A man in California was left stunned by the actions of two workers who were supposed to be delivering his new couch.
Ryan Houchin was at home with his girlfriend and dog waiting for the furniture he had purchased from Castlery to arrive when he received a notification on his phone. It came from his Ring doorbell app and appeared to show two men standing outside his front door, preparing to ring the bell.
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But then something entirely unexpected happened. As one of the two men reached up to press the buzzer, he suddenly stopped just short. The other worker, who was a little further back away from the door, then proceeded to photograph his colleague appearing, from his perspective, to be ringing the bell.
Except, the doorbell never rang at all. In fact, by the time Houchin was watching the footage, the delivery drivers had already been and gone.
"I noticed the ring notification about 20 minutes after they left because I keep my phone on silent," Houchin told Newsweek. "Had they knocked or rung the bell, my girlfriend or I would have heard it."
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The delivery of oversized products like couches can represent a challenge. In fact, a survey by the shipping services firm uShip, found that 21 percent of U.S. adults who bought a large item said it arrived damaged, while 15 percent said it never arrived at all.
Houchin might have forgiven his delivery men had they at least tried to get his couch inside, but the fact they didn't even attempt to unload it left him angry.
"I was shocked," he said. "The couch was $4,600 with an extra $100 for white glove delivery. I couldn't believe they would treat a customer like that. Without video evidence, I would have been charged a $100 re-delivery fee."
Houchin reckons he has a pretty good idea why it happened. "They likely did it to save time, probably due to a busy schedule," he said.
He decided to share the clip to TikTok under the handle ryhouchin after Castlery told him they "couldn't do anything and couldn't contact the logistics company" when he reached out to them to resolve the issue. He said the experience has put him off using them again.
"I love Castlery's products and have made many purchases over the years. While I blame the logistics company, I also hold Castlery accountable for hiring them," Houchin said.
A spokesperson for Castlery told Newsweek: "We are deeply saddened to hear about [Mr. Houchin's] negative experience with the delivery carrier, as this does not align with the level of service we strive to provide. Rest assured that we do not tolerate such behavior and are taking appropriate action to prevent its recurrence."
Houchin has since had his couch delivered without issue at no extra charge. Castlery is continuing its investigation into what happened.
"Our team is already working on this but please know that we are committed to addressing and resolving this issue promptly," the spokesperson said. "We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience Mr. Houchin has experienced and thank you for bringing this to our attention on his behalf."
Houchin hopes that the viral success of his video will ultimately prompt Castlery to take a closer look at their logistics practices. "I want to know what changes they're making to their hiring and delivery practices to prevent this from happening again," he said.
About the writer
Jack Beresford is a Newsweek Senior Internet Culture & Trends Reporter, based in London, UK. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
