Man orders £500 laptop off Amazon only to receive Weetabix instead
A man has said he will ‘think twice’ before shopping online again after an Amazon order for a £500 laptop was replaced by two boxes of Weetabix.
Adam Yearsley, 40, bought the HP ProBook as a ‘treat’ but was surprised by the ‘light’ parcel he received on June 12.
The care assistant from Urmston, Greater Manchester, was forced to send back his parcel as part of the refund policy, and while he’s now got his money back, he warned others about the dangers of online shopping.
‘At first, I thought it was for my partner who often orders stuff online.. Or maybe I’d opened the wrong parcel?,’ he said.
‘But I looked at the label, and it was for me, and after five minutes, I realised I’d been scammed.
‘When I opened the cardboard box, I discovered the boxes of Weetabix.
‘There was a box of 24 and two boxes of 12 sellotaped together in the shape of a laptop.
‘I went to work and I was quite distressed thinking I’d spent £500 but just got some Weetabix. I was thinking ‘I’ve been scammed’.
‘It made me think twice about ordering anything online again. You’re probably better off going into a shop and purchasing something you can physically see.’
‘I’ve been an Amazon customer for many years. I’ve never had any issues with them before. I’m a loyal customer. I was just buying it as a treat.
Adam contacted Amazon straight away and called the police to try and get to the bottom of the potential theft.
He added Amazon was ‘reluctant’ to give him the money back and said he spent £7.40 to send the parcel back to them.
He said: ‘They told me it would take a long time and I had to post the parcel and send them the receipt. They said it could be a long wait.
‘When I went to the post office to send it back, the person there said, “You shouldn’t be paying for it”‘.
A spokesperson from Amazon said: ‘This has been resolved. We’ve contacted the customer directly, apologised and refunded in full.’
Greater Manchester Police has been contacted for comment.
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