Ordering an item online is usually pretty straightforward. It's as simple adding something to a cart, entering some credit card information, then waiting for the item to arrive. That is unless the item that actually gets sent is drastically different from what was ordered, which can complicate the process. Unfortunately for some Amazon shoppers that ordered Nintendo Switches online, what they received was about as far from that as one could get.
Reports are coming about Amazon shoppers in the UK that ordered Nintendo Switches but received entirely different items in the mail, from toothbrushes and tambourines to condoms. The issue seems to be fairly widespread, with more and more reports of incidents popping up online. It isn't clear what the reason for the confusion actually is or how the orders resulted in such a wide variety of items actually being delivered. Perhaps it was just the vengeful ghost of the Sonic Macy's Day parade balloon lashing out at its long-time rival, Nintendo.
Amazon, to its credit, has apologized for the inconvenience, though it seems to have done little to comfort upset shoppers. The company claims to be investigating what happened and reaching out to customers affected by the issue, but there are still quite a few questions circulating. While Amazon's Black Friday deals were pretty decent, this likely wasn't a reason for delay that anyone was actually expecting. There are some claiming that Amazon is intentionally ripping off customers, and while it would be a way to prime the world for the Amazon game streaming service that may be launching in 2020, that likely isn't the case.
All in all, this is probably just a weird technical hiccup that caused an issue with Amazon's internal order management system. That, or a small joke by an Amazon employee looking to cause some chaos. The company has had its share of screw-ups in the past, with the company leaking listings for unannounced games like Bloodborne 2 and Sunset Overdrive 2. This is, of course, a relatively small blunder for the world's largest company, but it's still entertaining to watch the internet react to the fiasco.
Hopefully, those that ordered a Nintendo Switch will eventually get their consoles. After all, they did still spend hard-earned money on it. It does raise the question of how something like this would be counted towards the Nintendo Switch's sales, but it'll be a drop in the bucket overall.
Source: Kotaku