A techie couple from the city were in for a rude shock when they received a live cobra in a carton containing an Xbox gaming controller that they had ordered from Amazon.

Luckily, the snake was stuck to the packing tape and couldn’t do any harm.

The matter came to light on Monday when the woman, who identified herself as Tanvi, shared the horrifying experience on X. But the post didn’t gain traction until Wednesday.

“Ordered an Xbox controller from @amazonIN and received a free snake with it!” Tanvi posted along with a video clip showing the snake trying to slither.

The couple who lives in Sarjapur, a south-eastern suburb, narrated their ordeal in a statement and said the package was handed over to them by a delivery person.

“We ordered an Xbox controller 2 days ago from Amazon and received a live snake in the package. The package was directly handed over to us by the delivery partner (not left outside). We live on Sarjapur road and captured the entire incident on camera, plus we have eyewitnesses to the same.”

“The snake has been ID’d as a possible Spectacled Cobra (Naja naja), a highly venomous snake species indigenous to Karnataka,” they explained.

While the couple received a full refund from Amazon, they questioned the carelessness of the company as the venomous snake could have harmed them. “We did receive a complete refund, but what do we get for risking our lives here with a highly venomous snake? This is clearly a safety breach caused solely by Amazon’s negligence and their poor transportation/warehousing hygiene and supervision. Where is the accountability for such a serious lapse in safety?”

They are seeking legal opinion to take further action against the e-commerce major.

In the video shared on X by Tanvi, the parcel was seen kept in a plastic bucket. However, there is no clarity on how or when she disposed of the reptile.

An Amazon official, who identified himself as Sriram, apologised for
the “inconvenience.”

“We’re sorry to know about the inconvenience you’ve had with the Amazon order. We’d like to have this checked. Please share the required details here: https://amzn.to/3RvxarV, and our team will get back to you soon with an update,” read the customary response from the company.

This newspaper’s efforts to get a detailed statement did not find any result as Amazon refused to respond to an email and messages to two officials.

Shocked X users came down on Amazon over its generic response.

“The ‘inconvenience’ being an attempt to murder, surely a refund would be sufficient,” commented a person named Lola’s Sinha.

“Choice of words,” commented Anand Parameswaran.

Some laced their reactions with humour. “Wow! I also have an Amazon order coming this evening.... Need to find a snake catcher now,” commented Failed Logics.

There was also no shortage of reactions loaded with tech terminology relevant to the situation.

“Sorry for the inconveniences we will send python x,” commented Shiva Kumar Shapur, obviously playing on the popular Python programming language.

Another person who goes by the name Kar988x came up with a geographical quip: “Straight out of Amazon.”