I've received a parcel, and its not for me...

A, but if that was going to be too much work (like they wanted me to pay for shipping it back) then B.

I'll give you a fiver for it and take my chances with the contents! Can you post it to me please?

cheerful Dave, charity shops wont't take electrical items .. I'll have it

Cheerful Dave wrote (see)

That happened to me with an Amazon parcel. I called them, expecting that they'd arrange for someone to collect it. They said I should send it back at my expense then send them the receipt so they could credit my account with the postage cost. Bugger that, I never bothered and they've never chased me up for it. It's still sitting here nearly a year later, so some charity shop is going to get an electric wok shortly.

Another bad story about those tax-avoiding ******s.

Amazon act as a middle-man for quite a lot of their sales, so small companies use their platform.  The reason why Amazon were so uninterested was that they themselves would not lose out. In fact, they've probably won a bit of free publicity from you as you naturally share your anecdote with friends.

But that wok was undoubtedly ordered by someone, and some small company somewhere will have suffered a loss - both in admin, and replacement costs.

Amazon do nothing but look after number one... they don't care.  Boycott them.

As for the OP.... Return to Sender.

Run Wales wrote (see)

Cheerful Dave wrote (see)

That happened to me with an Amazon parcel. I called them, expecting that they'd arrange for someone to collect it. They said I should send it back at my expense then send them the receipt so they could credit my account with the postage cost. Bugger that, I never bothered and they've never chased me up for it. It's still sitting here nearly a year later, so some charity shop is going to get an electric wok shortly.

Another bad story about those tax-avoiding ******s.

Amazon act as a middle-man for quite a lot of their sales, so small companies use their platform.  The reason why Amazon were so uninterested was that they themselves would not lose out. In fact, they've probably won a bit of free publicity from you as you naturally share your anecdote with friends.

But that wok was undoubtedly ordered by someone, and some small company somewhere will have suffered a loss - both in admin, and replacement costs.

Amazon do nothing but look after number one... they don't care.  Boycott them.

As for the OP.... Return to Sender.

Can I wait until after Christmas?

JF50 wrote (see)

Can I wait until after Christmas?

Excuse me... but I had only just dismounted my high horse.. and now you've made me climb back on again.  The answer is No !!!

If you MUST use Amazon, then if the product is to be supplied  by a third party (which I think is most of the time), then:

• the price in the upper right of the screen, is accompanied by words something like  'in stock. Sold by XYZ Limited.'  (there are other companies named as 'Other Buying Choices' underneath it)
• Google XYZ Ltd and buy direct from their site.
• That company will be saving about 10-15% Amazon fees - which they MIGHT be prepared to at least share with you if you asked - could be worth it on big items.
• You may well find that the headline price on their website is different to the one on Amazon...  often they use computer algorithms to move prices around.  But I'm quite sure that, even if they won't drop the price below that offered on Amazon, they would certainly match it.
• So you may save money. But if you don't, you get the warm feeling that your business is going to a company that is likely to be paying its taxes in the UK, rather than to Luxembourg.

Peter Everitt wrote (see)

I'll give you a fiver for it and take my chances with the contents! Can you post it to me please?

Are you paying the postage?

Once it's in the system for the royal mail they have a legal obligation to make sure it is deleived and not your problem chuck. I would put no longer at this address on it and send it back through a post box or through a post office. Unless it's chocolate in which case we can split it?  

Run Wales.why on earth blame amazon...........the small companies chose to use them .its their choice..it must be beneficial to them or they would not do it

I was specifically blaming Amazon for taking no interest in getting the electric wok back for the small company. The small company being their customer.

And of course the small company chooses to sell through Amazon... but what alternative is there? Amazon is a company that has gained a dominant position in this country - by taking advantage of ridiculously outdated laws (which you can argue is not their problem)... but then stretching the use of those laws well beyond moral acceptability.

IMO, they have practically stolen their dominant position - and used their tax avoiding advantage to putting lots of fair-minded, tax paying British people out of business - which feeds the monster by giving them an even less competition.

its all so simple.just return it to the post office and snd sorted honestly........

if the small company was worried about it going missing and amazon not caring two shits then the small company would put their details on the outside for return to sender........

the tax avoidance is something differnt which i would hope the giovernment would sort out as well as all the other tax avoidance

RW - you have assumed that the wok was supplied by a small company.  It may not have been, most of the stuff I buy from Amazon is supplied by Amazon.

It's also not true to say they only look after number one.  They are a business that I buy from regularly because the provide very good customer service.  If there's something wrong with the item, or you just decide you don't want it after all, you can just send it back.

They keep you informed about shipping, and will break down orders to ship them as fast as possible, with no extra postage costs. 

I ordered a book twice (doh!), and they didn't charge me to return the second one.

That they pay bugger all tax is because the system allows them to.  Who would CHOOSE to pay tax where none is due? 

They employ staff in Britain who pay tax and NI, and customers pay VAT on most of the products Amazon sell.

Maybe the rules need changing, rather than blaming companies who operate efficiently?

Oh, and for the OP:

I'd contact the supplier, tell them that you have the parcel and invite them to collect it.

You are not required to send it back, only to let them know that it's not yours.

wilkie.i did that when somoene delived a table and chairs when the kids were lucky.it was a catalogue and i had never prdered it but someone else signed for it thinking it was mine.it took the company 4 weeks to pick it up.i was livid as it was massive and was in the way with toddlers in the house...........

but i was told i was not allowed to leave it in the front garden for them to pick up.anything that would arrive now i would just take straight to teh post office and dump there

Seren, in that situation, I'd tell the company they had to come within a week, or it was going in the front garden!

I said that but was informed at the time that i couldn't......I asked indepedant places and was told that I had to give them reasonable time and that reasonable was something like 3 months............I had previosuly shopped with that christmas catalogue and they had mixed up my details on someone elses order.............i would never go wth that group again after the hassle I had with them

it still angers me 15 years later

Wilkie... Last one for me on this... it's probably gone past being boring already !

I guess that not every aspect of the Amazon operation is evil... but I think  almost everything they do is self-serving. I think they've worked out that fast delivery wins them business, hence order splitting.

To pick out a couple of other things..If something's wrong with an item, of course they replace it. The law dictates that they must.  And as for accepting returns of unwanted goods, again the law (Distance Selling Regulations) obliges internet companies to do that, within a certain timeframe. Of course, they cleverly make this seem like it's their great discretionary customer service.

My parents once sent some presents for my girlfriend to our old, rented house.  Not only did they sign for them as my GF, they denied all knowledge of having taken them.  The POD said it was their address so after repeated denials, we sent the coppers around.  They confessed to having not only taken the gifts but to having opened them and begun using them (perfume bottle was a third empty).  There was a Next giftcard in there too which they peculiarly denied having had and this ended up enough of a sticking point for the whole thing to end up in court.  It was an absolute fiasco, a total farce.  Full jury involved for a £20 gift card.  We won the case and it cost them £2500. 

Pair of scumbags.  What a thing to do eh? 

I certainly wouldn't open it if I were you.

 If there were any royal mail employee's reading this I'm sure they would point out that they take missing parsel's very seriously and even have there own police force to track don't thing's. There are billions of parcel's in the system each week so realistically sometimes things get lost or stolen but if they catch them they will bring the full force of the law into it for fun.

Just put return to sender on it and no longer at this address kids.

For the record, I had already taken action on this parcel before posting on here.  I was mainly interested in what other people would do.

The parcel was left in my porch, and it stands almost waist high so I can't get it through the post box and even getting it to the post office will be difficult.

Today there is a second parcel from the same company, addressed to the same person.