Significant business error in our favor

[Marek]

There’s no such law here in Poland and the obligations of buyers and sellers are more balanced (though sellers still have quite the burden with guarantees), but there’s no law that says if a seller makes a mistake and gives you more merchandise than you ordered and paid for, you should rectify this.
I was in a similar situation six years ago. A large order from an online pharmacy came in double, as in two packages. I think it was actually our mistake as we had first placed an order and canceled (without paying for it), then added a couple of items, placed a second order and completed payment. Both orders were fulfilled.
We contacted the pharmacy and told them they can take it back, but that we ask that they provide a shipping label so we can mail it back (it was a lot of items and would cost a significant sum to send back). They never provided it (although we called them over this twice again), so we never shipped it back.
We didn’t even use any of it before we realized that the expiration date was eventually reached a year or two later. Digging into the topic, I realized the pharmacy could probably not take back the order since they have no guarantee that the items were not tampered with, so they could have offered it for free to us (though they never stated it outright).

 

[Rhubarb]

They can’t charge you for the second. And if they want it back they will arrange it.

 

[EndTimes]

We bought our child a playground for Christmas for around $600, plus $80 to pay for assembly. When they were halfway through assembling it, the workers realized we had been shipped two playgrounds. The receipts, invoice and even the shipping label say one!

We can’t send it back because it’s almost 200 pounds. That is more than UPS and company can handle.

I’m concerned that if we call the company, they’ll get greedy and try to make us pay full price for the second unit for that reason.

Any ideas on what the right thing to do is here?

It’s obviously not your legal fault - nor could anyone prove it to be.
Their mistake. Contact them…
The onus is upon them to ship it back…

 

[TULIPed]

I wonder what Jesus would do in this instance? From Matthew 7:

“12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

If you were the owner of the business, what would you want your customer do do in this case? Jesus always makes things more interesting, no?

 

[MarysLurker]

I wonder what Jesus would do in this instance?

Give it to the poor (such as the orphanage I mentioned)

 

[MarysLurker]

We didn’t even use any of it before we realized that the expiration date was eventually reached a year or two later. Digging into the topic, I realized the pharmacy could probably not take back the order since they have no guarantee that the items were not tampered with, so they could have offered it for free to us (though they never stated it outright).

My situation is similar in that a return is so expensive as to be out of the question both for me and the seller.

 

[TheLittleLady]

If they allow you to keep it, I am sure there is a Church or a Parenting Center, maybe your parish school could use it as a raffle or auction item.

 

[Convert3]

A few weeks ago we received a grocery delivery on our doorstep that we didn’t order. The delivery person just left it. We called the supermarket it came from, which wasn’t near us, to inform them we got somebody else’s groceries. They contacted the delivery service and they said the delivery driver will be by to pick them up soon. Instead, we received another delivery of the same order. This time we called the delivery service company. They said they understood the problem and would take care of it. More bags of groceries were delivered! We had left all the bags out on the porch to be picked up. They could see everything that had been delivered, but continued to leave more bags!
We gave the groceries to our kids who could use them. I have no idea how these delivery services stay in business. :crazy_face:

 

[TULIPed]

Give it to the poor (such as the orphanage I mentioned)

Perhaps. If that’s what you really think the business owner would want (they’re the “other” in “do unto others”). I think that maybe the easiest way to figure out what the owner would want would be to call him/her and talk it over, no? Maybe propose your idea of giving to the orphanage? Wouldn’t it be a cool thing if you and the business could do this together? (It might even give you a chance to talk about your faith with the business owner…)

 

[EndTimes]

My situation is similar in that a return is so expensive as to be out of the question both for me and the seller.

You’re neglecting what was said: It’s THEIR Business Error.
Even those who delivered it acknowledged it.

It’s obviously not your legal fault - nor could anyone prove it to be.
Their mistake. Contact them…
The onus is upon them to ship it back…

 

[Maelstrom1]

Why not call the business and discuss possibility of donating the extra unit to another in need? …win/win.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

It is not yours just because someone made a mistake somewhere.

One exception I would like to note, and it’s fairly arcane: I collected stamps when I was a boy, and mail-order stamp dealers typically would send packages of stamps “on approval” — you looked them over, picked out any you might want, and returned the ones you didn’t want, along with payment for the ones you kept. I don’t know if they still do that, but at one time it was common practice — H.E. Harris, Littleton Stamp Company, and so on. I think mail-order coin dealers did something similar. But one thing you could not do was to keep all of the stamps without paying for them. Agreeing to this arrangement was the condition under which you ordered stamps in the first place.

Ah, the good old days! “It was a simpler time…”

Stamp collecting has gone way downhill ever since they started putting peel-and-stick adhesive on stamps, and issuing stamps with all of these goofy themes. It used to be a very serious and educational hobby. I guess it still is, to an extent. (My son won’t even hear of it. I’m not so sure he has a real concept of what a postage stamp even is.)