A Delivery Order Stolen!

 We get a lot of deliveries - not just from Amazon, USPS, UPS, etc. but also groceries and Sam's Club orders. I do think about porch pirates and try to be sure we'll be home if something is being delivered but that just isn't always possible. We have never had anything stolen off our porch though we did have the crazy guy who tried to get inside twice. I'm guessing theft was on his mind but lucky for us, we were home.

Tuesday Vince wanted to go to Sam's Club. You all know that Vince is an extreme shopper. I'm perfectly happy to get online, order what we need. I really don't even enjoy shopping for cross stitching in a store - I'm happy to order that too.

One of the reasons I don't like going into the stores is we always buy more than we need. Everything looks like something we MIGHT need when we're in the store. I asked Vince what he needed from Sam's. We get our oil changed at a little mechanic shop near us and we bring our own oil and filters. Vince wanted to get oil. He had enough for one car but needed oil for his car and the pickup. I suggested he order it and have it delivered. I'm guessing Sam's is 15 miles from our house - not far but just not something I wanted to do. He looked online and it would be delivered that afternoon so he ordered it but then he decided he wanted rotisserie chicken so we ended up going to Sam's anyway. He said he would just leave the order to be delivered and not bother with trying to change it.

About 5:00 p.m., he looked at his phone and saw a message that the Sam's Club order had been delivered.  He opened the front door. Nothing. He went out to the garage where they sometimes leave heavy stuff. Nothing. 

I checked the cameras and no one had been here since we got back from Sam's about 1 p.m.

Here's where I fault Sam's. Their customer service just seemed non-existent. Vince called the local store. It rang for probably 5 minutes. No one answered. He called back and it rang longer. No one answered. He was getting frustrated so I said I would call. Someone answered finally and the lady was very nice but dropped the ball somewhere along the line. I asked her if what they had would show a picture of the delivery location and she said yes. She looked it all up and my guess is at this point, she realized something was wrong. She said "I have the driver's phone number. Let me call them and one of us will call you back." I asked what the front of the house looked like and she said "I'll get back with you." She didn't. No one called. I waited over an hour and called back and then I got "Mr. Rude". He said "None of that can be handled through the local store. You have to call the toll free number and they will take care of it." I asked him if they could see the pictures where the box was delivered. No. That is not available to them. I said I just talked to "name" and she said y'all could see it. He had no idea why she would have told me that.

Then Vince called the 800 number. All they could do was re-send the oil and it would be here Wednesday, which was fine.

I told the Sam's people that no one came to our house and told them that the cameras would have picked up something. When the delivery was made yesterday, there are SEVEN pictures of the delivery. Turning in our driveway. Driving down our driveway. Getting out. Walking to the front porch, setting the package down, taking a picture of the package at the door, walking back to his car and backing out of the driveway.

I had assumed the delivery had been made to the wrong house and Sam's wasn't going to give us the address where it said it was delivered. I understand that. They probably don't want people going to someone else's house and grabbing a package, even if it's their own that was left there.

Wednesday morning, Vince said "None of this makes sense. I'm going to call and see if I can talk to a manager." Apparently what happened is the driver just took the oil and never even tried to deliver it. They explained that they contract with another entity that supplies their drivers. They assured Vince this person would not be delivering for them again. 

I understand that most thieves probably aren't thinking like we think but does this person think they can pick up a delivery for Sam's, take it home and never deliver $150 worth of oil to the purchaser and no one is going to notice?  Who orders oil if they don't need oil?  It's not like floss or linen!  <G> To me, this all seems very "trackable". When a Sam's package is being delivered, I can watch it on my screen and see exactly where it is. If the customer can track their every move (really, I suppose I'm tracking the package and NOT the driver but it's the same thing!), I feel certain Sam's can too. I can see each stop they make along the way - what street they're on, when they leave one house and go to another.  

I would like to think the person is trying to make a living by delivering items; maybe his car is leaking oil and he desperately needed it but whatever his rationale, it wasn't a good thing to do. I kinda feel a bit nervous now because (1) He has a package with our name and address and (2) He has to know we complained to Sam's. 

I've explained to Oscar and Cooper if they hear any noises . . even if it's just a leaf falling a mile away, they need to bark like crazy for several hours. They've been practicing for this moment all their lives so I think we're good!  :)