Online shopping is so common, most people don’t think about how a package arrives at their door. Unless you’re Drew Blodgett.
He got in touch after an Amazon Prime delivery van hit his fence - for the third time.
“We were in there eating breakfast - me and my wife. We heard the van backing up,” says Drew.
Drew Blodgett was eating eggs, but his fence was toast.
He showed us footage from a surveillance camera.
“You can hear it hit the fence. She backs up again,” says Drew. “and then she hits the fence again.”
His gate is busted and the rest is off kilter.
Gate crashing usually happens once, but Drew says drivers have hit his fence at least three times.
“It’s frustrating the first time. It’s frustrating the third time. The third time, it’s super aggravating,” he says.
Three times in 18 months Amazon vans have hit his fence. The driver in the third case did stop and apologize, and a manager from Amazon came to Drew’s home that day.
“Her manager came here and said ‘I’ll try to get you your case number, and everything escalated.’ Once he left I messaged him four or five days later saying ‘where’s my claim number, what’s my claim number?’ Nothing from him, ever,” says Drew.
Reportedly, there are at least 30,000 Amazon delivery vans nationwide. And in the vast majority of cases, these drivers are safe and courteous. In this situation, though, Drew says he previously alerted Amazon about his tricky driveway.
“When I called Amazon customer service, they said they don’t get the message until their van is notified that they are parked. So they had already pulled in the driveway, hit park, and that’s when they got the notification: don’t pull in the driveway,” explains Drew.
Communication issues and delays led Drew to contact us for help.
We got two fence companies to provide estimates for him, for the repair.
“We replaced it the first time. This post was hit. My concrete wasn’t quite strong enough to hold up to that Amazon van that came out that hit it again the second time,” says Secoma Fence estimator Nathan Hagberg.
We also reconnected with Amazon and it’s now doing the right thing here. The company included new delivery instructions to Drew’s home. And it’s reminding drivers to not overlook, and to follow, customer’s specific delivery instructions.
In a statement the company says:
“We apologize for any inconvenience caused, and have been in direct communication with our customer to make it right. We have reimbursed the customer for the damages incurred along with an Amazon gift card as a gesture of goodwill.”
Now, Drew’s happy he won’t have to be on the alert for crashing sounds when he’s expecting a delivery.
“It’s other people’s stuff you’re damaging. It’s not like an Amazon van. I’m pretty sure they fix their vans right away. You can’t be driving around in a broken van,” says Drew. “Do a favor and fix the stuff you broke.”
Here are some tips: if you or your property ever get hit by a van owned by a company, take plenty of pictures. Make sure to get the driver’s insurance information right away. You’ll probably be asked to get multiple estimates - on your own time - for the damage. Finally, if that gets you nowhere, contact your insurance and let them know. They may be able to fix the damage and charge the company for it.
If the company’s insurance company is really dragging its heels, you can file a complaint with our state’s Office of Insurance Commissioner. Or contact me.
Email Jesse right now at consumer@kiro7.com
Cox Media Group
