Received goods which were not meant for us - what can I legally do with them?

[justwomblingalong]

I received a large box which was in my name and had my address on it. I hesitated to take it, since it was a large delivery, and I did not think I was expecting anything. The delivery man gave me his card and said any probs to give him a call.

Inside the box, I found a large delivery of clothes. Upon trying to to call the delivery company it was all automated and I needed delivery numbers etc, which I did not have. I found an address which the parcel had come from and it was clearly a return to a company and a refund was expected. I telephoned the guy who was returning the items and he said he would deal with it. I gave him my name, phone number and my address I think. I told him when the items would be available for collection.

A month later and we have heard nothing and have had to put the box in the shed as there is nowhere within the house than it can be reasonable stored.

What is our position? Can we legally get rid?

[HappydaysArehere]

What a pain. Don't know the legal position but would think that after a certain amount of time and with evidence that you had been making contact to arrange its return it would be yours to do as you wish. Did it have an invoice attached or evidence of payment? Probably a month may not be long enough to feel confident about disposal. Also the parcel had your name on it.

[EdithWeston]

You don't have to store someone else's stuff indefinitely.

It's very weird it had your (correct?) name and address on it.

Do you have any of the converstions with the firm who seem to know something about this on email? Because if so, I would email again, refer to earlier correspondence and give them deadline, convenient to you, to pick the stuff up. Or else you will dispose of it.

I'm sure a refuge or charity shop would welcome such a donation.

[Collaborate]

Look at the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977. Google it and follow the procedure to the letter to avoid falling foul of the law.

[Collaborate]

Sorry - forgot to say that doing as happy days and Edith say would be a crime.

[NormHonal]

We have received a couple of deliveries before from Next. Turned out it was a fraudulent order, a couple of very cheap t-shirts.

According to Next, someone had ordered the items in DH's name/address to test if we noticed, then would have tried a bigger order to another address later.

Next said we didn't need to return the items. I tried to return one to a store and they seemed totally thrown by the whole thing. Gave the other one to a charity shop. This was a couple of years back and no comeback.

[EdithWeston]

Shit, and sorry. At thing I would want to do is recommend an illegal course of cation.

What can you do then, if you take in a delivery in error? Do you have to keep it indefinitely, even if you have written evidence of over a month ago's attempt to reunite it with an owner?

[Pipbin]

I would be more worried about my name and address being on the parcel.

[justwomblingalong]

Thank you all. Yes, it was clearly my name and address, otherwise there is no way I would have accepted it. I order a lot over the internet but I knew I was not expecting this type of delivery.

There was no invoice in the box and I have no idea as to the intended destination (other than myself!). Having been in touch with the sender I am quite shocked he has not dealt with it as he must be expecting a refund.

Off to google Interference with Goods Act 1977.

[justwomblingalong]

NormHonal - you have reminded me that I am currently storing a toy on behalf of another famous retailer, which was delivered, again in my name, a year ago. That time, I made several phone calls and emails trying to fathom what was going on. They also told me I was about to receive a crate of beers! None of this was charged to me but it took them a while to decide it was due to their systems being hacked. I was exceptionally worried about the fact that it had my name and address on and was expecting a large bill at some point.

If it is some fraud I cannot understand how they think you would not notice being delivered something that you did not order! Plain wierd.

[Greengrow]

It is probably a mistake rather than unsolicited goods but if it is unsolicited goods the law you want is Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008( as amended in June by The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

They have a section on unsolicited goods.
"In the case of an unsolicited supply of goods, the consumer may, as between the consumer and the trader, use, deal with or dispose of the goods as if they were an unconditional gift to the consumer".
The 2008 regulations say it is an offence for a seller:

"29. Demanding immediate or deferred payment for or the return or safekeeping of products supplied by the trader, but not solicited by the consumer, except" [ then there are some exceptions]

So the question is whether these goods are an unsolicited supply of goods in which case you can keep them.

I think there is a good chance you can keep them as if they were an unconditional gift particularly as they are not addressed to another party. however check no one is misusing your address and card details which woudl be my bigger fear or whether some potential lover is stalking you and buying gifts for you.

[PetulaGordino]

A relative received a parcel with their name and address delivered by a courier and they hadn't ordered anything. It turned out that they had had a previous (correct) delivery and had taken the box to the dump. Someone had taken the box and reused it for a despatch, hadn't taken off the old address, and the delivery company (coincidentally the same one) had used the barcode/address for my relative instead of the new one!

So weird but not dodgy coincidences can happen, but I imagine it's very uncommon. Lots o good suggestions for action here

[chaosagain]

Keep a close eye on your bank account. If someone has your details they might first order something to be delivered to the card holder's address and for their second order may be able to have something delivered elsewhere - i.e. to them.

Some online retailers insist on a first purchase/first card use being sent to the card holder's address but after that you can order for delivery anywhere. This happened to someone I know. First they had a £10 item delivered to them and then £200 item delivered elsewhere...