Nine days is annoying but "lost" might be a stretch, my guess is it just sat at a yard somewhere while nobody scanned it. Carriers do that all the time in my experience, the tracker lags and then it shows up fine.

I kept my moka pot and sold the press after about 6 months of going back and forth like you. The trick with the bitter taste is to pull it off the heat the second you hear that first gurgle, and use preheated water in the base so the grounds don't cook while it heats up. That alone killed the burnt flavor for me. The cleanup on a press is what got me too, all those grounds down the sink and the whole rinse routine every morning. Idk, if you keep reaching for the press then maybe that's your answer, but the moka pot wins once you dial in the heat thing.

I used to walk under lifts like I was invincible, then I saw a video of one dropping and now I check pins like they owe me money. In my experience the lazy habit is real at every shop I've been in, takes two minutes but most guys just assume it's fine. Your mileage may vary but you're not wrong to be the annoying guy checking every morning.