Legal bod required here:

A mate at work has a cooker for sale, one that I wouldn't mind as I need a new one. He is willing to give it away even, sounds simple enough but let me explain.

About a month ago, my mate got a new cooker delivered to his address. His wife signed for it at the time, thinking it was something that he had bought. When my mate got home, he though his wife had treated herself to a new cooker and thought nothing of it.

However the next day they both realised that neither had bought the cooker!!! Immediately they checked their bank account, credit card etc. They were worried in case someone had somehow gotten hold of their details, ordered a cooker but had had problems getting it delivered, so it had come to their address. However no such transaction and over the last 4 weeks, nothing has come out at all.

On phoning the company up who they had supposedly bought the cooker from, there was no record of them buying it!! However eventually the company said that it might have been something to do with the computer system printing out an incorrect postcode and hence the cooker was delivered by mistake. They even asked the person to check all the orders for that particular cooker and they were told all orders had been delivered and no one was missing a cooker. They were told someone would phone them back.

Well no one did, so my mate's wife phoned them back up again, again she was told somone was dealing with it and they would get back. Once more, not a phone call returned. Eventually my mate got on the phone and demanded that they come for the cooker, however the impression he got was that it would be too much hassle for the company to sort out the courier etc but not too worry someone would phone back. They got the person's name who was dealing with it but again no phone call. A few more similar phone calls since without resolution. So much so that my mate and his wife cannot be bothered to phone them back anymore, why should they!?

Anyway they are left with a cooker that they don't want. Can they sell it or even give it away? I know that if something is delivered to the wrong address, then the company concerned has to cover the costs and arrange the collection. However I told my mate that I had read somewhere that if something is delivered and so many days/weeks/months pass, then the item becomes legally yours. Is this true? My mate has let the company know so he has done his bit but what happens next? My mate doesn't want to go to the expense of returning it, why should he, but then again, he doesn't want a cooker taking up space in his house. So could he legally give it to me? What happens if he eventually gets a phone call months down the line from the company concerned, has he a legal leg to stand on if he sells it?

Can someone help so I can get back to my mate with what he should do?. Good job he is beginning to see the funny side of this as it has been driving him mad. I wouldn't care he can't even cook but someone at work is thinking of enrolling him on a cookery course at the local tech!!!

Thanks in advance.

Tell him to give it to the lost & found at the local police station, if nobody comes and claims it, it's hisv after six months. Isn't it?

Get the cooker and use it, once it's dirty nobody will want it back.
You could argue they dumped it if it's been there for so long.
Any company that's so disorganised deserves to loose it.

I agree with the last post,....Use it.....

I had this problem with 19 inch monitors.

We had two delivered correctly, one was very slightly faulty.
They delivered a new one but the delivery company would not take the old one away.

We called several times but in the end gave up and gave it to my dad who loved it.

Companies do not want the stuff back, they would rather cover the problem up. Shipping a cooker is expensive.

I think it is 6 months and then it is yours anyway.

Hired a very expensive Loewe television a few years ago. Stopped the contract after the year was up. Company never wanted it back!!! It was worth about £2k!!!!

This is known as Unsolicited Goods.

You can either:
i) WRITE to the company who supplied the goods, advising them of their error, and giving them ample opportunity to collect the goods (i.e. you cannot make it difficult for them to do so). 30 days after you informed them, if they have not collected the goods, they are legally yours.

ii) Do nothing. If the company has not contacted you to make arragements to collect the goods within 6 MONTHS, they are legally yours.

Thanks for the replies.

So if my mate after 6 months has not heard anything then we can assume the cooker is his and he can sell it to me?

If he hears after that time period, then he can say he sold the cooker to someone in the pub!! And there is nothing the company can do about it at all?

I am tempted to organise to get the cooker round to my house and start using it and hope that he hears nothing during the next 5 months time! Or is it best to wait for the 6 months to pass?

If I give my mate cash for the cooker after 6 months, then I assume the cooker is legally mine?

This sounds too good to be true!?!

So I take it that any of you would be interested in buying the cooker off my mate for say £200? It is a range cooker and I think it is worth around £750. I'll ask my mate for the exact value but I reckon I will be taking it!!

Agree with most of the stuff here BUT

You are under a duty of care (implied) to look after it, so therefore would question the use of it as to do so would be to reduce the value of it as delivered to you...

If you see what I mean!! I think that would mean that they could sue your for loss of value if it was used as oppposed to be recovered unused.

Don't use it for 6 months!

if they think they delivered all the cookers then they have no record of his address... and if they aint phoning back then they aint got there number... fook em use the cooker.

David

whats a cooker? is it a big microwave?

We had this at a bank I worked at a few years ago. We had a couple of new (and quite expensive) LAN switches delivered. This wasn't unusual in itself, as we were upgrading the IT equipment and expecting a delivery. It was the next day that we realised that the two that were delivered weren't on the order!

We did the same thing, checked the invoicing, phoned the delivery company etc. We were told it would be collected - never was. My boss at the time looked into it and because we had made reasonable steps to return the goods, we just kept them in the store room for six months and then used them!! :)

Your duty of care is to protect the condition of the goods and make reasonable efforts to return them. If after 6 months nothing has happened, then in the eyes of the law, the good are yours.

Chris

Yes, but having advised the company of the error (as you have done) and told them they can collect if they want to, you only have to wait 30 days before it's yours. Actually, I thought it was 14 days, but your local Citizens Advice should be able to tell you. I've got an idiot's guide to the law somewhere, but I can't find it at the moment :(

Point 3 is a good one. It's not like it's a CD or something which you can stick in a drawer -- a range cooker takes up a huge amount of space. If you were to put it in paid-for storage it would cost a fortune. I don't see why they should be using your house as temporary storage.

As Carl siad, the company has already been informed of their error (albeit by phone), so there is no point in waiting 6 months. Unfortunately, there is no proof that they have been informed.
I think the best thing would be to write to them (use recorded delivery so you have proof of delivery), informing them of the mistake, and give them opportunity to collect. After 30 days, it's yours.

P.S. If they demand payment for it, after you have told them it was unsolicited, it's a criminal offence.

If it's a call-centre type place, they should have tapes of the call.

Why don't you tell them one of the following:-

1.your house was broken into and it was stolen.
2.it was taking up space, so you put it outside and someone ran off with it.
3.your going to charge them £5/day for storage for each day it has been left (they do it with cars after accidents and stuff, so I don't see it's any different).


:-)



[Edited by Sheepsplitter - 7/12/2002 9:08:39 AM]