Keeping an item a shop sent you by accident for free?

[User364837]

I know MN normally takes quite a hard line on this stuff….

but what’s the consensus on a large big name retailer sending you two items when you paid for one? Say hypothetically it’s clothing and they sent you 2 of the item in different sizes. Sizing is out so the original size you ordered doesn’t fit anyway. Would you return the item for a refund and keep the other one they sent you for free? And consider it your lucky day since you’re financially struggling at the moment leading up to Christmas.

just hypothetically obviously

Sephora sent me the wrong order. I kept it. Didn’t tell because I ain’t no grass.

I once got sent two armchairs when I'd only ordered 1 (so several £hundreds worth). They got delivered on different days,I didn't accept the 2nd delivery and sent it back with the courier. Partly because I didn't need or want 2, partly because I didn't want the hassle when they possibly realised, mostly because it would have felt like theft to keep it (and even if the company had never noticed, I would always have known).

I had this. Was sent two bottles of perfume instead of one. High end company, although the perfume was worth around £100 so not super expensive as far as perfumes go. Surprisingly, they arranged a courier to collect the extra bottle, but they did ship allow me to pick a free gift worth £30. They had to pay for one courier collection and one courier delivery, plus their admin time. I can’t see how it was worth it to them but oh well, at least I did the honest thing!

Did it once many years ago over a watch repair and they fucked me about so I asked for a refund . I got it and a fortnight later I got a text asking me to pick up my repaired watch . So I did . Big company no regrets .

I had this with curtains. Called to arrange to return the additional pair, they sent me a return label. Then sent me a refund. Called to try and explain it and they couldn't get their head around it.

I had this with Next last year. Ordered a tracksuit and they sent me the trousers and a bra? I called and they sent the tracksuit top out and asked me to return the bra which I did. They then refunded me for the top. Tried to explain that to their customer services but eventually gave up.

M&S sent me two sets of tracksuits for my baby. So I phoned them and told them and they said to keep the extra one - but I donated it to our local charity shop instead.

I always inform shops, however large, of errors. Be that not charging me enough (or too much) and sending me extra items (or not enough). I treat it all the same. Often they let you keep it and if they don't, it wasn't yours anyway.

I ordered 4 bowls from Mark's and Spencer. They sent only two bowls but also two white dinner plates. When I phoned the guy immediately ordered me the other two bowls and told me to just keep the plates.

I shopped on ‘Very’ a few years ago and bought an electrical item in their sale - around £350. Went to collect it at my local pickup point and there were 2 parcels. They had sent a duplicate order - one to just my first name and one to just my surname 🙈 I got them home and contacted them and they had no clue what I was talking about. I tried numerous times to return the product as I worried that they’d just bill me for the cost of 2 but only one ever went on my bill. After huh ping back and forward with them for almost a year I just sold the item 🙈

Years ago when I lived at home I’d ordered a dress on ASOS. Dad had been having a go at me for spending money so wasn’t happy when the delivery guy came to the door 😂 Or when another one came an hour later with 2 more parcels 😅 Or when FOUR more arrived the next day 🤦🏻‍♀️ He was livid, despite size 16 me insisting that actually, I hadn’t ordered a size 8 playsuit or size 6 designer T-shirts 😂
No idea what had happened but they’d sent me 7 parcels (9 items in total!) only one £20 dress of which I actually ordered 😂 They couldn’t work out how to process the returns since they were all apparently undocumented and asked me just to “dispose of the items” 😂

I ordered a very expensive handbag from Italy, it arrived - having cost me another £100 in duty, thank you Brexit - and after a week or so I decided to send it back as I couldn't justify keeping it. Spent a fortune on tracked postage...nearly a month later I finally got a refund, even though the tracking showed it was stuck in Italian customs. Had to do a lot of chasing with the retailer, to say their customer service was lacking is being polite...even ended up speaking directly to Italian customs who assured me there was nothing wrong with the paperwork, all that was needed was for the retailer to confirm it was a return so delivery/collection could be made...

Exactly 4 months later to the date I sent it back postman knocks on my door with a package...italian bag has been returned to me as the retailer never collected it/arranged delivery from customs.

That was 4 months ago and I've heard nothing, so thank you Milaner for the bag. Never going to order from you again, though...

I got sent the wrong item by Amazon, but it was something I also wanted (but didn't order). It was their mistake and they said they didn't want it back, and then sent out what I originally ordered. Then they charged me for not returning the wrong order (which they didn't want back). After a few e-mails they refunded me.

My FIL ordered us a hamper from M&S one Christmas, two showed up, confirmed he had only been charged once, and we gifted the spare hamper on.

This has happened to me three times. The first time I ordered a single face cloth from Ocado. Instead of one, they sent a pack of 12. I cheerfully kept them.

The second time was a murder mystery game from Amazon. They sent me an email to say it had been delivered - it hadn’t. I told them, so they sent me a replacement. Then a week later, I found the original parcel at the bottom of my garden waste bin! It was winter so I hadn’t used it for a while, hence not realising the delivery guy had chucked it in there. It was damp and had mouldering vegetation stuck to it. I contacted them to explain, and they told me to keep it. Inside the packaging it was fine. Then a week later another randomly turned up. I didn’t bother telling them this time. We played one and the other two became Christmas presents.

Third one was Waterstones sent me two copies of the same book. I fully intended to return the spare, but just never got round to it. It’s languishing in my presents cupboard, but it’s a bit niche so I haven’t found a recipient yet.

There's always the one sanctimonious poster isn't there .....😒

I have had this several times.

First time - ordered a pot of Eve Lom cleanser from JL. Received two silicon egg poaching pods, no cleanser. Rang up, told to keep pods, got cleanser sent to me, plus a £30 voucher.

Second time - ordered Orla Kiely bedding from JL in a taupe colour. Got sent the charcoal version. Called in, told they would send the correct item and send a courier for the wrong one. No courier came, and after about a month I got fed up of them sitting in the vestibule and put them on the bed. This was about eight years ago and they are still going strong.

Third time - ordered a set of towels from M and Ess. DP collected the order of towels, plus (inexplicably) what appeared to be a lady’s wardrobe selection for going on a cruise. It was not to my taste, the wrong size, and he took it back immediately!

Fourth time was this summer - ordered a t-shirt in S and M from Urban Outfitters, as I wasn’t sure which would fit. They sent two S and one M. The S was the right fit and I returned one S and one M, kept one S.

A few weeks back I ordered flowers from Bloom and Wild which arrived looking half dead - some actually had no heads. I emailed and they offered to send a replacement, so all good. The following day a new box of flowers turned up, and I thought it was very quick and efficient, opened them and realised they were for a person in a totally different street, and different house number. I brought them to her later in the day - she had already been on to them about the delivery not arriving, so ended up with two bouquets too.

Nah, decent people are honest.

Any time I've informed a company of their mistake, they haven't wanted it back.

I once got a tax rebate twice, it was c£1,300. They sent it to my bank and then also sent a cheque. I cashed the cheque and set the money aside. I tried for YEARS to get it back to them. Put it on my tax returns, my accountant wrote to them. They kept saying things like "we can see it, but it's on a different part of our system so we can't reclaim it" and "it will work its way through your tax code at some point" (it didn't)...... In the end, after many years, I just decided it was mine. Estoppel!

More recently an airline damaged my medium sized suitcase. They accepted responsibility, sent me a catalogue to choose a new one, I chose medium teal, Antler sent me large teal. It's genuinely huge. I have no use for it. I chased and chased to get the right one. Eventually, like months later, the airline phoned with all this "not the service you expect to receive, know how frustrating it must be" etc, but basically teal was out of stock and could I choose another colour? Yep. So, about five weeks later Antler delivered that (out of the blue) and noone has asked for the large one back so now it's mine. We are going on a cruise in a few weeks and think we might actually use it. With the same airline!

That's absolute nonsense. This isn't a debt.

Once got two Jaegar necklaces and bracelets instead of one of each.

I went into an outlet where you could do returns and they couldn’t help so went in store and tried explaining to the assistant at returns what has happened - the order was across two deliveries and a massive one and trying to explain to her that across the 2 separate orders delivered in 5 parcels there has been a cock up that didn’t have a neat tidy paper trail was not happening.

she wouldn’t take them back without scanning them against my account and thus refunding me for the surplus jewellery despite me explaining for 10 minutes that I didn’t want a refund. In the end I accepted a refund after she started talking over me and in a patronising tone and just really peed me off.

All I wanted someone to do was understand the mistake that has been made and pass on my feedback so they could ensure it didn’t happen again and that I wasn’t going to later be billed for the second set.

I try to make sure any mistakes are rectified but there’s only so much time and effort I’ll put in if computer/person keeps saying No

Amazon sent me huge plastic boxes that arrived two months too late (pandemic) after they'd given refund. They then told me a month later that unless I returned them that I would have to pay for them. I said why should I carry enormous boxes to the post office because it was my mistake they should be picking them up or refunding me for the costs of disposing of them. They then said I could keep them.

I once ordered some underwear online from M&S and ended up getting an extra bra identical to one I ordered. I think it was possibly the middle of lockdown and so not that easy to take the spare back, I did contact them asking if they wanted it back but heard no more. (Since it was underwear, they might not have anyway). After a few months of hearing nothing I just wore it.

I did return a random men’s copper bracelet Amazon sent me by mistake that I had no use for.

Years ago I bought a garden set - table, four chairs and umbrella, from, I think, Argos. They sent 8 chairs instead of the table, so I contacted them to arrange a swap, and they sent a complete new set. I contacted them to take away the 8 extra chairs and umbrella, and they sent me another complete new set. When I contacted them again they told me to donate them.

Years ago, I ordered a Moulin Rouge DVD but Amazon sent Inglourious Basterds instead by mistake. When I contacted them about it they did want IB back, so I returned that and got my Moulin Rouge. Then a couple of weeks later I got some weird email from them asking for Moulin Rouge back as I had supposedly complained that it was faulty. Eh? No I hadn’t! They later tried to charge me for not returning Moulin Rouge. Eventually they did refund that.

That wasn't John Lewis was it? They did that to my cousin a few years back. My cousin had had the idea of sending the "Father Christmas" presents to her parents, where they were staying that year, so the children wouldn't discover them, and John Lewis put the trainers (which didn't fit anybody) in the parcel instead of some art stuff. Unfortunately, no one had actually checked the parcel until about 8pm on Christmas Eve, (I think they were delivered around October/November) by which time it was too late to do anything about it, so she didn't bother taking it up with John Lewis. The trainers were sold on Vinted.

(The next time she had the Father Christmas presents sent to nanny and grandad, they were asked to check the contents on arrival in case this happened again.)