Not one but two stories of Amazon screwing its customers have been reported in the past week and both customers happen to have purchased top-tier GeForce RTX 3090 (Ti) graphics cards from the retail outlet but got something completely different, one didn't even get a graphics card within the box but instead got SAND.
Amazon Customers Get Played With, One Gets RTX 3070 Instead of RTX 3090, Another Find Sand Within RTX 3090 Ti Box
Amazon customer, Mauricio Takeda, from Brazil, posted a TikTok showing how his purchase of an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card turned into something entirely different. Now we have seen buyers receiving a different graphics card before but Mauricio didn't even get anything close to resembling a graphics card, In fact, all he got was a few jars and a container filled with sand!
As Videocardz notes, Mauricio paid 14,500 RBL which converts to $2,637 US for the Palit GeForce RTX 3090 Ti GameRock variant. Now, this isn't actually a good price considering that the RTX 3090 graphics cards are down in the $999-$1499 US range but this price includes the Brazilian VAT so maybe it was a good deal for him.
@maurisousa_ Comprei uma placa de vídeo e recebi potes de areia da @amazon ♬ som original - MauriSousa_
Upon receiving the package, Mauricio found out that there was something off with the package & asked his wife to record his unboxing video to keep it as proof to show Amazon in case something went wrong and that it did. The graphics card box was full of sand as mentioned above & the buyer quickly uploaded the video to TikTok. Contacting Amazon Support didn't do much as the vendor provided him a link to remove his Amazon account which seems bizarre considering the order was fulfilled primarily by Amazon. Since contacting Amazon didn't help, Mauricio went into consumer court and filed a lawsuit which eventually made it to national headlines and since then, Amazon has started to address the issue.
It is always a good idea to keep some evidence in the form of videos or pictures if you find that something is fishy with your package. It is to provide proof to Amazon or any other retailer that your package was counterfeited prior to you open it. There are several cases when scammers return a different product in packages and claim a full refund from retailers without them checking what's really in the package. For example, a scammer may buy an RTX 3090 Ti but put an RTX 3060 Ti inside the package and ask for a complete refund. Amazon may give him the full refund but some times, these reclaims will go unchecked and put on the site for sale again without knowing the exact nature of the goods inside.
The second customer to get screwed over by Amazon is Patrick J Kennedy from ServerTheHome. Patrick recently bought a new EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 (Amazon Seller) and while he got the same package for the card he purchased, the graphics card within was an entirely different model. The graphics card Patrick received from Amazon was an RTX 3070.
Scammed by Amazon. Bought a new @TEAMEVGA @NVIDIA RTX 3090 (Amazon seller.) It arrived. Box seals broken. Inside was a RTX 3070. 🙁 pic.twitter.com/ECMyn0eEfP
— Patrick J Kennedy (@Patrick1Kennedy) July 21, 2022
It is mentioned that both of the above orders were made during the Amazon Prime Day sales. So users should vary of such deals as they can be scammed easily even if they're buying through official channels. And getting a replacement or refund, as you can see above, is just as difficult which shouldn't be the case at all.
News Source: Hardware.com.br
