"guaranteed two day delivery" is not a money back guarantee. It's just a slogan. Maybe half of my Prime packages make it to my door within two days. Amazon only really guarantees that you'll get the package eventually.
It's a money back guarantee because you can cancel/return the item and get your money back. They also happen to provide the same guarantee in the event you decide you don't want the item for other reasons.
When a company tells me 2-day delivery is guaranteed or my money back, I expect to get my money back when the delivery takes longer than 2 days. I don't expect to have to return the item. What's the point of a guarantee if I'd be in the exact same situation without it?
Suppose you buy some balloons for a party that's in three days. They arrive in four days. By the time you receive them, the party's over and you have no use for them. If there was no delivery guarantee, you not only didn't have them when you needed them, now you do have them when you don't need them and are out the money. With the guarantee, you send them back and get a refund.
It also allows you to send back items that arrive late even if you do still want them, allowing you to punish them by returning the item only to go buy it from a competitor.
You said Amazon lets you return them without the delivery guarantee. What does the delivery guarantee add here?
I pay $100 for Prime so I can get items I want to keep long-term faster. What good does being able to return them do me? If the guarantee meant anything I'd get some of the $100 I paid for the 2-day shipping back for items that arrived late and weren't returned.
> You said Amazon lets you return them without the delivery guarantee. What does the delivery guarantee add here?
It adds "missed delivery date" to the list of valid reasons to return the item. In theory you could have a guarantee that allows returns because you didn't like the item but not because it was delivered later than estimated -- hard to enforce and kind of silly, but that doesn't mean the scrupulous person who only makes returns for agreed upon reasons wouldn't be getting a money-back delivery guarantee when you add it.
> I pay $100 for Prime so I can get items I want to keep long-term faster. What good does being able to return them do me?
It allows you to punish them by returning the late item only to go buy it from a competitor.
> If the guarantee meant anything I'd get some of the $100 I paid for the 2-day shipping back for items that arrived late and weren't returned.
The $100 pays for the "2-day delivery in most cases" shipping service.
If it's worth that much as-offered then they don't need to let you keep the item for free on top of that. If it isn't then why are you paying for it?
> It allows you to punish them by returning the late item only to go buy it from a competitor.
They know most people won't do that most of the time because that increases the inconvenience they've already suffered from the late package. The guarantee should benefit me, not increase the damage I've suffered from the late package.
> The $100 pays for the "2-day delivery in most cases" shipping service.
I don't get 2-day delivery in most cases. They fail to deliver within that window more than half the time.
> If it's worth that much as-offered then they don't need to let you keep the item for free on top of that.
I'm not suggesting that I get to keep the item for free. I'm saying that I should get a partial refund on the shipping when I pay extra for guaranteed 2-day shipping and the item takes more than 2 days to arrive.
