A 34-year-old man purchased over 1,300kg of clothing from the Chinese online shopping platform Taobao and paid S$600 for its delivery.

It came in 14 large sacks.

On the day of delivery, he found them left at the bottom of his block.

Company wanted to reschedule

Zhang (transliteration), self-employed, told Shin Min Daily News that he runs an online clothing shop selling clothes he ships in from overseas.

This time, he ordered clothes weighing over 1,300kg and paid an extra S$600 for delivery to his doorstep.

On the scheduled delivery date of Sep. 29, 2023, the logistics company shipping his order, Ocean Pearl, sent a text message asking if they could reschedule for the next day.

Zhang said he rejected rescheduling as he took leave that day to receive the delivery.

The company eventually agreed to keep to the original delivery date.

However, he soon received messages explaining that they were "unable to bring it up".

"Too heavy"

"All the goods are too heavy or unable to enter the lift. We will leave it downstairs," the messages read. "Already informed China."

When he went down to the void deck, he found the 14 bags of clothing lying all over the void deck. He claimed that 10 of them weighed at least 130kg each.

Zhang told Shin Min that it was unacceptable for him that he paid a "large sum of money" to have the goods delivered to his doorstep but ended up having to carry them all up to his house by himself.

With the help of his wife, he spent three hours carrying all the clothes to his house.

Zhang claimed that he had previously imported goods of similar quantities, and other logistics companies always delivered them to his doorstep.

He said he is considering making a complaint with the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE).

Logistics company said employees might get injured

In response to Shin Min's queries, an Ocean Pearl spokesperson said they notified the customer in advance that they could not deliver the goods to his doorstep.

The company claimed that 10 of the bags was "about 180kg, " and they worried their employee would be injured or sprain their backs.

The company said they also feared the lift could not handle the weight.

"He insisted on us to deliver the goods to his doorstep, [but] he had a bad attitude. Hence, we have no choice but to leave the goods at the void deck," the company told Shin Min in their response.

Top photo via Shin Min Daily News