If a package arrives at your house by mistake, you can keep it.. OR NOT.

[khazmodan]

If you don't have the honesty to do the right thing in this kind of situation then you should just go live in some crime ridden slum in a third world country.

[Easo]

I would return it. I do not need stuff which does not belong to me, thank you.

[rhorle]

the delivery company doesn't get to decide that, and the cops shouldn't either if Amazon said he could. They take it up with Amazon, not him.

Amazon can only say if it is fine to keep if it was a seller mistake. They can't say it is fine to keep if it is a delivery error. It doesn't say where the second TV came from. It says that the delivery company made an error and not the selling company. It would not be an error on the delivery companies part if Amazon sent two TV's to the guy by mistake.

Amazon is not god. They can't magically give you legal rights just because some low level customer support person says so.

- - - Updated - - -

he should win in court. the delivery company messed up, gave him the wrong item, its their fault, not his.

And that is why he won't win in court. Delivery errors are not allowed to be kept under the state law.

[Frolk]

You contact the delivery company and they deal with it, or it should count as theft-lite
Mistakes do happen, if u accidentally recieve a 86 inch TV u didt pay for, what do u expect is going to happen if u then ignore any calls from the sender, tho i dont think he should get any real punishment outside of a stern talk and a warning

[oplawlz]

Complicated situation. I've hand delivered packages that were just delivered to my address by mistake - but a package with your name and address on it that was just a slightly upgraded version of what you ordered? And the guy called Amazon? IF all that is true then he didn't do anything scummy. If state law protects delivery companies from their own ineptitude at the expense of the taxpayers that should also be addressed.

[Najnaj]

Mistakes happens, doesn't mean you get to steal someone else's delivery which is what it basically is. Same as if someone accidentally sends money to the wrong account you don't get to spend it. They can do a drawback and I imagine if you've already spent it and they can't receive the money you will have to pay them back. At least that's how it is here... I think.

That isn't what happened.

[rhorle]

FTC suggests otherwise and federal > state.

The FTC rule covers sellers and not delivery companies. It is to stop a company from just mailing out soap to your business and suing you win you don't pay. It is all about unordered items and being asked to pay for them (or return them). It has nothing to do about Delivery mistakes.

[Chakah]

The FTC rule covers sellers and not delivery companies. It is to stop a company from just mailing out soap to your business and suing you win you don't pay. It is all about unordered items and being asked to pay for them (or return them). It has nothing to do about Delivery mistakes.

The FTC rule covers receiving items you didn't pay for. Who delivered them is not relevant. A delivery mistake means stuff sent to the wrong address. What happened here is a fulfillment mistake. Those aren't the same thing.

If I get a USPS box from amazon with 2 of the same items when i only ordered one, they are both mine.
If I get a UPS box from amazon with 2 different items when I only ordered one, they are both mine.
If I get a Fedex courier delivery of 2 items when I was only supposed to get one, they are both mine.
If I get a home grocery delivery from Safeway with an extra item, thats mine too.

The delivery truck is no different.

If you were correct, companies could use that excuse to cram charges on people - just exactly like the rule is intended to prevent.

He is going to win in court.

[rhorle]

The FTC rule covers receiving items you didn't pay for. Who delivered them is not relevant. A delivery mistake means stuff sent to the wrong address. What happened here is a fulfillment mistake. Those aren't the same thing.

The FTC rule covers merchants. You are are correct that who delivered the item is not relevant to the FTC rule. What happened here is not a fulfillment mistake. The second TV was not given by the Merchant. It was given by the delivery company. I am correct. If UPS gives me my neighbors box along with my box I can not legally keep both packages.

[melodramocracy]

Hopefully it's been pointed out that this particular story isn't all that accurate, the individual received 2 tv's and did not respond to attempts to get one of them back.

Personally if something arrives at my house that I didn't order, I'll contact the shipper, but I'm not going out of my own way to return it... you need to come and pick it up.

[lockedout]

I've had packages delivered to my home by accident a lot lately due to my mailman mixed up street names. I have taken the time to go to their home and leave it on their door step. Now if this was an 86 inch TV then sorry I'm keeping that. I get a free TV and the seller has to send out another one while FedEX, UPS, USPS has to pay for it. Everyone wins.

Except nowadays Amazon subs deliveries out to normal people and small delivery companies. It's not the huge companies you mentioned.

[Vash The Stampede]

Except nowadays Amazon subs deliveries out to normal people and small delivery companies. It's not the huge companies you mentioned.

Maybe they need delivery men who don't do drugs, or maybe delivery men who have a GED and can read and write English. That delivery guy gave that dude TWO TV's and not one. Unless the TV package label was addressed to him which I doubt, it's kinda hard to screw that up. Getting cheap labor can be expensive. Not that the guy deserves two huge TV's but the delivery company kinda deserves to win stupid prizes. In this case they got the TV back, and mounted up to the wall and everything. Now worth much less than its original value. The guy who took the TV has to pay a $1200 fine, which the TV is worth much more than that.

Then there's the issue with what Amazon said which I think will hold up in court. If Amazon said it was Ok then why wasn't it Ok?

“I looked into all the laws and said, ‘You know, it’s a scratch ticket. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,'” he said, adding that “Amazon said I had nothing to worry about. I made no wrong decisions at that point.”

The shipping company, however, disagrees. They allegedly made numerous calls to Memmo before they finally went to police.

[Chakah]

What happened here is not a fulfillment mistake. The second TV was not given by the Merchant. It was given by the delivery company. I am correct. If UPS gives me my neighbors box along with my box I can not legally keep both packages.

Maybe they need delivery men who don't do drugs, or maybe delivery men who have a GED and can read and write English. That delivery guy gave that dude TWO TV's and not one. Unless the TV package label was addressed to him which I doubt, it's kinda hard to screw that up.

You are wrong. Thats not what happened here. Watch the Video. Cape Cod Express doesn't have a bunch of TVs sitting in trucks waiting to be handed out.
The guy's address is visible to the left of the barcode. The delivery company's bill of lading instructs the delivery company (Cape Cod Express) to deliver 2 TVs to Memmo. It is small, but see the circled '2' to the left of his thumb? Its in the 'pieces' box.

[Nalera]

He ordered a a 74inch and the third party delivered him a 86, that's their fault not his. If the box that they delivered had his name on it, the contents inside are his.

[Mighty Tim]

Does this forum really need to be sat down and taught what theft is...?

[Vash The Stampede]

You are wrong. Thats not what happened here. Watch the Video. Cape Cod Express doesn't have a bunch of TVs sitting in trucks waiting to be handed out.
The guy's address is visible to the left of the barcode. The delivery company's bill of lading instructs the delivery company (Cape Cod Express) to deliver 2 TVs to Memmo. It is small, but see the circled '2' to the left of his thumb? Its in the 'pieces' box.

I don't get it then. So did the delivery guy screw up or the warehouse? Was it even Amazon's mistake? This only makes it stranger cause Amazon was fine with it, as he claims.

[rhorle]

Cape Cod Express doesn't have a bunch of TVs sitting in trucks waiting to be handed out.

They do if they are going to delivery more then one TV at a time. Are you going to argue that only one person in the world can order a TV at a time? Because the Invoice is one that the delivery company fills out, and not Amazon, it still qualifies as a delivery error. It does not fall under the FTC rule because it is not the merchant making the mistake.

The circled 2 is hand written. Of course a driver that mistakenly delivered two would have filled out that he delivered two packages. It is also very clear that the invoice does not originate from Amazon because it says "No description" for the description of the item. Last time I checked Amazon won't put "no description". Everything presented in the article about the situation does not go in his favor.

Delivery mistakes are not allowed to be kept under both FTC and State law. Merchant/Seller mistakes are allowed to be kept under both Federal and State law. In most cases you are allowed to keep delivery mistakes if it is unreasonable for you to return the item. Unreasonable being the delivery company is asking you to bear cost, distance, etc to return the package. But if they contact you and come to your location to retrieve the mistake you are legally obligated to return it to them.

This stuff happens all the time. Delivery companies make mistakes. Most times they eat the loss because they can't tell who has the package now. It happens on the opposite side to. Where customers get screwed because UPS rules they delivered it properly which means the seller doesn't have to replace the package.

Amazon will even ask to file police reports at times https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice...police_report/

[firstywirsty]

No I wouldn’t keep it! You don’t know what’s in there

[Chakah]

They do if they are going to delivery more then one TV at a time.

This isn't UPS delivering 50 iPhones to a zipcode on release day.

Are you going to argue that only one person in the world can order a TV at a time?

Are you going to argue that this one truck is actually Santa's sleigh and travels the whole world in one day?

Because the Invoice is one that the delivery company fills out, and not Amazon, it still qualifies as a delivery error.

You need to look up the definition of invoice and bill of lading. The invoice comes from the merchant, not the delivery company.

The circled 2 is hand written. Of course a driver that mistakenly delivered two would have filled out that he delivered two packages.

Drivers don't fill out bills of lading.

It is also very clear that the invoice does not originate from Amazon because it says "No description" for the description of the item. Last time I checked Amazon won't put "no description". Everything presented in the article about the situation does not go in his favor.

Again, not an invoice.

Delivery mistakes are not allowed to be kept under both FTC and State law.

Again, not a delivery error. The shipment was addressed to him.

Merchant/Seller mistakes are allowed to be kept under both Federal and State law.

And that is what this was.
I'd bet that this was a 'Fullfilled by Amazon' sale. The delivery truck shows up at the Amazon warehouse with an incorrect order from the actual merchant, takes 2 TVs and delivers them as instructed. Merchant is at fault.

You notice that nowhere in the story do they say that he got someone else's TV?

[Temp name]

Not that I know the specific laws around here, but:
If you accept a package in good faith, and it has your name on it, you're in the clear. They fucked up, that's on them. Though I'd probably still call the company I bought it from to check.