Amazon confirmed on Thursday that it shut off a man’s smart home devices for a week following a delivery driver’s false claim of the customer hurling a racial slur via a doorbell intercom.
Brandon Jackson, who is black, described being digitally exiled by the company on May 25, less than 24 hours after an Amazon delivery driver delivered a package to his home and reported him for being racist.
Upon realizing he couldn’t interact with his smart home devices, Jackson contacted Amazon and was informed of the unwarranted lockout.
“I was told that the driver who had delivered my package reported receiving racist remarks from my ‘Ring doorbell’,” Jackson stated.
Jackson, an engineer at Microsoft, promptly refuted the allegation, highlighting that none of his family members were present when the package was dropped off. He reviewed footage from the surveillance cameras installed outside his home, confirming that no racial slur was uttered.
“Instead, the Eufy doorbell had issued an automated response: ‘Excuse me, can I help you?'” Jackson explained.
“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 expressed support for Amazon’s efforts to protect delivery drivers but questioned the need for a week-long account lockout during the internal investigation.
“Despite promptly submitting video evidence immediately upon learning of the issue, my account remained locked,” he expressed.
Despite numerous attempts through calls and emails, Jackson’s account wasn’t reinstated until May 31. “This incident has made me reconsider my relationship with Amazon. After nearly a decade of loyalty, I’ve been harshly reminded that a misunderstanding can result in such drastic measures,” Jackson shared.
“It seems more reasonable to handle such issues in a more targeted manner rather than a complete shutdown of all services.”
An Amazon spokesperson, Simone Griffin, confirmed the incident in a statement and reassured that the company is taking steps to prevent similar situations in the future.
“We strive to provide customers with a great experience while ensuring the safety of our delivery drivers,” Griffin stated. “Following our investigation, we found that the customer did not act inappropriately. We are actively working with the customer to address their concerns and exploring measures to avoid a recurrence of such incidents.”
