Real Life MMD: Should we keep the wine?

Reality123

Unsolicited gift is the wrong definition. You need to beleieve that it was the intention of the sender. This was clearly not their intention. It remaind theft by finding.

Reality123

I do not doubt that some people spot errors. Well done for being so vigilant. With thousands of stock lines and hundreds of factors of complexity in the multiple pricing policies (different shops, different offers, etc.) mistakes will undoubtedly happen from time to time. Such is life.

Maybe I was not clear enough in my opinion, but to say it happens all the time is surely hyperbole. Are people saying they spot errors more than once a week? One infers that the posters feel this is deliberate by the shop as opposed to a mistake. This feeling of injustice then leads posters to claim that it is fair to keep the wine. It is this train of logic which makes the opinion incorrect. If this was the case then the next logical step would be to try to justify a bit of petty pilfering at the self-service till to achieve recompense and get your own back.

If overpricing was spotted by the poster all the time then (a) why is the poster still shopping there and (b) why have they not got Trading Standards involved.

Many other people concur with keeping the wine. This seems a shame as it is not honest. From reading the thread, this feeling seems to have at the route of the matter a general mistrust of large shops and the fact that they are perceived to be unfair to their shoppers. Yet people still rush in there to take advantage of the artificially low priced milk, bread, booze, etc. People are happy to take advantage of that, but seem to exist in a love-hate relationship with the supermarkets.

The fact that the question about returning the wine needs asking clearly means that people know it is wrong to keep it. Justifying it as some sort of Robin Hood action against the evil corporate entities is complete rubbish.

As a final point, not connected to the above, but more philosophical in nature. Being zealously careful with your money (and I certainly am not spendthrift – in the past I have had to address my own indebtedness when I finished education) is a dangerous drug. A very long-term friend of mine lives, by choice not need, by the penny (he knows how much he needs to spend to the penny for the next 12 months – I kid you not!). Unfortunately, over time this has impacted his attitude to the world and he is widely perceived to now take advantage of friends’ generosity without feeling the slightest twinge of embarrassment. I wish he would realise this, as friendship is priceless.

Roscal

It's not yours you didn't order it, it is greedy and it is stealing. Why not look up the shops own phone number and call them instead of customer services, I do if I have a problem with my deliveries and they are always very helpful.
Consider the person who is going to get into trouble for the loss, it's certainly part of someones order and they are going to complain. The shop knows what delivery slots it was on so it would not take them to much time to work out who has got it.

gunslinger13401

Reality123 wrote: »

Putting it simply, to knowingly deprive any person (no matter how rich) of property to which you know you have no right to is theft. If the property “falls into your lap” then your lack of action in appropriating the property does not excuse the crime of “theft by finding”.

I suppose the supermarket will never find out where the wine went, but shame on the other posters for claiming its all fair against a supermarket. There are plenty of people with less than you and I doubt you would think it fair if they saw your property as game for stealing.

If in fact you are a lawyer you need to go back to law school.

As to the original posters question. You have two choices 1) you can inform them of their error in which case they are obliged to collect within thirty days OR 2) Do nothing but keep them for 6 months at which point they become yours. That the law on unsolicited goods recieved after November 2000.

Choice is yours bt under no circumstances is it theft or criminal in any way.

Gunslinger

gunslinger13401

Reality123 wrote: »

Unsolicited gift is the wrong definition. You need to beleieve that it was the intention of the sender. This was clearly not their intention. It remaind theft by finding.

In law you are talking absolute rubbish. You didnt order it but they delivered it.
Check with a lawyer

Reality123

Is Gunslinger a lawyer? I doubt it.

Think about it.

If you have reasonable suspicion that it was not the intent of the sender to deliver the item to you then withholding it as a windfall is theft in accordance with the Theft Act 1968. Unsolicited gifts require you to believe that it was the intention of the sender to benefit you. Of course it is illegal to send unsolicited items through the post and then demand payment, but this is dealt with under the Communications legislation and this is not the circumstances here.

This is exactly the same as a sales ledger overpayment in a business. If the recipient treats the money as their own (e.g. by deliberately not telling the person who overpaid) then at that point they have committed an offence.

As someone who has regulatory duties to report proceeds of crime when spotted, I do understand the law. It seem some people are happy to argue otherwise, which is their choice. I doubt the shop will notice or take action anyway.

And I go back to my first point. Does it make a difference to people's opinion if the poor delivery driver was penalised for the error? It usually does. faceless corporations versus the downtrodden workers! Sympathy (or lack of) seems to cloud opinions).

Reality123

Sorry Gunslinger. Here is a link which bursts your balloon:

bis.gov.uk/policies/consumer-issues/buying-and-selling/unsolicited-items

minandhenry

There are no degrees of honesty - either you are honest or you are not. What would you do if the store had failed to deliver some wine you had ordered? You would tell them. If the boot is on the other foot you should come clean and either tell them that you have received something you haven't ordered or, if you want to keep the wine, you should offer to pay for it. You know in your heart of hearts what you should so why did you ask the question in the first place?

emuratty

No doubt they would tell you to keep it anyway.

I certainly wouldnt be spending ages on hold running up a huge phone bill to call them.

Once I ordered 6 large packets of nappies and they brought the wrong size, when I called them they refunded the cost and told me to keep them.....

antonia1

I recently left a new pair of sunglasses in a shopping bag in a local coffee place. When I realised my mistake I went back to the coffee place to see if it has been handed in, but whoever had found it had taken the bag and brand new sunglasses.

On the other hand, my brother lost his 1 month old Blackberry on a night out, and the person that found it went to plenty of effort to make sure it was returned to the right person (ie called the number under 'mum' and offered to take it round to my brothers house or post it at his own expense).

To put it simply - the person who took my sunglasses was a thief and the person who returned my brother's phone was a honest man. Which do you want to be?

There is a limit to how much effort you should go to in order to return something, but I don't think an email would be too much to expect, considering they are free to send. If there as been no response within a set time (ie 14 days or 28, its up to you) then keep the wine. I would recommend 28 days after the wine was delivered on the grounds that if you hand money found on the street to the police you can claim it as a sort of 'finders keepers' after 28 days.