An Illinois man who lost his teenage daughter in April was in shock on Thursday when he received a letter from OfficeMax that read "daughter killed in car crash" underneath his name, the New York Daily News reported.
"Why would they have that type of information? Why would they need that?" Mike Seay said to NBC 5. "What purpose does it serve anybody to know that?"
The letter was specifically addressed to Mike Seay, "Daughter Killed in Car Crash."
Seay's 17-year-old daughter, Ashley, was in the passenger seat of her boyfriend's car when he veered off the road and hit a tree. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
He added he still thinks about his daughter "10,000 times a day" and felt "traumatized" after receiving the letter.
"Why do they have that?" Seay continued. "What do they need that for? How she died, when she died? It's not really personal, but looking at them, it is. That's not something they would ever need."
After he called the OfficeMax call center, Seay said the employee he was speaking with replied "it was impossible, this can't be happening." The store, based in Naperville, Ill., ultimately blamed a "third-party mailing list provider" for the labeling.
OfficeMax issued a statement after being notified of the incident.
"We are deeply sorry that Mr. Seay and his family received this mailing from us, and we are reaching out to Mr. Seay to convey our sincerest apologies on this unfortunate matter," the statement said.
They also said they are continuing an investigation into the matter and believes it was an "inadvertent error."