Delivered the wrong item - can I keep it?

[Sixofseven]

I ordered some shoes and I’ve been delivered completely the wrong ones. The thing is, the ones I’ve been delivered are twice the price of what I ordered and they fit my husband perfectly!

Not really an AIBU, but does anyone know if I can just keep them? Would the company contact me?
The address on the parcel is correct but inside the package was a packing slip with a different name on it. So I think it could be traced if they return their shoes, which they would surely.

Thanks!

How is it stealing when these were sent to OPs house? She didn't ask for these to be sent. They willingly gave them to her.
If you go to the supermarket and buy 6 bottles of wine, and when you go home you check your receipt and the cashier missed one and you got charged for 5 - do you drive back to the supermarket, queue at customer services and return it? I don't think so

If I had received less expensive shoes then I would’ve contacted them for a return.

so you are only planning on stealing them because they are more expensive?

Of course you should contact them.

Keep them...BUT only if you would be happy to suffer a financial loss because YOU made a mistake.

Let's say you transfer £100 to the wrong bank account...are you fine with accepting it's your mistake so should suffer the consequences?

Also the person who should have received the shoes could be in a dispute with the retailer to prove they didn't get the shoes.

Do the right thing and contact the retailer

Not as much of an idiot as people who think it's fine to keep them.

It’s up to you what you do. The company can easily contact you when or if they discover what has happened. I’d make they do all the chasing though and ensure you are not put out in any way if or when you return them.

Legally the goods belong to the trader, they are a genuine order sent to the wrong person. If the company really wanted to they could take OP to court to recover the shoes. Obviously they probably woudn't, but it's the decent thing to do to get in touch with the company and let them know.

And actually, if I notice a mistake in a physical shop such as you describe I would take steps to phone the shop and offer to pay, because, y'know, honesty and decency and all that.

I would keep them

Because it's the law? See below

What if it the delivery was sent by mistake?

It’s a different story altogether if items are sent to you by mistake. That is, if the order wasn't meant for you, if it was sent to you twice, or if there's extra stuff on top of what you ordered.

In all these scenarios, they are not classed as unsolicited goods, they still belong to the trader and you should try to give them back.

Firms can take you to court to recover their goods, if you were to resist.
You will need to contact whoever sent the goods and ask them to collect them. This shouldn't cost you anything or inconvenience you in any way. You should also give the company a reasonable deadline to collect the items, of say, 14 days.

Make sure you keep written evidence of your contact with the supplier.

No of course you can't.
But having read the rest of your posts it's clear you're going to anyway.
Your only worry seems to be being caught.
You should not be keeping them - Advice here

I couldn't, they'd make me feel bad every time I saw them. I don't need stuff in my house that makes me feel that way.

I report things like this, but I won't go to a jot of trouble to help them fix it beyond handing it over to a courier.

I reported similar once, and they wanted me to pay for the return, sent registered, which would have meant a long trip to the post office. They were quite surprised when I refused, but I don't work for them!

I had this twice. Once from next. I called them and they told me to keep it. It was a set of pj's. Can't remember what I had ordered but they also sent that out free of charge. Second time I ordered some stuff from Zara and they included a bodysuit thing. I whatsapped them and someone came to collect it.

To be guilty of fraud, larceny or other stealing offences, the customer would have had to obtain the proffered goods through deception.

You're wrong.

I didn’t say it was fine. I said it’s not stealing, because it isn’t. People making up and giving out false legal information based on their ‘feelings’ should receive a ban. If the person responsible for the wrong order arranged for collection of the goods from the op’s property, exchanged them for the actual goods with compensation of their time and trouble, then I’d agree to an exchange. If they expected me to rewrap, readdress, catch a bus to the nearest p/o (and back again), and pay for the goods to be sent back, and then have to wait even longer for them to receive the goods (is there still a postal strike on) before sending the correct ones back, then I’d be keeping the shoes.

I had this once - an old occupant of my house sent something to me and I contacted the company.

Having told them that I had neither printer nor car, I wasn't going to be printing off their return slip and walking to the post office to sort out someone else's mistake. "But we don't collect returns" came the whine; "not my problem" was my reply.

In the end the old occupant came looking for their cheap shoes.

Basic definition of theft.

(1)A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and “thief” and “steal” shall be construed accordingly.

"Appropriates”.

(1)Any assumption by a person of the rights of an owner amounts to an appropriation, and this includes, where he has come by the property (innocently or not) without stealing it, any later assumption of a right to it by keeping or dealing with it as owner.

Except it is theft.

You’d better contact the crown prosecution services and let them know they’ve got their theft action offences wrong then, as soup dragon on mn says so.

Or, you could read the Theft act.

The thing is, if you bought them as a surprise for your DH and you told him he had new shoes and he tried them on and went out for the day with them, and you only discovered they were the wrong shoes when he got home....

The likelihood of them noticing or caring is low. The staff who will deal with this aren’t the ones taking in the profits.

I once ordered some sale socks for something like £1 free delivery and got sent a dressing gown too. I actually did try to contact them to ask if they wanted to collect it, but got completely ignored.

Section 12 Theft Act. Knowingly taking what isn't yours is theft.

If it's a big chain, they won't notice unless you tell them....

Well, that's just for TWOC but same principle applies to other items!