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I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

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Re: I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

#111

Don't know how it is in UK but in the USA no one is allowed to send you stuff unsolicited that pushes some obligation onto you. Even an obligation to return a shipping error to them. You probably got a free Switch. And with their subsequent behaviour, a well deserved one.

Prefacing this with IANAL.

US seems to just have a more broad term for goods delivered that you didn't order and refers to it as "unordered merchandise"[1]. You're pretty much free to keep it, it seems.

The UK is more specific for what is classified as "unsolicited" and what is considered goods delivered to someone else by mistake[2]. Companies have a right to get their product back if it's the latter. Since the author did order a switch, a duplicate delivery would very likely be considered a mistake. If the author never ordered a Switch (and never paid for it) in the first place, they'd definitely be able to keep it.

Regardless, if this is the way Nintendo asked for the second Switch back, they were completely out of line.

[1] https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan...

[2] https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-righ...

Re: I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

#112
>I ordered the Switch on October 16th from Nintendo’s UK online store. I wanted to buy direct primarily to support Nintendo

This seems like an odd impulse to me. It isn't like Nintendo is some small mom and pop business or even that they are struggling.

Re: I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

#113
post #8
post #2

How embarrassing (for Nintendo). As soon as someone threatens legal you just have to tell them you'll only be engaging via lawyers and you'll be seeking to recover your legal expenses from them once the situation is resolved.

A pity that multinational companies can usually afford much better lawyers than the average Joe. It's really not the same as threatening your neighbor with a "We'll see each other in court", for a parking lot dispute.

> A pity that multinational companies can usually afford much better lawyers than the average Joe.

I'm always amazed at how afraid customers are of companies in the US/UK. Like this article, where they threaten legal action and make the customer responsible for being available to hand off the third Switch. As a customer in a western European country, I'd laugh straight in their face and wouldn't lose a second of sleep over threats like that. I may live in a country that has a weird and at times annoying obsession with rules and regulations, but when it comes to being a consumer, it's great.

Re: I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

#114

>I ordered the Switch on October 16th from Nintendo’s UK online store. I wanted to buy direct primarily to support Nintendo This seems like an odd impulse to me. It isn't like Nintendo is some small mom and pop business or even that they are struggling.

Mom and pop business compared to Amazon, and less seedy than GameStop.

Re: I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

#115
post #7
post #3

I'm no lawyer, but at least in the US I was under the impression that once something has been mailed to you, it's yours. A company cannot send you something then require payment or for you to return it.

https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-righ... Mistakenly delivered goods are not unsolicited.

I had to explain this to some friends.

They can sue you for unfair enrichment. This is to keep places from sending you things intentionally then trying to bill you.

Plus, have some friggin morals/values/ethics.

Re: I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

#116

I have never, ever dealt with any above mid-sized company that handles customer service and delivery well. There seems to be a set of standardised industry practices that are completely and utterly customer hostile. The moment regular company employees stop dealing with customer issues, delivery, etc., and hands it over to "specialists", it's basically a crap shoot whether you can get any issue resolved at all, becau…

After a lengthy lengthy process, I recently only got things moving forward with UPS, after emailing the CEO directly (found the email online, and briefly listed the situation). Soon after I got two calls, and it was fixed relatively fast (still had to follow up twice...).

Re: I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

#117
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never, ever dealt with any above mid-sized company that handles customer service and delivery well. I have. Amazon. Over 15 years now and flawless every time.

Amazon support is absolutely terrible . Amazon seller support is even worse. I mean, the worst. Only matched by health insurance companies. The huge problem with Amazon support is everyone I've ever interacted with (besides that one time I got forwarded to a supervisor) either have a fundamental lack an understanding of the English language or lack reading comprehension (or listening if phone support). They also won'…

>I actually think that's part of why they have such a big problem with counterfeits. If someone complains about a counterfeit some low paid employee who doesn't really understand the problem just presses "refund order," the customer stops complaining, and the systemic issues remain.

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-i...

GO through the subsection

>Pulling the andon cord

Re: I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

#118

I have never, ever dealt with any above mid-sized company that handles customer service and delivery well. There seems to be a set of standardised industry practices that are completely and utterly customer hostile. The moment regular company employees stop dealing with customer issues, delivery, etc., and hands it over to "specialists", it's basically a crap shoot whether you can get any issue resolved at all, becau…

I have never, ever dealt with any above mid-sized company that handles customer service and delivery well. I have. Amazon. Over 15 years now and flawless every time.

Customer since before 1999.

Only if everything goes into the two categories: 1.) send again 2.) reimburse/take back

Everything else doesn't work at all.

I had a phone from Amazon, empty box delivered, they had no way to stop the contract, weeks of pain, my threat getting the police involved solved the problem.

Amazon Logistics didn't deliver important stuff with evening express several times, Amazon did nothing.

One time they tried to deliver an order at 10pm (!). And I had a 10-minute discussion with support who told me it was deliver 10am until they reread the entry and agreed it was 10:07pm - at an office address.

Support stuff lied to me and put lies in their support system.

Re: I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

#119
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm hoping this blows up in Nintendo's faces; they forgot to treat and respect their customers as fellow human beings. The writer ought to be compensated for his wasted time thanks to their incompetence.

Thanks, I appreciate your comments today as I've been getting a little worried here that the traction this article is getting this morning is going to come back to bite me in the backside. Whether it's Nintendo or a UK-local entity they sub-contract (it's a bit unclear - either way the address is store.nintendo.co.uk and Nintendo-branded), the policies could use some work.

In 2013, the absolutely terrible defamation laws in the UK were improved somewhat. Before then, you basically couldn't have said anything at all, publicly, about this absolutely shocking incident! IANAL, but now I understand they would have to show actual or probable loss of business because of your published statements. Given how much space you devote to saying how much you love their products and how great they are, I think this would be pretty difficult for them. To me, the tone of your article is overwhelmingly one of wanting to pressure them to fix their bad customer service, not one of wanting to harm their business in any way. Customers should have the right to shame agents of large international companies into reforming bad business practices, without fear of legal ramifications. Having lived in the UK, I feel like companies there regularly get away with murder, figuratively speaking, because of the poor consumer protections in that country.

Re: I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action

#120
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, I appreciate your comments today as I've been getting a little worried here that the traction this article is getting this morning is going to come back to bite me in the backside. Whether it's Nintendo or a UK-local entity they sub-contract (it's a bit unclear - either way the address is store.nintendo.co.uk and Nintendo-branded), the policies could use some work.

It's a great post, and Nintendo does indeed owe you. But, at this point, I do recommend engaging counsel. As I understand it, truth is not a defense against slander under UK law. Edit: I meant "libel", not "slander". Also, I was wrong about truth not being a defense. It's just that you need to prove the claims.

Don't be ridiculous, truth is a defence against Libel (written down is libel, not slander).

The onus is on the person who said the thing to prove it is true ("guilty until proven innocent," since it's a civil rather than criminal offence), but as long as he has documentation/emails it's all good.

Indeed, I would be astonished if they sued him for this, it would not end well for them.

Disclaimer: not a lawyer, but an election agent.

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