If you get a parcel sent to you by mistake, can you keep it?

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Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

If a bank deposits a million dollars into your account my mistake and you don't give it back you face charges, even though it was there mistake.

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That's not entirely true... It depends on the circumstances

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Originally Posted by spudboy

Just to note: we did ring them and let them know there was some sort of mix up.

The courier came back the next day and picked it up, but I was just wondering where you (legally) stand if you said - "Your mistake - I'm keeping it!"

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I was wondering where this was going - I'm pleased to learn that that is what you did.

The legality or otherwise notwithstanding, a person's ethics will dictate what they do - I think just about everybody would have learned what was right and wrong in kindergarten.

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Originally Posted by spudboy

Given that it was a few thousand dollars of kit, I'd be guessing they'd try pretty hard to get it back. If it was just a $50 item, then less inclination to recover it. So.... Theft by Deceit :p I'll tell the missus.

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It probably saved someone getting the sack. Good choice.

In Queensland it would likely be stealing or fraud. A dishonest conversion or application of property belonging to another, as in this case you didn't obtain ownership of that property.

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Originally Posted by spudboy

I ordered a small part for my welder from a Sydney company.

About a week later, TOLL dropped of a marvelous (and massive) inverter welder that looked like it was worth $3-4K. Industrial!

They delivered it to my missus' workplace, and she just thought I'd bought some other bit of machinery, so she accepted the delivery.

Of course, the company who was expecting a whole welder got my small part, and wasn't all that impressed :D

If you end up with a 'windfall' like this, are you under any obligation to hand it back?

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One things for sure... Toll are very good at being hopeless! Same thing happens to us at work. One of the apprentices unloaded a very large Rockwell diff center out of a prime mover. It sat in the workshop for a week and everyone stepped over and around it. Once I ascertained that it wasn't ours I rang Toll to come and get it. Three calls later and me insisting it wasn't ours, they grudgingly eventually agreed to come and get it. I would value it at $3000+, and it was when I said I'd sell it and blow the proceeds they suddenly started to listen! My next port of call would have been the police, as there's no way I could keep something that wasn't mine. :)

About a year ago, I got a delivery of Land Rover parts from a company I'd previously used some time before. The parts were not for me. I rang and found out who and where they were supposed to go, and sent them on at my expense, on a promise of reimbursement of the post cost. Anyway, I never got paid, and they stopped answering my emails, so you can be unlucky even if you do the right thing.
Don.

I think you can be charged with a form of fraud if you knowingly keep something you know is not yours.

Sent from my SM-G900I using AULRO mobile app

Many years ago my grand aunt got a rental tv delivered, only a small one as they where expensive back then. They then delivered a large one the next day. She phoned them to come and collect it as it wasn't hers , they came collected the small tv as that was what was written on their order , ignoring her. They then Canceled her rental contract as the Tv was returned, and left her with a large free tv!

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Originally Posted by s7000

That's not entirely true... It depends on the circumstances

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Been on the news a few times over the years where they were charged.
What circumstances are acceptable then.?

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Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

Been on the news a few times over the years where they were charged. What circumstances are acceptable then.?

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If you reasonably thought the money was yours to use. Eg if money was expected money to be in the account.

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Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

Been on the news a few times over the years where they were charged.
What circumstances are acceptable then.?

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The bank only facilitates the transfer...

If the person transferring gets account details wrong, and the money ends up in your account, the bank can only ask for the money back. With the amount of "confirm requests" the person transferring is at fault, and generally the police can't/won't do anything.

The way the banker words the request is usually the reason why the money gets returned. My ex-partner was a Bank Manager, and when it happened to her she would lay down the moral law on people, but it didn't always work.

Unfortunately the world is full of dishonest people...