Parcels for previous house owners - what do you do?

[Anon22224]

We’ve had a parcel and I didn’t look at the name on it as I was expecting a parcel from the same place so i opened it. Quickly realised my mistake as it wasn’t mine and the address had the previous owners name on

They haven’t lived here for 4 years and moved to the outer Hebrides!! I have no contact details for them as everything went through the estate agent. Even if I did I don’t really have time to go to a post office etc.

What do I do with the parcel?! It’s clothes worth probably £80 ish in total

edited to add this has happened a couple of times before, once I accidentally opened again and it was a low value item (few pounds) the other time I realised and just sat on it as it was a tiny parcel but after about a year (!) I opened it and again was a low value item this time feels like I can’t just ignore it.

We had a printer delivered to our house during covid for the previous owners who had moved out 3 years previously! Is there a company name? In our case it was delivered by Argos and so I told them about it on live chat and they arranged someone to collect it. Never happened again so I presume Argos contacted the previous owner through the account that made the order?

Yes it’s next! I’ll see if they have a chat feature thanks :)

I would contact the solicitor for the other side and ask for a forwarding address if something you could post on (important/valuable etc) if nothing special or unopened I would also return to sender.

It's so easily done. I bet they haven't used their Next account for a while. A couple of weeks ago, DH accidentally sent our weekly food shop to my DM's house after i'd done a one-off order there for her. Luckily, I happened to check the order the day before and could make a quick change so it came to our house instead. 🙈

If you’re feeling kind you could return it to a next store and explain what’s happened
next time you pass one and only if convenient

We had a grocery delivery a couple of weeks ago for the previous owner of our house who we bought from five years ago. We have never had a forwarding address, the driver tried phoning her but it went to voicemail so he just left, taking everything with him. I have no idea what happened to the delivery.
A couple of years ago, we had a delivery for the same people, it was a posh hamper which was left on the doorstep, I went onto a local facebook page asking if anyone knew our previous owner, explained the situation, a day or two later, the previous owner came to came to collect said hamper

If they are careless enough to have their old address on after four years then they deserve to not get the item.

I wouldn't be going out if my way to try and sort it out. Next time I was at the post office I'd send it back to the sender. Nothing more

I had this happen with a Zara order for the previous occupants. My neighbour gave me the previous owner's contact number and I got in touch with her - she offered to come and collect but given that she'd moved miles away and had a young baby, I suggested I contact Zara and arranged to return the parcel for her. She sent me a beautiful bunch of flowers in appreciation!

But in answer to your question, I would contact Next customer services, they'll be able to help.