help! gift delivery error- where do i stand?!

seahorse99

Way back in may i ordered a hobby kit as a gift for my mum from ebay (costing over £300). It was delivered to her within a couple of days.
All was well until this week (4 months later) when i was sent an additional invoice for £120 from the company. i contacted them via e-bay and they replied saying the extra invoice was sent as they had accidently duplicated some of the components of the kit in the parcel and i had not returned them!
the company insist they mailed me ages ago to arrange pick-up but they didn't ( i'm hoping there's some way of proving this via my ebay archive)
I am aware that any items sent in error remain the property of the sender, but as the kit was a gift, my mum was unaware that any items of the kit shouldn't have been included and has opened/used some of them. As I live 200 miles away I wasn't there to check the delivery.
-Am I now obliged to pay the extra £120?
-Is it my fault for not checking the delivery at the time? should i offer partial payment in good faith?
-Can I get away with confiscating the extra items from my mum and returning them opened and incomplete?:mad:


just out of hospital and don't need the hassle:(
thankyou everyone

ifonlyitwaseasier

i'd tell em to bog off, 4 months?? they are surely joking!!

Enfieldian

Technically your contract with the seller has been concluded, you have paid and they have delivered.

However, in light of the extra items, the best (and honest) course of action may be for you to return them, at the seller's expense of course.

seahorse99

thanks, the problem i have is that the "extra" items are opened and partially used, so am i therefore obliged to pay for them? i was thinking of offering a fair token amount, but as they have not been entirely fair i'm not sure, especially as i'm currently on sick pay and a bit skint!
i made a mistake in the original post - it's not an invoice they sent me but a "statement of overdue account" not sure if that makes a difference?

pinkshoes

What extra items....?

I'd reply saying you've spoken to your mother, and she only received the items you paid for, so perhaps they're confusing you with another customer.

They'd need to prove it, which they can't do, so they can go whistle for their extra money.

(I would suggest being honest and returning what's left, but they haven't exactly being nice in the way they've dealt with it, pretending to have sent you an email!)

korky69

i'd be inclined to inform ebay resolutions and let them deal with it and reply to the seller via ebay what you've done.

i'd be surprised if you had to pay given your info,
but, (big) if, ebay said you must pay, i'd offer to return all the goods, used or not, once a full refund has been made including extra to cover all postage costs.
its the sellers mistake, dont be left out of pocket

seahorse99

thankyou everyone, can they legally issue me with a "statement of overdue account" if i've never set up an account with them? are they just trying to cover their mistake? i've found this quite upsetting as they are making me feel like i've done something wrong when i haven't.

arcon5

Could the additional items be classed as unsolicited goods?

Under the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971, (as amended) it is an offence to demand payment for goods known to be unsolicited, in other words, they were sent to a person without any prior request made by them or on their behalf.

Someone who receives goods in these circumstances may retain them as an unconditional gift, and does not have to pay for or return any unwanted goods.

arcon5

Op -- have you admitted you received the goods or not yet?

The_Pedant

I would say they are not unsolicited, as they appear to have been sent in error.
Unsolicited is when you knowingly send an item & then demand payment (companies blindly sending packs of christmas cards & demanding payment if not sent back was a common one).

I would look at it that:-
- you ordered & paid items for someone as a gift
- the goods arrive
- you are not an expert in the goods & so determine the goods appear to be what you have paid for
- months later the company demands payment for extra goods they say you received.

Ok, so firstly was there any packing note that you can recall & did you check it at all?
Secondly, there has been no communication from the company to indicate that anything was amiss (you would have thought they'd email or otherwise send a message)

Given the timescale involved, I would say it is up to the company to be able to prove 'on the balance or probabilities' (the small claims court level of proof required) that you did actually knowingly receive the extra goods. As Pinkshoes says, as far as you were aware you received what you paid for (unless maybe any delivery note or invoice at the time clearly showed extra unpaid items).

If there has been nothing previously advised to show you received additional items then I'd probably go down the eBay route as seaHorse99 says. For one, they're effectively trying to obtain additional payment for an order placed through eBay, but outside of eBay (which they'd probably frown upon).

seahorse99

thankyou pedant, i didn't check anything as it was a gift delivered to my folks' house. i didn't receive any paperwork at my home address so just assumed all was well until now!
i will check it next time i visit and then i think i'll contact e-bay resolutions as advised, hopefully they will suggest what is fair!!.