A woman in San Jose, California, has been buried under an avalanche of Amazon deliveries she never ordered, all because a seller in China listed her home as the return address.
Identified only as Kay, the homeowner says the unwanted packages have been arriving steadily for over a year, filling her driveway and yard with boxes piled chest-high. The shipments have become so overwhelming, she can’t even park her car at home.
“It’s just been another form of hell,” Kay told ABC 7.
The source of the chaos is an Amazon seller based in China, going by the name “Liusandedian.” The company sells low-quality faux leather car seat covers that apparently don’t fit most vehicles.
As a result, hundreds of frustrated customers have returned the items, but instead of heading back overseas, the returns have been flooding Kay’s address in San Jose.
What began as a single mistaken package quickly snowballed into a constant stream. Kay tried refusing deliveries, but the parcels kept arriving by the dozens. Over time, her entryway became so blocked by boxes that she sometimes couldn't get her 88-year-old mother to the front door without clearing a path.
“What you see now is just a fraction,” she said. “I’ve refused delivery on even more packages than are here.”
Despite filing multiple complaints with Amazon (at least six, she says) little was done for months. Each time, she was promised a resolution, and each time, more packages showed up.
“I was always told, ‘This will stop. We’ll follow up in 24 to 48 hours,’” she recalled.
At one point, the company offered her a $100 gift card for the inconvenience. But she says they also told her it was her responsibility to dispose of the packages, suggesting she donate or return them herself.
“Why is this my problem?” Kay asked. “Your seller is breaking the rules, and I’m left to clean it up?”
Amazon policy requires international sellers to either provide a valid U.S. return address, offer pre-paid return labels, or issue refunds without requiring returns, per their website. If none of those conditions are met within two days, Amazon can step in, refund the buyer, and charge the seller.
In this case, Liusandedian appears to have sidestepped that policy entirely by listing Kay’s home as the return address, a move that has left her inundated with packages for over a year.
Although Amazon denies ever telling Kay to deal with the issue herself, the company finally sent a team to clear the packages from her home on Wednesday. They also reiterated that the issue would be permanently resolved.
“We’d like to thank [ABC 7] for bringing this to our attention,” Amazon said in a statement, per the New York Post. “We’ve apologized to the customer and are working directly with her to remove any remaining packages while taking steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”