Amazon disabled a man’s smart home devices for a week after a delivery driver erroneously accused him of using a racial slur over a doorbell intercom, the tech giant revealed Thursday. Brandon Jackson, who is black, claims Amazon digitally banished him on May 25 — less than 24 hours after an Amazon delivery driver dropped off a box at his house and was reported for being racist.
The homeowner, who described the incident in a Medium article, said he learned of the unjustified lockout after calling Amazon after noticing he couldn’t communicate with his smart home equipment. “I was told that the driver who delivered my package had received racist remarks from my ‘Ring doorbell,'” Jackson explained.
Jackson, a Microsoft employee, was eager to point out problems in the charge, including the fact that none of his family members were home when the item was delivered.
He subsequently analyzed footage from the several surveillance cameras installed outside his home and determined that no such racial slur was said. “Instead, the Eufy doorbell had issued an automated response: ‘Excuse me, can I help you?'” According to Jackson.
“The driver, who was walking away and wearing headphones, must have misinterpreted the message. Nevertheless, by the following day, my Amazon account was locked, and all my Echo devices were logged out.”
Jackson stated that he supported Amazon in making extra efforts to safeguard delivery drivers. Still, he questioned why he was locked out of his account for a week while an internal investigation was conducted.
“Despite promptly submitting video evidence immediately upon learning of the issue, my account remained locked,” he explained. Despite several phone calls and emails, the homeowner claimed his account was not reinstated until May 31.
“This incident has led me to question my relationship with Amazon. After nearly a decade of loyalty, I’ve been given a harsh reminder that a misunderstanding can lead to such drastic measures,” Jackson added.’
A Tweet posted by the official account of WION. You can also find out more information about Amazon Disable Customer Smart Home Devices Over False Racism Claim by Driver by reading the below tweet:-
#Amazon has faced criticism from a customer, based in Baltimore in the US state of Maryland, after the tech giant shut off all of his smart home devices for a week following a false accusation made by a delivery driver, reported New York Posthttps://t.co/jc86JAlvEJ
— WION (@WIONews) June 16, 2023
“It seems more reasonable to handle such issues in a more compartmentalized way, rather than a blanket shutdown of all services.”
An Amazon spokeswoman verified the incident and said the company was striving to prevent similar incidents in the future.
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“We work hard to provide customers with a great experience while also ensuring drivers who deliver Amazon packages feel safe,” said Simone Griffin, a representative for Amazon.
“In this case, we learned through our investigation that the customer did not act inappropriately, and we’re working directly with the customer to resolve their concerns while also looking for ways to prevent a similar situation from happening again.”
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