Amazon Shipping Guarantee

I ordered an SD card from Amazon two days ago, on Tuesday. I chose overnight delivery, since I am an Amazon Prime member and it only cost me $3.

Next day around noon, I check the tracking number and it shows that the package is still in Chicago, and not out for delivery. I live about 100 miles away from Chicago. You might think, it's probably UPS's fault, as usual? Nope. The tracking information showed that it was shipped using standard GROUND shipping, and not overnight.

So I call customer support, and they tell me to call after 5PM. If the package doesn't arrive by then, they can do something about it. I knew it wasn't coming, since the tracking information shows that the package is not out for delivery.

An hour passes, UPS comes, drops nothing for me. The package ain't coming for sure.

At 5PM, I decided to go ahead and chat with them. The guy tells me the usual, sorry for my bad experience and so forth. I tell him that I haven't received the package, UPS came already, and the tracking information shows that it is still in Chicago. He then dares to tell me to wait a few more hours. I keep telling him that it isn't coming, so a few moments later he decides to give me a refund on the shipping.

So I do get the refund on the shipping. Should I be happy?

They probably know that if they ship UPS GROUND here, a lot of the times it will get here overnight from Indiana. Well, a lot of the times isn't always, and they missed a ball by a long shot this time.

Bad Amazon, bad.

I've been hesitant to try out that amazon prime that they keep spamming me about. I think I'll just stay away from it.

Yup, you got it right. They really don't care. It's a numbers game for volume shippers.

As FEDEX likes to tell customers when they screw up: "We deliver on-time 98.6% of the time". Well when I pay for overnight shipping, I don't give a Rat's Azz about "close" or 98.6%, I care about getting my package ON TIME for which I paid a premium.

It's a game and consumer's are the one's being exploited daily. If there was a triple damages consumer law then they might find a means to deliver on time closer to 100%.

That sucks man, I'm pretty uptight when it comes to delivery times myself, so I feel your pain.
That said, if it's not a constant problem, and you use the account a lot...I probably wouldn't sweat it too much.
Mistakes do and will happen, no system (or human) is perfect. If they take care of the problem, I'm not sure what more is to be expected.

Luckily, I've never had a problem with the prime account and I've had it for about two years.
Heck, yesterday I had a 55lb sub-woofler delivered overnight for $3...I'd say that one shipment alone covered the fee's for the last two years.

So if they did screw up one of my orders, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt...but I use my account a lot and for large items, so your situation may vary. I even tend to get the free 2nd day shipments in a day at no charge, so I'll forgive a mistake or two.