Thoughts Please. Auspost Did Not Deliver Borderlands 3

For starters, I ordered borderlands 3 when it was 48. The status was automatically put to "Will be left in a safe place", I contacted amazon and they said it can't be changed on their end. I was not happy with this but it seemed auspost would not change the delivery instructions even though I never specifically asked for it to be "left in a safe place" Then it was sent on the 12th, and it said that there was a "delay" then this monday I received a message " Package was left in a secure location" i went immediately downstairs, and looked around. Nothing. I'm talking 10 seconds after the message popped up.

I contacted auspost. They require you submit a ticket. I contacted amazon. They rapidly, and happily refunded. End of story? Should I just accept the refund and accept the victory?

I'd obviously rather have the game. And now it's sold out everywhere. So I'd have to pay double for the same thing. I live in an apartment block, there is a huge security door, and there's literally no "safe place" between the pavement and the security door. Someone took it, either by not delivering it and keeping it for themselves, or a person living here.

There is a security camera. What would you do in this situation. Be happy you got a refund, or try and track down what happened in the distant hope something can be corrected?

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Comments

  • +60

    You ordered something.
    It wasn't delivered to you.
    You got refunded.

    End of story. You're not owed anything more than that.

    You can ask for security footage to see if someone in the building took it on purpose/by mistake.

    Suggest use a parcel locker for future orders.

    • Fair enough. that's what i've been doing thus far. I just have a few friends that would track something down and make sure things happened fairly. And yes, that's what i'll do regardless of solving this.

      • -2

        Get on amazon chat and explain the situation, they can organise credit to make up the difference in price for you. I love amazon.

      • +1

        I feel you.
        I think it is the pain of finding the parcel, contacting post and then amazon which is wasting everyone's time.

        Similar thing happened to me couple of months ago using eBay. The moment we received message that item delivered (to home address), we checked outside and there was nothing, checked security camera footage and there was no one delivering anything.
        Contacted Post and they advised that after every parcel delivery, person takes a picture. Went to post office and saw the picture, which of just ground with no grass and it was not from anywhere near my address. Post person clearly either lost item or didnt deliver as he never took pic of item and place. Post advised to contact seller as they can claim refund. they accepted that person might have made a mistake, but they cant fire him based on small issue…

        Contacted ebay and it was a painful process where seller advised they will send it again and after waiting couple of weeks, they will repeat same sentence, but never sent the item again. Asked for tracking number multiple times and no reply. Later I could not do ebay claim as it was over few weeks and ebay advised to contact Paypal. After raising with Paypal, seller contacted me to check if my neighbors had the item or if my kids picked it… I was furious. Seller was clearly wasting time when when asked if he ever sent the item again, he replied that status from post is coming as delivered.
        Got my money, but it was not worth efforts I had to put to get it. Sometimes refund is not what you are looking for.

    • Just curious, how much does it cost to use parcel locker?

      • +13

        Parcel Locker is free, you can sign up here.
        https://auspost.com.au/receiving/alternative-delivery-addres…

        • Thanks

        • +3

          Give it time, they will start charging at some point.

          • +3

            @pgcs: Maybe, maybe not
            I say they’d much rather deliver parcels to a central location than to all individual addresses
            Maybe they’ll force parcel locker use or incentivize it

        • Great service, I use it all the time.

        • -4

          no it isn't….last i asked it had a yearly fee to it…

          • @Zachary: Sounds like you're talking about a PO box, different to a Parcel Locker.
            If you click on the link above you'll see in the description Free to use for Australia Post deliveries and accessible 24/7

            • +1

              @Room Temperature: oh….ur right…..my bad….thought they were the same…..

              Parcel lockers can't be used for regular mail such as any mail that can fit into a letterbox. For your bank card, use the PO Box address as that's where you would be receiving your regular mail.

              Parcel lockers can hold items up to 48 hours and can be used for bulky parcels like if receiving the Arkham Horror Boardgame with all 5 expansions. It's a digital code from your mobile phone that gives you access and they're available 24/7.

              PO Boxes are good for regular mail and can hold parcels of up to 30 days, so if receiving The Gigantic Brewing Company's Hellboy Exclusive t-shirt which is under 500g, use this address and it will be held for collection for you.

        • Thanks

      • Noob question: Can I use this parcel locker address if the delivery is shipped with a courier other than Auspost?

        • +5

          Not if the courier is fastway. They'll happily take the money, fail to deliver, then send it to their depo on the other side of the city.

        • Generally no - parcel lockers are only for AusPost fulfilled deliveries. So you can't guarantee any courier-delivered package will get to your parcel locker. In my experience, what happens if you send a courier-delivered parcel to a parcel locker is (in order of likelihood):

          1. They contact you to change the address before delivery
          2. They attempt delivery and fail, then contact you to change address for redelivery
          3. They attempt delivery, and the driver calls you to say they've arrived AT THE PARCEL LOCKER
          4. They attempt delivery and realise it's parcel locker, then return to sender
          5. They just deliver it to AusPost and AusPost mercifully accepts it and holds it at a nearby post office.
          6. They deliver it to AusPost and AusPost rejects it and it's returned to sender.
  • Sometimes shitty things happens, is it worth any extra effort from you?

    Lets put it this way, you will now have to buy the game for $80-90. An extra $50 ontop of what you were expecting, if you earn $20 an hour, thats 2.5 hours work to aquire that additional cost.
    Now, do you think that you can spend less than 2.5 hours contacting Auspost and Amazon and get this resolved? If not, it's not worth it.

    Either wait for it to go on special down the line, sell some old games to make up the cost, or if it's that important to you, pay the difference.

    There are bigger problems to put precious time and effort into.

    • +1

      That's true. I often like to actually stand up against something shady happening though. Play my role in the karmic wheel. So to speak. Plus it makes me feel better about myself. Even so, it seems like a hell of a task to figure out when this kind of thing happens.

      And it did serve to teach me a lesson about not having a locker as a default, although, I do think that option being automatically assigned to me, and possibly others, was a bit dodgy. Be it auspost, or amazon, that had that call. Because normally I get the option to choose how something is delivered.

      • I'm the same way, to an extent and I sympathise with your situation, it sucks, I had a similar one that led to me getting parcel locker.

        Best to mitigate potential future risk than dwell on stuff like this though :)

        • Turns out the closest is 4km and I choose to not have a car. Excuse for exercise perhaps lol.

          • @mattcoles: Good motivation to excersize aswell, there's a tangible objective at the end of it all. Good excuse to use/get a bike also. Two birds and all that.

        • See, me too. But why?

          I live in a townhouse, attached to a block of units. I have my own private gated entrance, and private front courtyard. The gated entrance to my courtyard is off the main road, just like the buildings main entrance, and is well signed.

          Every other delivery company has no issue delivering, and leaving in a safe spot at my front door.

          Australia post can’t. I’d say 1 in 5 auspost deliveries are solved simply at my house.
          - last one I had “leave in safe spot” left my package underneath the letterboxes on the street, right next to a sign pointing to my townhouse
          - others before I’ve been home and they haven’t even tried
          - others with leave in safe spot don’t leave, and I have to go to the local M-F 9-5 post office to collect… hard to do…

          Again, only aus post, every other courier/delivery company have no issues.

          As a result, I have everything auspost delivered to a parcel locker, it’s a great alternative, but unfortunately a necessary one due to auspost’s own inept… it’s like not doing the dishes well so your wife never asks you to do them again.

          All in all, it’s annoying (yes agree safer) to get delivered to a parcel locker, but if I don’t it’s 80% chance i’ll Struggle to get my package.

          • @geoffs87: I completely agree that we shouldn't have to use parcel lockers, and that the service they provide is for the most part, sub-par. But atleast there is an alternative that they provide, it's not the fix we want, but it's the best we go.

            The issue is, there is nothing we as individuals can do to change this. We can fix 90% of our issues with these parcel lockers and for me it's enough, but I also live 2km away from them, so I have a luxary alot of people dont.

            I live in a unit and getting anything delievered was a nightmare, posties often wouldn't even leave the card saying I can pick it up from the post office.

            It sucks.

    • +1

      I once spent 30 minutes chasing you a metcard machine stealing my $4.30 and not giving me a ticket. Had to call up, fill out a huge form, etc.

      2 months later I had a cheque for $4.30 in the mail :)

    • I disagree heavily with your line of thinking, depending on wage a decent chunk of your hard earned money goes toward living expenses which is mostly used during the week. Extra money you get to have fun with is the relatively smaller portion left over at the end. Lets say you only have $500 per month of spending money for fun things and you earn 3k/m. An extra $40 is about 10% of your spending money for the month, or worth 10% of your time working for that spending money in the month, 3 days worth of working for that amount to spend on entertainment. That's why it's harder to ignore the principle of the matter.

      • This isn't only about the cost, it's also about the time and effort required to aquire the same product for the same price, there is no guarantee and even if you do get it for the same price, the amount of time it will take to negotiate this and get another copy to arrive will add to the percieved lost value.

        My comment was intended to sympathize with OP while also giving them some practical next steps.

        Also, this is a video game, you can wait for a sale or trade in some other games to get this one for cheaper.
        OP obviously wanted it Day 1 and pre-ordered it to get it. Auspost are the bad guys in this situation, they screwed up but you need to deal with the reality of the situation and move on.

        What is your suggestion?

  • -1

    No pity for Amazon who have lost out here seriously ?

    What more do customers want these days ?

    A personal concierge to find the game lol , and really I'm in stupid thread .

    • -2

      Well i made this thread for some views and opinions outside my own, and you gave me one. Not looking for confirmation bias. Thanks for your opinion.

    • -1

      It will be the seller who loses out, not Amazon.
      Bit like using the 7-Eleven fuel app to match / beat prices, the franchisee loses the difference, not 7-Eleven.

      • +1

        Amazon were the seller?

      • From what I understand, franchisee received a fixed sum based on the amount of fuel sold, not based on the price. So it is 7-eleven losing the difference.

  • +1

    Mail articles not delivered on Monday are carried over to the next business day. Check you letter box for the mail article or a collection notice.

    • Yes that was the first thing i did. :)

  • +3

    Why not ask Amazon to send a replacement, not a refund?

    They definitely give the option.

    • -1

      Well i already have the refund in the works. It's being processed. And i assumed there is no stock. The lady gave me two options, gift card or bank refund. I chose bank refund.

      • +2

        Why assume no stock?

        • Amazon does not even list the pc version as in stock anymore.

  • I had the same thing, but I didn't escalate it as quick as you did.

    Parcel showed delivered at midday Friday, at 3pm when I got home it wasnt there. Started the process through Aus Post, then called the 1800 number to escalate. They checked on it for me.

    Monday afternoon the parcel arrived on my doorstep. It could've still been in the guys truck.

    But you've refunded it, so the chances of you getting it now are next to nil. Should've waited…

    • Which 1800 number is that?

      • It's on the initial email:
        1800 817 538
        Puts you straight through to customer service

      • All i could do is submit a ticket. Which they where going to call me back. And that's still being processed.

        • -1

          Update your ticket with AusPost so it couldn't be mistaken as mail fraud.

          At this point, it could be argued that you've refunded the order and are still waiting for order to be delivered.

    • +3

      Why would it be next to nil?

      Amazon doesn't put a stop on parcels.

      • -1

        You don't think they'd make a call to AusPost to try to recoup their money? 1 phone call wouldn't take them long, and would go along the lines of "oh if you find it please send it back, we refunded the customer".

        • I'm still a bit curious if they did.

        • +4

          I've had many missing items refunded and still been delivered to me.
          Amazon says keep it.

          If they make an inquiry, tracking indicates "Customer Inquiry Lodged"

          • @Schema: Thanks. Just checked the mail and i had something else delivered but not that. (Monday is when this happened)

            So it's probably not coming on it's own.

  • My 2 cents.

    Auspost can send you the notification a few minutes after they drop it off, but I've also had it take over an hour after I got the parcel for them to send the notification so the parcel might of sat out there for a while.

    Have you considered buying digitally online if its sold out everywhere?

    Parcel lockers work super well, mine is just 18min drive away. Normally about 40min round trip.

    I also feel sorry for Amazon here, though they most likely are just covered by insurance.

    Lastly I'd report it to the police as it seems it was stolen.

    • -8

      It's possible the delivery guy just wanted borderlands 3, but that's just my speculation.

      • +6

        How would he know that the parcel contained it?

        • -5

          Day of release, game sized box. Express post from amazon.

          • +2

            @mattcoles: Caught me.

            I knew some sucker would want this awesome game delivered on its day of release.

            My plan was to go to work and pickup the deliveries for the day.

            Even easier then coordinating with a contact in Amazon to auto set all deliveries for borderlands 3 as leave at door I just hoped there would be a lest one copy that I was delivering that would be leave at door and not use parcellocker. Such a popular game more than likely.

            As there was a security camera I just put an spare empty box at the door and hoped that someone would steal it thinking it was very popular game.
            But that was probably overkill as I knew that amazon would just refund the guy instantly and their should be no need to.
            /s

      • You can go to Post store and they can show you the picture person took when delivering your item. If you can get access to video footage of your building, that will be good too.
        Its not always about money, its about doing right thing right and raise if delivery guy did something wrong (delivering to wrong address or loosing it).

      • I would say the chance of this is roughly 0%.

    • Do you really think the police are going to investigate over a 40 dollar game?

      Amazon would just write it off. Just business as usual.

      • I believe its our civic duty to report it. We don't know maybe this has been happening often and the police need more info to help them catch them, maybe they already have a suspect. Maybe a neighbor has a security camera. We report it, they can decide how to respond.

  • +1

    Did you submit the ticket with AusPost? just because you got a refund doesn't mean you aren't entitled to submit a ticket and chase up the package

    • Would you pay Amazon back if you managed to retrieve the package?

      • that would be the right thing to do as they have been helpful with OP in promising a refund and operating at a loss

  • +2

    For future purchases you should look into where your nearest and/or most convenient parcel locker is and get all your parcels delivered there. Everyone should be using them, just for safety's sake (contractors failing to deliver and giving you a slip instead, or leaving them in a place where people can steal them etc), unless your nearest one is very inconvenient to get to and the inconvenience outweighs the risk of not getting what you bought.

    They are free, you can access them 24/7 and you get a notification in your email or text messages or both so there's no wasted trips checking if it is there (and you can send someone else just by giving them the code, no need to sign a slip giving them permission to pick it up and go in office hours and bring 100 points of ID like if you got it delivered to your house)

    • 100% parcel lockers are so damn good

  • I find that ParcelPoint is handy for deliveries, as long as there is a handy location nearby. $3 is cheap to make certain that the item doesn't go missing.

  • -3

    Purchase digital copy, enter 2019

    • Better to actually own a product you pay for than to temporarily rent a digital licence that might expire and that you have no rights over.

      • -1

        Legally you own a physical disc and a license to playt the game (which can be revoked at anytime).

        In my experience, when a game is removed from digital market places, they don't take the game off you, you just aren't able to download it anymore. This usually happens well after you care if the game exists at all (many many years after release).

        • +1

          Revoking a physical disc? Lol ok.

          • +1

            @nomoneynoproblems: I'd like to see them try! lol

          • -1

            @nomoneynoproblems: They can stop your key from authenticating or block it from other online authentication from Steam etc.

            But you'll still have the plastic disc with the 1's and 0's sure. You can use it as a coaster.

            • @SirFlibbled: Well for modern pc games yeah. The license is tied to the key not the disc. Consoles and older pc titles is different. I can buy any physical console game and legally I own a license to play it but good luck revoking it.

        • No you don't. With physical copies you literally own your copy of the game. You don't own a "licence". You own exactly what you have. It's the exact same as buying a fridge or a washing machine. I don't own a "licence" to those items. I literally own those items and everything that entails. There is no licence that can be "revoked" with physical copies UNLESS it's an online game.

          • +1

            @INVOICE: Yes you do. You don't own a game. You own the license to the game. The publisher owns the game. When you buy a physical copy you own a license to access said game. Its not the same as fridge.

            • @nomoneynoproblems: It is according to australian consumer law.

              You own a physical, you own that specific copy of the game and all the rights that come with a physical purchase.

              • @INVOICE: Yes that's right. Especially the last part. You own all rights that come with a physical copy which normally means you get one access (license) and you can't make copies of it. Which I was saying before. They have the right to revoke your license but it's pretty much impossible to do physically.

                • @nomoneynoproblems: You absolutely can make copies of it. For personal use. I can make as many backup copies of games I own as I like. I just don't own the rights to distribute the copies or sell the copies.

                  People get mixed up with the difference between ownership rights, and copyright/distribution rights.

      • You do realise most PC games which OP is talking about you dont get physical disc's anymore just a download code 🤦‍♂️ my Battlefield V was DL only through origin and Prey was too from memory

        • …unless they start delivering them out on bluray discs to compensate for those large 50GB+ downloads…..which could be saved by a faster install and play time through a bluray drive….for those who take more than a few minutes to download 50GB or more of data….

          • @Zachary: Fast play time via bluray drive lol yeah ssds are way faster and well BF V was a 50ish gig download and alot of games are going this way.. helps that most people are switching to the NBN to improve dl speeds

            • @solidussnake: ….well maybe some of us have bluray drives but no ssds….or and nbn to download a 100gb game including all its patches to date in a few minutes…..and be ready to play in under 10 minutes after configuring your controls and stuff for your play style…if the controls are configurable that is….

              Maybe they should just start releasing PC games in USBs…..USB 3.1 gen2 SSD to be more precise….each one holding the entire game as of printing and release….and can be updated on the drive itself too without needing to redownload the patches if not already done so….all you need to make sure is that your computer is beefy enough to play said game with fluidity…..to your standards….and have the USB connected to play too….if the USB disconnects anytime during play, your game crashes naturally since the source has gone….so kinda like playing live off a DVD/bluray like on PS and Xbox… except that updates are appended onto the disc instead of the console's harddrive….and instead of a read unlimited and write once disc, it's read unlimited and write unlimited as long as the storage capacity isn't maxed out….

              …so kinda like a DVD-RAM (Yes that's RAM, not ROM) disc…..that are quite rare to see nowadays…

              • @Zachary: Yeah interesting Idea about the Games on USB's that would actually work for the majority that don't have 100/40 plans on NBN (I'm only on 50/20 and it still takes 4-5 hours to DL major release games) I suppose It will still come down to cost of printing a code on a piece of paper vs including a 50/100GB USB to install from. I still have a BLU-RAY burner not fitted as my new case didn't have the housing to put one in, hell after USB hdd's including USB SSD hdd's and their performance I never missed using the drive.

                • @solidussnake: Yeah, they're like $50 to $200 for a decent performing small USB3.1 gen2 whilst bluray discs are like a few dollars or so, depending how many layers….I know four layers can do 100GB no problem, but I don't think they sell these blank to consumers….yet….That might have to bring in a fifth layer or make a totally new disc tech to store more than 100GB per physical disc…..

                  PS - I'm on ADSL2+ downloading at 1 megabit per second…

      • -1

        You have as much legal ownership over the game whether you buy it physically or digitally. A digital purchase, by its nature, just prevents physical reselling. There is potential recourse for rights holders to take action over physical reselling, but is unlikely.

        Given the way that games are distributed physically these days, they are barely any different from their digital counterparts. A significant amount of it (sometimes basically all) is downloaded when you first boot up from the disc. The disc just serves as some cursory DRM.

        Long gone are the days of always-offline games.

        • +1

          Incorrect. You have much more legal ownership of physical games than digital. Much, much more.

          Games that are just download clients on discs are a scam and I hate that practice. I try to only support and buy games that have the full installer on the disc and is 100% playable offline.

          I don't play online games myself and only really care about offline singleplayer or local multiplayer

          • @INVOICE:

            Incorrect. You have much more legal ownership of physical games than digital. Much, much more.

            You say "incorrect" like you know what you're talking about, but it suspiciously sounds like you don't know what you're talking about. Have you read a EULA? When you buy a physical game, you buy and own a box, manual and disc. You are also and a granted a non-commercial licence for the game. You don't have any rights to on-sell that licence (as you are not the rights-holder), but it's not enforced.

            When you buy a digital game, you simply buying the licence without a box, manual and disc. You still don't have any rights to sell the game licence, and you are actually stopped from transferring it due to it's digital nature.

            So if by "much more legal ownership of physical games than digital" you mean you also happen to own some paper and plastic, then yes, I suppose you're correct.

            Games that are just download clients on discs are a scam

            They are patently not a scam.

            While it's sad, physical distribution of entertainment is dying. CDs are mostly dead (though vinyl has had an unexpected resurgence over the last ten years). Streaming services have MASSIVELY eaten into DVD/Bluray sales. And digital sales of videogames have outstripped physical for the better part of this decade.

            • @johnno07: EULA's are legally meaningless.

              EULA's often previously (and still do) state things like "no refunds" - which was in complete contradiction to european and AU law, and was summarily ignored and thrown out when challenged. The garbage put in them is 9/10 times unenforceable, and the other times only applies to online games, and only then applies to the terms of the "Service agreement" - meaning the terms of how the server operators can ban you from their servers.

              "You don't have any rights to on-sell that licence (as you are not the rights-holder), but it's not enforced."

              You don't get a licence for a physical game, no matter what the box says. It's legally incorrect. You own the game like you own any other product you buy like I said - a washing machine, a fridge, a vacuum. When you buy these products you own them.

              YES, you do not own the copyright to the design, you cannot steal the design and copy it and on-sell it. But you absolutely do have complete ownership of your copy of the game. Meaning it is 100% legal to re-sell, trade, pawn, do whatever you want with your copy of the game. Regardless of whether the EULA allows re-selling - it's wrong. Australian consumer law overides EULAs every single time.

    • How do I go about redownloading my digital wii games onto my new wii I picked up from cash converters, without modding?

    • I agree with you godric. I am not sure why they downvoted you.

  • +3

    chase it up with auspost. if they delivered it to the wrong address, they can figure out where it is by checking with the drivers device logs. All drivers should have this now, they also take a photo and can work out geolocation and see that the front door is different.

    you're more than welcome to somehow pay amazon back if you get the game

    next time use a parcel locker or get a postal shop address, all free on auspost site

  • +2

    I'm glad we wouldn't be at the same party.

  • Where do you live? I am in the process of cancelling my Borderlands PS4 order at Harvey Norman in Marybyrnong…

  • I live in an apartment where all parcels are delivered to the concierge in the lobby and you pick them up from there. Aus Post tracked one of my Amazon orders as "delivered" but it was never received by the concierge. They did eventually deliver it… about five days later.

    It's possible they sent it to the wrong address at first and redelivered it. That's why I usually wait an extra couple days before contacting Aus Post or Amazon, sometimes things get lost and eventually find their way.

    But you got your refund, so what's the problem?

    1. Send important stuff to a parcel locker, less chance of a stuff up, but it can still happen.

    2. Install the austpost app, once the tracking is added to your account /parcel locker number, up to a certain date for certain deliveries , you can change where you want it sent and tick/untick left in a safe place.

  • +4

    I used to work for Auspost.

    When a postie leaves an item at a premises, they are required by the company to take a photo of the package where they left it that auto uploads to the system.
    If you ring up with the tracking number, you can get the call center to access the photo and send it to your email. (only the managers of the delivery support team have access to the photos, so whoever you speak to will have to put you on hold for a bit while they get a manager to send the photo to them.

    You won't be able to get compensated by Auspost if you have already been compensated by the seller, but it might give you a clue as to where the item went, or if it was even left at the right property.

    Good luck.

  • +3

    OP gets a refund and still complains. Entitled much?

  • -1

    If you really want to play Borlands 3 now, find a store that has it, buy it, quickly play it, sell it to EB or JB Hi Fi.
    If you cannot stand missing out on a bargain, contact Amazon CSR to see if they can also offer you a voucher so you can buy another copy at the same price.
    If you are just upset, maybe this will make you feel better: I missed out on the $48 deal.

    What would I do? Buy a Powerball ticket and hope to win the big one.

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