Route FAQS and Policies

Route FAQs

What is Route and Green Package Protection?
Route's Green Package Protection is a package protection solution that helps cover your order in the event that your order gets lost, stolen, or damaged while in transit while also protecting the planet. We know how frustrating it is to have something happen to your order, so we’ve partnered with Route to offer added assurance that you’re supported, no matter what. Green Package Protection can be added during checkout.

Every time you add Green Package Protection to your order, Route donates to support an
agroforestry initiative that removes CO₂ from the air and promotes a flourishing ecosystem. 

You can also utilize the Route App to visually track all of your online orders in one place and easily file a claim with their team. Whether you’re tracking via the Route App or online Route’s real-time shipping updates keep you in the loop throughout every part of your delivery. Haven’t downloaded the app yet? Download here

Purchased Route's Green Package Protection and looking to file a shipping issue online? File here

What is Carbon Neutral Shipping?
Route is covering the cost to neutralize shipping emissions when you add "Green Package Protection" at checkout. "Green Package Protection" Shipping includes package protection at the same cost as before, with the additional benefit that your shipment is carbon neutral. By adding Green Package Protection to your cart, you're automatically taking instant climate action – no donation required.

How does Green Package Protection/Carbon Neutral Shipping work?
Route has partnered with Patch, a carbon credit marketplace, to facilitate the purchase of carbon credits to neutralize your emissions. Carbon credits represent a certified unit of carbon removal or avoidance delivered by environmental projects that can be purchased to naturally remove carbon from the air. Patch is a high-integrity carbon removal project that is vetted and certified by organizations like Gold Standard, Verra, Climate Action Reserve, and The American Carbon Registry.

Where is My Order?
Once your order has been fulfilled by our team, a shipping confirmation with a tracking number will be emailed. You can download  Route’s mobile app for iOS or Android to visually track your package and receive real-time notifications on its estimated delivery.

How Does Route Work?
If your Route-protected order ends up lost, damaged, or stolen, Route’s expert support team helps ensure that your order gets replaced or refunded as preferred. Claims will be reviewed for approval within 1-2 business days from filing.  

Need to file a claim?  File here

How Does Route Process Refunds or Reorders?
Refunds: When refunding an item, Route covers the subtotal, shipping, and taxes if the merchant has Automatic Issue Resolution enabled.  

In both cases, the Route Premium cost will not be refunded. 

Reorders: Route will reorder the items, depending on in-stock availability. Unavailable items will be refunded. Route will cover the cost of any reorders including shipping, taxes, and Route Shipping Protection.

When Should I File a Claim?
Marked As Delivered (Stolen)

• Claims will be reviewed no earlier than 5 calendar days and no later than 15 calendar days from when it was marked delivered. 
• Please note, some order issues may require a police report to be filed.

Stuck In Transit (Lost)

• For domestic orders, claims will be reviewed no earlier than 2 calendar days and no later than 30 calendar days from the last update. The maximum filing time is 365 days from the order date.
• For international orders, claims will be reviewed no earlier than 20 calendar days and no later than 30 calendar days from the last update. The maximum filing time is 365 days from the order date.

Damaged

• Claims for damaged items require photos of the packaging and item(s) and must be filed no later than 15 calendar days from when it was marked delivered.

All of Route’s policies are listed here

What if My Order Never Arrives or is Stolen?
Route definitely helps cover these instances! To protect your order against loss or theft, add Green Package Protection at checkout. 

If your order has not arrived, please file a claim with Route here. 

What if My Order Arrives Damaged?
Route covers damage as well! To protect your order against damage that occurred during shipping, add Route Protect at checkout. 

If your order has arrived to you damaged, please take photos of the item and the packaging it arrived in to include in your claim when filing. 

You can file a claim with Route here.

If your order has defects or you suspect it was damaged during manufacturing, please reach out to us and we will be happy to work with you to remedy the situation.

How Do I File a Claim for my Lost, Damaged, or Stolen Order?
If you insured your order with Route at checkout, you will receive a confirmation email from Route with a link to file a shipping issue. 

You can also file a shipping issue on Route’s app or via the web here. To file a claim, you will need your store order number OR Route ID number and the email address that was attached to the order.

Haven’t downloaded the app yet?  Download here

What are Route’s Terms and Conditions? 
Route’s terms and conditions are listed here: https://route.com/terms-and-conditions/

Is Route a Licensed Insurance Company?
Yes, Route is a licensed insurance company with SEG Insurance Ltd. as its partner.

Route Policies

Lost Items Policies

Packages presumed to be lost

Estimated Delivery Date

After 48 hours has passed from an estimated delivery date given from the carrier, and no delivery or update has been made, Route will consider the order to be "lost" and assist with next steps. 

Invalid address or delivery barriers

• Sometimes carriers cannot deliver the customer’s package due to an invalid address or other unexpected delivery barriers. At this point, the carrier might return the package to the sender/retailer. The customer’s package is not actually lost, thus Route does not cover this. In instances where the item is being returned to the sender and is reusable, customers will be referred to the retailer.
  
  
• The exception is retailers that ship perishable items (e.g. food, a mattress that cannot be reused).

Only part of the order delivered

• If the customer ordered several items in one package but only part of the order arrived and there is no evidence of tampering, Route does not cover the order issue. The customer will be referred to the retailer. 
  
  
• If a single order is being shipped in multiple packages and one package does not arrive, Route will cover the order issue and reorder or refund the value of the undelivered package.
  
  
• If the retailer forgets to ship an item from the customer’s order, the customer needs to reach out to the retailer to have the missing items fulfilled.

Packages labeled "return to sender"

• Route does not cover packages labeled return to sender because the order has been sent back to the retailer. Items are returned to sender when a customer provides an invalid or undeliverable address or refuses a delivery. 
  
  
• At our discretion, we may cover the order issue if the returned item is perishable or if the retailer is unable to reuse it.*
  
  
• Route covers the customer’s order if the package gets lost in-transit back to the sender.*

*Please note: Route Package Protection timeframes for filing apply.

Order stuck in customs

• Route cannot cover when a customer’s order is stuck in international borders/customs.
  
  
• The customer’s next step is to pay the customs fees in order to receive the package.
  
  
• If Route replaces something the customer has already paid customs on, under Route’s discretion, Route can approve and pay customs the second time.

Order marked as unfulfilled or unshipped

• If the customer’s order is marked as unfulfilled or unshipped, the order hasn’t been fulfilled yet by the retailer (retailer could be low on inventory of the items, internal delays with the fulfillment center, etc.).
  
  
• Route does not control how quickly the retailer ships the customer’s order. Route Package Protection is not yet in action because the order has not shipped.

Order issue filed too soon

• If the customer is filing an order issue the same day that the package was marked as delivered, at our discretion Route may ask you to wait 5 days. Carriers (FedEx, USPS, UPS, DHL, etc.) sometimes prematurely mark the package as delivered when it’s still in transit.

Stolen Items Policies

Delivered but Missing Package

• Order issues for packages marked "delivered" yet not received are considered stolen, and must be filed 5 days after “delivery date” but no longer than 15 days to ensure it was not mis-delivered or easily found around the premises.

Filing an Online Notarized Incident Statement

• At our discretion, Route may require an online notarized statement when the customer’s package is marked as delivered. If requested, the customer will be given clear steps to complete this requirement via the claims filing process. 

Filing a Police Report or In-Person Notarized Statement

• At our discretion, Route may require a police report or in-person notarized statement form when the customer’s package is marked as delivered.

1. If requested, the customer will file the police report/notarized form and include an explanation that Route is a package protection company, and we have protected the customer’s package that has been stolen. To process the order issue with Route, Route is requiring a police report/notarized form.
   
   
2. Send Route the police report PDF & number in the order issue (if a notarized statement was requested, send over a screenshot and details of the notary form signed by a notary public).

• Upon request, Route may require additional documentation such as proof of identity, a notarized statement, address, etc.

Note: Depending upon the jurisdiction, a false police report may be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony.

Delivered to wrong address

• If the customer input the correct address at checkout and the package was delivered to the wrong address, Route considers this as stolen and we will replace the order on behalf of the customer.

Damaged Items Policies

Damaged Item Arrived

• Order Issues for damaged orders must be filed within 15 days of the delivery date. 

Broken items

• If the customer received a broken item and needs to dispose of it (i.e. shattered glass), the customer needs to check their city ordinances and dispose of it properly.
  
  
• The customer does not need to ship it back to the retailer (unless the retailer indicates otherwise).

Damaged items

• A damaged item is considered to be a broken product that is unusable, clearly fractured, shattered, bent (if not bendable), crushed, etc.
  
  
• Route does not cover cosmetic damage (scratches, dents, etc.), manufacturing damages, packaging errors, or unsealed items. 
  
  
• Route requires further evidence of the customer’s damaged item (i.e. more photos, videos, etc.).

Subscription items

• For existing subscriptions where your customers have purchased Route Package Protection, if any of your customer's items in the subscription were lost, stolen, or damaged in transit and can be purchased individually, Route will reorder them. If the items cannot be purchased, then Route will refund the items.
  
  
• Route cannot reorder and create an entirely new subscription because Route would be paying for the customer's monthly subscription.

Customized items

• Route cannot reorder customized items for the customer because of the additional liability of ordering the customer’s custom item incorrectly. Route can offer a refund instead.

Out of stock

• Route does not have visibility to the retailer’s inventory, or details into when they will have the customer’s item back in stock.
  
  
• Route can offer the customer a refund for the item that is out of stock. The customer can always use that refund to order the item when it’s back in stock.

General Policies

Input wrong address

• If the customer entered the wrong address at the time of order, Route does not cover this.
  
  
• The customer needs to reach out to the retailer to remedy the incorrect address.

Quality control

• If the customer is unsatisfied with their product, Route is not a product replacement plan and the order issue cannot be approved.
  
  
• The customer needs to reach out to the retailer. This request may be covered under the retailer’s return policy.

Too late to file

• Route can action an order issue that is filed within the bounds of our domestic/international timeline policy. If an order issue is filed outside of this timeline, Route will deny the order issue according to these policies:
  
• Order issues for packages marked "delivered" yet not received and where there is no evidence of “porch piracy” must be made 5 days after “delivery date” but no longer than 15 days to ensure it was not misdelivered or easily found around the premises."
• Order issues for packages presumed to be lost by the carrier (where the status is not "delivered") must be filed no sooner than 7 days after the scheduled delivery date for United States domestic shipments (20 days for international shipments, including Canada unless a Canadian merchant is shipping within Canada in which case the 7 day domestic shipment timeline applies) and within 30 days from the last checkpoint.

Expedited shipping hasn't arrived 

• If the customer’s package is delayed for whatever reason, Route will not cover it.
  
  
• Carriers update their website with expected delays due to inclement weather or other barriers to expected delivery.
  
  
• If the customer paid for expedited shipping but the package arrives outside of the expected window, Route will not cover it.

Payment installment companies

• For payment installments (Sezzle, Afterpay, etc.), it is the customer’s responsibility to pay the payment installment company directly.
  
  
• Once Route refunds the customer for their order, the customer must pay their installments to the payment installment company directly.

No tracking information

• Route reserves the right to deny order issues where no tracking number/information is available. In these instances, Route will reach out to the retailer to see if one can be provided.

Package in Pre-Shipment

• Route reserves the right to deny order issues where package tracking is marked as "pre-shipment".

Non-sanctioned shipping address

• Route is based in the United States of America. Due to shipping policies in the US, Route will not cover issues shipped to countries that are sanctioned by the US. List available here

Closed order issues

• If a customer does not respond within 5 days, Route will automatically close the order issues. Customers can open the order issues back up by responding to the original thread.

Didn't want Route

• If the customer’s package has not shipped, Route can refund the Route premium.
  
  
• If the item has shipped, Route is already protecting the package and cannot refund the customer.

Checkout requires ID verification

• Route doesn’t upload our employee’s proof of ID to replace the customer’s order.
  
  
• If the customer ordered from a store that requires the extra ID verification step, Route can offer the customer a refund instead to protect each party’s identity.

To learn more about Route's services and policies; please visit:

https://shoppers.help.route.com/hc/en-us

*All is directly quoted from route.com