An Ottawa man says he is reconsidering buying products on Amazon after he says he witnessed a delivery person drop packages on the ground and leave them in a vehicle overnight on several occasions.
Don Turton said he and his wife noticed a man transferring dozens of parcels with Amazon logos on them from one vehicle to another in the snow-covered parking lot of their co-op building in the city鈥檚 Vanier neighbourhood on Monday afternoon.
鈥淪everal of them fell on the ground, some of them he just threw in the trunk,鈥� Turton told CTVNews.ca on Tuesday.
The delivery man didn鈥檛 move all of the packages and some of them remained in the first vehicle while he drove off in the second one, Turton recalled.
He said the items were left in the vehicle in the parking lot overnight before the man returned on Tuesday morning and drove away with them.
鈥淎nybody as a thief鈥� could easily just go in there and take all of these, [I鈥檓] assuming Christmas items,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y concern is about people鈥檚 goods and the money they鈥檝e paid for all of these things, especially with Christmas coming up.鈥�
It鈥檚 not the first time Turton said he鈥檚 spotted this delivery man leaving packages overnight in vehicles in his building鈥檚 parking lot. He said he鈥檚 seen the same man transfer parcels and leave them in a vehicle overnight at least three times since the summer.
鈥淚 noticed this started several months ago, but I just hadn鈥檛 clicked in to what was going on, that these were Amazon parcels and they were being left in the vehicle, sometimes overnight,鈥� he said.
Turton said he emailed Amazon鈥檚 customer service and was told the company takes 鈥渇ull responsibility鈥� for the delivery of goods from 鈥渟tart to finish.鈥�
鈥淭his method of delivering parcels is certainly not acceptable as our drivers are asked to find safe secure and dry locations for deliveries,鈥� the response said.
The customer service representative said Turton鈥檚 complaint would be passed on to the 鈥渁ppropriate people鈥� in the company and that 鈥渃orrective action鈥� would be taken so that it didn鈥檛 happen again.
When contacted by CTV News, a public relations manager for Amazon said the company was looking into the matter. They also confirmed they use independent couriers for some of their deliveries in the Ottawa-Gatineau region, but they wouldn鈥檛 confirm which courier was used in this case.
Turton said he wasn鈥檛 satisfied with the answer he received from the online retailer.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 really get a sense they cared too much,鈥� he said.
Turton said he logged into his Amazon account following the response he received from customer service and deleted his wish list. He said he鈥檚 considering finding other ways to purchase products online.
鈥淚t is very frustrating because when you purchase things from any retailer online, your trust is in them, expecting that the delivery process is secure that nobody else can take an opportunity to go down and steal your items,鈥� he said.
Turton said he鈥檚 sharing the photos he took of the delivery man so that others will pay attention to how their online purchases are being delivered.
鈥淚 hope that people will see this and maybe just question their delivery parcels鈥� how secure their delivery system is,鈥� he said.
