Clothes, a can of beans and a vial of human blood: These are three items you most likely will never see being grouped together when buying dresses — or when reading a sentence. That was until a woman received a FedEx package from Shein last week, and all three of those very different things fell out of it.
The bizarre delivery bewildered the internet when Anna Marie shared her first TikTok about it on March 11. In the video, which has now garnered 11 million views, the Nashville resident said she was expecting to open her FedEx package to see the assortment of clothing items she had ordered from the Chinese retailer Shein, but once she dumped the contents onto her table, she noticed there were two unexpected items in her order.
@anna_200.1 Just ordered dresses from SHEIN and the package came with an unidentified human blood sample #foryoupage #fyp #shein #sheinhorrorstories #cdc #biohazard ♬ original sound - Anna Marie
Although the random can of Goya beans is weird enough, the vial of blood drew the majority of questions that Anna Marie has since been trying to answer. And while many viewers and the TikToker herself initially believed Shein was to blame — likely due to similar stories of package mix-ups from the brand — Anna Marie tells Scripps News she now believes FedEx is to blame.
Her theory comes after days of communication with the testing company listed on the glass vial — which didn't name a doctor's office, date or patient — as well as with local authorities, the CDC and, of course, Shein and FedEx.
She first contacted the local sheriff, who came and took the blood off her hands, then she called her local health department and filed a report with the CDC, Anna Marie said on TikTok.
Then she sent an email to Shein and received a response, saying, "Our investigation indicates that when your package went through our quality control process and left our facility, it contained only the items in the order," per one of her TikTok videos.
Anna Marie says the retailer reached out again after she began posting comments on its Instagram page. Soon after, a "higher-up" from a Los Angeles-based Shein factory told her the company had looked through its security footage and found an employee packaging her order with the correct contents before placing it in a FedEx bag and sending it out, the TikToker said in a video.
Meanwhile, Anna Marie claimed in other videos that FedEx hadn't reached out or offered to help after she notified them of the situation, telling Scripps News they have "blown me off and treated me like I'm crazy."
But days later, Anna Marie posted an update saying the shipment company finally reached out and that one employee "basically acknowledged that this probably is a FedEx slip up."
"The guy basically said, 'Oh yeah, well this happens sometimes where packages get busted open in transit. And then sometimes the employees just guess and they put the things back in another package, and a lot of times they guess wrong,'" Anna Marie said in a TikTok video.
@anna_200.1 #fyp ♬ original sound - Anna Marie
The shopper said Exact Science Labs, the testing company listed on the blood vial, told Anna Marie that this process led to the blood vial being "completely mishandled."
The glass vials — which she says she later learned are used for cancer screenings — are typically sent for testing in a particular box containing styrofoam and cold gel packs, Anna Marie said in a TikTok video. For the vial to have been in Anna Marie's package, the TikToker said the lab employee told her someone would've had to take it out of its particular packaging and place it in hers.
In her latest video posted Monday, Anna Marie said FedEx picked the blood vial up from police, who she says had told her they would dispose of the sample unless the CDC contacted them for it. The TikToker said the shipping company had successfully tracked the vial to its source and forwarded it back to Exact Science Labs, but the mishandling will likely result in the patient needing to redo the sample.
"Good to know, whoever it is, they know that their sample is safe, and hopefully they can get the results they've been looking for," Anna Marie said in the video.
@anna_200.1 #fyp #bloodvial #greenscreen ♬ original sound - Anna Marie
Since posting her first video, Anna Marie has been bombarded with similar stories, both related to Shein and to FedEx.
In one of her updates, the TikToker said her friend had found a used syringe in her Shein package. Other customers have claimed to find disturbing notes, random files and even a scorpion among their clothes.
But Anna Marie told Scripps News the thousands of comments she's received explaining similar incidents have mainly fallen with FedEx.
One viewer said, "I work in a lab, and we ship a lot of stuff via FedEx and I cannot tell you how many times we've had to redraw because FedEx lost the sample." Another person claimed the service lost her IVF medications "60% of the time."
Scripps News has reached out to FedEx and Shein for comments on this story. As of now, we have not heard back from FedEx.
A Shein spokesperson said: "When we were made aware that a customer received a package that had been tampered with, we launched an immediate investigation. This indicated when the package completed our quality control process and left our facility it contained only the SHEIN items ordered. We will continue actively supporting the customer in her continued investigation into what occurred once her package left a SHEIN facility."
We will update our story if we receive a response from FedEx.
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