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Comment by kissickas | Hacker News Reader

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kissickas·

Looks like you're right.

>Q. Am I obligated to return or pay for merchandise I never ordered?

>A. No. If you receive merchandise that you didn’t order, you have a legal right to keep it as a free gift.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan...

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I don't think the FTC cover the UK.

It took ten seconds to Google the UK equivalent, and it seems to be the same rule. Unsolicited goods, which are defined the same as the FTC' s definition, seem to be treated the same:

https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/spending/consumer-righ...

Read further and you'll see that if they're sent by accident you're obligated to arrange their return at no personal expense.

But that means that they cannot force you to stay home waiting for a courier. He could've asked them for a return label to send it back. Refusing to stay at home for a day because of that is valid as it should constitute a personal expense (no lawyer).

Yeah, threatening him with legal action was absurd.

Yep. He could have said "I'm only available to hand over the parcel to a courier on Saturdays 9am-5pm or during week days between the hours of 6pm and 9pm" and they have to figure out how to collect it in those hours - it's their problem essentially. And if they did take him to court they wouldn't have a leg to stand on, since he has shown willingness to return the item.

The comment I was replying to was talking about the US.

Guess you missed the important part:

"Federal laws prohibit mailing unordered merchandise to consumers and then demanding payment."

US federal laws don't apply to the UK. The same thing is true in the UK, but demanding the return of mis-mailed goods is allowed in UK law.

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