A woman said anger turned into relief when a courier "dumped" her parcel in the road - only for a Good Samaritan nurse to hand deliver it to her instead.
Carole Gilliver, 75 and of Rawley Road in Bowthorpe, was expecting a parcel containing two tops from Cotton Trader to be delivered to her on Wednesday.
But on the day of delivery she received a text message from couriers Hermes to apologise for being unable to deliver her parcel, which would be scheduled for the following day.
However, around half an hour after the text message arrived, she received a surprise visit from a nurse who had found her parcel abandoned in a nearby road.
The NHS worker told Mrs Gilliver she had found her parcel - and three others - in the middle of the road, so decided to hand deliver them herself.
Mrs Gilliver said: "I think it is just awful service from Hermes, disgraceful.
"I know parcels are sometimes left on doorsteps, but I certainly wouldn't expect them to be left in the road."
Mrs Gilliver said it may have been possible the parcels had fallen out of the van, but that she had since received another text saying when the delivery would be reattempted.
She said: "I was ever so grateful to the kind nurse. She turned up in her uniform so must have been out on a health visit, but still went to the trouble of delivering all four parcels.
"I phoned Cotton Trader about it and the person I spoke to was very apologetic and I tried to speak to Hermes, but every number I tried just went through to a machine. It's not good enough."
The delivery company has since apologised to Mrs Gilliver, having launched an investigation into how the incident happened.
A spokesman for Hermes said: "We are currently investigating how this happened and have been in contact with the customer to apologise for the inconvenience.
"Our local teams are working hard to safely deliver extremely high volumes of parcels as a result of the lockdown and festive period and we thank everyone for their support and patience."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here