What to do if your guaranteed Amazon Delivery is late

I love Amazon. I choose an item, and it magically arrives a few days later at my house; sometimes it arrived on the same day. Recently I had an issue where there was a guaranteed delivery date and time, and the package never arrived. That not only threw off the schedule but put the entire project at risk.

The problem with Amazon is that they get their deliveries more right than wrong. Therefore, when they guarantee delivery, I have come to expect that it will arrive by that date. So when it doesn’t it throws you off.

So now what? what do I do if my Amazon package is being delivered late? I did some research and here is what I discovered:

The Amazon Delivery Attempt

If you are not at the delivery address when Amazon tries to deliver your package, Amazon will leave the package in a secure location. If you don’t have a secure location, or the delivery requires you to be present, Amazon will send you an e-mail.

Amazon will try to deliver three times on consecutive days. If the third delivery attempt is unsuccessful the package will be returned to Amazon for a refund.

What is Amazon Guaranteed Delivery?

Firstly, let’s understand what Amazon Guaranteed Delivery actually means.

If you head over to the official help page, you will see that you can get a refund when your order does not arrive. However, there are terms and conditions:

• • Shipping method selected is shipping option advertised on a product detail page.
  • Order is shipping to eligible address.
  • Order is placed before “order within” countdown listed on the checkout page. The “order within” countdown timer provides the window of time in which you must place your order to receive your delivery by the date shown. That delivery date may become unavailable within that window of time due to changes in inventory or delivery capacity before you place your order. Your confirmed delivery date is included in your order confirmation E-mail. Contact us with any concerns.
  • If you order contains items that aren’t eligible for guaranteed delivery, shipping preference “Ship my items as they become available” is selected.
  • Your credit or debit card must be successfully charged before the deadline displayed on the checkout page.
  • The guarantee does not apply if we miss our promised delivery date because of an unforeseen circumstance outside of our control, such as a strike, natural disaster, or severe winter storm. Also, delivery scans might be inaccurate.
    • An attempted delivery on or before the guaranteed delivery date meets our delivery guarantee.
    • An offer by the carrier of a delivery appointment on or before the guaranteed delivery date meets our delivery guarantee

Note the one term I highlighted in BOLD. The guarantee does not apply if a delivery is missed due to weather issues. I understand this as that is something that they can’t control and Amazon will not risk the lives of their people if the weather is dangerous. Just be aware of that. I wasn’t. 

Everything is fine, but the Amazon order is still late – now what?

Here is what you need to do if everything is in order and the delivery is still late:

1. Go to the Amazon contact us page
2. Click “An Order I Placed.”
3. Select your order
4. Choose “Problem with order”
5. Select “Shipping or delivery issues”
6. Choose “Shipment is late.”

When you chat with the friendly Amazon staff, they’ll find your order and give you any updates on why the package was not delivered. If the reason for the delay is unreasonable, they might be able to offer a refund on your delivery charges.

There are other compensations that you may be offered such as a one-month extension on your Amazon Prime subscription or credit on your Amazon account which you can use towards your next order.

So in summary

My only criticism is to manage customer’s expectations. The app continued to indicate that the package would be delivered that evening, however, that night it changed to “Delayed”. I would urge Amazon to warn customers of a possible delay in the future.

I did speak to a consultant via chat and they were kind enough to offer me some credits. Things are going to go wrong in any company, but its how they handle it that counts. I am satisfied with the result and will continue to use Amazon.

By the way, did you see how to link Amazon Prime to Twitch Prime?