“They Pretended to Ring My Doorbell” — Drivers Caught Red-Handed Faking Delivery Attempt

A man on TikTok named Ryan Houchin ( @ryhouchin ) has gone on a social media crusade after catching Castlery furniture delivery drivers pretending to bring a couch to his home by faking a doorbell button push.

His Ring camera captured them in the act, and he uploaded that camera footage to TikTok where he amassed a whopping 20 million views.

The videographer, photographer, and social media content creator took it upon himself to call out the business further, even after they attempted to make the situation right, only after he blasted them online.

Ryan, in follow-up clips and comments on the situation, slammed how delivery companies have zero respect for customers' schedules, with several people writing that they, too, have been burned by delivery companies not taking their jobs seriously.

"Castlery guys faked ringing my doorbell and took a photo as 'proof' I wasn't home. Caught on Ring!" a text overlay in the video reads over the video footage that shows the duo of delivery workers walking up to the house.

One of the employees narrates instructions to his partner to stand in front of the door. The younger man, wearing gloves, holds it up to the door, pretending as if he's ringing the bell. However, he doesn't push the button at all, just leaves his finger lingering there while his pal snaps a photo as "proof" that they attempted to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Ryan provided further context on the delivery in a caption for the video where he penned some additional information about the couch-con-job: "Caught on Ring: Castlery delivery guys faking an attempt to deliver my couch. They pretended to ring my doorbell and took a photo as 'proof' I wasn't home. Unbelievable."

He reached out to the business about the issue and delineated how his correspondence went down with them in a follow-up TikTok video as well when he finally did receive the couch: "So the day after the failed delivery I get a text message out of the blue from the Gigacloud Logistics and they just say hey Ryan this is Gigacloud Logistics with your furniture delivery."

He shows a screenshot of the text message correspondence between himself and Gigacloud as a means of showing that he acknowledged the message when he initially received it, but he thought it was strange that he was only given a 60-minute heads up as to when the couch was going to be at his location.

"Just to let you know we'll be there with your couch in about 1 hour."

Ryan responded with, "Ok, that's rather sudden, but fortunately I happen to be home."

His clip then transitions to a time lapse of several men working on unpacking and assembling his couch in his home.

"I'm just gonna let them deliver the couch, that's what I want. And they come and they actually do a great job. The couch is good," he states, showing a final picture of the furniture when it was all ready to go.

Ryan believes that his social media post about the situation is what caused Castlery to ensure the delivery was so promptly conducted, showing screenshots of the interactions he had with the business on his Instagram page:

"But obviously, you can go to my Instagram and see why Castlery rushed that delivery through," he said.

Ryan went on to say that the company wrote: "We are pleased to confirm that the delivery has been successfully completed. Our customers' trust is paramount to us, and we have since taken steps with our delivery partner to prevent any re-occurrence of this misbehavior."

The TikToker said the company's message continued, "Thank you for allowing us to correct this," before he responded with a comment of his own: "Great so I have one question: all I wanna know is exactly what steps?" Ryan inquired, wanting to know what Castlery did to ensure that other delivery partners weren't going to dupe their customers in a similar way.

"You said you've taken steps, so I just wanna know exactly what steps you took. I'm sure that should be no problem for you to make a little post about it. You can reply right here on the TikTok, right here in the comments. I feel like we're all curious."

The TikToker then pivoted in his clip: "But yeah, as of now, Castlery has not reached out to me personally so yeah I feel like when delivery guys do this, they're stealing from people," he remarked, and explained why this was the case in a text overlay in his clip.

"I would have had to pay a $100 re-scheduling fee if I didn't have proof," Ryan wrote, before going on to say that he was going to update his viewers of any further developments on the situation.

Ryan explained further in this video's caption why he wasn't keen on necessarily letting the company off the hook after calling them out online.

"So many of you have shared stories about being victims of delivery scams, and thankfully, I had video evidence to hold this company accountable. But we all want to know what steps Castlery and other companies are taking to stop this from happening to others."

When Castlery did reach out to Ryan about the situation, they offered him a $100 voucher for in-store purchases, which he sarcastically thanked them for in another viral TikTok video, with a comment that read: "Well, @Castlery finally reached out and sent me an email. Their kindness knows no bounds. Their generosity has truly left me speechless and emotional."

"These paragons of customer care have decided to bestow upon me a $100 voucher. Along with refunding my $100 white glove delivery service, they have graciously offered this voucher for use in their online store. I cannot express enough gratitude for this incredible company and their unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction."

Numerous folks who responded to his video shared their ire when it came to vouchers as a form of compensation stating that they could never understand why a business that provided customer service a shopper didn't like, would effectively offer them a chance to spend more money with their business.

As one user put it: "$100 store credit is a scam because they get money if you use it and lose nothing if you don’t."

Another remarked: "$100? In-store credit? That's embarrassing. A lot of people take a day off of work just to make sure to be there for the delivery (big ticket items)."