Lake Country woman hears package land with thud

With a thud and a shattering of glass, one Lake Country woman got a Thursday night surprise.

Through a doorbell cam, Cindy Mitchell saw a delivery person come into view, and the package she had been waiting for took flight, then landed with a thud. She then saw the driver take a picture of his completed delivery, turn away and walk back into the darkness.

“It was a $20 bottle of face serum I had bought for a client,” Mitchell said, noting that it shattered on impact.

“He throws it, it smashes, he takes a picture, and leaves. He was like, ‘I don’t even care,’ and he just tossed it aside.”

The order was from Amazon, which promptly issued a replacement to her order upon hearing what happened. The delivery service used was Dragonfly and she’s complained to them, as well. Though, she’s not heard back.

Unfortunately, the company is no stranger to negative attention as of late.

Mitchell said she doesn’t want to pile on to the complaints, particularly because this experience was uniquely poor. She's had so many good deliveries that she has a basket of goodies set up outside her door as thanks to those who do the job well.

But she knows she’s not alone in this shoddy treatment and thinks “something needs to happen.”

Frustrated by the whole event, she posted the video on her community Facebook page and the attention it got was so intense that the administrator pulled the plug on the comments section.

“I am still getting messages left, right and centre,” she said Friday afternoon, adding that by that time the video had more than 20,000 views.

“Other people are having the same experiences; they’re getting things thrown to the ground, or (the company) is misplacing things or going to the wrong address.”

Dragonfly customers and drivers are at odds over the cause of numerous damaged packages, as Okanagan drivers for one of Amazon’s third party delivery services continue protesting this week.

Following an unpaid walkout of roughly 100 Dragonfly drivers starting on Tuesday, both customers and drivers are sharing their sides of a mounting shipment problem.

A number of Okanagan customers said that in addition to damaged packages, many are opened by the time they arrive at a customer’s door. Some have been left on car roofs or placed leaning on secure parcel boxes. Many are now sharing videos of drivers throwing packages.

A Gallagher Lake resident shared videos to Castanet of drivers tossing packages on his front door as recently as Nov. 13. He said Dragonfly’s customer service has done little to address his complaints.

Meanwhile, Amazon has refunded many orders, including those delivered to wrong addresses.

In a Facebook group dedicated to Dragonfly complaints, users have said the same issues are occurring across the country, and even in Australia where the Montreal-based company expanded service to three years ago.

-with files from Sarah Crookall