instructions that gave me weeks to get it done.
  - sigi45 9y ago
    In worst case, you are not doing it for nintendo but for yourself. Anyway i would have told them that i will send the switch back but it is not possible to stay at home.
  - majikandy 9y ago
    Don’t be silly, you are honest and ethical and that counts for a lot more!
- dagw 9y ago
deleted 9y ago
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harry8 9y ago
One, as far as we know, isolated logistics problem with some ill-trained phone operators not solving it gracefully is the claim. What am I missing that makes this story more interesting than that? Is it just because Nintendo? Or is it exactly this interesting if it were the same story but the product plumbing supplies?
- oneeyedpigeon 9y ago
  I think it raises some interesting questions about fulfilment, customer support, and what companies should be responsible for in these days of increasing home-delivery. I've also had problems with terrible couriers (haven't we all?) and, at least here in the UK, there are plenty of potential improvements to make. Should Nintendo be selling this direct at all? Is it really still worth the cost of whatever systems need to be in place to achieve it? Anecdotally, I received my Switch in the post in perfect condition, via Amazon.
- cultvoid 9y ago
  If it is The Hut Group behind this, then they have a track record of this kind of cock up (re the Zavvi article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25330615 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25330615).
ajeet_dhaliwal 9y ago
I didn't even know you could order from Nintendo directly in the UK, I think they'd be wise to shut this down entirely and work through their retail partners. Just imagine how little resources Nintendo puts into the retail aspect of their operations in the UK. Clearly they can't even train people to do customer service properly without threatening legal action. I understand the sentiment to want to support Nintendo but I am not entirely surprised this happened, it takes hard work to run a well functioning shop/store online or otherwise.
- headmelted 9y ago
  Having looked into it further it looks like at least part of their operation is being managed by The Hut Group - from some contact info - and I found this surprisingly similar link from four years ago. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25330615 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25330615 Hard to say really to what extent there is overlap here. Honestly I'm now starting to wonder if I should pull the article - getting it read is good, but this is more attention than I expected and I'm getting a little nervous of what'll happen next now. :-S
  - cultvoid 9y ago
    Don't be daft. Leave it up. As long as the article is truthful, what's the problem? Their appalling treatment of an honest customer should be exposed. I do think you're totally overthinking this. They made the initial mistake, they need to correct it and at their expense. They can't do anything to you. Make a "best effort" to return the item and no more. Keep a log of all your correspondence. Don't waste any more than a minimal amount of time on this, certainly don't take days off work etc to wait for couriers.
    - headmelted 9y ago
      Thanks! I already have taken the day off work, and the courier has now collected the Switch - so the hope at least is that I'm now done with it, albeit out-of-pocket.
  - 9y ago
stupidcar 9y ago
I have never, ever dealt with any above mid-sized company that handles customer service and delivery well. There seems to be a set of standardised industry practices that are completely and utterly customer hostile. The moment regular company employees stop dealing with customer issues, delivery, etc., and hands it over to "specialists", it's basically a crap shoot whether you can get any issue resolved at all, because the systems they put in place make it nearly impossible. For example: A courier claims they called at your house and got no answer, even though you were in and they didn't. You call customer services, but they have no way at all to contact the courier and tell them to go back and try again. Even if they're only two minutes down the road. The system deliberately puts a firewall between the reps and the delivery infrastructure, because any kind of ad-hoc action to resolve customer issues interferes with the logistics planning for the day's deliveries. All the rep can do is rearrange delivery for the subsequent day, whereupon the problem often repeats itself, but this time with a different courier, and a different rep. I had this process repeat several times, over a period of weeks, until simply cancelled an order completely (one worth hundreds of pounds to the vendor). I do wonder if higher level managers realise that delivery departments are optimising purely to make things easy for themselves, and what that's potentially worth in terms of wasted effort, lost orders and customer hostility. I guess they probably don't care, because it still saves them money on aggregate.
- petercooper 9y ago
  I have never, ever dealt with any above mid-sized company that handles customer service and delivery well. I have. Amazon. Over 15 years now and flawless every time.
  - aaron-lebo 9y ago
    That's because they fuck over their sellers. I tried to sell a modem which I had previously purchased through Amazon. The modem came both as a bundle and by itself. I listed it correctly as purchasing the modem only, listed it "like new" (when really it was basically new, not removed from the box). It was actually the lowest price you could get it used. Someone bought it, shipped it to them faster than necessary. About a week later I got a notice from him saying that he wanted a refund because he had thought that he was getting the bundle (not just the modem as it was listed). Why they thought they were getting the bundle like new for that price is beyond me, but whatever. I rejected the refund because it was their mistake and it would have been too much work to be worth it. Sensible, yeah? They initiated a claim against my account and Amazon withdrew the money (it was actually great timing - overdraft). The claim said the the item condition was wrong (it was not). You are able to contest any claim like that so I took the time to explain what had happened and why the issue wasn't even about the item's condition. I don't know if they just didn't bother reading it or if all responses are handled with robots because I get a very superficial answer that didn't even acknowledge what had happened. I repeated the process in order to try to talk to another person, wrote up another account of what happened (including the new non response), and got the same kind of non-response (you must list items under the correct condition, blah, blah, blah) from a different rep. Basically, they just didn't bother answering me. I'd already wasted way more time than necessary on what I thought was gonna be a little extra cash, so now some dude in Minnesota got my modem for free, and I got an overdraft for my trouble. That's a cool trick. Got no clue what's going on over there but I'll never sell anything there again if I can avoid it. Worst customer experience ever.
cvsh 9y ago
This is dumb on the part of everyone involved. No, you are not taking the moral high ground by calling Nintendo customer service and initiating a back-and-forth on what to do with the mistakenly-delivered extra product. In fact, you are probably costing Nintendo more money than the second Switch is worth by doing so. There is no reason, ever, unless the cost of the item is extremely high, to initiate a conversation with customer service when you are mistakenly delivered extra goods. The company will take inventory and notice that that it was mistakenly sent. If they don't contact you about it, it's because they want you to keep it because a cost-benefit analysis on their part does not warrant getting in contact with you over it.
- ajeet_dhaliwal 9y ago
  I disagree, there's no code about this that everyone knows about. I think he did the right thing by contacting them. They did the wrong thing, obviously they should just let him keep it but some cheapskate customer service rep decided 'no we must have this thing back' and ridiculously decided threatening legal action was a good idea.
- raverbashing 9y ago
  > There is no reason, ever There are Ethical reasons But I've heard of people contacting support for a vendor to hear "thanks for letting us know, you can keep the item" which should have probably been Nintendo's stance in this issue
- wccrawford 9y ago
  No, they didn't "[cost] Nintendo more money than the second Switch is worth". Nintendo could just have said, "Keep it" and only been out the cost of a support call, which is necessarily less than the cost of a Switch. Nintendo is the one in the wrong here. The customer wouldn't have been wrong to do nothing and keep it, but calling them and admitting the mistake is definitely the moral high-road here. It may not be the smartest thing, but that's different.
- cr1895 9y ago
  >There is no reason, ever, unless the cost of the item is extremely high, to initiate a conversation with customer service when you are mistakenly delivered extra goods. Why does it suddenly matter if the cost was arbitrarily high? He received something he hadn't paid for in error. Seems like the decent thing to do is at least make an attempt to correct the issue. Maybe the error-sent package was meant for someone else. Maybe they say don't worry about it. But to make an attempt is dumb, and you deserve the thing sent in error? Good grief. What if someone erroneously deposits $1000 into your bank account? Is that yours to keep? Is it dumb to try to rectify the situation?
z3t4 9y ago
When in a contract like this, where you paid for one unit but was sent two units, always be honest about it. Look at it the other way around, what if you paid double by accident ?
- fapjacks 9y ago
  Is this huge corporation going to look you in the eye, tell you that you've over/double paid, and then return the overpayment with a handshake? Or are they even going to notice? I'm not saying be dishonest about it, but let's not pretend this enormous business is going to take the initiative to make things right. They'll keep your money unless you make the call.
esistgut 9y ago
Nintendo customer support in Europe is known to be quite bad. I am a day one customer for the Switch, the controller has a defective antenna (it is a well known hardware bug) but sending it back would mean to lose a lot of time with the italian customer support and in the end have all my system data wiped out. I'll just wait for them to enable cloud savegames, buy a second Switch and sell back my current one to a retailer like Gamestop.
pawelkomarnicki 9y ago
I had a bad experience with Nintendo Germany, when they fucked up my New Nintendo 3DS Ambassador package address, and it took over 2 weeks to find out what is happening with the item I paid for... Never again buying directly from Nintendo again, learned my lesson.
Cthulhu_ 9y ago
Sounds like they're really not used to people actually ordering from their site directly. I can imagine the prices are the suggested retail prices, which no retailer will actually end up charging.
- headmelted 9y ago
  To be fair, their prices were quite good - and they offered a two year warranty - which surprised me. Although yes, in retrospect I'll default back to Amazon in future.
- manarth 9y ago
  > can imagine the prices are the suggested retail prices, > which no retailer will actually end up charging. I bought my Switch directly from Nintendo (well, sounds like it's actually via the Hut Group), and paid the RRP with free delivery. I didn't see any mainstream retailer (Amazon, Toys'r'Us, Tesco, etc) charging differently though. I can't imagine mainstream retailers either price-gouging or discounting, unless a product's reaching its end of life or about to be superceded.
madshiva 9y ago
Like @bufferoverflow say it's totally bluff. We had all to deal with this kind of small little problem. Why are you crying like a SJW for a Switch? seriously? grow a little. You just waste your time.
- signet 9y ago
  What eloquent commentary /s Can someone ban this bozo?
  - madshiva 9y ago
    ban for what? telling the true? Nice. edit: 1) I don't think the priority of life is getting a switch for these Kid at Christmas. 2)I don't think he had to call and waste his time for then complaining. 3)We have all at once the same problem but did had written an article about it, because it's useless. When I had the problem, the same day I had my package, because I directly go to the DHL post office get my package. Done. Strict to the point. Same with UPS.
throwaway613834 9y ago
Would any court rule in their favor? Is there any reason to worry in such a case?
marcoperaza 9y ago
Since there seems to be a lot of confusion about the legalities involved, with some people suggesting he should have just kept it and said nothing, I did some research. In the UK, you have a legal duty to return it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/30294748/can-you-keep-stuff-delivered-by-mistake http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/30294748/can-you-keep-... The only exception is completely unsolicited goods, which you can keep. Double shipments must be returned. This doesn’t change the fact that Nintendo was rather rude if the author’s characterization is accurate. >Items that firms send to you, but you didn't actually order are called "unsolicited goods". You're well within your rights to keep them. You have no obligation to send them back to the company or to pay for them. If a company demands payment, that's a criminal offence. But this doesn't apply to items sent to you by mistake (as happened to Robert); if the order was sent to you twice; or if there's extra stuff on top of what you ordered. If a firm has left goods with you that weren't unsolicited goods, they still belong to the trader and you should try to give them back. Firms can take you to court to recover their goods. The situation is different in the US, you are allowed to keep all "unordered merchandise" and have no obligation whatsoever to pay or return. No distinction is made between completely unsolicited and double shipments. A legal argument could be made that a double shipment is not "unordered merchandise." I didn't find anything on the legal databases or Google, other than newspaper columnists opining that double shipments are "unordered". US statute in question: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/3009 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/3009 FTC commentary: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan...
apostacy 9y ago
Some will point out (and some have!) that I could have quite easily saved myself a lot of time, hassle, and lost earnings at this point by just quietly holding on to the extra Switch and saying nothing to Nintendo about it. It certainly would have saved me a lot of stress, but it was morally not something I’d ever consider. That's his mistake right there. He was under no moral obligation to fix Nintendo's mistake for them. Nintendo had made a string of mistakes up to this point, and one of their mistakes was in his favor. If you truly have a guilty conscience, then just throw the extra package out, because it is abandoned property. I've had this happen occasionally. Just know that you are not responsible for stuff like this. My Dad had a similar experience, where spent weeks trying to get a company to honor a warranty, and in the end they sent him two replacement hard drives instead of one. I actually interpret this as a kind of karma. Sometimes good things land in your lap, don't reject them.
- wbhart 9y ago
  Quite often the reason for receiving two items is that the first got stuck somewhere in transit, the customer complained so the company sent out a second item, and eventually both turn up. It seems reasonable under those circumstances for the company to ask for the second one back (politely of course, threatening the customer is never right).
  - apostacy 9y ago
    I disagree. The company is now imposing on you for something that is absolutely not your responsibility. They have money set aside for losses like this. It sounds like Nintendo should ask the courier company to fix things, not you. In a way, he is also a victim of the courier company's bad service, except that the mistake was in his favor. And also, think about what that implies. How far are you supposed to go if they screw up? What if they do it again, with something more valuable? You can't apply human morality to large corporations. If someone on Etsy or Ebay made a mistake like that, then yes of course you should ship it back. But corporations of that size are just systems. They will not be hurt or offended if you don't return it, and they won't be gracious if you do.
ta11092017 9y ago
Back in 2014, https://store.nintendo.co.uk/ https://store.nintendo.co.uk/ was managed by The Hut Group. Not sure whether they also manage shipping, customer support, etc, or just rent out the web site, could be either way. Looking at URLs and everything else, that still seems to be the case. So not sure which company is to be blamed here. Source: used to work for The Hut Group.
noonespecial 9y ago
Don't know how it is in UK but in the USA no one is allowed to send you stuff unsolicited that pushes some obligation onto you. Even an obligation to return a shipping error to them. You probably got a free Switch. And with their subsequent behaviour, a well deserved one.
- MatthewWilkes 9y ago
  In the UK that only applies to unsolicited goods, not to genuine errors. So, if Nintendo were to send you a switch and then ask you to pay for it, sure, you can ignore the demand. If you buy a switch from Nintendo and they send you two you have no right to keep the second (or third, in this case). That said, if the seller makes a mistake then they need to rectify it entirely, they can't demand you wait around for a courier at an inconvenient time or get you to pay for postage.
- jads 9y ago
  Prefacing this with IANAL. US seems to just have a more broad term for goods delivered that you didn't order and refers to it as "unordered merchandise"[1]. You're pretty much free to keep it, it seems. The UK is more specific for what is classified as "unsolicited" and what is considered goods delivered to someone else by mistake[2]. Companies have a right to get their product back if it's the latter. Since the author did order a switch, a duplicate delivery would very likely be considered a mistake. If the author never ordered a Switch (and never paid for it) in the first place, they'd definitely be able to keep it. Regardless, if this is the way Nintendo asked for the second Switch back, they were completely out of line. [1] https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan... [2] https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-rights/can-i-keep-goods-delivered-to-me-by-mistake https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-righ...
- GuB-42 9y ago
  In France, you don't get the free stuff. You have to give it back if the owner comes home to get it. You are not required to do anything else. You also have to notify the sender if it is a honest mistake. If it is accompanied by a request for payment, this is a penal offense. If the law is similar in the UK, Nintendo is mostly in the right. However, I don't think they have the right to ask the guy to be at home at a time of their choice. Most countries have laws regarding that practice, but the details can be very different.
jccalhoun 9y ago
>I ordered the Switch on October 16th from Nintendo’s UK online store. I wanted to buy direct primarily to support Nintendo This seems like an odd impulse to me. It isn't like Nintendo is some small mom and pop business or even that they are struggling.
- ForRealsies 9y ago
  Mom and pop business compared to Amazon, and less seedy than GameStop.
- gambiting 9y ago
  Yep. And it's a bad decision too, it's just against your best interest as a customer. With Amazon, I know that if there's absolutely ANY issue with my order they will issue a full refund and/or send a replacement within 5 minutes of talking to them over the phone or using the live chat. It will be bumped up to free allocated time delivery or even delivered with Prime Now if available. I work at a games studio so we have few people ordering from Nintendo UK website all the time - and boy, there's loads of horror stories about deliveries and their customer service, I don't know why you'd order anything directly from them instead of Amazon or Argos or even(gasp!) Game.
  - headmelted 9y ago
    I'm glad to hear that my experience doesn't seem to be unique, and I'll know for future reference. I genuinely do think they're a great company, it's just a really unfortunate turn of events that should probably have been avoidable.
- oh_sigh 9y ago
  Also, the terms of deals for retail placement may be very sweet to Nintendo, because they know it sells like hotcakes. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if stores were getting 0 margin on the switch itself
  - astura 9y ago
    I wouldn't even be surprised if Nintendo is just outsourcing its "direct retail" operation to a third party retailer who takes a larger commission than the resellers. I mean, Nintendo (clearly) isn't in the retail business so it would make sense to outsource it rather than build that infrastructure from scratch. There's not much of a reason to believe buying from the Nintendo store has higher margins for Nintendo than buying from a retailer.
dis-sys 9y ago
I am super happy for the courier services available in Shanghai. What I experienced in the last 12 months is just shockingly good. 1. I can order whatever I want from any restaurant I like using some apps, someone is going to show up in front of my door within one hour to have it delivered. The cost is close to 2 metro tickets. 2. I don't need to go grocery shopping, courier guys do that for me, e.g. want to buy 2L of milk from your favourite 24 hours convenience store at 11pm? it is just a few clicks away, 1-2 hours delivery. 3. I can send 1kg stuff to Beijing (1000km away) in 12-18 hours for $4-5, door to door service, everything included. courier guy may not show up? that is news here. You can track where is your assigned courier guys in apps, it is GPS based. One bad review is going to cause big trouble for the guy. Companies like jd.com also has pretty cool features in their apps to tip the courier guy you like, you can offer cash/free drinks to those who provide good services to you. not impressive enough? jd.com requests all their courier guys to dump your rubbish after delivering your stuff, just be nice and ask (in Chinese of course) "could you please take those two bags of rubbish to the bins downstairs for me?"
oh_sigh 9y ago
I don't know about the UK but in the US it is illegal for a company to sue or threaten you to return a package that they shipped to you if you didn't request it. This is to prevent mail fraud along the lines of - I send you a widget you never ordered and a bill for $20. You now either have to pay the bill, or spend time/money shipping the package back.
rjmunro 9y ago
As you are a freelancer, you could easily send them an invoice for the lost time at your normal rate. They will probably pay it without querying.
- uptown 9y ago
  On what fantasy planet does this work?
- richardknop 9y ago
  Lol good luck with that. You would just waste more money and time doing this. What I recommend if you are a freelancer / contractor is to just let them know that you cannot take a day off to wait for their courier as you don't have vacation and are not paid unless you work (so that would incur financial loss to you). So inform them to arrange a courier to come pick up the item at a specific time convenient to you (Saturday from 10am to 5pm or Mon-Thu 7pm-10pm) and it's their headache now. They have to work around your schedule without inconveniencing you.
StreamBright 9y ago
This is why I buy these sort of things from Amazon.
mannykannot 9y ago
Customer service is an expense, so they want to train us to not even think of trying it. They will also give you a Hobson's choice over arbitration to dissuade you from trying small-claims court (though that may not hold up, at least for now, in some jurisdictions.)
MrDosu 9y ago
In my personal experience it can be quite futile in general to deal with customer support. My goto solution is to contact the public relations people instead with the same issue and it usually gets resolved very quickly...
devin 9y ago
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan... Q. Am I obligated to return or pay for merchandise I never ordered? A. No. If you receive merchandise that you didn’t order, you have a legal right to keep it as a free gift.
- wirelessest 9y ago
  Not all Americans agree, but your laws only apply to your country.
- dahart 9y ago
  Interesting! I didn't know this. Unfortunately in this case the buyer is in the UK, so FTC rules don't apply to him. I hope they have a similar consumer protection rule.
  - zimpenfish 9y ago
    http://www.thecomplainingcow.co.uk/all-you-need-to-know-about-unsolicited-goods/ http://www.thecomplainingcow.co.uk/all-you-need-to-know-abou... You don't have to send unsolicited goods back or even notify the sender. But duplicate orders don't count as "unsolicited" and should be returned - however "there should be no cost or inconvenience to you" which is where Nintendo fail badly here.
    - craftyguy 9y ago
      > "there should be no cost or inconvenience to you" Cool, so OP could take Nintendo to court to recover lost wages!
rasz 9y ago
>It didn’t take long to arrive — but when it did, I noticed some damage to the outside of the packaging Author signed off on a visibly destroyed package. This is where support stops in my country(also EU). Standard procedure is to either refuse damaged package, or open with courier as a witness and make damage protocol, documented with pictures. The fact Nintendo agreed to replace it on faith alone is quite good, pestering them with phone calls all week combined with fact they somehow send two units probably flagged him as a potential fraud.
- burntsushi 9y ago
  The author doesn't say they signed off on it though. Where I live, I never sign off on anything. UPS just leaves it outside.
  - rasz 9y ago
    He did, you cant receive mailed packages without signature in UK. Dropping valuables on a porch is very alien concept to Europeans.
- zifnab06 9y ago
  This doesn't always work. Mail at my apartment gets delivered to a mail room. I have never been given a package directly. I had a purchase show up damaged once and I had no option to refuse delivery (the company replaced it though)
- scott_karana 9y ago
  Damage isn't always apparent, and package drop offs don't always happen when you're home.
ajmurmann 9y ago
Taleb describes how antifragile systems need to provide enough leeway for people on the ground to actually make decisions. Otherwise you can't react to unforeseen events and things go sideways. Delivery companies and support departments of large companies seem to have built a incredibly fragile system that can't even deal with frequently occurring anomalies. Reading some of the comments here those anomalies even seem to include things like red lights and bad weather. It seems to be a consistent pattern that reaching out via social media or directly to leadership is what yields the best results for the same reason the system is so fragile.
patcheudor 9y ago
In the US and if through USPS, if a package is shipped and delivered, the person receiving the package now owns it and is under no obligation whatsoever to return it. It's literally 'finders keepers': "By law, unsolicited merchandise is yours to keep." You solicited one, they delivered more than one. Not your problem. Note that this is for USPS. I'm not sure it holds up for private carriers. http://about.usps.com/publications/pub300a/pub300a_tech_021.htm http://about.usps.com/publications/pub300a/pub300a_tech_021....
noncoml 9y ago
> Some will point out (and some have!) that I could have quite easily saved myself a lot of time, hassle, and lost earnings at this point by just quietly holding on to the extra Switch and saying nothing to Nintendo about it. It certainly would have saved me a lot of stress, but it was morally not something I’d ever consider. There is no room for morals/ethics when dealing with faceless mega-companies. You are not dealing with an individual here. Which individual would demand you to be home all day waiting for the courier for a mistake they made? What I would do is store the parcel away unopened for a few months to a year. If in the mean time somebody asks it back, they can have it, otherwise it would go to the trash.
- lifeformed 9y ago
  > otherwise it would go to the trash. You wouldn't open it and keep it?
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - noncoml 9y ago
    I wouldn’t feel comfortable with opening and keeping it. Maybe I would try to deliver it myself if the original recipient was reasonably close. I know it’s not the most right thing to do, what I suggested, but I really cannot waste my time with customer support. We are talking about the same companies that put you through the pain of bot-agents when you call them.
- tiglionabbit 9y ago
  You would throw a Nintendo Switch into the trash? That's so wasteful. Why not give it to a friend? Or to GoodWill?
  - noncoml 9y ago
    It wouldn’t feel right to open the package.
rrhd 9y ago
Does the UK not have consumer protections for delivery mistakes like this? Should have had every right to tell them to get fucked and keep the switch the second they threatened him. They sent it to him, they can eat the loss. if they don't want to then they can politely offer to get you a return shipping label and apologize for the trouble. This type of thing sounds about right for Nintendo.
ChuckMcM 9y ago
I had a similar situation with a development system. It was fairly expensive and was popular. When I ordered it from the vendor, in the middle of the order their server crashed. It came up about an hour later and I found my transaction sitting there in my shopping cart incomplete, so I went ahead and paid for it. Then two weeks later it showed up at my door and I was happy. Then the next day another one showed up with the exact same transaction id. I called the company and informed them, they offered a refund if I returned it. But I had only the one charge on my CC. Clearly they didn't have a path through their ordering systems that understood 'data corruption' as their root cause. The rep said just to keep it and if the CC got charged we could process a refund then. Nothing for 3 months and then a collection notice from a debt collector saying I hadn't paid for the development system. I sent back all my documentation, the receipt, the cc statement etc. And explained to them what had happened, but they said they didn't care. I had proved to them that I had satisfied the debt and they marked it 'retired'. I've still got it, in a box unopened. Sad really.
danaliv 9y ago
If the writer has records of his interactions with Nintendo, in particular his goodwill in returning the extra Switch, there isn't a judge on Earth who would take Nintendo's lawyers seriously on this.
shiftoutbox 9y ago
The op is clearly writing a paid article. No one in their right mind would ever believe the bunk spewed from a support person in this circumstance. So say you call company X’s customer support line and the result is the staffer saying we company X will take legal action against you the customer for company X’s mistake ? Never in a thousand years would I believe that statement from some random staffer nor would the staffer try to make such a claim due to the potential for their supervisors taking retribution against them for over stepping the bounds of their position. So al if that being said ; what’s the point of the article if you toss out the bullshit of my first toy was damaged and the vendor accidentally sent me two replacements? The point is look how cool this toy is . You know you want one; you should get one early like i did before everyone runs out to get one . It’s just a ploy to sell more crap and improve earnings. Let the products sell themselves. Fuck advertising, commercial psychology. Psychological methods to sell should be destroyed.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
aagha 9y ago
@headmelted deleted the story form Medium. I wonder what happened? Anyone have a mirror?
_salmon 9y ago
Looks like the author deleted it. Google cached version here: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:gq60itCI3WMJ:https://headmelted.com/i-bought-a-switch-from-nintendo-and-they-threatened-me-with-legal-action-6ea77b4f1eb9+ https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:gq60it...
anotheryou 9y ago
google cache: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https%3A%2F%2Fheadmelted.com%2Fi%2Dbought%2Da%2Dswitch%2Dfrom%2Dnintendo%2Dand%2Dthey%2Dthreatened%2Dme%2Dwith%2Dlegal%2Daction%2D6ea77b4f1eb9 https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https%...
citrusui 9y ago
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20171108150109/https://headmelted.com/i-bought-a-switch-from-nintendo-and-they-threatened-me-with-legal-action-6ea77b4f1eb9?gi=b394fb864c3a https://web.archive.org/web/20171108150109/https://headmelte...
WCityMike 9y ago
Mirror: https://web.archive.org/web/20171108150109/https://headmelted.com/i-bought-a-switch-from-nintendo-and-they-threatened-me-with-legal-action-6ea77b4f1eb9?gi=b394fb864c3a https://web.archive.org/web/20171108150109/https://headmelte...

408 points by headmelted 9y ago

How embarrassing (for Nintendo). As soon as someone threatens legal you just have to tell them you'll only be engaging via lawyers and you'll be seeking to recover your legal expenses from them once the situation is resolved.

Kurtz79 9y ago
A pity that multinational companies can usually afford much better lawyers than the average Joe. It's really not the same as threatening your neighbor with a "We'll see each other in court", for a parking lot dispute.
- hackerguy99 9y ago
  >A pity that multinational companies can usually afford much better lawyers than the average Joe. It's a $400 device, that is the extent of the damage; how much do you think they are willing to spend on their legal?
- jarym 9y ago
  Yea but a case like this doesn't need high-powered lawyers. Usually a high-street solicitor will write a letter outlining what's happened, objecting to the legal threat and asking for information on how to return the merchandise. All in all, it should cost ~£60.
  - cultvoid 9y ago
    £60 is a hell of a lot of money to buy nothing. He doesn't need to do any of that, just arrange to return the item and if Nintendo (or The Hut Group, which is sounds like) screw up the collection, it's their problem. Just keep records of all correspondence.
- denzil_correa 9y ago
  This itself is an interesting question. The foundations of the justice system talk about testing everyone equal in the eyes of law but somehow equal access to legal resources is never talked about. I think we need to think over this as a society. There are some countries like Germany where for people with low income the state pays money to hire a lawyer rather than providing a lawyer.
  - DougBTX 9y ago
    http://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/human-rights-institute/files/equal_access_to_justice_-_cerd_shadow_report.pdf http://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/h...
  - richardknop 9y ago
    But that is also problematic. What if you have an average income, are part of middle class and have normal job. Now according to this system you are not poor so state won't provide lawyer to you. But hiring a lawyer to represent you against some ridiculous lawsuit by company with huge bankroll and lawyer company on retainer will ruin a person like this. You might have to sell your house just to afford it or something similar and this would financially ruin you and your middle class family.
    - denzil_correa 9y ago
      > Now according to this system you are not poor so state won't provide lawyer to you. I never said that is system is perfect. You can create mechanisms where you look at incomes and look at percentage of fees to be paid to a lawyer. Similar to how fines are calculated in some countries. The larger point being made was the current system of representation of giving a public counsel definitely doesn't work. We need to move towards better systems.
      - richardknop 9y ago
        I agree. Also law firms used by companies have massive resources (thousands of employees) so a regular person can't fight against a machine like that even if he/she can afford to hire a single lawyer. The system needs to be changed from ground up to give people better options to defend themselves.
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  It's a bluff. Nintendo wouldn't involve lawyers over a Switch, it makes zero financial sense. What happened likely is some tech support drone made a threat, which the corporate never approved.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - sametmax 9y ago
    It make zero financial sense to send 3 switches. But here they are.
- notzorbo3 9y ago
  > A pity that multinational companies can usually afford much better lawyers than the average Joe. I'm always amazed at how afraid customers are of companies in the US/UK. Like this article, where they threaten legal action and make the customer responsible for being available to hand off the third Switch. As a customer in a western European country, I'd laugh straight in their face and wouldn't lose a second of sleep over threats like that. I may live in a country that has a weird and at times annoying obsession with rules and regulations, but when it comes to being a consumer, it's great.
  - icebraining 9y ago
    The UK is a western European country, and still part of the EU (and therefore bound to its regulations).
- CM30 9y ago
  Wouldn't a solution be either to: Force both parties to pool resources, and hire legal help from that pool and no others. So if a large company sues an individual or small one, it pays a large percentage of the latter's legal costs. Simply to ban private legal representation and have everyone represent themselves in court? I'm sure large companies would act a bit more nicely if any court case meant the CEO had to personally leave the office and fight it out in court.
  - TheAceOfHearts 9y ago
    It is my understanding that if you win a case, you can request that the other party pay for some legal fees, within reasonable degrees, of course. Banning private legal representation would be more likely to hurt everyday citizens, rather than CEOs. Large companies would just start to hire lawyers or equivalent as their CEOs. The law system is incredibly complex because our society is equally complex. This is why we train professionals for so many years, and expect them to take regular classes every year so their knowledge is kept up date. I think it would be interesting to review outcomes of cases where a regular person or small company challenged a large company, as well as the inverse. Just how much power do large multinational companies have? I'd also expect more leniency to be shown to individuals and smaller companies acting in good faith. As I understand it, intent is a large factor in many cases.
sundvor 9y ago
I'm hoping this blows up in Nintendo's faces; they forgot to treat and respect their customers as fellow human beings. The writer ought to be compensated for his wasted time thanks to their incompetence.
- headmelted 9y ago
  Thanks, I appreciate your comments today as I've been getting a little worried here that the traction this article is getting this morning is going to come back to bite me in the backside. Whether it's Nintendo or a UK-local entity they sub-contract (it's a bit unclear - either way the address is store.nintendo.co.uk and Nintendo-branded), the policies could use some work.
  - mirimir 9y ago
    It's a great post, and Nintendo does indeed owe you. But, at this point, I do recommend engaging counsel. As I understand it, truth is not a defense against slander under UK law. Edit: I meant "libel", not "slander". Also, I was wrong about truth not being a defense. It's just that you need to prove the claims.
    - mpclark 9y ago
      > truth is not a defense against slander under UK law. It most certainly is. Defence #1, in fact.
    - matthewheath 9y ago
      It is a complete defence, but the burden of proof rests on the defendant.
      - mirimir 9y ago
        Yes, that's what I meant. Under US law, the burden of proof rests on the plaintiff.
    - tehwalrus 9y ago
wbhart 9y ago
My understanding (IANAL) is, that's not the best strategy. If you have a complaint against a company, it is often the case that the company has an internal complaints procedure (usually a simple 9 step affair that only takes a year or two of constant, vigilant effort). If you don't follow it, you might actually find it very difficult to recover expenses for hastily employed legal services. You always have to ask yourself, who will most enjoy/benefit from/be able to afford engaging lawyers, you or the company's legal department?
dudul 9y ago
Would it be a better alternative to threaten to take it to Twitter or to specialized press? I've never done it, but I observed that contacting customer service on Twitter is usually very effective.
- CM30 9y ago
  Specialised press would probably work well. Send the story to a few gaming news sites, post it on some Nintendo subreddits and the guy's situation may improve at least a bit.
- TheAceOfHearts 9y ago
  Companies don't like it when you air out their dirty laundry. I'd say being able to speak openly about a company is one of the few ways regular people have a chance of standing up to multinational corporations.
- beerbaron23 9y ago
  Very much so, in all the call centers I've worked in there was no "complaints department" we are just told to listen to the customer, relate with their concerns and tell them it will be "reviewed" by another department. In reality, it goes absolutely no where. Even if I 100% agreed with your complaint, I have no place to record it or know who it's supposed to go to to get further up the ladder. Some managers will accept your complaint, put it on their desk, then throw it out. If you been employed long enough the managers wont even accept it, cause honestly I don't think they have anyone to pass it up the chain to that would actually accept it. Best way to go is social media, companies have "Social Media Experts" that are employed solely for online damage control. Another way to get something done is by sending a plain snail mail letter addressed to someone high-up at the company in question. You have to figure that out yourself as if you call the call center, the reps are never allowed to give out that information or they are told to tell you a fake address/fake person or the general C/O Complaints Department. Those go to no one at all and directly to the garbage. Now if you successfully send a written complaint letter to someone high up, everyone knows about it, cause the internal police come to investigate if anyone at the call center gave out that information (It's a huge deal and grounds to be fired). Another thing, youtube clips, if you are recording and posting on youtube your conversation with a rep, the company has a team to watch for that stuff. Once they find you doing that, you then become a "Flagged Customer" and we prepare while we leave you on hold, get one of the better reps available and have 2-3 other managers listening in on the line guiding the rep through the call step by step.
supergirl 9y ago
yeah, I'm sure Nintendo would be scared of losing some pocket change battling one guy and his budget lawyer.
totalZero 9y ago
Interesting suggestion. Have you tried this? What were the results?
wodenokoto 9y ago
I dont "have a lawyer", and am not sure what people mean with "my" in phrases such as "talk to my lawyer". In the situation you describe, how would I go about finding a lawyer to receive communication and how much would it cost me out of pocket to simply be allowed to use their name and address when telling nintendo "talk with these guys, their my lawyers"

Klathmon 9y ago

I'm no lawyer, but at least in the US I was under the impression that once something has been mailed to you, it's yours. A company cannot send you something then require payment or for you to return it.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Depllo 9y ago
https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-rights/can-i-keep-goods-delivered-to-me-by-mistake https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-righ... Mistakenly delivered goods are not unsolicited.
- justherefortart 9y ago
  I had to explain this to some friends. They can sue you for unfair enrichment. This is to keep places from sending you things intentionally then trying to bill you. Plus, have some friggin morals/values/ethics.
kissickas 9y ago
Looks like you're right. >Q. Am I obligated to return or pay for merchandise I never ordered? >A. No. If you receive merchandise that you didn’t order, you have a legal right to keep it as a free gift. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan...
- bencollier49 9y ago
  I don't think the FTC cover the UK.
  - mathgeek 9y ago
    It took ten seconds to Google the UK equivalent, and it seems to be the same rule. Unsolicited goods, which are defined the same as the FTC' s definition, seem to be treated the same: https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-rights/can-i-keep-goods-delivered-to-me-by-mistake https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-righ...

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

kakarot 9y ago

Looks like you got yourself a free Switch. Enjoy it, and if your other Switch is in good condition, offer it to your son or a friend. If Nintendo threatens further legal action, take your lawyer out to dinner and spend the evening laughing over it.

headmelted 9y ago
I perhaps should have done, instead I took the threat seriously and took the day off work to await the courier (who collected the Switch). So I'm down another day's income, and honestly starting to feel like a bit of a mug given the responses here.
- cultvoid 9y ago
  You're not a mug, you've an honest person treated badly by an incompetent company. You would be a mug if you dealt with them again ;-) Don't be surprised if you haven't heard the end of it. They might well lose the item and then attack you again. If that happens, do not waste any more time or money on them.
- midnightmonster 9y ago
  I would have notified them, too, and have done similar in the past. Amazon botched initial delivery of a $500 item, then sent a new one, but both eventually arrived. I called back and they thanked me and emailed me a shipping label and instructions that gave me weeks to get it done.
- sigi45 9y ago
  In worst case, you are not doing it for nintendo but for yourself. Anyway i would have told them that i will send the switch back but it is not possible to stay at home.
- majikandy 9y ago
  Don’t be silly, you are honest and ethical and that counts for a lot more!
dagw 9y ago

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

harry8 9y ago

One, as far as we know, isolated logistics problem with some ill-trained phone operators not solving it gracefully is the claim. What am I missing that makes this story more interesting than that? Is it just because Nintendo? Or is it exactly this interesting if it were the same story but the product plumbing supplies?

oneeyedpigeon 9y ago
I think it raises some interesting questions about fulfilment, customer support, and what companies should be responsible for in these days of increasing home-delivery. I've also had problems with terrible couriers (haven't we all?) and, at least here in the UK, there are plenty of potential improvements to make. Should Nintendo be selling this direct at all? Is it really still worth the cost of whatever systems need to be in place to achieve it? Anecdotally, I received my Switch in the post in perfect condition, via Amazon.
cultvoid 9y ago
If it is The Hut Group behind this, then they have a track record of this kind of cock up (re the Zavvi article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25330615 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25330615).

ajeet_dhaliwal 9y ago

I didn't even know you could order from Nintendo directly in the UK, I think they'd be wise to shut this down entirely and work through their retail partners. Just imagine how little resources Nintendo puts into the retail aspect of their operations in the UK. Clearly they can't even train people to do customer service properly without threatening legal action. I understand the sentiment to want to support Nintendo but I am not entirely surprised this happened, it takes hard work to run a well functioning shop/store online or otherwise.

headmelted 9y ago
Having looked into it further it looks like at least part of their operation is being managed by The Hut Group - from some contact info - and I found this surprisingly similar link from four years ago. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25330615 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25330615 Hard to say really to what extent there is overlap here. Honestly I'm now starting to wonder if I should pull the article - getting it read is good, but this is more attention than I expected and I'm getting a little nervous of what'll happen next now. :-S
- cultvoid 9y ago
  Don't be daft. Leave it up. As long as the article is truthful, what's the problem? Their appalling treatment of an honest customer should be exposed. I do think you're totally overthinking this. They made the initial mistake, they need to correct it and at their expense. They can't do anything to you. Make a "best effort" to return the item and no more. Keep a log of all your correspondence. Don't waste any more than a minimal amount of time on this, certainly don't take days off work etc to wait for couriers.
  - headmelted 9y ago
    Thanks! I already have taken the day off work, and the courier has now collected the Switch - so the hope at least is that I'm now done with it, albeit out-of-pocket.
- 9y ago

stupidcar 9y ago

I have never, ever dealt with any above mid-sized company that handles customer service and delivery well. There seems to be a set of standardised industry practices that are completely and utterly customer hostile. The moment regular company employees stop dealing with customer issues, delivery, etc., and hands it over to "specialists", it's basically a crap shoot whether you can get any issue resolved at all, because the systems they put in place make it nearly impossible. For example: A courier claims they called at your house and got no answer, even though you were in and they didn't. You call customer services, but they have no way at all to contact the courier and tell them to go back and try again. Even if they're only two minutes down the road. The system deliberately puts a firewall between the reps and the delivery infrastructure, because any kind of ad-hoc action to resolve customer issues interferes with the logistics planning for the day's deliveries. All the rep can do is rearrange delivery for the subsequent day, whereupon the problem often repeats itself, but this time with a different courier, and a different rep. I had this process repeat several times, over a period of weeks, until simply cancelled an order completely (one worth hundreds of pounds to the vendor). I do wonder if higher level managers realise that delivery departments are optimising purely to make things easy for themselves, and what that's potentially worth in terms of wasted effort, lost orders and customer hostility. I guess they probably don't care, because it still saves them money on aggregate.

petercooper 9y ago
I have never, ever dealt with any above mid-sized company that handles customer service and delivery well. I have. Amazon. Over 15 years now and flawless every time.
- aaron-lebo 9y ago
  That's because they fuck over their sellers. I tried to sell a modem which I had previously purchased through Amazon. The modem came both as a bundle and by itself. I listed it correctly as purchasing the modem only, listed it "like new" (when really it was basically new, not removed from the box). It was actually the lowest price you could get it used. Someone bought it, shipped it to them faster than necessary. About a week later I got a notice from him saying that he wanted a refund because he had thought that he was getting the bundle (not just the modem as it was listed). Why they thought they were getting the bundle like new for that price is beyond me, but whatever. I rejected the refund because it was their mistake and it would have been too much work to be worth it. Sensible, yeah? They initiated a claim against my account and Amazon withdrew the money (it was actually great timing - overdraft). The claim said the the item condition was wrong (it was not). You are able to contest any claim like that so I took the time to explain what had happened and why the issue wasn't even about the item's condition. I don't know if they just didn't bother reading it or if all responses are handled with robots because I get a very superficial answer that didn't even acknowledge what had happened. I repeated the process in order to try to talk to another person, wrote up another account of what happened (including the new non response), and got the same kind of non-response (you must list items under the correct condition, blah, blah, blah) from a different rep. Basically, they just didn't bother answering me. I'd already wasted way more time than necessary on what I thought was gonna be a little extra cash, so now some dude in Minnesota got my modem for free, and I got an overdraft for my trouble. That's a cool trick. Got no clue what's going on over there but I'll never sell anything there again if I can avoid it. Worst customer experience ever.

cvsh 9y ago

This is dumb on the part of everyone involved. No, you are not taking the moral high ground by calling Nintendo customer service and initiating a back-and-forth on what to do with the mistakenly-delivered extra product. In fact, you are probably costing Nintendo more money than the second Switch is worth by doing so. There is no reason, ever, unless the cost of the item is extremely high, to initiate a conversation with customer service when you are mistakenly delivered extra goods. The company will take inventory and notice that that it was mistakenly sent. If they don't contact you about it, it's because they want you to keep it because a cost-benefit analysis on their part does not warrant getting in contact with you over it.

ajeet_dhaliwal 9y ago
I disagree, there's no code about this that everyone knows about. I think he did the right thing by contacting them. They did the wrong thing, obviously they should just let him keep it but some cheapskate customer service rep decided 'no we must have this thing back' and ridiculously decided threatening legal action was a good idea.
raverbashing 9y ago
> There is no reason, ever There are Ethical reasons But I've heard of people contacting support for a vendor to hear "thanks for letting us know, you can keep the item" which should have probably been Nintendo's stance in this issue
wccrawford 9y ago
No, they didn't "[cost] Nintendo more money than the second Switch is worth". Nintendo could just have said, "Keep it" and only been out the cost of a support call, which is necessarily less than the cost of a Switch. Nintendo is the one in the wrong here. The customer wouldn't have been wrong to do nothing and keep it, but calling them and admitting the mistake is definitely the moral high-road here. It may not be the smartest thing, but that's different.
cr1895 9y ago
>There is no reason, ever, unless the cost of the item is extremely high, to initiate a conversation with customer service when you are mistakenly delivered extra goods. Why does it suddenly matter if the cost was arbitrarily high? He received something he hadn't paid for in error. Seems like the decent thing to do is at least make an attempt to correct the issue. Maybe the error-sent package was meant for someone else. Maybe they say don't worry about it. But to make an attempt is dumb, and you deserve the thing sent in error? Good grief. What if someone erroneously deposits $1000 into your bank account? Is that yours to keep? Is it dumb to try to rectify the situation?

z3t4 9y ago

When in a contract like this, where you paid for one unit but was sent two units, always be honest about it. Look at it the other way around, what if you paid double by accident ?

fapjacks 9y ago
Is this huge corporation going to look you in the eye, tell you that you've over/double paid, and then return the overpayment with a handshake? Or are they even going to notice? I'm not saying be dishonest about it, but let's not pretend this enormous business is going to take the initiative to make things right. They'll keep your money unless you make the call.

esistgut 9y ago

Nintendo customer support in Europe is known to be quite bad. I am a day one customer for the Switch, the controller has a defective antenna (it is a well known hardware bug) but sending it back would mean to lose a lot of time with the italian customer support and in the end have all my system data wiped out. I'll just wait for them to enable cloud savegames, buy a second Switch and sell back my current one to a retailer like Gamestop.

pawelkomarnicki 9y ago

I had a bad experience with Nintendo Germany, when they fucked up my New Nintendo 3DS Ambassador package address, and it took over 2 weeks to find out what is happening with the item I paid for... Never again buying directly from Nintendo again, learned my lesson.

Cthulhu_ 9y ago

Sounds like they're really not used to people actually ordering from their site directly. I can imagine the prices are the suggested retail prices, which no retailer will actually end up charging.

headmelted 9y ago
To be fair, their prices were quite good - and they offered a two year warranty - which surprised me. Although yes, in retrospect I'll default back to Amazon in future.
manarth 9y ago
> can imagine the prices are the suggested retail prices, > which no retailer will actually end up charging. I bought my Switch directly from Nintendo (well, sounds like it's actually via the Hut Group), and paid the RRP with free delivery. I didn't see any mainstream retailer (Amazon, Toys'r'Us, Tesco, etc) charging differently though. I can't imagine mainstream retailers either price-gouging or discounting, unless a product's reaching its end of life or about to be superceded.

madshiva 9y ago

Like @bufferoverflow say it's totally bluff. We had all to deal with this kind of small little problem. Why are you crying like a SJW for a Switch? seriously? grow a little. You just waste your time.

signet 9y ago
What eloquent commentary /s Can someone ban this bozo?
- madshiva 9y ago
  ban for what? telling the true? Nice. edit: 1) I don't think the priority of life is getting a switch for these Kid at Christmas. 2)I don't think he had to call and waste his time for then complaining. 3)We have all at once the same problem but did had written an article about it, because it's useless. When I had the problem, the same day I had my package, because I directly go to the DHL post office get my package. Done. Strict to the point. Same with UPS.

throwaway613834 9y ago

Would any court rule in their favor? Is there any reason to worry in such a case?

marcoperaza 9y ago

Since there seems to be a lot of confusion about the legalities involved, with some people suggesting he should have just kept it and said nothing, I did some research. In the UK, you have a legal duty to return it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/30294748/can-you-keep-stuff-delivered-by-mistake http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/30294748/can-you-keep-... The only exception is completely unsolicited goods, which you can keep. Double shipments must be returned. This doesn’t change the fact that Nintendo was rather rude if the author’s characterization is accurate. >Items that firms send to you, but you didn't actually order are called "unsolicited goods". You're well within your rights to keep them. You have no obligation to send them back to the company or to pay for them. If a company demands payment, that's a criminal offence. But this doesn't apply to items sent to you by mistake (as happened to Robert); if the order was sent to you twice; or if there's extra stuff on top of what you ordered. If a firm has left goods with you that weren't unsolicited goods, they still belong to the trader and you should try to give them back. Firms can take you to court to recover their goods. The situation is different in the US, you are allowed to keep all "unordered merchandise" and have no obligation whatsoever to pay or return. No distinction is made between completely unsolicited and double shipments. A legal argument could be made that a double shipment is not "unordered merchandise." I didn't find anything on the legal databases or Google, other than newspaper columnists opining that double shipments are "unordered". US statute in question: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/3009 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/3009 FTC commentary: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan...

apostacy 9y ago

Some will point out (and some have!) that I could have quite easily saved myself a lot of time, hassle, and lost earnings at this point by just quietly holding on to the extra Switch and saying nothing to Nintendo about it. It certainly would have saved me a lot of stress, but it was morally not something I’d ever consider. That's his mistake right there. He was under no moral obligation to fix Nintendo's mistake for them. Nintendo had made a string of mistakes up to this point, and one of their mistakes was in his favor. If you truly have a guilty conscience, then just throw the extra package out, because it is abandoned property. I've had this happen occasionally. Just know that you are not responsible for stuff like this. My Dad had a similar experience, where spent weeks trying to get a company to honor a warranty, and in the end they sent him two replacement hard drives instead of one. I actually interpret this as a kind of karma. Sometimes good things land in your lap, don't reject them.

wbhart 9y ago
Quite often the reason for receiving two items is that the first got stuck somewhere in transit, the customer complained so the company sent out a second item, and eventually both turn up. It seems reasonable under those circumstances for the company to ask for the second one back (politely of course, threatening the customer is never right).
- apostacy 9y ago
  I disagree. The company is now imposing on you for something that is absolutely not your responsibility. They have money set aside for losses like this. It sounds like Nintendo should ask the courier company to fix things, not you. In a way, he is also a victim of the courier company's bad service, except that the mistake was in his favor. And also, think about what that implies. How far are you supposed to go if they screw up? What if they do it again, with something more valuable? You can't apply human morality to large corporations. If someone on Etsy or Ebay made a mistake like that, then yes of course you should ship it back. But corporations of that size are just systems. They will not be hurt or offended if you don't return it, and they won't be gracious if you do.

ta11092017 9y ago

Back in 2014, https://store.nintendo.co.uk/ https://store.nintendo.co.uk/ was managed by The Hut Group. Not sure whether they also manage shipping, customer support, etc, or just rent out the web site, could be either way. Looking at URLs and everything else, that still seems to be the case. So not sure which company is to be blamed here. Source: used to work for The Hut Group.

noonespecial 9y ago

Don't know how it is in UK but in the USA no one is allowed to send you stuff unsolicited that pushes some obligation onto you. Even an obligation to return a shipping error to them. You probably got a free Switch. And with their subsequent behaviour, a well deserved one.

MatthewWilkes 9y ago
In the UK that only applies to unsolicited goods, not to genuine errors. So, if Nintendo were to send you a switch and then ask you to pay for it, sure, you can ignore the demand. If you buy a switch from Nintendo and they send you two you have no right to keep the second (or third, in this case). That said, if the seller makes a mistake then they need to rectify it entirely, they can't demand you wait around for a courier at an inconvenient time or get you to pay for postage.
jads 9y ago
Prefacing this with IANAL. US seems to just have a more broad term for goods delivered that you didn't order and refers to it as "unordered merchandise"[1]. You're pretty much free to keep it, it seems. The UK is more specific for what is classified as "unsolicited" and what is considered goods delivered to someone else by mistake[2]. Companies have a right to get their product back if it's the latter. Since the author did order a switch, a duplicate delivery would very likely be considered a mistake. If the author never ordered a Switch (and never paid for it) in the first place, they'd definitely be able to keep it. Regardless, if this is the way Nintendo asked for the second Switch back, they were completely out of line. [1] https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan... [2] https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-rights/can-i-keep-goods-delivered-to-me-by-mistake https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-righ...
GuB-42 9y ago
In France, you don't get the free stuff. You have to give it back if the owner comes home to get it. You are not required to do anything else. You also have to notify the sender if it is a honest mistake. If it is accompanied by a request for payment, this is a penal offense. If the law is similar in the UK, Nintendo is mostly in the right. However, I don't think they have the right to ask the guy to be at home at a time of their choice. Most countries have laws regarding that practice, but the details can be very different.

jccalhoun 9y ago

>I ordered the Switch on October 16th from Nintendo’s UK online store. I wanted to buy direct primarily to support Nintendo This seems like an odd impulse to me. It isn't like Nintendo is some small mom and pop business or even that they are struggling.

ForRealsies 9y ago
Mom and pop business compared to Amazon, and less seedy than GameStop.
gambiting 9y ago
Yep. And it's a bad decision too, it's just against your best interest as a customer. With Amazon, I know that if there's absolutely ANY issue with my order they will issue a full refund and/or send a replacement within 5 minutes of talking to them over the phone or using the live chat. It will be bumped up to free allocated time delivery or even delivered with Prime Now if available. I work at a games studio so we have few people ordering from Nintendo UK website all the time - and boy, there's loads of horror stories about deliveries and their customer service, I don't know why you'd order anything directly from them instead of Amazon or Argos or even(gasp!) Game.
- headmelted 9y ago
  I'm glad to hear that my experience doesn't seem to be unique, and I'll know for future reference. I genuinely do think they're a great company, it's just a really unfortunate turn of events that should probably have been avoidable.
oh_sigh 9y ago
Also, the terms of deals for retail placement may be very sweet to Nintendo, because they know it sells like hotcakes. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if stores were getting 0 margin on the switch itself
- astura 9y ago
  I wouldn't even be surprised if Nintendo is just outsourcing its "direct retail" operation to a third party retailer who takes a larger commission than the resellers. I mean, Nintendo (clearly) isn't in the retail business so it would make sense to outsource it rather than build that infrastructure from scratch. There's not much of a reason to believe buying from the Nintendo store has higher margins for Nintendo than buying from a retailer.

dis-sys 9y ago

I am super happy for the courier services available in Shanghai. What I experienced in the last 12 months is just shockingly good. 1. I can order whatever I want from any restaurant I like using some apps, someone is going to show up in front of my door within one hour to have it delivered. The cost is close to 2 metro tickets. 2. I don't need to go grocery shopping, courier guys do that for me, e.g. want to buy 2L of milk from your favourite 24 hours convenience store at 11pm? it is just a few clicks away, 1-2 hours delivery. 3. I can send 1kg stuff to Beijing (1000km away) in 12-18 hours for $4-5, door to door service, everything included. courier guy may not show up? that is news here. You can track where is your assigned courier guys in apps, it is GPS based. One bad review is going to cause big trouble for the guy. Companies like jd.com also has pretty cool features in their apps to tip the courier guy you like, you can offer cash/free drinks to those who provide good services to you. not impressive enough? jd.com requests all their courier guys to dump your rubbish after delivering your stuff, just be nice and ask (in Chinese of course) "could you please take those two bags of rubbish to the bins downstairs for me?"

oh_sigh 9y ago

I don't know about the UK but in the US it is illegal for a company to sue or threaten you to return a package that they shipped to you if you didn't request it. This is to prevent mail fraud along the lines of - I send you a widget you never ordered and a bill for $20. You now either have to pay the bill, or spend time/money shipping the package back.

rjmunro 9y ago

As you are a freelancer, you could easily send them an invoice for the lost time at your normal rate. They will probably pay it without querying.

uptown 9y ago
On what fantasy planet does this work?
richardknop 9y ago
Lol good luck with that. You would just waste more money and time doing this. What I recommend if you are a freelancer / contractor is to just let them know that you cannot take a day off to wait for their courier as you don't have vacation and are not paid unless you work (so that would incur financial loss to you). So inform them to arrange a courier to come pick up the item at a specific time convenient to you (Saturday from 10am to 5pm or Mon-Thu 7pm-10pm) and it's their headache now. They have to work around your schedule without inconveniencing you.

StreamBright 9y ago

This is why I buy these sort of things from Amazon.

mannykannot 9y ago

Customer service is an expense, so they want to train us to not even think of trying it. They will also give you a Hobson's choice over arbitration to dissuade you from trying small-claims court (though that may not hold up, at least for now, in some jurisdictions.)

MrDosu 9y ago

In my personal experience it can be quite futile in general to deal with customer support. My goto solution is to contact the public relations people instead with the same issue and it usually gets resolved very quickly...

devin 9y ago

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan... Q. Am I obligated to return or pay for merchandise I never ordered? A. No. If you receive merchandise that you didn’t order, you have a legal right to keep it as a free gift.

wirelessest 9y ago
Not all Americans agree, but your laws only apply to your country.
dahart 9y ago
Interesting! I didn't know this. Unfortunately in this case the buyer is in the UK, so FTC rules don't apply to him. I hope they have a similar consumer protection rule.
- zimpenfish 9y ago
  http://www.thecomplainingcow.co.uk/all-you-need-to-know-about-unsolicited-goods/ http://www.thecomplainingcow.co.uk/all-you-need-to-know-abou... You don't have to send unsolicited goods back or even notify the sender. But duplicate orders don't count as "unsolicited" and should be returned - however "there should be no cost or inconvenience to you" which is where Nintendo fail badly here.
  - craftyguy 9y ago
    > "there should be no cost or inconvenience to you" Cool, so OP could take Nintendo to court to recover lost wages!

rasz 9y ago

>It didn’t take long to arrive — but when it did, I noticed some damage to the outside of the packaging Author signed off on a visibly destroyed package. This is where support stops in my country(also EU). Standard procedure is to either refuse damaged package, or open with courier as a witness and make damage protocol, documented with pictures. The fact Nintendo agreed to replace it on faith alone is quite good, pestering them with phone calls all week combined with fact they somehow send two units probably flagged him as a potential fraud.

burntsushi 9y ago
The author doesn't say they signed off on it though. Where I live, I never sign off on anything. UPS just leaves it outside.
- rasz 9y ago
  He did, you cant receive mailed packages without signature in UK. Dropping valuables on a porch is very alien concept to Europeans.
zifnab06 9y ago
This doesn't always work. Mail at my apartment gets delivered to a mail room. I have never been given a package directly. I had a purchase show up damaged once and I had no option to refuse delivery (the company replaced it though)
scott_karana 9y ago
Damage isn't always apparent, and package drop offs don't always happen when you're home.

ajmurmann 9y ago

Taleb describes how antifragile systems need to provide enough leeway for people on the ground to actually make decisions. Otherwise you can't react to unforeseen events and things go sideways. Delivery companies and support departments of large companies seem to have built a incredibly fragile system that can't even deal with frequently occurring anomalies. Reading some of the comments here those anomalies even seem to include things like red lights and bad weather. It seems to be a consistent pattern that reaching out via social media or directly to leadership is what yields the best results for the same reason the system is so fragile.

patcheudor 9y ago

In the US and if through USPS, if a package is shipped and delivered, the person receiving the package now owns it and is under no obligation whatsoever to return it. It's literally 'finders keepers': "By law, unsolicited merchandise is yours to keep." You solicited one, they delivered more than one. Not your problem. Note that this is for USPS. I'm not sure it holds up for private carriers. http://about.usps.com/publications/pub300a/pub300a_tech_021.htm http://about.usps.com/publications/pub300a/pub300a_tech_021....

noncoml 9y ago

> Some will point out (and some have!) that I could have quite easily saved myself a lot of time, hassle, and lost earnings at this point by just quietly holding on to the extra Switch and saying nothing to Nintendo about it. It certainly would have saved me a lot of stress, but it was morally not something I’d ever consider. There is no room for morals/ethics when dealing with faceless mega-companies. You are not dealing with an individual here. Which individual would demand you to be home all day waiting for the courier for a mistake they made? What I would do is store the parcel away unopened for a few months to a year. If in the mean time somebody asks it back, they can have it, otherwise it would go to the trash.

lifeformed 9y ago
> otherwise it would go to the trash. You wouldn't open it and keep it?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- noncoml 9y ago
  I wouldn’t feel comfortable with opening and keeping it. Maybe I would try to deliver it myself if the original recipient was reasonably close. I know it’s not the most right thing to do, what I suggested, but I really cannot waste my time with customer support. We are talking about the same companies that put you through the pain of bot-agents when you call them.
tiglionabbit 9y ago
You would throw a Nintendo Switch into the trash? That's so wasteful. Why not give it to a friend? Or to GoodWill?
- noncoml 9y ago
  It wouldn’t feel right to open the package.

rrhd 9y ago

Does the UK not have consumer protections for delivery mistakes like this? Should have had every right to tell them to get fucked and keep the switch the second they threatened him. They sent it to him, they can eat the loss. if they don't want to then they can politely offer to get you a return shipping label and apologize for the trouble. This type of thing sounds about right for Nintendo.

ChuckMcM 9y ago

I had a similar situation with a development system. It was fairly expensive and was popular. When I ordered it from the vendor, in the middle of the order their server crashed. It came up about an hour later and I found my transaction sitting there in my shopping cart incomplete, so I went ahead and paid for it. Then two weeks later it showed up at my door and I was happy. Then the next day another one showed up with the exact same transaction id. I called the company and informed them, they offered a refund if I returned it. But I had only the one charge on my CC. Clearly they didn't have a path through their ordering systems that understood 'data corruption' as their root cause. The rep said just to keep it and if the CC got charged we could process a refund then. Nothing for 3 months and then a collection notice from a debt collector saying I hadn't paid for the development system. I sent back all my documentation, the receipt, the cc statement etc. And explained to them what had happened, but they said they didn't care. I had proved to them that I had satisfied the debt and they marked it 'retired'. I've still got it, in a box unopened. Sad really.

danaliv 9y ago

If the writer has records of his interactions with Nintendo, in particular his goodwill in returning the extra Switch, there isn't a judge on Earth who would take Nintendo's lawyers seriously on this.

shiftoutbox 9y ago

The op is clearly writing a paid article. No one in their right mind would ever believe the bunk spewed from a support person in this circumstance. So say you call company X’s customer support line and the result is the staffer saying we company X will take legal action against you the customer for company X’s mistake ? Never in a thousand years would I believe that statement from some random staffer nor would the staffer try to make such a claim due to the potential for their supervisors taking retribution against them for over stepping the bounds of their position. So al if that being said ; what’s the point of the article if you toss out the bullshit of my first toy was damaged and the vendor accidentally sent me two replacements? The point is look how cool this toy is . You know you want one; you should get one early like i did before everyone runs out to get one . It’s just a ploy to sell more crap and improve earnings. Let the products sell themselves. Fuck advertising, commercial psychology. Psychological methods to sell should be destroyed.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

aagha 9y ago

@headmelted deleted the story form Medium. I wonder what happened? Anyone have a mirror?

_salmon 9y ago

Looks like the author deleted it. Google cached version here: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:gq60itCI3WMJ:https://headmelted.com/i-bought-a-switch-from-nintendo-and-they-threatened-me-with-legal-action-6ea77b4f1eb9+ https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:gq60it...

anotheryou 9y ago

google cache: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https%3A%2F%2Fheadmelted.com%2Fi%2Dbought%2Da%2Dswitch%2Dfrom%2Dnintendo%2Dand%2Dthey%2Dthreatened%2Dme%2Dwith%2Dlegal%2Daction%2D6ea77b4f1eb9 https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https%...

citrusui 9y ago

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20171108150109/https://headmelted.com/i-bought-a-switch-from-nintendo-and-they-threatened-me-with-legal-action-6ea77b4f1eb9?gi=b394fb864c3a https://web.archive.org/web/20171108150109/https://headmelte...

WCityMike 9y ago

Mirror: https://web.archive.org/web/20171108150109/https://headmelted.com/i-bought-a-switch-from-nintendo-and-they-threatened-me-with-legal-action-6ea77b4f1eb9?gi=b394fb864c3a https://web.archive.org/web/20171108150109/https://headmelte...