What Does “a Carrier Delay Has Occurred” Mean On Amazon
When you get the dreaded “a carrier delay has occurred” news, you’ve every right to complain. You did your research, chose a product, and made an order. So what does “a carrier delay has occurred” mean on Amazon? And what to do if your Amazon Prime delivery is late, too?
A carrier delay has occurred means your carrier is facing a processing issue. It can be due to the high volume of orders, holiday rush hour, or they misplaced your package. The best course of action is to contact Amazon for a refund or replacement.
Your carrier might also fail to call you on delivery day and deliver it to the wrong address. (True story!)
Despite living in the age of delivery drones, hiccups like carrier delays happen. After all, it’s (mostly) run by humans, and humans make mistakes.
When you place an order on Amazon, it’s not like the Amazon fairies will pack and deliver your package. In fact, what happens is that you trigger a chain of events that lead to receiving your package.
You might think that placing the order is the end of the story. Perhaps, but another story begins. Say you live in a European country and make an order on Amazon in America.
Often, Amazon will ship the package from a facility in your location. Sometimes, the facility is in another country. The challenge is to deliver your package on time.
When shipping from a facility near you, it’s fast and safe. But with international shipping, it gets much more complicated.
Amazon’s “warehouse” abroad will ship the package to the airport\harbor for security clearance. The airport will ship your order to a local or nearby “warehouse.”
If this other warehouse is in another country, the package will take longer to arrive. Longer distances mean more carriers will handle your package. But if it got there safely, it’ll be shipped to the warehouse in your country.
Then, the “carrier” will take it from your local warehouse and deliver it to your address. Phew! That was a long story, but there’s more…
What Can Cause A Package To Be Delayed?
As you can see, it’s not always a straightforward process. The logistics are super complicated. Think about it! Amazon sells everything from A to Z and ships worldwide. Packages from Amazon go through all kinds of security check-ups from hand to hand until they get to yours.
Again, there’s a lot of room for human error. And you need to be quite persistent to get your order delivered. But what do these “human errors” look like?
- One of the carriers lost the package in the shuffle
- The driver lost, replaced, or damaged your package
- The carrier’s facility didn’t receive the package or lost it
Last but not least, the carrier may fail to contact you for delivery. Usually, the local carrier will call the buyer to confirm the shipment.
If you missed the call, the carrier will delay until you get in touch and confirm the delivery. (I know it from hard experience!)
Can you imagine the bigger picture now?
Amazon has a far-reaching logistics network covering the whole world. In concert, they must rely on third-party carriers, especially when it comes to shipping internationally. Something as unpredictable as a storm may impede the ship carrying your package.
A driver taking the wrong turn can cause a minor delay. Amazon doesn’t have complete control over your package. Once the package leaves the facility, it takes a long journey to your doorstep.
That’s why you might think that placing an order is the end of the story. For you, it is as simple as clicking a button. And then, you wait on needles for your package to arrive. In reality, this simple click is moving mountains, flying in the air, and sailing the high seas.
Finally, since your package travels from one overseas facility to a freight forwarder. It’s subject to time zone differences. Given that, each facility may operate on different business hours and days. Carrier delay happens.
What To Do If Your Amazon Prime Delivery Is Late
Friction happens; a myriad of reasons cause late Amazon Prime delivery. The best actions to take are:
- Keep tracking your order on your Amazon account
- Contacting Amazon support; explain the situation to a sales rep.
Furthermore, you want to keep close contact with your carrier. Amazon offers a helpful list of carriers and their contact information. Notice that there’s little that Amazon can do once the package leaves their facility.
It still helps to keep in touch, whether with your carrier or Amazon support. If the order shows up as “delivered,” but you didn’t receive it in reality, don’t worry. Allow for 48 hours after the designated date.
Weather conditions, wrong address, customs may delay the delivery. If you didn’t get the package within 48 hours, contact Amazon support or your assigned carrier to know why.
Amazon Carrier Delay Refund
In some cases, the carrier will return the package to Amazon as “undelivered.” Usually, it’s because your address is wrong, unreadable, or difficult to reach. So, make sure you use an accurate address.
If your package gets “undelivered” by the carrier, there’s no way to ship it again. In that case, you’ll need to get a refund and make the re-order. It’s a nightmarish experience to go through, but sometimes it happens.
If that’s the case, you’ll get a refund email from Amazon explaining that your carrier returned the package. Didn’t receive the email? Contact Amazon (with the order number at hand), explain the situation and get a refund.
It’s such a hassle, but if it’s a time-sensitive package, there’s no way around it. By the way, you can still get a refund if you no longer need the order since it arrived too late. You can refuse to accept it and ask for a refund.
P.s. Text HELP to 262966 to receive tracking updates via text. And don’t worry, it doesn’t take long to resolve that annoying “a carrier delay has occurred” error.
