Ever get something extra when you order on line...do you send it back?

[solus]

Freetown police officers arrested a man earlier this week after a delivery service reported that he was refusing to return a television he did not buy.

The delivery service said it had delivered two TVs to ~ name & address REDACTED ~ but one of those was a mistake. [84in tv]

The delivery service contacted police after several unsuccessful attempts to recover the television," police said.

Officers also visited redacted but said he refused to cooperate.

Police obtained a search warrant and returned to redacted home Monday, and said they found the 86-inch LG television mounted to a living room wall.

redacted is charged with larceny of over $1,200 by false pretense and misleading a police officer.

[really the boston newspeek media purposely put that guy’s name & addy info in their public blurb]

They [police] surrounded the house and knocked on the door with flash lights coming through all the windows. They told me to come outside then handcuffed me...

[individual] admits it was delivered to his home by mistake and he admits police tried to question him about it several days before his arrest.

"I answered what questions I could without putting myself in jeopardy," he said.

"I said 'Do I need to hire an attorney?' and they [police] said I wasn't under investigation at that point. They were just asking questions. I answered a lot of questions with I don’t know just so I didn’t jeopardize myself," he said.

[individual] says he bought and paid for this 74-inch flat screen on Amazon.

When a third party shipping company delivered it, they also gave him a larger model TV by mistake.

When asked if he ever thought they made a mistake, and whether he should return it, [individual] said: "I did and I looked into all the laws and said, 'You know, it’s a scratch ticket. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.'"

"Amazon said I had nothing to worry about. I made no wrong no decisions at that point," he said.

The shipping company told Boston 25 News they made numerous attempts to contact [individual] before they went to police.

And the shipping company says [individual] signed for the delivery, something that he disputes.

"I have my phone ringing all day. I get calls from Google, website people, I have no reasons to answer all these calls. If it’s not important I just hang up," he said.

When asked whether he told them he was someone he isn't, [individual] replied, "No."

[individal] says if he thought he was going to be arrested, he would have just paid for the extra TV or given it back.

Now, he's looking at the possibility of jail time.


Hummm...me thinks someone is upset with the individual.

 

[FreedomVA]

In my view, the guys "hung the TV on his wall", he knew he did wrong, but rationalized the mistake the shipping company made thinking that they skewed up and it's mine...., kinda like (finders keeper)....
But to make the matter worse, the seller made it a criminal issues rather than a civil issue. Both party are wrong in this matter and cops should've left it in civil instead of criminal offense.

 

[WalkingWolf]

While keeping a shipped item is not ethical, it was not his mistake, he did not solicit, or conspire to the mistake. If the shipping company loses the criminal case they can expect to lose a massive civil case. Not the brightest move on their part.

 

[eye95]

Nope. Ya gotta give it back. Now if, as a result of a nuncommon scam, you receive an unsolicited package for which the sender tries to bill you, keep it.

However, if it is a mistake, and you try to keep it, despite efforts by the rightful owner to reclaim it, you will likely lose the civil action.

A criminal action, I am not so sure. I would want to see a lot of deliberate activity to deceive or to thwart efforts to reclaim the property before I’d vote to convict. Telling a cop without the warrant, “No,” wouldn’t cut it. Mounting it on the wall wouldn’t cut it. He may truly, but wrongly, believe that he is entitled to the misdelivered TV.

IANAL, YMMV.

 

[solus]

Nope. Ya gotta give it back. Now if, as a result of a nuncommon scam, you receive an unsolicited package for which the sender tries to bill you, keep it.

However, if it is a mistake, and you try to keep it, despite efforts by the rightful owner to reclaim it, you will likely lose the civil action.

A criminal action, I am not so sure. I would want to see a lot of deliberate activity to deceive or to thwart efforts to reclaim the property before I’d vote to convict. Telling a cop without the warrant, “No,” wouldn’t cut it. Mounting it on the wall wouldn’t cut it. He may truly, but wrongly, believe that he is entitled to the misdelivered TV.

IANAL, YMMV.
Snipped meme...

Eye95, ya gotta a CITE for your IANAL statement “ya gotta give it back.” bravado per forum rules?

 

[WalkingWolf]

In just my opinion there was no intent to steal, or defraud even though I would have sent the second TV back. The big question is whether the charges will stick, and if they do the jury believes beyond a shadow of doubt he intended to steal the television, that will be a hard sell. If there was no criminal intent, and a judge rules there was no crime then the company will face civil backlash for an unlawful arrest, no matter the ethical issues of keeping the TV. At this point I personally would not vote guilty, and would vote for a very heavy penalty for an unlawful arrest.

 

[Firearms Iinstuctor]

He should have just said come and get it.

Please send a company over to package it up and ship it.

I would have bet they would not have done so.

 

[FreedomVA]

He should have just said come and get it.

Please send a company over to package it up and ship it.

I would have bet they would not have done so.

If he hadn't hung it on his wall, he could've resolved the situation and a suit on his side, but the fact he opened, hung and used the TVis where i think he may get himself in trouble. He should've kept his mouth shut and handed the cop an attorney business card.

 

[solus]

‘Fraid i would find an attorney and sign over the entire civil award, except a two dollar bill, to said attorney.

 

[color of law]

Massachusetts statute:

Section 58. Larceny, whether at common law or as defined by section thirty of chapter two hundred and sixty-six, may be prosecuted and punished in any county where the defendant had possession of the property alleged to have been stolen.

The state has to prove criminal intent to steal.

 

[FreedomVA]

Here's some more detail to the story....apparently he did speak to Amazon and they assured him he was in the clear. give the guy a break, it's Freetown after all

https://gizmodo.com/freetown-man-arrested-for-keeping-flat-screen-tv-delive-1833506794

 

[eye95]

The article you link cites the FTC. However the FTC link does not address accidental deliveries. It seems to be specifically addressed to unordered merchandise.

One could argue that accidental deliveries are included in “unordered merchandise”. However, I would assume any law saying that unordered merchandise may be kept would be directed at scams that involve sending folks stuff which they did not order, and then billing them for it. Such a law could well have an exclusion for mistakes.

As an example, my wife, who was a banker for decades (until she retired), always related that errors in the favor of customers could not be kept (hence the bank error meme in my previous post). I doubt that keeping accidentally delivered merchandise is criminal, but civilly, it should be subject to being forced to be returned.

 

[solus]

The article you link cites the FTC. However the FTC link does not address accidental deliveries. It seems to be specifically addressed to unordered merchandise.

One could argue that accidental deliveries are included in “unordered merchandise”. However, I would assume any law saying that unordered merchandise may be kept would be directed at scams that involve sending folks stuff which they did not order, and then billing them for it. Such a law could well have an exclusion for mistakes.

As an example, my wife, who was a banker for decades (until she retired), always related that errors in the favor of customers could not be kept (hence the bank error meme in my previous post). I doubt that keeping accidentally delivered merchandise is criminal, but civilly, it should be subject to being forced to be returned.

Alas, eye95 what your wife describes is the banking financial institutional policies the customer agrees to when they join the financial establishment.

The financial institutions have the added benefit of 24/7 access and can recover monies instantly.

[sidebar...financial institutions will do the biding of state edicts of monetary recovery without judicial oversight or account holder permission/notification until your account is emptied and the automatic withdrawals begin bouncing with exorbitant overcharges mounting for the customer. No apologies from the financial institutions except when are you covering the overcharges!]

While not having read Amazon’s shipping documentation in detail regarding receipt of unordered merchandise not sure it covers the subject.

Sides eye95 et al, the amount of negative national publicity might have significant repercussions in customer backlash.

 

[JTHunter2]

While keeping a shipped item is not ethical, it was not his mistake, he did not solicit, or conspire to the mistake. If the shipping company loses the criminal case they can expect to lose a massive civil case. Not the brightest move on their part.

Agreed !
It can also be a SCAM. About a month ago, one of the local TV news programs ran a story about a family that was receiving 1-3 deliveries per week and NONE of these items were ordered. The scam appears to be one where somebody send these items to some unsuspecting victim, then pretends to BE that person and write a good review about either the product or the website or both.
Here's another one that hit close to home. The other day, an elderly relative of mine received a box with 5 bottles of of some kind of "gummies". In reading the bottles, it said that they were "THC free". When I contacted the company, Lifestream, they claimed it had been ordered online and wanted to be paid the almost $200 on the invoice. When I told the CSR (from the accent, an "off-shore" operation) that the relative had NOT ordered it and we wanted a RMA tag to ship it back to them. They said we would have to pay for the shipping back to them but I told them that the product would end up in the trash before we paid one cent for their mistake. When I checked the one credit card this relative might have used online (they DO pay bills online), the CC company had no record of any transaction on either the order date or the shipping date two days later.
These "pot pills" got trashed.

 

[eye95]

I duck-duck-went “can you keep a bank error in your favor?”.

My conclusion? You can’t. And it ain’t just policy. People who know the windfall is a mistake and try to make use of the money get charged with crimes.

Here is one article. [It links three other examples; only the first one still works.]

https://www.fivecentnickel.com/how-to-handle-a-bank-error-in-your-favor/

 

[color of law]

I duck-duck-went “can you keep a bank error in your favor?”.

My conclusion? You can’t. And it ain’t just policy. People who know the windfall is a mistake and try to make use of the money get charged with crimes.

Here is one article. [It links three other examples; only the first one still works.]

https://www.fivecentnickel.com/how-to-handle-a-bank-error-in-your-favor/

WHY DO YOU KEEP YAPPING ABOUT A BANK'S POLICY????
This story has nothing to do with a bank.
All you're doing is yelling pass interference at a baseball game.

 

[FreedomVA]

i know eye95......your comparison is like comparing WhiteSnake to Megadeath/Metallica

 

[eye95]

WHY DO YOU KEEP YAPPING ABOUT A BANK'S POLICY????
This story has nothing to with a bank.
All you're doing is yelling pass interference at a baseball game.

I used it once as an analogy. Someone questioned it, calling it policy. I posted this one last tweet demonstrating that folks can be charged with a crime for keeping the money.

But you gotta put up a jerk reply.

Folks, this is a perfect example of me making rational posts, and coloroflaw trying to turn it into a playground contest. He and a few others have ruined this once-great site.

Go ahead, coloroflaw, put up another jerk response, I won’t reply to it. I’ll stick to rational responses to adult posters.

 

[color of law]

I used it once as an analogy. Someone questioned it, calling it policy. I posted this one last tweet demonstrating that folks can be charged with a crime for keeping the money.

But you gotta put up a jerk reply.

Folks, this is a perfect example of me making rational posts, and coloroflaw trying to turn it into a playground contest. He and a few others have ruined this once-great site.

Go ahead, coloroflaw, put up another jerk response, I won’t reply to it. I’ll stick to rational responses to adult posters.

So, you just called FreedomVA a jerk. You only have a couple of members left to alienate.

 

[eye95]

i know eye95......your comparison is like comparing WhiteSnake to Megadeath/Metallica

Just to let you know: I respect you. CoL is the one who attempted to put the label “jerk” on you, not me.

I said that CoL’s post was a jerk post. It is. Your post was an opinion with which I disagree, but presented in an adult manner.