After laying out the cash for a dazzling new Xbox, a gamer was left raging when his purchase from Amazon arrived in the post - and it was far from what he ordered. Matthew Tonkin was disgusted when he received a bag of cat litter rather than his new Xbox Series X, which cost him a whopping £449.
The food factory worker was initially confused when he noticed that the package was considerably "small" compared to what he'd seen in high street stores. It wasn't until Matthew, 33, ripped open the package that his longed-for console wasn't there and instead he'd received a 10-litre bag of Catsan.
Matthew, from Fawley, Southampton, immediately reached out to the retail giant and alerted them of the error. He claims a volley of emails between him and customer services over a number of days failed to resolve the problem - leaving him £450 out of pocket.
He shared the unfortunate mishap with unsympathetic pals, who joked "you'd best get a cat mate".
Matthew said: "At first I was excited because I'd finally got the Xbox.
"I should have known [when the box arrived] as the one they showed me at GAME was twice the size.
"When I opened it I just laughed, it was so ridiculous.
"I showed my dad and he just said 'what the hell? What were you expecting to get?'."
"Everything I've got from Amazon has been what I've ordered apart from this.
"They're one of the biggest companies with the biggest resources and I just think, 'how could anything like this happen?' It's crazy."
As soon as he realised the error, Matthew called Amazon's customer service line and claims he was simply told their returns policy.
After sending a number of emails to the retail giant's customer support team he said he was finally told that the issue "was in the process of being resolved" - but didn't receive a refund.
Matthew said: "It wasn't like I made a £10 purchase, if it was socks or something I'd be like 'ah, don't worry about it'.
"You've sent me kitty litter and I've just spent almost £450 on an Xbox.
"You give me kitty litter, and very little feedback. All I want is my money back, that's it really."
Although Matthew has found the situation frustrating, he's managed to find the funny side and says the mix-up has been the source of plenty of jokes for friends and family.
Matthew said: "My mate's response was, 'you'd best get yourself a cat, mate. My other friend said, 'that's a pretty expensive kitty'."
Matthew is still waiting on a refund from Amazon.
An Amazon spokesperson said: "We've been in contact with the customer directly, apologised and a full refund is being processed."
Catsan have been contacted for comment.
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