A friend of mine ordered a computer system (and a bunch of associated stuff) from a computer vendor online. As part of it, he ordered it using their financing option. Except that he was turned down for the financing, so he forgot about it and went on.
Today, parts of the order show up... more expected tomorrow, and more expected next week.
Now, I know that 39 USC 3009 relates to how unsolicited merchandise that is mailed to you "becomes yours" magically by statute, and life is good.
Except how does that apply to packages received via other common carriers such as FedEx or UPS? Have courts interpreted 39USC3009 to also include those services? Are there separate statutes I can't find which protect consumers there as well?
Trying to figure out if he actually has to give the darn thing back or if the computer vendor's poorly designed order-flow just cost them a computer system. :)
39 US 3009 pertains to "unordered merchandise" and that is defined as follows:
"For the purposes of this section, ''unordered merchandise'' means merchandise mailed without the prior expressed request or consent of the recipient."
It might be argued that the act of placing the order implies consent. But if not, free computer!
Keep us posted. I would be curious to see the outcome. :-)
Chris,
Yeah, but if the order is contingent upon credit approval (and no such approval came) then there was no order, right?
It's almost as though the order system and the financing system are somehow separated enough that there's no connection. The "invoices" that came with the already-shipped products even had "0.00" pricing on them, with instructions "DO NOT PAY".
Good point. I bet they will balk, but if he hangs in there, they might not have any true recourse.
You must realise that this law will be interpreted by a judge. Whatever the letter of the law says, judges are human, and come with their preconceived notions of what is right and wrong, which they will apply to the law. If your friend is lucky, the judge will wink and look the other way. If your friend is unlucky, the judge will see him as cynically trying to benefit from another's mistakes, and throw the book at him.
The purpose of the law is to protect consumers from a certain class of marketing. This is obviously not the case here. Your friend is on the receiving end of what is most likely an honest mistake, and unless he's very lucky, the judge will take that into account.
Your friend should do his best to show what is termed "good faith" by the courts. This means phoning the vendor, telling them the computer has arrived and offering them the chance to retrieve their goods. so long as THEY make all the arrangements, THEY pay for shipping and handling, and THEY make sure the courier arrives in some timely fashion, at a time your friend will be home anyway.
If they don't agree to that, he can probably keep it, because then it's the other guy who's not showing good faith and correcting his error.
In addition to what Charles Miller suggested, I'd be checking the order agreement - some of them are written so that even if the financing didn't go through, you're still responsible for payment of goods shipped.
Yeah, that's what I told him as well, and he's going to go through the whole order process this time (again) to actually read the legalese he assuredly just clicked through quickly.
It's kinda funny, this is one of those "my friend..." stories that really *is* my friend and isn't some euphemism for myself. :)
| It's kinda funny, this is one of those "my friend..." stories
| that really *is* my friend and isn't some euphemism for
| myself. :)
uhu, sure Derek. ;-)
Do you know how annoying it is when UPS just leaves a package at a front door, without a signature? I mean, it could just grow legs and disappear...
... and they often do. :)