A Texas woman watched in horror as an Amazon delivery drone dropped her package directly into her pool — one day after the retail giant announced plans to roll out the ultrafast air delivery services to 500 US cities by the end of the year.
Amazon shopper Lindsey Austen received an alert on Monday that her package was out for delivery by the retail giant’s Prime Air program, according to Storyful.
The Richmond, Texas, resident then heard the drone’s loud buzzing noise and raced outside to watch the newly rolled-out drone delivery service drop off her package.
Instead, Austen was left stunned as the drone opened its hatch and dropped the package straight into her swimming pool, which was caught on wild video footage.
“When it went into the pool, I was shocked,” Austen said. “I don’t think I’ll be wanting any more drone deliveries.”
It’s unclear what was inside the now waterlogged parcel.
The video of the drone delivery mega-fail went viral on social media Thursday — just one day after Amazon announced plans to expand its Prime Air program across 500 US cities by the end of the year.
Amazon said it’s set to expand the airborne shipping service sixfold nationwide into hundreds of new areas including the Chicago, Atlanta, Syracuse and Cleveland suburbs, where customers could receive their packages in as fast as 30 minutes.
Each drone site is set to serve multiple cities within a metro area and will primarily fly in the suburbs away from skyscrapers and major airports.
The ultrafast drone delivery service has already delivered hundreds of thousands of packages this year — but is limited to delivering one package at a time, up to five pounds in weight.
The service will be free for Amazon Prime members ordering more than $50 worth of goods or $2.99 for smaller orders and $4.99 for non-members.
While customers with backyard pools may want to stick to road delivery for the time being, Amazon spokesperson Allie Payne said delivery incidents like Austen’s are rare with the drone service, KHOU11 reported.
“Prime Air provides customers with fast, reliable delivery across a broad selection of products and the response from customers using Prime Air has been overwhelmingly positive,” Payne said.
“Incidents are extremely rare, and when a delivery doesn’t go as planned, we learn from it to improve the experience and take steps to prevent it from happening in the future,” the spokesperson added.
“Amazon’s A-to-Z Guarantee ensures customers can shop with confidence, knowing that we’ll make it right by offering a refund or replacement in the rare instances when items do not arrive as expected.”
The Post reached out to Amazon for comment.
With Post wires
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