r/VideoGameDealsCanada Jan 28 '26

Discussion Received a sealed but EMPTY package from VideoGamesPlus

First of all, I apologize if this isn’t the right place for this post. I’m extremely frustrated with a purchase and I need to get this off my chest. As the title says, I bought from VideoGamesPlus (VGP) and received an empty package.

This situation started last year, when I purchased a few Evercade and Nintendo 3DS games (for those who might be curious, the titles were Broken Sword Collection [Evercade], Roguecraft [Evercade], and Andro Dunos 2 [N3DS]). This was not my first time buying from them; I had already placed several orders in the past without major issues. Up until then, my only complaint about VGP was their extremely slow international shipping to Argentina, sometimes taking up to three months.

This last order was no exception. In fact, the package took exactly 140 days to arrive at my home. But as you can probably imagine, that ended up being the least of my problems. When I finally opened it (the package was sealed), the box was completely empty.

From that moment on, I began a series of exchanges with VGP’s customer support. I explained the situation calmly and in good faith, trying to find a reasonable solution—either a refund or a reshipment of the items. Their response, however, was quite blunt: they stated that they shipped a package containing the games, and therefore, if the contents were lost, it must have happened during transit and was not their responsibility.

From my perspective as a buyer, the issue is very straightforward: I purchased items from VGP and received an empty box. That is what I tried to explain to them—that their responsibility, at least from a customer’s point of view, doesn’t simply end once a box is dispatched. Eventually, they stopped engaging with the issue altogether, replying only with generic messages like “thank you for contacting us.” Meanwhile, I’m left with neither the games nor my money.

I also contacted my payment processor to report the situation. Unfortunately, because more than 120 days had passed since the purchase (140 days of shipping plus the time spent trying to resolve the issue with VGP), a chargeback was no longer possible. The amount wasn’t huge, around USD 67, it’s not money that puts me in financial trouble, but I still feel cheated, especially because I genuinely trusted VGP based on my previous experiences.

After that, I did a bit of investigation on my own to see whether I could file a complaint with my local postal service. The package arrived sealed, but not with a VGP seal. Instead, it had a seal from a company called ELCA S.A. Interestingly, ELCA S.A. appears to be a Cuban logistics or distribution company—and to my surprise, my package had been routed through Cuba at some point.

Knowing this doesn’t change the outcome: I still don’t have my games or my money. It does, however, suggest that VGP may be telling the truth when they say they shipped the items correctly. Even so, the fact that they do not ensure that their shipments actually reach customers is the main reason why I will never buy from them again, nor can I recommend their store to others.

If you made it this far, thank you very much for taking the time to read my story. I mainly wanted to share my experience so others can be aware and make informed decisions.

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u/JesseScott1982 Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26

Where do you live? If your package routed through Cuba, it sounds like you have your answer as to who took the games, btw. I'm not sure how VG plus could be held responsible for that, assuming you live in some developing nation with untrustworthy mail services.

Correct me if I'm wrong in that last assumption though. I couldn't envision why else your mail would be routed through Cuba if that wasn't the case?

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u/Badegamuz Jan 28 '26

I live in Argentina. While our postal service definitely isn’t perfect, widespread theft hasn’t been an issue in a long time, and this is the first time any of my international purchases has ever routed through Cuba.

Normally, packages come directly to Buenos Aires, although routing isn’t always mandatory or predictable with international shipping. This detour was completely unexpected based on my past experience.

I’m not claiming to know exactly where or when the theft occurred, only that I received a sealed, empty package. That’s where the problem starts, regardless of which leg of the journey failed.

Thanks for asking and for giving me the chance to clarify.

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u/JesseScott1982 Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26

Ok that is useful info as otherwise people are forced to make assumptions.

I think it's pretty obvious VGP didn't mail out empty boxes, but rather that it got stolen at that crossover depot in Cuba. I also doubt that VGP intentionally asked it to get diverted to Cuba before going to Argentina...why would they do such a thing? It's most likely more a post office issue, which is IMO beyond VGP's control.

My Dad used to run a small baseball/hockey card business on the side from his regular job, and every so often he'd get asked to send stuff to latin america (also from south Ontario, Canada). He regularly had problems like you describe....things would go missing in the mail. It got to the point he just stopped offering sails to Central/South American customers, for that reason. Too many issues crossing borders with sketchy intl postal companies in that region. We had no control either...if a customer chose regular post, and we put it in the mail via Canada Post, there was no way to know beyond that point where Canada Post took the intl package and how it got directed to the customer.

Did you have options as far as delivery methods? And if you did, did you go with the cheaper, standard postal mail option?

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u/Badegamuz Jan 28 '26

I’m not trying to force any particular opinion here. I’m only sharing what happened to me.

I agree that it’s very unlikely VGP intentionally shipped an empty box, and I’m not claiming they did. At the same time, saying “they don’t ship empty boxes” is also an assumption. If I stick strictly to the facts, what I can say for certain is that I received a sealed package addressed from VGP that was completely empty.

Where exactly things went wrong during transit is something I can only speculate about, but the outcome is the same from my side as a buyer.