Wrongly delivered parcel

rthomson1984

I'd really appreciate some advice on my liabilities on a parcel I've received:

I own a small business that can receive several deliveries a day. Yesterday, we were expecting a large delivery, made up from several components for an installation in the office. It was also a busy day in the office, so most of these deliveries arrived without being checked properly (the ones we signed for were checked properly).

At some point, we have received a parcel that clearly isn't for us. It also contains goods that are obviously very valuable. However, it contains absolutely no markings whatsoever - no correct delivery address etc. I've contacted all of the delivery companies that I know came yesterday, but none of them are taking ownership.

I now have a very large parcel that I have no idea who really owns it. I don't have the time to spend chasing around the parcels owners, nor do I really have the storage space for it.

What can I do? What are my liabilities for keeping the stuff - am I responsible for damage? I'm also worried as it should really be kept in a more secure location than I have (any member of staff could steal it at the moment, and it is worth comfortably 5x anyones salary), but we don't normally have to keep anything like this on site, so we don't have secure storage. Do I have any duty of care with it?

Any help much appreciated!

Rich

bap98189

If it's that valuable (from your post I am guessing £70k+) I would contact the police.

rthomson1984

I did - they told me it is not a matter for the police!

bod1467

There are no markings at all? No shipping label or anything?

Have you tried (carefully) opening it to see if there is any identifiable info inside?

ShaneUK

What is the item? If it is that expensive, surely it is specialised, and perhaps not many companies that would make/produce/sell it. There is a lot of knowledge and expertise on this board.

ShaneUK

bod1467 wrote: »

There are no markings at all? No shipping label or anything?

Have you tried (carefully) opening it to see if there is any identifiable info inside?

I would guess that they have opened it already to know what the value of the item is.

rthomson1984

No markings.

When I arrived at work, this was one box in a large pile of boxes that needed moving (they were in a customer area). It was so heavy that I had to open it to move it. As I said, we were expecting some equipment (air conditioning unit for office) so staff just assumed it was part of that (we were told there would be several packages arriving, and weren't really sure what it was as the installers actually ordered it all). It was only when I opened it that I realised it wasn't air conditioning equipment, but it has literally nothing on the box to let me know where it should be going.

rthomson1984

It is several hundred mobile phones.

ThumbRemote

In the first instance, make sure you contact the couriers to say you've got it - ideally by email so it's in writing. Presumably if it's that valuable and has been lost someone is going to be chasing it pretty soon.

You have a duty of care for the item, but you are also allowed to charge your costs for storing it.

ShaneUK

ok, are they boxed individually? If so, do they have anything to say what network they are on?

if unboxed, are they all the same brand, or different brands? if same brand, are they the same model?

rthomson1984

ThumbRemote wrote: »

In the first instance, make sure you contact the couriers to say you've got it - ideally by email so it's in writing. .

We don't know the courier!