£400 item delivered to my Dad by mistake

Don’t just keep it. The company literally have your dad’s name and address. Call them ask what they want to do about it. It’s on them if they want to collect it. Their mistake not your dad’s.
They may write it off or may not, but play it by the book anyway. He’d be mortified to be accused of stealing by the company which would be true if he just keeps it without discussing it. Don’t let that happen.

You need to let the seller know. Then there are three possibilities: they arrange to collect it, they say you can keep it, or they don't seem to understand what you're telling them because their system doesn't work like that. If it's the third, I'd just keep it.

Out of interest, what law is that?

I would keep it for a few weeks and see if they chase it up. Very doubtful they will have any idea where the item has gone.

Go for it 😊

Legally you are meant to contact the sender and tell them you have whatever it is and they are welcome to come and get it. You do not have to agree to any effort or expense to return it to them. They can arrange a courier or whatever.

We were once delivered a lawnmower, unexpectedly, which we were told to keep.

Oh, I see, it’s ok to steal if it’s a large company. Great - I’m off to Tesco to nab this week’s food shop for nothing, and on the way home I’ll be sure to fill up my tank at Shell and simply drive away.

What utter bollocks.

I'd contact the company he ordered from to tell them about the error and see if they will collect it or not. I've only ever had it happen twice but with much cheaper items. I got an ocado delivery years ago and only after I'd taken the bags in the house I realised it was my shopping and a few bags of someone else's. I rang them and they said they could either collect it and destroy it or I could keep the extra items. The other was some suncream from qvc that I hadn't ordered, it was addressed to me but had someone else's order information in the package. I contacted them, hoping they'd say to keep it, but they arranged a courier to collect it

Why does it matter? Such a nonsense justification for being scummy.

I would definitely contact the seller. If it’s Amazon they’ll probably let you keep it anyway and then you won’t have the guilt because you’ve offered them the chance to have it back. For a smaller business, they’ll be so grateful for your honesty as £400 is a lot of money. You know what you need to do 🤷‍♀️

People always manage to justify theft from large corporations like this, but all it does is increase prices for everyone else.

In your dad's shoes I'd fess up to be honest.
He might even get to keep the item after all.

But that is totally irrelevant. None of those things happened! The courier has nothing to do with the fact that the company sent the wrong thing.

Bear in mind the company has seven years to come back at you for payment for their error. As he's actually ordered something from the company this isn't unsolicited. A good audit could well flag up the wrong item sent, or even the recipient of the item your Dad ordered if they've been swapped.

Best to be honest about it now.

I got sent some sunglasses from an online outlet. One pair I ordered and paid for the other just inexplicably sent in the same box. I emailed customer services to see what they wanted me to do but never got any kind of response. So I kept them.

As I once ordered a laptop and received a box of plasters (amazon) - I would definitely keep and use the item, with no feelings of guilt.

Contact Shein? They have the contract with evri

I bought something from Dunelm, a package from Shien arrived, with my name and Dunelm label on it. Some numpty at Evri has done this, I got a refund from Dunelm but I have this random collection of junk from Shien. I've chat, emailed Evri several times, I has somebody else's stuff, it's just sitting in a bag and Evri have shown no interest. Some poor bugger is probably contacting evri or shein asking for their delivery and I have it taking up space. Not much more I can do. What to do?

@Andoutcomethewolves the tracking number will show what address it was delivered to, surely?

It's not okay to steal. From anyone.

People always assume that it’s a big store that can afford to write it off but I keep seeing businesses posting their struggles when customers try to shaft them over modestly priced items by saying they didn’t arrive or they send things back used and dirty.

They can’t all afford to absorb £100s worth of stock.

I had a similar thing happen - ordered a £20 lego in an online sale and had a £500 one delivered.

I contacted the company as it is illegal to keep it. The company in question were insistent it got returned asap which is fair enough but then they asked me to drop it to some place miles away at my own expense when I didn’t have a car at the time and when I said no they wanted me to stay in waiting for a courier giving a window that he could come on a weekday between 8am and 10pm and wanting me to print a label when I didn’t have a printer. They acted like I was unreasonable not missing work for their courier and would not use a company with a shorter collection window or Saturday collection. It took ages to sort the return and the whole time I was treated like it was my fault this item turned up on my door. The icing on the cake was they didn’t want to resend the lego I had bought during a half price sale but instead wanted to refund me and make me pay full price lol.

How could they find out? Genuine question.

Having worked as an order picker in various distribution centres as a student I don't see how this could be tracked. And having worked in a professional role for companies like (but not!) Amazon, I stand by my view on keeping the item.

i had a wedding centerpiece delivered to me in error, I contacted the seller, asked them to collect it or ask their customer to collect it. They were grateful, but asked me to post it back and get a receipt. It was a great big hassle as all post offices in my area have closed down, had to queue for ages at a postal counter. They then reimbursed me the postage - in vouchers for their wedding favour shop! I have no intention of getting married and wished I’d never bothered with the parcel return.

Long story but your dad should keep
the item. Happy Xmas.

Yes I have and they have refunded as of today, but that’s not the point about theft is it? I don’t think it is different, you are literally keeping something that cost someone else money, whether you physically spent it or not.

This happened to my DB. He ordered nappies from amazon and they sent him a tele! He contacted them and they told him to keep it.