Amazon is downplaying the results of a new study today that claims 10 percent of shoppers said packages arrived later than expected over the holidays.
The survey, which was conducted last month by Reuters/Ipsos, interviewed 1,700 Amazon customers about orders placed during November and December, which is Amazon’s busiest time of the year.
In an interview with Reuters, Amazon’s head of Prime Greg Greeley, dismissed the results, calling them “very suspect.” An spokeswoman additionally told Reuters that “Our internal data shows significantly better results.”
An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment for this story.
However, in general, this holiday was largely considered hiccup-free, especially in comparison to in 2013 when extreme weather and a last-minute surge in shopping resulted in lots of late packages.
Customers pay Amazon $99 a year for Prime benefits, which guarantees two-day shipping on eligible items. It also provides additional perks, like video streaming services.
The Reuters story was unclear how many of the survey’s respondents were Amazon Prime members. It claimed that 10 percent of shoppers, who picked the “two-day shipping option,” reported that packages did not arrive as expected. It said the survey had a credibility interval of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.
Despite tardy shipments, the survey found customer satisfaction with Prime was still extremely high, with 96 percent of respondents saying they are happy with the service.
Last week, Amazon celebrated its 10-year anniversary of Prime, a program that saw its membership grow by 53% last year despite a $20 price hike. Amazon has never disclosed how many members it has, but several sources guess it has roughly 40 million in the U.S.
While Amazon says internal data shows better results than what the survey suggests, the e-commerce giant doesn’t claim to be perfect.
In cases when they do miss delivery guarantees, customers can request to be compensated. As stated in Amazon Prime’s fine print, “you may be eligible for a free one-month extension when the promised delivery date isn’t met.”
