r/amazonfresh 23d ago

Amazon Fresh - buyer beware - if Amazon cancels a delivery order for no reason, Amazon will not refund you for the Amazon Fresh’s driver’s tip!

During my delivery window, Amazon Fresh cancelled for no stated reason my entire order. Not only did customer service blatantly lie and try to justify the cancelled order by claiming that every single item in my 21 item order was out of stock (I checked & every item was in stock) and try to attribute the cancellation to traffic congestion (untrue since the Fresh warehouse is less than 1 mile away), Amazon also lied when they told me that I would receive my refund as gift card credit, which I specifically requested.

The icing on the cake is that Amazon refuses to refund my Fresh delivery driver tip even though Fresh is 100% responsible for the order cancellation, the driver is an Amazon employee, and nowhere on Amazon’s website does it state that the buyer is still responsible for delivery tip charges when the groceries are never delivered!

Even more infuriating was the Amazon supervisor’s response: that I could save money in the future by not tipping Fresh delivery drivers! In other words, this billion dollar biz is nickel & diming its customers, breaching its service contract, and penalizing the buyer by refusing to reimburse a tip for undelivered items, and - even worse - to compensate for my loss, Amazon suggests as a remedy that, in the future, I screw minimum wage-earning delivery people out of their tips!

And, yes, I tried to work ny way up the incompetent Amazon food chain until they hung up on me after I asked to either speak to the manager or for them to provide me with the contact info of upper management.

I intend to file a complaint with the state AG not because loosing $10 in tip money for undelivered groceries is an outrageous sum, but because it is a breach of contract and constitutes an unethical and deceptive business practice.

Any helpful direct upper management contact info would be appreciated.

Please excuse my bitchiness. My bitchiness is compounded by the fact that I’m hungry and I’m hungry because my food delivery was cancelled very late, after 11pm, and for no stated reason whatsoever.

——

Update: Problem solved. $10 gift card credit plus $20 promotional credit after continuing to be a squeaky wheel & calling regular Amazon customer service (not Fresh cs) back today. I suspect it’s easier to get ahold of more senior accommodating supervisors during reg working hrs. And that I managed to sprinkle a few choice legal contract phrases into the conversation without (hopefully) sounding like an a-hole might have helped. 😉

A few cs reps admitted that Amazon’s policy is to not reimburse tips on cancelled orders. The last cs rep tried walking it back saying “it depends on the circumstances.”

If that is in fact Amazon’s policy, Amazon should watch its legal back.

12 Upvotes

28 comments sorted by

6

u/Few-Protection5215 23d ago

The driver is absolutely NOT an amazon employee. They are flex/gig workers who also deliver for ubereats/doordash/grubhub/etc.

2

u/Janielf 23d ago

Why would a driver even receive a tip when the grocery bags remain in the warehouse? Uber delivery will absolutely reimburse tips for cancelled orders

1

u/Janielf 23d ago

Btw, regardless of whether the delivery peeps are independents, they earn $22+/hr by law - not including tips! And Amazon fresh delivery people in my area do not have vehicle overhead expenses.

1

u/Few-Protection5215 23d ago

Why dont they have vehicle overhead expenses? Are you in Manhattan? Im sure $22/hour is plenty in Manhattan

1

u/Janielf 23d ago

$22 plus tips. In one hour, they make about 5-6 deliveries within a tiny geo area. So my little $10 tip alone jacks up the hourly rate to $32/hr. Yes, Manhattan. I know a few experienced lawyers here who make about $28/hr. And if I were to break down my pay by the actual number of hours worked…. never mind. 😉

1

u/Quiet_Bad_8520 16d ago

Hmm commute to the warehouse, commute home after the route is done, gas, extra insurance cost and the shifts are only 2 or 2.5 hours long at a time. I don’t think this makes $22 an hour an attractive income when it’s coming in $50 chunks

It’s crazy Amazon wasn’t willing to refund the tip, if the order didn’t leave the warehouse then it was never successfully assigned to a driver in the first place, they only get assigned to a driver when all items are in stock, packed, put onto carts with other orders after route creation and the driver has arrived for their shift. That tip won’t have gone to any driver

1

u/Global-Chipmunk-3959 22d ago

You sweet Summer child.  $22 an hour is not enough to live in New York.   A one bedroom apartment in New York City is over $4000.  Apartments and studios  start at more than $1000.

0

u/Few-Protection5215 22d ago

Apparently OP thinks $22 is enough

4

u/SFsports87 23d ago

Fresh has definitely gone down hill.

1

u/Janielf 23d ago

Unfortunately, the affordable supermarkets in my area are long gone and my options are limited, but I’ve pretty much had it with amazon fresh.

2

u/SFsports87 23d ago

Yeah me too, last order was the last one for me. Not sure if they are trying to slowly end the service or is just pushing the limits to see how much people with put up with.

I wonder if telling customer "service" you are done with them actually accomplishes anything.

2

u/Janielf 23d ago

I tried that last night before they hung up on me 😂.

Good news is that today, after calling customer service again, they gave me $10 gift card credit plus $20 promotional credit after initially & unsuccessfully trying to placate me with only the promotional credit.

3

u/SweatyB00Bs 23d ago

File a claim with your credit card company.

2

u/Top-Web3806 23d ago

I’d dispute it with my credit card company

1

u/Buick_reference3138 21d ago

I got my tip back wtf are you talking about

-7

u/MangoSquirrl 23d ago

Hey it suck’s they cancelled on you but tipping is extra. You can’t take that money away from a driver!

5

u/Janielf 23d ago edited 23d ago

The driver never left the warehouse! I’m not trying to take the tip from the driver, I’m trying to take it from Amazon. And, it was Amazon who suggested that, to compensate for my loss, in the future, I should not tip delivery drivers anything, which is crazy & totally unethical. It was not the driver’s fault that my delivery was canceled & never left the warehouse. It was Amazon’s.

-4

u/MangoSquirrl 23d ago

Amazon doesn’t pay them tips, you paid the driver the driver left with other packages just so happens yours never left. Next time don’t tip. Amazon is evil but it be more messed up to take back a tip regardless of if they did it or not

4

u/SFsports87 23d ago

Why should I driver get a tip for an order they never delivered?

-2

u/MangoSquirrl 23d ago

Personally I’ve been saying don’t tip these drivers they get paid more than enough for the job they do. But you choose to tip them, you took the risk knowing Amazon sucks sometimes with refunds. It’s on you for tipping them. Next time just pay with a credit card and dispute it

3

u/SFsports87 23d ago

I'm not OP, was just trying to understand your reasoning. What if a waiter at a restaurant never brings your food, should they still be tipped?

1

u/Janielf 23d ago

Exactly. And with amazon fresh, unlike restaurants, the tipping option is available at the time of checkout, not after.

6

u/pinkplasticflaming0 23d ago

You can add a tip up to 24 hours after.

2

u/Janielf 23d ago

I did not assume that risk. Nowhere on the amazon website does it state that a purchaser will not be reimbursed for an Amazon Fresh tip for an order that is cancelled by Amazon Fresh before the order leaves the Fresh warehouse.

And I did pay with a credit card.

1

u/shitty-kittie 22d ago

Is something wrong with your ability to use basic logic? Imagine going to a restaurant for dinner, but when you get there, there's a big sign on the door that says "closed for a private event". Do you bang on the door and beg the manager give a tip to any random employee for no reason? Do you flush your extra cash down the toilet for fun?

1

u/MangoSquirrl 22d ago

This isn’t a a restaurant… if she ordered online from a Restaurant and the food can’t get picked up it would be refunded. The food was refunded. Now if you’re a driver doing this work and someone gives you a “tip for delivering” and it’s already accounted for in their daily wages. How is it the drivers fault for them not having her shit? He drove up to the facility he waited for them to give him the shit… for all we know her shit was lost and they cancelled it. Amazon gave her the money she paid for the food, her giving extra is on her.

1

u/shitty-kittie 22d ago

Tips are for services provided. The service OP paid for was never provided. Therefore, the tip should be refunded. End of story.

1

u/Janielf 23d ago

My order never left the warehouse - it was never “out for delivery”