It’s March 4th approximately 6:40 am at the time I am writing this. The Nintendo Switch just had a glorious launch, people are enjoying it, some aren’t, mostly everyone I’ve heard loves and is in awe of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This is all great for Nintendo trying to revive their brand and move into the future. But there was a major issue that left countless gamers a more bitter taste in their mouths than tasting the cartridges they cant even touch or know where the hell they are thanks to Amazon. Me included.
January 13th 2017 at around 1 am I placed my Nintendo Switch pre-order. I then placed an order for Zelda: Breath of the Wild separately just in case one got delayed I’d be able to get the other and gawk at it without being too upset. Fast forward to March 1st, I checked the status and it said preparing shipment on both orders. SWITCH HYYYPE!! I assumed everything was in order. Wake up March 2nd..Still in ‘Preparing Shipment’. I was a little worried. I know the distribution center isn’t too far away so I wasn’t too worried that I wouldn’t get it on launch day. In fact when I ordered Fallout 4 Collectors Edition on PC it actually came a day early. Eh, so what I couldn’t get it a day early. I really wanted to do an unboxing for everyone and stream it a day early, eh I’d be behind in the unboxing game but oh well right? Checked later that night on the 2nd…still ‘Preparing Shipment’ over 24 hours of getting at least one box together? I was getting a little upset. Everyone told me eh it’s Amazon they’ll get it to you. Queue, March 3rd. I wake up, same status. Ok what the fuck. I get to work, and there is an update! ‘Shipping Today – Arriving by 8 pm’ Ok here there is some hope. But wait…no tracking number. Ok, now I just have to ask. Is there a technical issue? Maybe it was already shipped and not updated? I hopped onto their chat. I was promised it would be there at 8 pm. Asked if they could see what distribution center it would come from. They didn’t know. No information besides a promise of 8 pm and that I would get an email update. 4 pm comes around and no update whatsoever. I get back into chat trying to figure out whats going on. This is what I get:
04:18 PM PST Rekha:
04:19 PM PST Jason Germino:
04:21 PM PST Rekha:
04:22 PM PST Jason Germino:
04:23 PM PST Rekha:
Ok. Now I have that sinking feeling that I’m not going to get it. The jokes around the GameOctane chat kind of stop. It’s no longer funny. I keep getting asked for updates and ‘what I’m going to do’. 8:40 pm rolls around. I get an update. The package is shipped and I can expect it from March 3rd to March 7th. What?…WHAT?! I had to put my kid to bed before I hopped back on with Amazon because he needed some sleep. Here is that chat transcript:
09:34 PM PST Marlyn(Amazon):
09:34 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:35 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:35 PM PST Marlyn:
09:35 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:36 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:36 PM PST Marlyn:
09:37 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:37 PM PST Marlyn:
09:40 PM PST Marlyn:
09:40 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:41 PM PST Marlyn:
09:41 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:41 PM PST Marlyn:
09:41 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:42 PM PST Marlyn:
09:42 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:43 PM PST Marlyn:
09:44 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:44 PM PST Marlyn:
09:44 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:45 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:45 PM PST Marlyn:
09:45 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:46 PM PST Marlyn:
09:46 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:46 PM PST Marlyn:
09:47 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:48 PM PST Marlyn:
09:49 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:50 PM PST Marlyn:
09:51 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:51 PM PST Marlyn:
09:52 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:52 PM PST Marlyn:
09:52 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:53 PM PST Marlyn:
09:53 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:54 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:54 PM PST Marlyn:
09:54 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:55 PM PST Marlyn:
09:55 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:55 PM PST Marlyn:
09:56 PM PST Jason Germino:
09:57 PM PST Marlyn:
09:58 PM PST Jason Germino:
I tried not getting angry, but I was getting no answers. I apologized to Marlyn because I know this wasn’t her fault. But I still have no updates besides oh hey its out of our hands now. Amazon hasn’t said anything about the issue and is tight lipped. I understand shit happens. I worked in retail almost 10 years. But here’s what pisses me off:
Amazon boasted through their Amazon Games twitter feed that Switches were available in their bookstores and on Amazon Now. (Amazon Now is a service where you get the product within the hour or so. It’s like Uber for Amazon). These people were able to go into the store, or order it on launch day and still get their Nintendo Switch. Either handed to them…or delivered. But fuck the customers that ordered it almost two months ago.
Also Amazon has been completely silent. No apology, besides from the poor chat representative, which I legitimately felt bad for, I apologized but I know they’re some out there that just blew up and were rude to them. I just want an admittance of a fuck up. Even a, “Hey look we screwed this up big time. Bare with us as we figure out what happened and how to fix this.” That shows that they care and want to do something. Being silent on social media for 24 hours…is not supportive, and its not going to get people to want to order extremely rare day one items. Hell even Nintendo could be like look you’re getting less units because you clearly cant handle a launch and ruined our launch for OUR customers.
Yes I am a little upset still at the whole situation. Why wouldn’t I be. I missed out on the latest console launch in a couple of years. I still haven’t heard anything and I am still getting texts from Amazon saying your product shipped and will be delivered Fri, Mar 03. That is not a joke. I just got one 7 minutes ago stating this. So if you are enjoying the Nintendo Switch. I am glad, seriously I am. I love seeing everyone’s screenshots and the happiness they are getting. For the ones in the boat like me. I’m sorry, we got fucked. I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated if we hear from Amazon. Please let me know if you hear something as well. If you’ve been affected please post a comment below or on our social media. Especially if you’ve heard of something different than I have.
Thanks for reading my rant.
I am hearing your frustration echoed by friends, family, reddit, and many other journalist outlets. Huge, HUGE fail by Amazon and they have said nothing about this My brother had four or five interactions with Amazon yesterday were one was did not care at all, like at all, she just wanted him off the phone (most likely one of many interactions she had regarding this debacle) and the others expressed their apologies but what can they do? They are just screen jockies really and cannot effect change.
My brother got like 3 extra months for Amazon Prime but what is that going to do to keep the frustration down? “oh thank you, you lost my package but I get to use your crap service for another three months. Gee thanks!”
Sorry Jason, this really sucks. Hope you and many others get your Switches soon and enjoy Zelda!
Yeah they are really in a mess. I’m sure they have their lawyer team with their PR to figure a way to salvage this.
I’m in the same boat. First day pre-order on Switch and Zelda SE. Mid-week promises of a Friday delivery from customer service. Items shifted to “preparing to ship” on Thursday morning, and stayed that way until early Saturday. The status is now “shipping today” but Amazon will neither confirm nor deny that the package is shipping today (Saturday). New estimated delivery date is Tuesday. A friend in the same neighbourhood ordered after me and received everything Friday morning before noon.
Ugh a Zelda SE even? Sorry Dennis. I think mine is slated for Monday now. I think what didn’t help is they tried to combine multiple orders of mine. Now sure if that’s the case for everyone. Thanks for reading. Sorry your in the same boat though.
How does Amazon stay in business like this. Emily and I have had multiple issues with shipping with them over the years and the price of prime seems to be going up. I’m shocked that they haven’t said anything about it. I have not ordered one but after this I plan to go into a store somewhere when I’m ready to pick one up. Sorry to hear about everyone’s misfortune, hopefully Jason you will get it Monday and that will ease the frustration a bit.
Yeah I’ll get it eventually. I just wanted to do an unboxing for everyone. Probably still will once I get it.
Glad (not really) that I wasn’t the only one wondering why my copy of Zelda hadn’t had a status update on Thursday. Then come Friday, your shipment will arrive on 3/6/2017…. really Amazon? Thanks for the disappointing update.
Don’t worry, we’re in this together. I’m still waiting for an Amazon response. Supposedly someone got $100 back from them from the console screw up. Not sure if that’s true though…I got nothing besides ‘extend your patience’