A pet owner claimed Amazon told him to file a false police report if he wanted a refund for a lost box of cat food.
Kyle Anderson said he ordered three large bags of cat food for his seven pets, for a total of $126.82, to his home in northeast Ohio, but they never arrived.
Instead, the courier sent him a photo of the box after it was delivered to a different house and he had received the order from someone else 45 minutes earlier.
Photos of the two boxes showed they were delivered to different homes, and he and his fiancee couldn’t find the package when they looked outside.
Kyle Anderson and his fiancée Vidhi said they ordered three large bags of cat food for their seven pets, for a total of $126.82, to their home in northeast Ohio, but it never arrived.
Photos of the two boxes showed they were delivered to different homes, and he and his fiancee couldn’t find the package when they looked outside. On the left is another customer’s package mistakenly delivered to Anderson and on the right is their actual package elsewhere.
After sending the package she received in error to the intended address, Anderson contacted Amazon to request a refund.
“Three different representatives told me that even though it was their mistake, I would have to file a police report and give it to them if I wanted to receive a refund,” he said.
But here’s the problem: no crime was committed. My package was not ‘stolen or tampered with’, it was simply delivered to the wrong address.’
Anderson was concerned that not only was this a waste of time for both him and the police, but it was arguably a crime, since filing a false police report is illegal.
—Then you are asking me to commit a crime. Just to be clear? he said he told the third Amazon representative, who he believed was a manager.
He claimed they responded: “I’m not asking you to commit a crime, no, but we will need you to file a police report to refund your item.”
“Delivering a package to the wrong address is not a crime, so fundamentally I am being asked to report a crime that did not occur, committing a crime in the process,” he said.
Anderson’s fiancée, Vidhi, with one of their seven cats, named Beelzebub.
Another of the seven cats, this one a red-haired feline.
Anderson said his fiancée, Vidhi, tried calling Amazon and was told the same thing, and decided he would file the police report to get his money back.
‘They came to the house, she explained the situation and apologized for wasting his time. He made a report and gave us a reference number,’ he said.
However, Amazon refused to accept the reference number and demanded that they submit a copy of the police report in PDF format.
‘They could have easily geolocated that delivery and told me where the package was left. They might as well have taken the risk and given me a refund,” Anderson said.
“Instead, they insist that I waste my time and commit a crime in an effort to make me surrender.”
Beelzebub with Anderson and Vidhi. The rest of her cats are called Mr M, Coco, Mint, Nimbus, Chai and Hazel.
Vidhi with two more of the couple’s cats.
Anderson argued that Amazon’s insistence on a police report for an incorrectly delivered package was a huge waste of public resources, especially since police had to take statements from them in person.
“A police officer took the time to come to our house, sit down with my fiancee, take the report, come back to the station and file it,” he said.
‘An investment of more than an hour during which this officer could and should have used to investigate real crimes.
“Amazon is engaging in a practice designed to target the uninformed in order to protect its bottom line, while wasting public resources and people’s time.”
Anderson said Amazon eventually relented and started a new support ticket out of the blue, but only offered credit instead of a refund.
Patrick McCall, president of private investigators at McCall Risk Group, said Amazon frequently demanded police reports and agreed that filing a report for a lost but not stolen item would be a crime.
“Lately we’ve seen a lot of online merchants requiring a buyer to file a report and send it back to them for a refund,” he said.
Anderson said Amazon eventually relented and started a new support ticket out of the blue, but only offered credit instead of a refund.
“Amazon and other online retailers have seen many scams involving people claiming they did not receive the package when they actually received it or intentionally shipping it to a neighbor or family member’s house.”
McCall said Amazon in particular went as far as requiring customers to present a copy of their driver’s licenses and other documents to get a refund.
If the customer refused, he said the company would deny credit card disputes “claiming that the customer failed to comply with its return policies when the customer clearly had no control over packages being delivered to the wrong address.”
McCall claimed that the lawsuits were so out of control that the police departments of New York City and Suffolk County, Long Island, refused to issue reports under such circumstances.
“Police know that the filing of such reports is fraudulent and that Amazon is directing people to complete them to receive a refund,” he said.
The Suffolk County Police Department denied that it refused to issue them.
“If someone is unsure whether an item was lost or stolen, an officer would take a report indicating that the item could be lost or stolen,” he said.
The NYPD and Cleveland Division of Police did not respond to requests for comment.
Amazon said: “We have confirmed that the customer received a credit to their payment method and we apologize for this misunderstanding and delivery experience.”
“We manage each customer’s concerns on a case-by-case basis and, in limited cases, we may request additional information.”
TikToker Diane Smith claimed in February that Amazon made the same demand about four folding chairs that didn’t show up.
TikToker Diane Smith claimed in February that Amazon made the same demand about four folding chairs that didn’t show up.
Smith said he ordered 12 chairs for an event, but only eight arrived even though the company claimed all three boxes were delivered.
He said the chairs couldn’t have been stolen because the building was secure, but Amazon told him he had to file a police report.
“First of all, no one steals my four wooden chairs, which are literally super cheap,” he said.
“I mean, I’d lose $200 if they left, but I don’t think anyone looking at that box would say, ‘Yeah, there are chairs in there.'” I’m going to steal them.’
So I just made a police report. And I think they’ll laugh at me and say, ‘Is this girl serious?’
“But right now I have to make a police report to find these chairs and why they are missing, and Amazon won’t help me until the police help me like something is happening.” This is super strange.’
Another Amazon customer in the United Kingdom reported the same issue to The Guardian last year about a £71.97 ($93.44) package that Amazon’s tracker said was delivered to reception, when their building had no reception.
The order was suddenly refunded after the newspaper asked about it.