What To Do When Amazon Delivers To The Wrong Address

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There’s a certain Christmas Eve feeling about waiting for an Amazon package delivery. The excitement builds as you wait for the telltale quick knock at your door or a push notification on your phone telling you your bounty has arrived. But if the delivery date has come and gone with your package nowhere in sight, panic can arise.

What To Do If Your Amazon Package Didn’t Deliver

1. If a Package Is Marked as Delivered But Doesn’t Show Up

Few things bring more confusion than a package marked as “Delivered” that’s nowhere in sight. According to Amazon, a parcel will be marked as delivered up to two days before it actually shows up.

If your package has not arrived but is marked as delivered, you have a few options:

• Wait an extra 24 to 48 hours to see if the package will arrive.
• Contact Amazon’s customer service for a refund or replacement if you still cannot locate the item.
  • Log into your account
  • Visit the Amazon’s Customer Service center
  • Choose “A delivery, order or return”
  • Select the item that is missing
  • On the right side, select “Says delivered, but it’s not here”

In addition to contacting Amazon customer service, try these tips:

• Ask your neighbors if they got a package addressed to you.
• Post in neighborhood apps like NextDoor to see if someone has your package.
• Post to social media forums for your HOA or apartment complex.
• Walk the perimeter of your home to see if it was left near other doors or off to the side.
• If you use the Amazon Shopping app, you should receive a notification with an image of the delivered package. Keep an eye out for that notification, and look at the picture to see where the package was left. You might see it at your side door or a neighbor’s porch instead of your front door.
• If the shipment didn’t come from Amazon delivery service, contact the correct carrier to find answers. Amazon handles the bulk of its own shipping but still relies on UPS, USPS, and FedEx to help with the immense volume.
• File a police report if you saw a package theft happen on a home surveillance camera.  Thieves will go as far as to dress like Amazon workers to steal the package.

2. If Your Amazon Package Was Sent to the Wrong Address

But what if the package ended up at the wrong address? If you can see it at a neighbor’s house, you might be able to explain the situation to your neighbors and retrieve it. But if it’s in a completely different location, contact Amazon’s Customer Service via chat or by phone. You can either request a refund or they may send you a replacement at no extra cost.

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Reasons Why Amazon Packages Get Delivered to the Wrong Address

Even the well-oiled machine of Amazon can be impacted by package delays or shipping errors. Some of the common reasons why Amazon packages don’t make it to the right location:

• The correct apartment number wasn’t listed on the package.
• The address was missing the street direction, like N. Main Street vs. S. Main Street.
• The Amazon Driver just made a mistake when dropping off a large load of packages in your neighborhood.

When you’re filling out the delivery information, always take the suggested address when it asks. This looks like, “You entered XX for your address. We found XXX as the proper address. Would you like to change it?”

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Can I request a refund on lost Amazon packages?

Absolutely. Amazon will give you the option of a refund or send you a replacement. Unless a customer habitually has this happen, this should be an easy process that takes just a few minutes.

1. Sign into your Account
2. Select “Orders”
3. Choose the order with the missing package
4. Click on “Problem With Order”
5. Select “Request a Refund”
6. Under the drop-down, choose a reason for a refund.
7. Click “Submit”

Amazon does work with third-party vendors, and there might be times that your package was shipped from that vendor and not Amazon. In this instance, contact the vendor, not Amazon.

Can I keep Amazon packages delivered to my house by mistake?

Yes, you can! According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), you aren’t legally required to return merchandise that was sent to you by accident. You are within your legal rights to keep it as a gift, and merchants cannot demand that you pay for something you did not order.

It is a slippery slope of morals to keep something you did not order. If the idea of keeping unordered merchandise makes you uneasy, you can always reach out to Amazon to get the package to the right place. You’d want the same in return if your package went missing, right?

For those who decide to not make an effort to reunite the package with the owner, don’t be surprised if someone comes to your home looking for it. Every missing package gets investigated by the shipper, and sometimes they’ll trace the steps back to where the package was last seen.

If you really want someone else’s package, there’s a market to buy unclaimed Amazon and USPS packages that have been abandoned.

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What if I receive a package addressed to me that I didn’t order?

First, make sure it’s not a gift or a surprise from a loved one. Otherwise, this is called The Brushing Scam. Brushing involves shady vendors finding your information and sending you a package. Then they write a fake, yet glowing, review in your name on their page.

This is illegal and needs to be reported to the FTC using a simple online portal. Brushing might not seem harmful on the surface, but it means someone is using your name with your personal information and that’s illegal. You should also look at the review site for the vendor and see if a review was left in your name. If so, screenshot it before filing a complaint with the company.

In this case, you are under no obligation to return it or contact anyone. You can consider it a gift and you are not legally obligated to pay for it, no matter how much the shipper demands payment.

You can also search a variety of fraud scams reported in your area on the FTC Data Tracker.

How can I return an Amazon package I didn’t order?

If you receive an unsolicited package that you did not order:

1. First, check with friends and family to see if they may have sent you a gift. They may have wanted it to be a surprise, so confirm whether it is a gift.
2. If you’ve confirmed that nobody you know ordered the package for you, report it to Amazon using the Unwanted Package Form.
3. Amazon will investigate the package to see if it’s part of a scam that violates their policies. Bad actors may have their accounts suspended and be banned from selling items.

There were 159 billion parcels shipped in 2021, and that number is expected to soar to 256 billion by 2027. Amazon alone delivered 4.75 billion packages in 2021, or about 13 million parcels a day. With millions of packages mailed daily, errors are inevitable. Luckily, Amazon makes the refund or replacement process painless.

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Stay on the Alert When Receiving Unsolicited Packages

Always remember that you’re not legally required to pay or return packages that were wrongfully delivered to your address. Be careful not to give out your personal information to individuals who might contact you regarding the unsolicited package. We recommend you report the issue to Amazon and coordinate with them to investigate the incident.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What do I do if a package was delivered but isn’t there?

  If your order is marked “delivered” but you haven’t received it yet, contact Amazon’s customer services and directly report the incident. You could also try asking your neighbors if your package was sent to their address.

• Is it illegal to keep someone else’s packages?

  It’s not illegal to keep a package that you didn’t order. The Federal Trade Commission states that you don’t need to pay or return a package that was accidentally sent to you.

• How do I report an Amazon package I didn’t order?

  If you already confirmed that the package isn’t a gift to you, you could report the unsolicited item to Amazon’s customer service. To be on the safe side, we also recommend that you change the password of your Amazon account to avoid any unwelcome access to your personal information.

• Who is responsible for a package delivered to the wrong address?

  Errors from either the Amazon seller or the courier can cause a package to arrive at the wrong address. If you encounter any problems with your package’s shipping, report the incident to Amazon’s customer service so they can trace the problem.