Texas father frustrated out after $800 Costco purchase marked ‘delivered’ never arrived. Here’s what to do if your delivery goes missing

As NBC 5 Dallas Fort-Worth reports, Abbas Poonawala said he ordered a laptop and some grocery items from Costco’s website, choosing same-day delivery to his home in Irving (1). Poonawala told NBC 5 that he was home all day, waiting for the delivery.

His receipt said that Costco’s same-day delivery was “powered by Instacart,” but Poonawala said he didn’t have an Instacart account — he’s a Costco member and paid for the items on Costco’s website.

Poonawala received text updates from the Instacart shopper saying the order was on the way, then received a text saying the delivery had been completed. But Poonawala never received the delivery.

Poonawala checked the footage from his front-porch camera, while also checking in with his neighbors to see if they noticed a delivery. Meanwhile, he never received a photo of the delivered package, and since he ordered a high-value item, he had been notified that he would have to sign for the package upon delivery.

When he tried messaging the Instacart shopper, he got an automated message saying the only way to communicate was through the Instacart app. He contacted the company and after about a week, Instacart denied his request for a refund.

“You've admitted that you don't have any delivery information. So, what more proof can I provide?” said Poonawala. “How do I prove to you that the person never delivered it?”

Poonawala told NBC 5 he later filed a police report. He also revealed that Costco called him and offered a full refund.

What to do if your order never arrives

If an online order doesn’t arrive, first check that the address on the order is correct. You can also check around your property to see if it was dropped anywhere, and ask neighbors if they happened to mistakenly receive your delivery.

If that fails, Monica Horton from the Better Business Bureau told NBC 5 that the first contact you should reach out to is the seller of the item — in particular, the company that actually charged you for the order. Horton said that if there are multiple consumer-facing companies involved in the purchase, such as Poonawala’s case with Costco and Instacart, it’s the seller you should reach out to.

“The seller and the delivery company have that relationship. So, contact the seller,” said Horton. “They are the ones that you ordered from, that you made the payment to. That's going to be your first contact.”

Horton also recommends paying for online orders with a credit card, so that if the seller refuses to refund your purchase, you can take the step of disputing the charge, and the credit card company can investigate and demand proof of delivery from the seller.

According to shipping protection platform ShipAid, while the seller is typically responsible for making sure a package reaches a customer, once a shipping carrier confirms delivery, responsibility typically shifts to the buyer (2).

Section 2-509 of the Uniform Commercial Code says that when a contract authorizes a seller to ship goods by carrier, and they are required to be shipped to a particular destination, “the risk of loss passes to the buyer when the goods are there duly so tendered as to enable the buyer to take delivery,” according to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute (3).

Retailers will likely have terms of service that outline their policies on lost or stolen packages, so if you’re concerned about a high-value delivery, check the terms of service before you order (2). You may be able to add insurance through the seller or shipping carrier, but check whether the insurance will cover a package that’s stolen after it has been marked as delivered.