Parcel Marked Delivered but it was not Received
TL;DR
- Parcels marked as delivered but not received can result from tracking system errors, wrong status, or human mistakes.
- Couriers may deliver to neighbors or leave packages in safe locations around the house.
- Sometimes, packages are delivered to the wrong address or stored in the courier’s local depot.
- Always contact the courier company for proof of delivery or clarification on tracking status.
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Was your parcel marked as delivered but not received? Certainly, courier companies work hard to make sure that the parcels arrive safely on time. Sometimes though, the tracking system may show that your parcel says delivered but not received when, in fact, you don’t have it.
In most cases, the wrong information is displayed due to a simple error in the tracking system. Read on to find out what might actually have happened.
Read more about:
- My package is delivered to the wrong address
- Can I change the delivery address?
- Can my package be delivered without street number?
Mix up with the tracking information
Human errors are deemed to occur anytime. If it happens that your parcel is marked delivered but it was not received, the reason may simply be a piece of wrong information that the courier driver had inserted into the tracking system.
The status can, in fact, pertain to a different package. The courier company will be able to clear up the picture.
Parcel marked delivered but it was not received – the Wrong status
This one is also related to the information above. The courier may have made a mistake in inserting the information into the tracking system. The actual status might be a different one. To find out what is the real whereabouts of the parcel, contact the courier company directly.
You may want to read about:
Someone else signed for the parcel
If the consignee is not present at the delivery address, the courier driver might as well hand over the parcel to a different person. He could even leave the parcel with your neighbour. Thus, once it is handed over to someone, the parcel is marked delivered.
Read here what does proof of delivery mean.
If you are not quite sure who signed for receiving the parcel, the courier company would be able to tell you the name of the person. They should also be able to provide you with the proof of delivery that shows the signature of the recipient. So, just turn to them in this case.
The package was delivered to the wrong address
Although not a common case, mix-ups can occasionally happen and the parcel might end up at the wrong location. When the parcel is marked as delivered in the tracking system, but you haven’t received it, when you already checked with the members of your family and neighbours and they also didn’t receive it on your behalf, it could mean that your package ended up in a different place.
Bring the situation to the attention of the courier company and they should be able to sort things out.
The parcel was left around your house
Some parcels can also be left unattended, in a safe place, around the house. This happens especially if the shipping service doesn’t cover a guaranteed signature on delivery.
Have in mind that not all shipping services have this service included. Some logistics providers might charge additionally in order to provide this service.
Therefore, sometimes, when the consignee is not at the address, the courier driver may leave the parcel in a safe place such as a garage or a porch. When the parcel is left somewhere around the house, the delivery is considered completed.
Even though this could be inconvenient for the receiver, repeated attempts of delivery due to the absence of the consignee add extra costs for the courier company. All the more as the address is located in a remote area, far from the courier company’s depots.
In such cases, the courier driver will just leave the parcel in a safe place, around the receiver’s house.
The parcel is actually stored in the courier’s warehouse
If the parcel was not delivered but it was marked as such, it might be due to the fact that it is actually stored in the courier company’s local depot.
Some companies make only one delivery attempt. If nobody is at the destination address to receive it, the package will be stored in their local depot. Generally, in such cases, the courier driver leaves a notification of attempted delivery. This notice should contain more instructions for you on how to proceed.
This is a situation where even if the parcel hadn’t been handed over to you yet, once it reached the depot at the destination, it was marked as delivered.
This is not an exhaustive list of possible reasons your parcel may be marked delivered even though it was not received. These are rather the most common ones.
As a user of courier services, you need to follow the transit of your package and make the courier provider aware of anything that looks like is not correct information. They will ascertain why is the parcel marked as delivered and give you more instructions.
Still have questions?
Check our articles that answer the most common questions about shipping.
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About the author
Marcel Nahtigal is Head of Marketing at Eurosender, specializing in digital strategies to enhance customer connections in logistics.
