Unsolicited goods thru the post

[Spire]

Hi All

I hope there is a legal eagle on here that can give me a idea of where I stand,

about 7 months ago I recivied a parcel by carrier which I signed for to accept deleivery, however when I opend it I found that it was goods I had not ordered and did not want atho it was correctly addressed to me.

I emailed the companies customer service deptarment stating that I would not contact them again regarding this matter and gave them full details on the invoice, ie invoice number delivey address the product code in fact every detail on the paper work and told them to contact me within 30 days to make a collection at my conveiniece or after this time I would dispose of the item,

Well I heard nothing from them at all no one called to collect no email, letter, telephone call nothing until about 2 weeks ago demanding payment for the item

So my ? is do I have to pay them as I gave them chance to collect it and gave them detailed informtion regarding this Item to enable them to sort it out

Any 1 any ideas please

[mumper]

I'm not a legal expert but as you contacted them and tried to sort the matter out, and assuming you still have your email as proof I don't think there is much they can do legally.
Waiting seven months before demanding payment looks a bit strange really but I'd check it out with a solicitor anyway.

[SillyJokes]

I thought that if someone sent you something unsolicited through the mail correctly addressed to you then it's yours and they can't demand money for it - or we'd all do it!

[Astaroth]

Whilst not a legal eagle either I would have to disagree with SillyJokes.

I am sure that this order was unsolicited but if all you had to do was claim that you didnt order something to avoid paying for it then we would all be doing that instead!

My concern from your point of view would be that you only sent a single email and having not received a reply to it didnt make second contact to ensure that the first email was indeed received.

The other thing which is an unknown on this is why the items were sent to you in the first place. I doubt there are many companies that will send out unsolicited goods and then wait 7 months before trying to bill for them - cant see that as an effective business model. However there are potentially a lot more people who either comit fraud and try to intercept the parcel before it gets to you (and if they fail, well they dont pay for it anyway) or do it as a practical joke - certainly used to get a lot of Domino Pizzas incorrectly delivered to my previous address though they had my name and address.

Do you still have the item? What sort of value are we talking here?

[bwglaw]

Hi All

I hope there is a legal eagle on here that can give me a idea of where I stand,

about 7 months ago I recivied a parcel by carrier which I signed for to accept deleivery, however when I opend it I found that it was goods I had not ordered and did not want atho it was correctly addressed to me.

I emailed the companies customer service deptarment stating that I would not contact them again regarding this matter and gave them full details on the invoice, ie invoice number delivey address the product code in fact every detail on the paper work and told them to contact me within 30 days to make a collection at my conveiniece or after this time I would dispose of the item,

Well I heard nothing from them at all no one called to collect no email, letter, telephone call nothing until about 2 weeks ago demanding payment for the item

So my ? is do I have to pay them as I gave them chance to collect it and gave them detailed informtion regarding this Item to enable them to sort it out

Any 1 any ideas please

If it is 'unsolicited' mail/parcel then you should provide the sender a reasonable amount of time to collect the item. I would write to them and ask them to collect within 21 days. This should be sent by recorded delivery.

If they fail to do so, you are entitled to keep the items. They cannot invoice you for the goods. You must keep a copy of all correspondence in the event they take legal action.

[SillyJokes]

Whilst not a legal eagle either I would have to disagree with SillyJokes.

I am sure that this order was unsolicited but if all you had to do was claim that you didnt order something to avoid paying for it then we would all be doing that instead!



But when you order something then the vendor would usually have some evidence that the order was made - ie a purchase order.

I am virtually sure it is illegal to send goods unsolicited and then send a demand for payment afterwards. Wasn't it on That's Life once?

In fact here:



Unsolicited Goods and Services Act


Under the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971, (as amended) it is an offence to demand payment for goods known to be unsolicited, in other words, they were sent to a person without any prior request made by them or on their behalf.

Someone who receives goods in these circumstances may retain them as an unconditional gift, and does not have to pay for or return any unwanted goods. Anyone who receives a demand for payment for unsolicited goods should report the matter to their local Trading Standards Department, whose details can be located from http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/.

taken from the DTI website


http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/unsolicited.htm

[fastfences]

Well done Silly Jokes.

THE definitive answer (on the info supplied).
Cheers, Nigel