I ordered a GPU on ebay earlier this year, and followed this process to the letter to make sure I'd have proof if the product arrived broken.
After such a loss, I think it's normal to go to such measures. Having my partner use my videography kit to film the entire handover takes only a few minutes but if it can save me so much money, it'd be stupid not to.
And yes, I believe that if we as a society have reached a point where even with evidence and a police report no one in the chain feels responsible to act, we're fucked.
And honestly, every other online retailer is more trustworthy than Amazon, because they're not marketplaces, and you can actually reach humans who are allowed to make decisions. Something that Amazon is sorely lacking.
That said, it's not an "Amazon" issue, it's an issue with all marketplaces.
I have been working from home, my wife also working from home--so driveway full of cars--and on several occasions heard their truck door slam, only to find that sticker on the door.
FedEx, UPS, DHL, and all the random, local, "last mile" shippers here seem to all have a policy to not actually even try for signature-required delivery until at least the second attempt.
When I said this, he very sheepishly came over with my package.
otoh I'm guessing the poor guy probably didn't have time to piss while delivering > 1.5x the maximum possible number of deliverable packages in a normal working day.
And this was at least an improvement on getting the "we couldn't deliver your package because you were not home" email the day after you've waited in all day to receive it.
> your delivery guy doesn't just dump everything on the doorstep as quietly as they can?
Never had that, no.
> Or for anything requiring a signature (actually, can't remember the last time I had that through Amazon)
They email & show in 'my orders' numeric codes to give the driver who then enters and verifies them. (This verifies they actually delivered it too, since they don't know the code, just enter what you tell them.)
> run up and stick the "customer wasn't home" sticker on the door without even trying the doorbell or knocking?
You get stickers on your doors? Here in the UK (with any courier) it's a piece of paper through the letterbox that says missed/with a neighbour/in your safe place/whatever.
I suppose that's because you have mailboxes outside with little flags rather than letterboxes in doors, so they don't want to try to deliver to your door and then look for that as well when it doesn't work, easier just to stick something on the door where they already are?
You probably don’t need to be concerned: they’re unlikely to show, so you’ll just get summary judgement.
