Delivered Goods to my house - but not meant for me ?

StuieUK34

Afternoon all..... anyone got any ideas how the law/rule of thumb stands with this ?

Had 3 big boxes delivered to my house....
They were addressed to a name i dont reconise, nor flags up as the previous people that lived in my house...

The delivery address on the box is clearly labelled to my address....
Opened up the boxes, and the 'items picklist' clearly shows my address on there too......
Products in question are catering related, and all come from the same company.
Company being 'blah blah blah blah'.
Products are American kitchen stuff, so am guessing come from the states via a UK agent or somthing, then onto my house...........

Now i signed for the goods, using a squiggle, as my sig doesnt show my name

What happens now ?
My guess is, the intended person will contact her supplier and say she hasnt received the goods... the supplier will check with the courier, and courier will confirm delivered and signed for.....
supplier will recheck there stuff, then recheck with the intended person, then double check the address...
Then realise the address is wrong, call the couriers to confirm, etc etc, and once confirmed the company messed up by sending to the wrong address, am guessing at that point, they will want there goods back ?

So.......... Me and the law, where do i stand... ??
A: If i retain the goods for 30 days, do they legally become mine ?
B: If the suppliers write to me to state they made an error on delivery and would like the items returned, then am i right to say "ok, come collect your goods at a time which is suitable to me, IE: when i am actually in".
C: If they do come and collect the goods, do i have legal grounds to charge a 'Storage Fee' before i release the goods back to them ?

In short, and as bad as it sounds, i'd be happy to keep this stuff (finders keepers and all that!)........ but if i retain them, just want to know i'm doing it the legal way cos of someone messing up....
I know for sure if i mess up, i'd end up losing out (as an individual), so why cant a company lose out ?! :A

somethingcorporate

Tough one really - unsolicited goods perhaps means they could be yours but then again if you intentionally intend to deprive it could be theft! It's a bit of a grey one.

Personally, I would use my moral compass. Be nice, how about just give the company a call and tell them the goods are not for you? Do your good deed for the day.

Imagine if the company are now telling someone sorry the goods have been signed for, you cannot have them. What if that was something expensive you had bought that had been sent to the wrong address and the company were now holding you to ransom?

Sunnyday

somethingcorporate wrote: »

Tough one really - unsolicited goods perhaps means they could be yours but then again if you intentionally intend to deprive it could be theft! It's a bit of a grey one.

Personally, I would use my moral compass. Be nice, how about just give the company a call and tell them the goods are not for you? Do your good deed for the day.

Imagine if the company are now telling someone sorry the goods have been signed for, you cannot have them. What if that was something expensive you had bought that had been sent to the wrong address and the company were now holding you to ransom?

I`ve got to agree with this, whoever made the mistake could be in danger of losing their job and thats not something that bears thinking about.

Small company could potentially fold if the goods are expensive end they lose out.

Morally i could not consider keeping any of it but legally i don`t know where you would stand.

SD

verityboo

Might be part of a con - stolen credit card used to buy goods that are then sent to a random address so they can't be traced. Scammer then turns up asking if you have had a strange delivery which was ment for them.
I would advise sending them back to the company who sent them. Don't hand them over to anyone who knocks on the door

Eydon

Chances are it's as simple as someone has entered the incorrect postcode on an address auto-generator and not noticed when the address fields were populated. Could be just a single character out.

If it were me, I'd do as suggested above - phone the company and explain.

fluffnutter

What I can't understand... why did you take receipt of goods that weren't addressed to you? I'd have said 'Sorry, that's not me. Take them away'. I'd never accept a package for someone else! Who knows what's in it?!

RuthnJasper

I'd contact the supplier as soon as possible - the things are not mine to keep unless they say "It'll cost us too much to re-ship the contents back to us, please keep them with our compliments."

Might be someone's wedding/christening/anniversary present - in any case, I wouldn't want that on my conscience.

Plus, of course, if the suppliers do investigate it will come back to bite you on the behind, as they have a signature which proves the goods were received at your address...

TrixieB

verityboo wrote: »

Might be part of a con - stolen credit card used to buy goods that are then sent to a random address so they can't be traced. Scammer then turns up asking if you have had a strange delivery which was ment for them.
I would advise sending them back to the company who sent them. Don't hand them over to anyone who knocks on the door

Have read of this rather too often on my facebook feed unfortunately, seems to be the "in" scam.

i'd contact the supplier - by email probably so you have a record of the date.

bod1467

I agree - this is either a mistake or a scam attempt, and I'm erring towards the latter. If anyone arrives at your door unannounced looking for a parcel deny all knowledge.

In the meantime, contact the supplier (by email as said), explain the situation and advise them of a suitable time (to you) for them to collect the goods. Then take it from there.

StuieUK34

Its not scam, just someone in the US making a mistake with the address.....
Value could be £120 to £140 or just under of kitchen stuff.......
Not concerned with right or wrong, just the legality side of things when it comes to them collecting from me (storage fees) or me keeping them after 28 days of not being picked up.......

My example of how my brain works:
I have £50 in my bank account, + overdraft facility. Overdraft is charged % per day if i use it...
Company 'A' accidently/intentionally take £200 from my account, not authorised...... This puts me -£150 into my overdraft...
Company 'A' says really sorry for making a mistake, we will refund you. They like most companies take ages to refund, but lets say they take the average time, which is 28 days.........
So now i get £200 sent back to my bank, but my account is now only £30 in credit, as the bank have taken £20 in overdraft fee's.
Company 'A' wont pay for the overdraft fee's......... so through someone elses mistake, i would be £20 down.......

So, stuff got delivered through someone elses mistake. I am not spending any money (which means phoning the USA, etc) on fixing someone else's mistake. The sender will eventually track where there goods are, and i will defo have them sent back then
As said in my original post, was wondering if i can charge storage fee's!

babyemily

StuieUK34 wrote: »

Its not scam, just someone in the US making a mistake with the address.....
Value could be £120 to £140 or just under of kitchen stuff.......
Not concerned with right or wrong, just the legality side of things when it comes to them collecting from me (storage fees) or me keeping them after 28 days of not being picked up.......

My example of how my brain works:
I have £50 in my bank account, + overdraft facility. Overdraft is charged % per day if i use it...
Company 'A' accidently/intentionally take £200 from my account, not authorised...... This puts me -£150 into my overdraft...
Company 'A' says really sorry for making a mistake, we will refund you. They like most companies take ages to refund, but lets say they take the average time, which is 28 days.........
So now i get £200 sent back to my bank, but my account is now only £30 in credit, as the bank have taken £20 in overdraft fee's.
Company 'A' wont pay for the overdraft fee's......... so through someone elses mistake, i would be £20 down.......

So, stuff got delivered through someone elses mistake. I am not spending any money (which means phoning the USA, etc) on fixing someone else's mistake. The sender will eventually track where there goods are, and i will defo have them sent back then
As said in my original post, was wondering if i can charge storage fee's!

Just email them. You have obviously sent your intention and have no intention of listening to right or wrong. Not nice