Mum opens her Amazon parcel and is 'physically sick' after horrifying discovery

Mum Rachel McAdam opened her parcel and was immediately horrified by the smell that emanated - and received a full refund from Amazon after telling customer service what had arrived

A mum who opened her Amazon parcel to find a foul smelling and "half-decomposed" rat says she has been left "traumatised" by the ordeal.

Rachel McAdam, from Kirkby in Merseyside, was sent into a vomiting fit after making the horror discovery and says she won't be buying from the online retail giant again. The 28-year-old had innocently purchased a bicycle helmet, but noticed holes in the package when it arrived. After opening it, a foul smell filled her home, leaving her traumatised and feeling physically sick.

Rachel discovered the decomposing rat amongst small pieces of polystyrene, like "breadcrumbs", as well as rat droppings that had trailed from her front door into the living room and table where she placed it down. She said: "We could clearly see a hole in the top of the box where something had got through. As soon as we opened the bag inside we could see the rat."

The mum received a full refund from Amazon after telling customer service what had arrived in her parcel. A spokesperson for Amazon said: “We’re sorry that this customer experience has fallen short of the high standards that we expect. Thankfully this is an incredibly rare case, and we have apologised to the customer, refunded them in full and offered a gesture of goodwill.”

Recalling the horrific smell, the mum-of-one said it was so bad it made her "physically sick". She added: "It smelt like something had died. It smelt worse than my wheelie bins. It turned my stomach and made me bork. I wasn't willing to pull anything out of it. I've got dogs so I'm very wary about rats because they carry diseases."

Rachel took the matter to Amazon's customer service, who issued a full refund. She said: "That shouldn't be happening. Why has the delivery driver even accepted that parcel in the condition it was in? That should have been stopped before it even left the warehouse. How has no one looked at that package and thought, 'that's not right?'

"We order from Amazon all the time. Not one thing has ever come in that condition. I'm absolutely shocked and disgusted that they've even let it arrive to our door like that. We're traumatised. We couldn't even eat our dinner that night. We were physically vomiting off it because the smell was that bad."

Rachel then bagged up the parcel and left it outside her home. She added: "I didn't want it in the house. It was like a clean-up operation after I saw the rat - I had to bleach the whole house just to be on the safe side.

"It's indescribable how bad and how strong the smell was. It must have been on the table in my living room for no longer than five minutes before I threw it out. We won't be buying from them again."