This is your best bet. You should have proof of the weight they used to calculate the cost to ship. You might have issue getting proof of the weight Steam received the package. They probably tossed the empty box and its content.
UPS is horrible in my area. They never ship packages to you (and just throw them in random relay points you can't choose) and they have the tendency to have delivery issues just like this.
Then you should tell them that if they cannot prove the item didn't change weight the whole journey then they cannot prove the item was not tampered with.
Perhaps, but I would personally take the initiative and contact UPS on your own behalf to request investigation. Valve may not get to it as quickly as you could. 🤔 Bonne chance! 🍀
It was the same for me, but at some point I complained that the package was too cheap for me to waste an hour driving for it and they took it from a Paketshop and delivered it to me.
What was interesting is that I made a mistake and complained to US UPS and they redirected it to German one. Idk would it work with Germans directly or not.
Same here. UPS is the worst delivery service I had to ever deal with. Once they even sent the package to Czech Republic instead of Germany! And then the local delivery guys always make problems with the delivery. I'm" never at home" even though I'm literally standing in front of my house lol. I filed tens of complaints, 10 years later nothing has improved.
Whenever I send something, I usually record the whole process, and sometimes when I have time, I also record me walking to the pick up point so they can see that I never did anything shady to the package.
My SD OLED was also lost by them when I bought it. Had to wait for weeks until they found it. Not even one good experience so far with this company.
Somebody in my family lives in a building, and most of the time he's waiting for an UPS delivery, he sees the truck passing around the parking and leaving, before the notification saying he was not here pops on its phone.
Fed ex is just as bad if not worse. They all suck tho, usps which isnt and option for these sorts of things are the only legit ones. This is just more of the enshitification or everything because corps have more rights than us. We need to demand these companies change their policies or have some sort of option for deletion to opt out. Or give up consuming in general.
Nah you're right, I do also carrier integrations in WH, UPS is the worst crap of any, always some issues, incompetent people, some customers had to pay extra heavy money because UPS didn't advise them correctly on customs topics.
It’s the same in the us, FedEx is just as bad. Here’s a true story.
I was a logistics manager for a large scale pathology lab, think like quest. We didn’t do specific biopsy tests at that lab because it was super expensive so we’d send it to a reference lab that specialized in those tests via fedex. Not counting all of the times fedex left things outside when they clearly had signature needed, but they lost an entire box of biopsies that we sent to the reference lab one time.
Just think how scary it is waiting on a biopsy. Time goes by and your doctor checks for the results and sees nothing after a few days, but that’s normal. A week goes by and you’re calling your doctor over and over, who then has his staff start calling the lab over and over to find the result. I then go check the FedEx tracking and it has an error saying undeliverable and it’s coming back. Wait a week and it never makes it back. Call my local FedEx to find out what’s going on, wait 2 hours on hold for nobody to pick up and the line to cut off. Get my sales rep on the line who gives me some ops guy’s number who never responds or answers, and they don’t accept emails from people outside of FedEx. After everything, we have to tell the doctor’s office they have to RECOLLECT the biopsy. So that poor patient waits 2 weeks while we figure out FedEx is the worst business on earth, only to tell the patient he has to go back under anesthesia again, and have more tissue removed from his body. And this isn’t just one patient, it’s dozens missing because we’d send everything we collected that day between 500 doctors, hospitals, urgent cares etc.
They will hit you with the "You need to get the shipper to file since we have no business with the receiver" and then the "The receiver needs to file evidence of tampering/damage"
My parents have maybe a 50' long driveway. Flat. Off a side street in a small town. Post office? Puts packages on the covered back porch. UPS? Puts packages on the covered back porch. FedEx? Put packages on the front steps in full view of everyone and right under the little roof so all the rain drips down onto it.
Their drivers generally could care less. The few that have to interact with their clientele go the extra mile, but the guys that generally just drop things off and never have to look a client in the eye will do everything they can to make sure that box has a lower chance of making it to the right person.
Another story, during Covid we had Covid specimens FedEx to us from NorCal (from one of the biggest companies in the world) to test their employees, they expected 24 hour turnaround on what’s generally a 72 hour test except weekends they expected Monday AM. The Friday evening covid specimens were supposed to be signed for by lab personnel since my warehouse guys were off by that time on Saturday. The FedEx driver put in my warehouse guy’s name who signed for it despite the fact he didn’t even work that day. We checked the cameras and saw the driver leaving it by the back door, directly next to a doorbell that somebody would have opened, and watched the box sit there until one of the many homeless that hung out behind the building by the train tracks picked up the box, tore it open, realized it was a bunch of Covid specimens and threw them in a bush.
Had a package delivery that was delayed 3 times because "there was nobody home" while I was at home the whole week. When I called customer service they asked me if my doorbell worked. Ofcourse it worked.
It was a pretty heavy package so I'm sure they just didn't want to carry it to my doorstep.
On your shipment receipt does it have the weight of the item shipped? This could be VERY useful as it will prove the weight of whatever you shipped. If the lights are a different weight it will show that between drop off and delivery the items were exchanged. Also, file a claim through UPS and request an investigation. Due to the value of the item, they will likely open one.
Ok, i hope they will sort it out. On the other hand - try everything ( even hotline calls ) on UPS end and tell them you will include then autorities into this ( police ).
Propably someone on the way of the parcel stole the steam deck and replaced it.
I guess the best way of action is to go to the police and tell them about the theft, and then file a complaint at ups, including the info that the police is already involved.
Valve / the steam support cannot really help here as this is outside of what they are responsible for (unless you got an RMA from them..?).
The insurance amount depends on what Valve paid for it since they are the customer, and most of the time these businesses have contracts that insure the value of said product.
In either case, if they admit it to Valve, who is the one who made the RMA label and is thus the customer paying for shipment, then there is their proof and they are obligated to send him a new console to replace it or give him the monetary value.
Yup, police report and then insurance claim with UPS is your best bet. Assuming insurance exists, that is. If not, still file a claim with UPS since this is their fault.
Steam t'as fourni l'étiquette UPS, c'est de leur responsabilité de contacter UPS pour savoir ce qu'il s'est passé, à partir du moment ou tu as laissé le paquet à UPS, ta responsabilité s'arrête, à eux de prouver que tu as intentionnellement envoyé un objet différent, ce qu'il ne pourront probablement pas faire et donc naturellement ils doivent te fournir un remplacement ou un remboursement, ne te laisse pas faire tu as la loi de ton côté.
Si ils font les difficiles, mentionne que tu vas faire un signalement sur signalconso (qui va alors être notifié à la DGCCRF), les entreprises aiment pas trop ça, j'ai du le faire pour un refus de prise en charge sous garantie d'un smartphone motorola, ils voulaient me faire payer la réparation et laisses moi te dire qu'ils ont vite changé de ton quand j'ai mentionné (et rempli le formulaire) signalconso.
C'est pour ça que j'attends la réponse du support Steam. J'ai pas vraiment quoi que ce soit à faire là, et je ne peux même pas faire de réclamation sur UPS.
Ne t'inquiète pas par rapport à SignalConso, j'ai déjà un peu d'expérience avec ça (le support HTC vive qui n'avait pas de solution à mon problème et ne voulait pas faire quoi que ce soit, un petit coup d'ultimatum et je me suis fait totalement remboursé).
Yea UPS sucks a huge bag of D. I have so many problems with UPS I over the years. Even if you want UPS to old your package at a location they charge 20bucks. I do it all the time with FedEx and it’s FREE. Fuck UPS. The drivers are sometimes cool but such a just lack of trust from the company as a whole.
UPS is literally the worst shipping company. Any time I have ever had a problem with shipping something it was UPS. Drivers will literally steal packages, mark you as "not at home" when they did not even attempt a delivery, and tons of other crap.
It just happened right now, so I didn't yet. Though I guess I will wait first for Steam Support's answer, maybe they will contact UPS to start an investigation.
Did they sent you the shipping label? If so, then they're having the contract wirh UPS and have to take care of it, because UPS won't tell you shit about it.
also it would have been signed by a persons name at microsoft ... when places deliver to companies they make sure they get the name of the person signing for it for shit like this
any express shipment includes a guarantee of result. It does not cover what’s inside the parcel, but does include providing full valid POD.
the claim creation lies on the one paying for transport (based on implied incoterm): if Steam sent you the label to print and stick, it’s up to them to contact UPS and challenge them on proving that the delivery was indeed made correctly
they can also ask for the weighting of parcel at the entry point : each parcel is weighted on the conveyor belt in the very first hub. Ask steam to weight the parcel, and compare it to UPS weight FIRST MEASURE (cause you don’t know when it was replaced).
The person who handled this package fake delivered it to themselves and then sent another parcel on to valve. They opened it first, saw a computer, put Microsoft down. Cos they dumb. Should be trivial for UPS to unpick.
If they created the label for RMA, I think Steam Support will help out. But most of the time even if they did, since you’re technically the shipper, you need to reach out to UPS and open a case with them
Make sure to report that to both steam and ups when the thief tries to log on or use it or send in warranty it will be flagged as stolen. Steam will ban it from their services and warranty.
UPS I can't (website doesn't work, as always + I'm not really their customer here), but I sent a message to Steam Support before making this Reddit post.
Wait, was this done through Steam and they are the one who selected UPS and pays for shipping? If so, you should argue it is their responsibility as their selected carrier stole your Steam Deck.
I kind of have mixed feelings on this, I’m curious how effective it is at deterrence. Always wondered if it hurt more than it helps since most thieves will sell quickly and will leave someone else stuck with a brick and out the cash.
Does it being marked as stollen result in any way for a potential second owner to return or turn it in?
Yes it being sold on ebay or most marketplaces the buyer has protection. They could also sue whoever the bought it from for thier money back as selling stolen merchandise is a crime too so is possession. With it being labeled as stolen that would essentially make it a parts donor the only thing that couldn't be reused is the mainboard.
The op will likely need to pursue a claim through the shipping company though.
Ahhh UPS. In a former job, I used to ship newly configured PCs and monitors to the company's locations in 10 states. A handful of times, the receiving location would ask us why we sent them trash instead of the equipment they requested. UPS workers were helping themselves to the hardware and putting an approximate equal weight of trash in the boxes. What a wonderful company.
Yeah lots of people are talking about them weighing the packages and all these sorts of things.
I had an Amazon delivery once that ran 10 days late and then it just got marked as “delivered” on a day I was home all day and no one came near the house.
I can entirely believe there’s enough holes to abuse in the delivery systems. My parcel wasn’t even high value I just think they lost it.
Does your UPS tracking have the package weight? They should have weighed it when you handed it off and during various points during the shipping process.
If so, then ask Steam to weigh the package with the string lights. If the package they received weighs differently from the UPS reported weight, then it’s proof that you were not the one who put the string lights in there when you handed it off to UPS. The weight change would have had to happen between UPS and Steam and not between you and UPS. Then file police report and send to Steam, they should replace your steamdeck and file reimbursement with UPS by themselves since they contracted with them.
There’s a special place in hell for these kinds of people. If someone genuinely stole your Steam Deck in this way. I hope 1000 bees spawn in their arse.
u/Nicalay2 NORMALLY there should be a weight noted when you get your deliverey TO ups for parcel and even inbetween or at final delivery. That is a standard for most parcel services in Germany at least and you can actually track if weight changed and where/when it happened. Try to find that out!
If you package was like 2.8kg when turning it in at UPS and was 1.4kg on delivery day, something was done by UPS.
Same. I purchased one shortly after they came out (England). The fkin thing got to the parcel shop and they couldn't find it. The guy who went out the book looked shifty as fuck. Suddenly, about an hour later it was showing it had been picked up -_-. I had SO much trouble getting my money back.
When the new one finally did arrive it had a HUGE steamdeck logo up the side of the box.. I guarentee that little shit in the parcel shop got himself a free steamdeck
They asked you if you still have it. The answer is no. The item was in the package so it got stolen somewhere during shipping.
After that they will probably start an investigation if they made the shipping label. Which if I read it, is what is done. Just tell them that you don't have it because it was in the package and that they need to start an investigation.
I've seen a resolution to this please read!! This happened to someone's graphics card. They were able to get in contact with the shipper and see that the weight of the item changed at a certain point during transit, making the shipping company liable.
When I sent an expensive item on eBay, I had my sister film me packing it the drop off and hand it to the shop. I felt this was the only way to protect myself from this kind of bs. Even when I received my steam deck and switch 2, I filmed myself opening the boxes just in case of a switcheroo
Steam have a contract with the courier by providing you a return label. When you tell them you don't have it, they will open a case/claim with the courier as the courier has not fulfilled their side of their contract with Steam in this case.
Good thing you got photos prior to sending it. I feel like we all have to do this these days.
Honestly great move on valve for not immediately assuming you're trying to do a fast one. But i'm sure once the post carrier gets word from the sender and receiver that the package was tampered with, they absolutely will go and investigate. Whoever did that broke the law in a serious way.
Idk how much shipping would cost but I have a 64gb SD sitting in a box in my closet collecting dust. I upgraded to a lenovo handheld and haven't touched it in 5 months.
People keep saying UPS is bad, DPD is bad, GLS is bad… but honestly, they’re all pretty much the same. The real problem isn’t the company name on the van, it’s the people who steal packages or handle them carelessly. And when someone gets fired at DHL, they often just end up working for DPD or GLS instead.
Just allow us to make real reference.. last time I made a real one I was told off for saying the truth.
I have to say "ask me if I want to hire the person in question" and when they ask I can say "No".
And when people slanter the firm for being downright terrible workers, we just have to reply "it is a personal matter which we cannot comment on".
That is why people that steal, mistreat other etc. Keeps gettkng into these jobs and takkng up space for others.
Firlst of Désolé, secondly get in touch with UPS, they will figure out when the weight on the steam deck changed. This should prove that you did nothing wrong. Also I don't know where in France you are from but, une petite pensé pour le psg en ligue des champions.
Did the shipping label or receipt have a weight on it? Maybe that could be used to find out what happened, as curtain lights are probably a lot lighter
I’m so sorry this happened to you. I did the same thing took pictures of mine and also the UPS store I dropped it off at and the employee putting it in the package for me.
All the more reason to take photos as you are packing it up to send out. Someone along the process of shipping it back must have swapped it with something else and stole the deck.
That sucks especially now since they are more expensive.
I miss the days of just being able to take things to a local shop to be fixed. The fact that I can't even trust shipping things without them being stolen is infuriating.
thank you for the reminder to video myself signing all the seams on my boxes and dropping off the signed package intact.
we should really normalize consumer access to tamper-evident packaging.
I'm sorry UPS has done this to you, you should definitely give them hell over this. don't drop it, you can absolutely get reimbursed if you make a stink about it.
remember, the employee stole from you while they were on the clock, they are acting on behalf of the company, ergo the company itself stole from you.
also, if the employee did this to yours, then they're likely stealing other people's electronics as well.
if they get enough reports from different victims of a given rogue employee, they can likely figure out who is the common thread between all of those reports and fire them, potentially even get your shit back if they didn't sell it.
maybe this is just me as an american, but you're gonna lose $500 unless you make a stink about it, so just bite the bullet and do it.
call customer support, tag them on twitter, contact a local news outlet, at least where i live the local access will do a little story on UPS stealing people's mail which prompts their PR to save face and make it right with whomever speaks up.
they're not going to care if you don't, so make it a point to care.
There should have been weight checks done, so unless it was stolen before it was scanned in first time you've got a good chance of there being some discrepancy.
This happened to me. Sent my steam deck in for repair using Yeep and UPS and they lost package. They really need to change their choice of courier it’s not a good experience.
- Wait to hear what they will do. It is quite possible if you have a long history with them and no other red flags, they just reimburse you and send you a new unit. If they do, then you got your result. Valve will then do their own investigation with the shipper.
- Once Valve tells you what their next steps are, if it is not replacement then advocate for yourself. Escalate the matter as needed, request an investigation into the shipper, point out the inconsistencies and concerns with the shipper "Microsoft" thing.
As Valve is the one that created the shipment, they were the ones stolen from - not you. Technically this is a line of insurance - Value owes you, shipper owes Valve.
As someone who works in ecommerce and deals with package fraud this is most certainly FTID (fake tracking id) scam. Ups is notorious for this shit. What probably happened is your package got noticed as being valuable and then a new label was generated for your package on the same tracking number but instead was redirected elsewhere and then the Christmas lights were sent on to steam.
One easy way to look at this is by putting the tracking number into Bing (yes Bing not google) it pulls up a much longer tracking history then UPS itself does if you're not the shipper. And sometimes you can see if the package was redirected. Or it might just say "delivered" immediately with little movement.
surely the weights would be different though? When you send something from the UK, they weigh it and mark it on the label. Ask valve for the weight to see if they match.
Steam sends EU RMAs to a sketchy repair shop in east europe, my best guess is that it is not the courier fault but the repair center that has scammed you.
That may seem scetchy, but that does not mean it is. I once had to send in my roborock vacuum robot, they lost it at the repair center and the company offered me a new one from a much better series that sold for double the price, which I gladly accepted.
My r1 button is broken too and I almost want to fix it myself or at a local repair shop because I don't want to be apart from it for so long. Right now I'm just playing games that don't use the r1 button which means I can't finish subnautica
If a worker looked closely at the destination address, they could figure out it's going to an RMA center, and that there could be tech inside the package.
Same for incoming packages.
"My PlayStation was stolen in shipping" because it was a package the size of a console, and the shipping label had SONY written all over it. (Insert similar for phones, electronics, car parts, etc)
Ironic that the sex toy industry has this basically figured out.
Most reputable toy brands ship with names & addresses that have no relation to the product or business. You'd need some serious homework to know a given box contained sex toys.
Man I really hope Valve or USPS make it right. This is so sad to hear. It would definitely boost my faith in humanity if they don’t leave you high and dry. I really hope this works out for you man
They should have recorded weight during initial movement which would be a lot different than LED lights. At least most US services do that here. Should be the same over there.
See if theres a way you could get documented weights during the trip.
OP, im sorry. This really sucks the big one but i couldn't help but laugh at the customer's service rep's response. "Did you mean to send curtain lights instead of a Steam Deck?" Come on, man. There's no way they dont know what happened. French people can be so sassy.
To be fair. People who are gonna send stuff back can make misstakes. Working in customer service i have seen a fair share of people sending the wrong stuff to us and having to deal with people who were sure we are supposed to have the item we dont even sell
Did you send it with the original carton it came in? With the Valve/Steam symbols?
I am having to return my Deck for RMA as well in the next week and I am not using the Carton they sent it with because I am scared of exactly this happening.
Well... It'll at least probably get you a new Steam Deck. You already paid for the device, you were sending it in for service. This means you gain absolutely nothing by sending the wrong item. This will help you, because someone stole your deck, and it was someone either at the facility where you dropped it off, or someone in the chain of custody between you handing it over to UPS and the box arriving at Valve. Each link in the chain is responsible for the package until it leaves their custody so it'll be on UPS to launch an investigation to figure out which employee is the thief. In the meantime, if you shipped it through an official RMA program with Valve they likely have your steam deck insured. The email from them was likely to see if you had accidentally sent them the wrong box as that likely happens a lot - someone is RMA'ing a steam deck and returning an item to Amazon at the same time and forgets which box is which - so I think they were just trying to rule that out. Regardless, you have nothing to gain from not sending the device since at this point you're out the money and a device. So it shouldn't they much to get valve and UPS working to figure out who stole your device and work out getting you a new one.
They always do this shit. UPS lost a gift my friend had bought for me from GoodSmile Company Japan and told me to contact the seller. GoodSmile told her to contact UPS. She was able to get a refund but I'm not surprised UPS pulled this shit with you, I'm really sorry it happened and I hope it gets resolved
Unless the weight is exactly the same of when you dropped the package, and you still have the receipt from UPS for when you dropped the package, you can contest that.
When you drop a package at UPS or Fedex, they weight it and give you a receipt (in some cases they ask if you want it). That receipt has the info of the package. If the weight is different (Valve has the package in their possession; you can ask them to return the package to UPS) , you have room for a formal request to investigate.
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u/maledorrison May 06 '26
They should be able to pull the weights at each scan I would think? To pinpoint when something happened between the orgin scan and delivered.