Sent phone for repair, delivered to someone else

harryPAL

Hi all,

I sent off my iphone for repair due to a faulty screen. Having waited a while, I emailed the shop I sent it to asking when I'd have it returned. Turns out the phone was delivered to someone else by mistake, and they are reluctant to give it back. The shop has said aside from requesting it back, there's nothing they can do, and it's up to me to take it to the police. Is that right? Also, what does the law say about the person who has my phone, I would have thought that'd be classed as theft?

Thanks

sharpy2010

harryPAL wrote: »

Hi all,

I sent off my iphone for repair due to a faulty screen. Having waited a while, I emailed the shop I sent it to asking when I'd have it returned. Turns out the phone was delivered to someone else by mistake, and they are reluctant to give it back. The shop has said aside from requesting it back, there's nothing they can do, and it's up to me to take it to the police. Is that right? Also, what does the law say about the person who has my phone, I would have thought that'd be classed as theft?

Thanks

You need to give us more details. Who did the phone actually get delivered to? Have you spoken to them? What did they say?

Let us know, and we'll advise you

smcaul

Unless you arranged the return postage then it is the shops problem, you do not have to deal with either the Police or the person who has the phone. Call the shop again and remind them they were responsible for the phone until it is returned to you, so they have to either retrieve the phone or find some other suitable alternative.

dreamypuma

harryPAL wrote: »

Hi all,

I sent off my iphone for repair due to a faulty screen. Having waited a while, I emailed the shop I sent it to asking when I'd have it returned. Turns out the phone was delivered to someone else by mistake, and they are reluctant to give it back. The shop has said aside from requesting it back, there's nothing they can do, and it's up to me to take it to the police. Is that right? Also, what does the law say about the person who has my phone, I would have thought that'd be classed as theft?

Thanks

Did the shop ever receive your phone? ie: was it incorrectly delivered on the outbound journey, or on it's return to you after repair?

Who paid for what aspects of postage, and who was the deliver contracted to?

Was the phone addressed correctly?

Was the phone delivered to an individual or a company?

What communication have either you or the repair company had with this third party (what format; Letters, visits, telephone calls)

dreamypuma

smcaul wrote: »

Unless you arranged the return postage then it is the shops problem, you do not have to deal with either the Police or the person who has the phone. Call the shop again and remind them they were responsible for the phone until it is returned to you, so they have to either retrieve the phone or find some other suitable alternative.

Not enough info in OP's post to come to a conclusion IMO.

harryPAL

The phone was delivered to someone who had made a previous order at the shop. I have had no contact with them, only the shop. The postage was to be handled by them, not me.

The shop did receive and repair the phone, they just balls up the delivery! I paid for the delivery cost prior to sending it off and it was sent by Royal Mail Special Delivery. The phone was addressed to a different person as mentioned, and that person is an individual, not a company. The third party has sent no response back yet, although the shop has sent them three emails.

Can anyone tell me what the law says about this? If the person who has my phone refuses to give it back, is there any legislation they can hide behind, such as unsolicited goods despite it belonging to me? Or is it considered theft?

neilmcl

Well ultimately if the other person refuses to hand back your phone to you then its theft, plain and simple, in which case you have to contact the police. Dealing with it as a civil, rather than criminal matter, I'd imagine the shop contractually has to take responsibility, as they have a duty of care to make sure they take all reasonable steps to take care of your property until they deliver it back, sucessfully, to you. Tell them to get it back or give you a new replacement.

dreamypuma

harryPAL wrote: »

The phone was delivered to someone who had made a previous order at the shop. I have had no contact with them, only the shop. The postage was to be handled by them, not me.

The shop did receive and repair the phone, they just balls up the delivery! I paid for the delivery cost prior to sending it off and it was sent by Royal Mail Special Delivery. The phone was addressed to a different person as mentioned, and that person is an individual, not a company. The third party has sent no response back yet, although the shop has sent them three emails.

Can anyone tell me what the law says about this? If the person who has my phone refuses to give it back, is there any legislation they can hide behind, such as unsolicited goods despite it belonging to me? Or is it considered theft?

Right basically I believe the shop is responsible and liable for any loss to you.

You contracted and paid the shop to repair the phone and return it to you by post. Whilst they repaired the phone, they have not concluded their contracted scope of works by delivering the phone back to you.

Check any paperwork they gave you, or their T&C's. Ensure that they have not limited their liability to you through them.

I would write to the shop by recorded delivery (not email). Offer them 14days to return your repaired phone or compensate you in full for your loss. Advise them that after 14days, you propose to lodge a claim against them through the small claims court.

skiTTish

Surely the store will have insurance to cover them for such eventualties ?

If the case is that you definitely want your original phone back for sentimental reasons or there is info /data on there you want then yes the store is possibly right ,you need to deal with the police ,as the store cannot break this persons door down and recover the phone

DVardysShadow

skiTTish wrote: »

Surely the store will have insurance to cover them for such eventualties ?

A decent store would deal with this out of the till. No need for insurance.

And as far as the OP is concerned, it is totally irrelevant whether the store have insurance.

dreamypuma

DVardysShadow wrote: »

as far as the OP is concerned, it is totally irrelevant whether the store have insurance.

Exactly. Send a letter, how the store deal with it is irrelevant, as your not in a position to tell them how badly or well they should run their business. As far as the OP is concerned, he wants to be set back to how he was before the whole incident. How the store do this, is up to them, so long as a reasonable effort is made.

As it was an iPhone, most of the information should be saved on iTunes anyway. What may be of concern is if the info on the phone was sensitive. This however would be consequential loss, not something that the store can be held liable, unless it was a criteria of the contracted works.

I would also argue that the OP should have taken a reasonable care to have securely backed up the device and not exposed the data to a third party.