An Amazon customer who complained to the online retailer about a delivery driver coming into her home and masturbating in her bedroom is demanding to know how the man was allowed to return to her house two days later.<\/p>\n
Spanish police have taken a suspected semen sample allegedly left by the courier as part of a continuing investigation into the incident.<\/p>\n
The customer, a 72-year-old retired British social worker who lives in Spain and New Zealand, had ordered a mosquito repellant on Amazon Marketplace. Jane* said: \u201cI will not be using Amazon again. I want people to know that it\u2019s unsafe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amazon said the courier was not one of its employees but a contractor for one of its local sellers.<\/p>\n
The courier, a tall man in his 20s, arrived with the package at Jane\u2019s home in a village on the Costa Brava, north-east Spain, at around 5pm on 15 July. She buzzed him in through a gate to her home via a video doorbell and asked him to wait.<\/p>\n
After a trip to the bathroom Jane said she then found the man in her bedroom with his hand in his shorts. He had entered Jane\u2019s house and walked through her kitchen and up her stairs into her bedroom, she said. \u201cI was stunned,\u201d she told the Guardian. \u201cHe was masturbating vigorously. He turned his back and it was apparent that he ejaculated. He shook his hand and when he turned to me his shorts were wet.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI can think a lot of things I should have said to him now, but I was so shocked I just told him to get out immediately and I followed him out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once outside, the courier asked for Jane\u2019s ID number to register the package on an electronic device. He struggled to input the data correctly, which prompted his older colleague, who had been waiting in a van, to come to the door to ask about the delay.<\/p>\n
Jane, who was awarded New Zealand\u2019s order of merit for a charity work, said: \u201cI told him: \u2018Your colleague has done something very bad.\u2019 My Spanish did not extend to the word masturbate.\u201d The older driver said there was a problem registering the package before snatching it from Jane\u2019s hands. Both men then left the property. She managed to photograph the van and its number plate before it drove away.<\/p>\n
Jane reported the incident to the police and to an Amazon helpline. The call handler apologised to her for the \u201cinconvenience\u201d. She said: \u201cI told her: \u2018This is a police matter, it\u2019s not an inconvenience. This is threatening behaviour by one of your couriers.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane\u2019s anger at the company increased when two days later the same two couriers turned up at her door to deliver another Amazon package. \u201cI felt very vulnerable, especially when he came back another time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Jane said she addressed the older man by saying: \u201c\u2018Your colleague masturbated in my house.\u2019 \u2013 I knew the word by then \u2013 \u2018and I\u2019ve reported it to the police. He denied it. He said his shorts were wet after spilling a drink.\u201d Before leaving, the older man threatened to denounce her to the police for making the accusation against his colleague.<\/p>\n
On the second visit, her video doorbell captured an image of the suspected intruder, which she passed to the police.<\/p>\n
Doorbell image of the driver alleged to have masturbated in Jane\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
A report into the incident by Spanish police, seen by the Guardian, confirmed that an investigation has been launched into Jane\u2019s \u201creport of a person entering her home without her consent and masturbating in front of her\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jane has been in correspondence with Amazon since the incident. In an initial message to its customer email Jeff@amazon.com \u2013 a reference to its chief executive, Jeff Bezos \u2013 she wrote: \u201cAmazon should take immediate steps to safeguard their customers in a case such as this. Your helpline people were in not way equipped to deal such a situation of sexual abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane said: \u201cI can\u2019t imagine Jeff [Bezos] reading through complaints on his honeymoon. There doesn\u2019t seem to be an adequate complaints system. There seems to have been no attempt to address what was a serious home invasion and sexual violence against me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs they are making squillions out of this, they absolutely should be spending a good bunch of it making sure customers are safe in their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n
In another message to Amazon she wrote: \u201cI cannot risk using Amazon again when the same courier may make the delivery and when they show such disregard for the safety and wellbeing of the customers.<\/p>\n
In one of Amazon Spain\u2019s replies sent to Jane on 18 July, it conceded that the incident was \u201cextremely concerning\u201d but it pointed out that the delivery service and personnel were not Amazon employees or contracted by Amazon directly.<\/p>\n
It urged Jane to contact the seller and said it supported her decision to report the incident to the police.<\/p>\n
In a statement Amazon said: \u201cAt Amazon, we take the security and protection of our customers and the communities we serve very seriously. This service was provided by a commercial carrier. We will keep investigating and clarifying the facts and we will cooperate with the parties that need our collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n
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