'I ordered a VR headset for my son but Amazon sent a box of cornflakes instead'
A mum told how her son's birthday was "ruined" after Amazon delivered a box of cornflakes instead of a surprise VR headset gift.
Kerry Edwards and her husband James treated their two sons to one expensive present each for their birthdays, ordering a refurbished Meta Quest 2 VR Headset from Amazon for Robbie, turning 14 and Ben, soon to be 11, was to be given a drawing tablet. The parcels were delivered to their Walsall home, with the couple taking them on holiday with them to give to their sons on July 27.
But it wasn't until they were on their family trip that they realised the package for Robbie was not the VR headset but actually a cereal pack and Kerry said the mishap "ruined" the 10-day stay at Highlands End Holiday Park, Dorset.
Amazon has since given her a refund and issued an apology, as well as investigated what happened to her order. Kerry, who was initially left £279 out of pocket said: “I had put the boxes in the car so the children wouldn't see what we bought them. I just trusted Amazon had delivered the right items and everything was fine.
The parents were horrified with the discovery while they were on holiday (Kerry Edwards/BPM MEDIA)“When we wrapped the presents before their birthdays, we opened the box and realised it was a box of cornflakes. At that time, we couldn’t do anything. I felt awful for my son as it was his birthday and it was so expensive. We had to tell Robbie on his birthday that he didn’t have anything to open.
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"He was obviously very upset in the morning but we took the boys out for pancakes and returned them to the caravan to wait for us. I had to order another headset via Argos and travel an hour and a half to Chard to pick it up”.
The family’s misery was confounded when Robbie broke his arm after he fell off a swing and was taken to Bridport Community Hospital and then transferred to Dorset County Hospital to put a metal plate in his arm, reported DorsetLive.
“The people who are swapping these items over for boxes of cereal, they know it’s for children and know how they live with themselves. Not many adults would buy these headsets for themselves”, Kerry said. “It was just a disappointment for his birthday. Everything that went over with the hospital as well. It has ruined my holiday and it has ruined my son’s birthday.”
Amazon has now given them a refund (Kerry Edwards/BPM MEDIA)Kerry called Amazon every day for updates on her order and demanded a refund and the mother-of-two was taken aback when their customer service requested the box of cornflakes were to be sent back. She said: “I have called Amazon nearly every day and I had been telling them to sort it out. I had to send an email with evidence. Even though I have done this, they have requested that I have to return the box of cornflakes. I can’t get my head around it.”
Looking back on the order, she called it a “scam” and warned other online shoppers to be vigilant and “wary” when ordering second-hand items. “If you are ordering anything that is tech and worth a lot of money, I would film yourself opening the box so you have 100% proof to see the seal, open it and what is inside," she said. “These scams are awful and it has happened to a lot of people and I don’t want others to fall into the same trap.”
Amazon says they have implemented additional controls that are already making it even harder for fraudulent sellers to defraud customers, selling partners and Amazon. An Amazon spokesman reportedly said: “We work hard to protect customers, selling partners and Amazon from abuse and we have systems in place to detect suspicious behaviour.
“Customer satisfaction is our utmost priority, and we’re sorry that customer experience in this case did not meet the high standards we expect. We have apologised to the customer and they’ve been refunded in full.”
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