I've had plenty of items arrive late or not even at all, with stretches where I've had back-to-back-to-back issues with Amazon, so frustrating that I considered canceling Prime right then and there (~3 years ago).
A couple times they were delivered to our neighbors house next door (who dropped them off to us, thankfully) and a few times we had to contact Amazon Customer Service who just sent us a new one. In general, I trust Amazon to get me my item, but they're definitely not perfect and I wouldn't be surprised if OP isn't exaggerating...
BTW, I live in the Bay Area (and not out in the boonies).