‘It’s been hell’: Hundreds of Amazon packages mistakenly shipped to U.S. woman’s home for over a year

Hundreds of Amazon packages mistakenly shipped to U.S. woman's home for over a year. KGO via CNN Newsource

It’s an Amazon nightmare. Imagine hundreds of oversized packages appear on your doorstep -- and you have no clue why. You never ordered them. Yet, the shipping spree to your street continues for more than a year.

That’s what happened to a San Jose woman. And as 7 On Your Side explains, her frustrating scenario is linked to an overseas online seller who appears to be violating Amazon’s return policy.

“Kay” (not her real name) is utterly confused as to why scores of these large boxes filled with car seat covers keep appearing at her doorstep. She says it’s non-stop.

The mystery “shipping spree” is now haunting half of her car port.

“What you see now is a fraction, because I have refused delivery on more packages than you see here,” Kay said.

Inside each package is a set of faux-leather car seat covers from a Chinese online seller called “Liusandedian.” The online seller’s Amazon listing advertises the brand Etkin, selling seat covers supposedly made to fit various makes and models of sedans and SUVs. But as you can see from Kay’s house -- in many of these cases-- the covers didn’t fit and consumers said they were forced to pay out of pocket to return them to the company’s “return center.” One person commented online: “Why haven’t I received my refund? Was sent thru UPS 3 weeks ago.”

Yet, little do they know -- they’re just piling up in Kay’s garage. In part because, the online seller put Kay’s address on their return labels, leaving her stuck in this mess. Meanwhile, reviews indicate consumers are stuck without their refunds. In one case, a viewer wrote: “It’s going to cost me US$124 to return this item!!!” -- an item that she already paid at least $129 for.

“Oftentimes, what it costs to return it is about more than 50 per cent of what they paid for it,” Kay said. “Plus, these consumers aren’t getting their money back!”

Kay says she’s contacted Amazon countless times to try and resolve this over the past year, including filing six complaint tickets.

“And every time I was absolutely assured this will stop... you won’t get any more of these packages, you’ll hear from us in 24, 48 hours...” Kay said she was even offered a $100 Amazon gift balance.

Nope. Each month, she says, they just kept coming. They blocked her driveway, mail carrier and doorway, making it hard for her 88-year-old mom, who is disabled.

“When we come home, it was like this,” Kay said pointing to the packages crowding her doorstep. “I couldn’t even get my mother in the house...it’s just been another form of hell.”

And to make matters worse, she says Amazon put the onus on her to fix the issue -- suggesting she give the packages away, donate them, or take them back to USPS and FedEx.

However, Amazon denies encouraging Kay to return boxes to USPS or FedEx.

“Why is it my responsibility to get rid of this, when your seller is not following your rules Amazon?” she asked.

According to Amazon’s policy, international sellers must either provide a U.S. address to which to send the return, issue a “returnless refund” where the buyer does not have to ship the product back, or provide a pre-paid international shipping label within two days of the return request. If sellers don’t respond within that timeframe, Amazon may refund the customer on the seller’s behalf and charge the amount to the seller. That means “Liusandedian” would have to lose all proceeds from the sale or pay return shipping to China. Pretty pricey! Amazon also requires that third-party sellers on its marketplace platform display a physical mailing address on their profile, but does not specify that it needs to be within the U.S.

So instead -- consumers get stuck with the bill.

“This is thousands of dollars they’ve paid to send these boxes back to my house!” Kay said as she pointed to the pile as tall as her barbecue.

More than 40 per cent of Liusandedian’s Amazon reviews have a one-star rating. And unlike other companies, this one has no way for consumers to contact them if an issue like this comes up. Not to mention, there’s no trace of a website online showing this seller exists.

7 On Your Side asked Amazon what they’re doing to resolve this, and if there’s any vetting process to determine if companies selling on their platform actually are who they say they are.

While we didn’t get a direct answer, the tech giant told us: “We’d like to thank ABC 7 On Your Side for bringing this to our attention. We’ve apologized to the customer and are working directly with her to pick-up any packages while taking steps to permanently resolve this issue.”

And finally, after a year of waiting, some good news for Kay.

The company removed all the packages on her property this morning, vowing to crack down on these practices.

“I am so eternally grateful that you guys are here for us... because reaching out to you, I was in tears that somebody actually got back to me... after a year of trying to get somebody to just listen to me,” Kay told 7 On Your Side’s Stephanie Sierra. “It was such a relief!”