Unwanted deliveries from Amazon since December - please help!

Pilliwinks · 31 July 2018 at 11:06AM

I am posting the request below on behalf of my elderly (and rather tech-averse) mum who lives in Glasgow. I live in London. I hope somebody can help, I'm at a bit of a loss myself. Thank you in advance.

Dear Moneysavingexpert members,

I am hoping someone can help as I am at my wits end. Since December last year I have been receiving (almost every 2-3 weeks) a number of deliveries (almost all electrical) from the internet shopping website Amazon. It's incredibly frustrating because these things are always being delivered when I'm at work and they end up being left outside my front door (I live in a block of flats).

I have never bought anything from Amazon, have no interest in ever buying anything from Amazon and have never registered for their services. The most technical thing I own is a Google laptop my son purchased for me from our local Argos store. I have no interest in technology. My mobile phone cannot receive the internet. I am close to retirement. I have no need of internet shops, my local Waitrose is all I need for shopping.

Back to these parcels. To date I have received computers, a number of mobile phones, what looks to be cables for various things, earphones, something called a "Gigabyte NVIDIA Gtx 980Ti 6 GB GDDR5 384-Bit Pci-E Graphics Card" (I copy this out in full, I have no idea what this is for) and various other items. All these are currently stored in my living room unopened. I live in a very small one bedroom flat so as you can imagine they are now taking up much valued room.

I have now managed to speak to somebody at Amazon about this. They do not seem particularly helpful. They are unable (or unwilling) to identify who is sending these items and claim they cannot stop these things being sent. I have managed to speak to the delivery person on one occasion, but they have said I need to speak to Amazon.

I have spoken to my local Citizens Advice Bureau who have not been helpful either (contact Amazon). They did not seem to have a clear answer on disposal.

I am now at the point where I do not want to put up with this anymore. My local charity shop takes electrical products and are happy to take these items away for sale (I count 23 in total to date).

Could somebody please advise on whether this is permissible? Amazon are not interested in taking them back and I do not want to be in a position where I have to take receipt of these items going forward. But I am also somewhat worried about what position this leaves me in should I get rid of them.

With thanks,

Angela Kreckel

Caz3121 · 31 July 2018 at 11:19AM

are the orders being addressed to your mum's name and address, or is it in a different name that has used the wrong address?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head · 31 July 2018 at 11:28AM

Send an email to

dgurr@amazon.com

this is the UK Chief Executive Office and they have a team there to answer customer questions, if they can't help I doubt anyone at Amazon will.

lindens · 31 July 2018 at 11:30AM

More importantly is she unwittingly paying for these items herself due to hacking?

Pilliwinks · 31 July 2018 at 11:31AM

Caz3121 wrote: »

are the orders being addressed to your mum's name and address, or is it in a different name that has used the wrong address?

Mum's address, completely different name not known to her

lammy82 · 31 July 2018 at 11:31AM

How frustrating!

It sounds like somebody has got your address set up on their Amazon account, either accidentally or purposefully, for fraudulent reasons. The idea being that they would pay for goods with a stolen credit card, have them delivered to an accessible location nearby, then attempt to collect the goods. The fact that nobody has called in to ask whether something was 'accidentally delivered' indicates that it's probably not malicious.

Amazon won't be able to tell you who bought them though (although surely there is a name on the label or packing slip/invoice included with the goods - have you tried tracking the intended recipient down that way? Is it always the same name? Are they definitely addressed to your flat number? Have you tried asking around within your block to see if they are supposed to be for your neighbour?).

Anyway, in order to be legally protected, you should tell Amazon that you are giving them 14 days to collect the unwanted items before they are disposed of. This could be an email, a letter or a message through the website, but you need to keep proof that you sent it, and you need to make reasonable efforts to allow them to collect the goods if they want them back.

After the deadline has elapsed you can donate the goods to a charity shop, but hold onto the email/letter in case they change their mind and try to get you to pay for the items.

Be aware that you will never legally become the owner of the goods as they still belong to Amazon or whoever legally purchased them.

Pilliwinks · 31 July 2018 at 11:34AM

lindens wrote: »

More importantly is she unwittingly paying for these items herself due to hacking?

We checked that. She only has one bank account and there hasn't been any unusual activity. She has no credit cards etc.

Pilliwinks · 31 July 2018 at 12:13PM

lammy82 wrote: »

How frustrating!

It sounds like somebody has got your address set up on their Amazon account, either accidentally or purposefully, for fraudulent reasons. The idea being that they would pay for goods with a stolen credit card, have them delivered to an accessible location nearby, then attempt to collect the goods. The fact that nobody has called in to ask whether something was 'accidentally delivered' indicates that it's probably not malicious.

Amazon won't be able to tell you who bought them though (although surely there is a name on the label or packing slip/invoice included with the goods - have you tried tracking the intended recipient down that way? Is it always the same name? Are they definitely addressed to your flat number? Have you tried asking around within your block to see if they are supposed to be for your neighbour?).

Anyway, in order to be legally protected, you should tell Amazon that you are giving them 14 days to collect the unwanted items before they are disposed of. This could be an email, a letter or a message through the website, but you need to keep proof that you sent it, and you need to make reasonable efforts to allow them to collect the goods if they want them back.

After the deadline has elapsed you can donate the goods to a charity shop, but hold onto the email/letter in case they change their mind and try to get you to pay for the items.

Be aware that you will never legally become the owner of the goods as they still belong to Amazon or whoever legally purchased them.

Thank you, that's very helpful. I will write a recorded delivery letter to Amazon. If the deliveries keep coming (as I suspect they will) then the charity shop will no doubt take it all but I am hoping we get to a point where this just stops.

The address on the label is my mother's address but the name is not known (and they certainly don't live in the block).

wesleyad · 31 July 2018 at 12:41PM

When you say front door, is it a shared front door or specifically hers?

If it's shared i'd ignore the packages.

If it's hers I'd put a note on door saying all amazon deliveries are refused and no liability is taken.

Amazon wont deliver to a doorstep unless you have specified that they can (this release them from liability). So whomever is ordering these has said they can, and hence the liability is on them, not your mum (or the driver is ignoring the instructions in which case liability is on them).

Just to add, something must be amiss, if someone is ordering (what sounds like) £1000s worth of goods and not receiving why on earth aren't Amazon acting?

neilmcl · 31 July 2018 at 12:51PM

Simple, if they're being left outside the door then just ignore it. They'll soon disappear, and they're not your responsibility. If they get delivered in person then don't accept the items.

Fosterdog · 31 July 2018 at 1:37PM

It would be worth running free credit checks just to check that nobody has set any other accounts up in her name but it does sound more like either somebody has put the wrong address by mistake or they are deliberately fraudulently ordering goods and maybe there have been more packages that have arrived that they have taken before your mother gets home. Maybe they don't bother knocking for the others because they risk being caught/identified that way.

Unwanted deliveries from Amazon since December - please help!

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