Goods Received for Free

ibanez1070

davidmcn wrote: »

The Chancers Trying to Profit From Others' C0ck-Ups Regulations 1994.

Wow. A quote from the "roll over and take it you pleb" side of the law.

ibanez1070

Thank you to those who weighed in with useful information. It has been most illuminating :-)

Gavin83

How much is the item normally worth?

There's two angles to this. If they send you an item in error (which appears to be the case here) they are entitled to receive the item back, at their cost, or ask you to pay for the item. This doesn't count as unsolicited goods. If you ordered it but at the wrong price (which doesn't appear to be the case but worth noting) then if it's an obvious mistake (which a free expensive item clearly would be) the same would apply.

If you wish to keep the item then it's probably worth negotiating a discount, they'll likely be quite generous.

societys_child

1. Am I the legal owner of the item ?

No.

2. Is there any reason why my ownership would not stand up in court ?

Yes, obviously.

3. Are the company in a position to change the price in order to pursue the cost of the item even though the whole transaction has an audit trail stating £0.00. ?

It must have some value, otherwise you wouldn't be so eager . . .


As above^ How much do you think it's worth?

stragglebod

ibanez1070 wrote: »

Wow. A quote from the "roll over and take it you pleb" side of the law.

No, you don't take it. That's the whole point


You are right that it would be up to a court to decide, if you refused to allow the company to collect/return at their own expense and they decided to sue.


What the court is likely to decide may not be much of a mystery, and likely to cost you more than £0.00.


I know that's not the answer you want to hear, but this forum tends to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.

George_Michael

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-37048351

Unsolicited goods - in other words, freebies - do not include items sent by mistake, such as the wine crates example from earlier.

Craig McAdam, principal lawyer within Dispute Resolution at Slater and Gordon lawyers in Manchester, says that under criminal law this could be regarded as theft - defined as dishonestly appropriating property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving them of it.

A charge of theft could indefinitely hang over anyone who chooses to keep something that is not theirs.

In civil law, the company could seek to recover the goods or monetary value when somebody keeps an item not intended for them.

Many people receive items that they did not request. However, most of the time they are not unsolicited goods," she says.

"Well over a hundred comments [on the blog], and only one was truly about unsolicited goods."

The distinction here is important. For example, an item that should have gone to a neighbour, but the house number on the package is wrong, or a mistaken duplicate order are not unsolicited.

You can only keep hold of an item if it is addressed to you, there has been no previous contact with the company, and it arrives out of the blue. This is a genuine unsolicited item and is usually used as a marketing tactic, explains Citizens Advice

gettingtheresometime

ibanez1070 wrote: »

Thank you to those who weighed in with useful information. It has been most illuminating :-)

Who are also known as those who agree with my point of view.....