Bought one, accidentally got one free

benykeny

Hello,

I recently ordered an mp3 player from Argos, and it seems they've got it wrong and sent me two by accident. It would make a handy christmas pressie, so I'm wondering if anyone knows my rights if/when they realise? I assume they are entitled to take it back, but I just wanted to confirm if this is definately the case? Is assume I can force them to organise delivery. Could I buy it off them if they demand it back? I wouldn't mind paying for it anyway. I've had a quick search for consumer rights and can't see anything specific.

Thanks

Poppy9

I'm sure you will get posters telling you to keep quiet and say nothing. I would say it's down to your conscience. If it was me I think I would write to the Head of Argos saying they had delivered two in error etc and if you were dishonest you would keep it and say nothing, but you appreciate this pushes up the cost for all buyers to cover their errors etc. Tell them to arrange collection at their expense and your convenience. Bet you they tell you to keep it for free if it's low value. Else you might get a voucher for your trouble.

I found £20 on Friday in a club while on my Christmas do. I did tell the DJ but he said to keep it as everyone would try and guess how much had been found to claim it. I felt awful as this might have been all the money someone had on them etc. Ended up giving it to a friend who is asking for donations to Cancer research instead of sending Christmas cards. Still feel for the poor person who lost the money though.

Citizen_Kane_3

GUS, the parent company of Argos, made a profit before tax of £649m in the year ended 31 March 2006. In the corresponding period last year, it was £648m.

The Chief Executive of GUS received a remuneration package of £1.18 million in 2006.

I leave it entirely at your discretion whether you wish to contact Argos or not.

pennypuppy

I am with Poppy. Its wrong to steal pure and simple, no matter how rich someone else is. That said r&r is different, its above board. I would do as suggested and write to chief executive and I would be amazed if they didn't tell you to keep it. Then you can do it with a clear conscience.

the_geary

We ordered a roller blind from John Lewis recently. When we came to take it out of the cardboard packaging, there were two! Evidently they are delivered to their warehouse like that and no one had realised.
What did I do?
I rang them up, told them. They were very surprised, then arranged for a courier to come round and collect it at a time convenient to us. No suggestion that we keep it, nor anything as a thank you but equally should I be rewarded for doing, really, what is the right thing?
The extra blind would have been quite handy, but it didn't occur to me to keep it.
Having mentioned this to colleagues and friends - over 50% suggested in a roundabout way that I should keep it and they knew someone or they themselves had done the same.

Post-script: my OH ended up taking it to work with him in the end :rotfl: and a Parcelforce guy turned up, grumbling that he didn't understand why they had to collect it when it wasn't their fault.
What can you say to that? I thought their job is to collect deliver things - odd.

IHateDida

I ended up receiving 2 PC's from a well known retailer a few years ago - they had messed me around something rotten, so I didn't say anything!:rolleyes: They never chased it up, so I sold the one I didn't want, under the knowledge that I would have to pay for it if they ever did contact me!

They never did!!!!!!:D :T

Citizen_Kane_3

pennypuppy wrote:

I am with Poppy. Its wrong to steal pure and simple, no matter how rich someone else is.

If this is indeed “stealing”, I would agree with you. However, this was a mistake by Argos due to their poor internal control system.

I may be inclined to return the item if it was sent in error by an individual, charity or the local corner shop. However, I have absolutely no sympathy to an organisation of this size and profitability such as Argos that can’t sort its own control system.

Poppy9

Citizen_Kane wrote:

If this is indeed “stealing”, I would agree with you. However, this was a mistake by Argos due to their poor internal control system.

I may be inclined to return the item if it was sent in error by an individual, charity or the local corner shop. However, I have absolutely no sympathy to an organisation of this size and profitability such as Argos that can’t sort its own control system.

Why does it make a difference how big the store is. A small shop can have the same profit margins as a major retailer. Why should you expect a company that employs thousands of staff to be more in control of their stock than 1 person trying to run their own business where they have to be jack of all trades.

Citizen_Kane_3

Poppy9 wrote:

Why does it make a difference how big the store is. A small shop can have the same profit margins as a major retailer. Why should you expect a company that employs thousands of staff to be more in control of their stock than 1 person trying to run their own business where they have to be jack of all trades.

A small corner shop may well have the same profit margin (i.e. % of profit per item) as a major high street retailer. However I very much doubt that a small corner shop would make a total profit of over £600 million a year! Losing a MP3 player may well eat into the total profit, albeit a small one, of a corner shop but I would not have thought that it would make any difference in Argos. Incidentally, all major retailers have stock shrinkage provisions in their accounts to cover mistakes like this.

A major high street retailer such as Argos has the financial resources to invest in a proper and sophisticated stock control system. As a public limited company (plc), the board of directors of GUS, the parent company, would have issued a statement that they have considered and assessed (and thus reassured their shareholders) the internal control and risk management” in operation within the business. I would question whether a small corner shop has the same need or indeed resources to undertake a similar control system or risk management exercise.

Willow147

If you had ordered 2 and only received 1 would you contact them to highlight the mistake ?

Surely it works both ways.

sparkerzzzz

Surely how rich the company is does have a bearing on this. If you brought a bag of sweets from a corner shop and it had 11 in instead of 10, you wouldn't think that it mattered. Well, although an mp3 player is something of value to you and me, compared to the profits of Argos it's a drop in the ocean. It's all subjective.