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An important bit of law to always keep in mind, as companies bank on consumers being ignorant of it: If a company mails something to your home that you did not

An important bit of law to always keep in mind, as companies bank on consumers being ignorant of it: If a company mails something to your home that you did not expressly order - it's yours. End of story. They cannot request that you send it back, they can not charge you for it. It's yours. This includes if you ordered product A and they sent you product B by mistake. Legally speaking, in that situation you were sent a gift and the company has done nothing to satisfy their legal obligation to send you the product you purchased. If companies could just send you things and bill you without you ordering anything, we'd all be buried in mountains of garbage and steep debt. Keep the modem as a gift courtesy of CenturyLink. Watch your bill and if they charge for anything you haven't received, if you've got the time, file fraud claims in small claims court to recover the money.

cmurf 8y ago
Is this state law? Federal law or regulation?
- illumin8 8y ago
  Federal law. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan...
  - cmurf 8y ago
    Awesome thanks.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
eridius 8y ago
This is definitely not true if they sent it to you by accident.
- rosser 8y ago
  You'll have to clarify what "by accident" means. The FTC's rules on "unordered merchandise", linked else-thread, seem pretty unambiguous.
  - eridius 8y ago
    If they meant to send it to someone else but put your address on it, that's an accident. Which is to say, if the package has your address on it but someone else's name, you can't keep it (in fact, if it's delivered by the USPS then I believe even just opening it is a crime as it's someone else's mail). If they intended for you to receive it but believed you were expecting it (and understood that you'd have to pay for it), then I expect that would also qualify. In order to count as "unordered merchandise" it seems reasonable that the sender must be aware that it was unordered.
    - dangrossman 8y ago
      The law is not determined by what you find reasonable, but by what the legislation says. See: 39 U.S. Code § 3009 - Mailing of unordered merchandise https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/3009 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/3009 If you're mailed merchandise that you did not expressly request or consent to, it becomes your property to do with as you will, and you cannot be billed for it. There are no exceptions for accidents.
      - eridius 8y ago
        What I "find reasonable" only applied to the sentence that contained it. Receiving accidental packages has nothing to do with "reasonable". If you receive a package that was not intended for you, that's an accident, and you are not entitled to that package. That's my core point. If you receive a package that is intended for you, but it was a bona fide mistake on the company's part, you'd have to ask a lawyer as to whether that counts as "unordered merchandise" or not. I certainly wouldn't simply assume it is.
        8y ago
gnopgnip 8y ago
You are misconstruing what the laws on unordered merchandise mean. If you have a business relationship with a company, and they send you something mistakenly, they can bill you if you do not send it back. You will not win a lawsuit for fraud or similar unless you have no business relationship, or the company refuses to send you a return mailing label.

cmurf 8y ago

Is this state law? Federal law or regulation?

illumin8 8y ago
Federal law. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchan...
- cmurf 8y ago
  Awesome thanks.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

eridius 8y ago

This is definitely not true if they sent it to you by accident.

rosser 8y ago
You'll have to clarify what "by accident" means. The FTC's rules on "unordered merchandise", linked else-thread, seem pretty unambiguous.
- eridius 8y ago
  If they meant to send it to someone else but put your address on it, that's an accident. Which is to say, if the package has your address on it but someone else's name, you can't keep it (in fact, if it's delivered by the USPS then I believe even just opening it is a crime as it's someone else's mail). If they intended for you to receive it but believed you were expecting it (and understood that you'd have to pay for it), then I expect that would also qualify. In order to count as "unordered merchandise" it seems reasonable that the sender must be aware that it was unordered.
  - dangrossman 8y ago
    The law is not determined by what you find reasonable, but by what the legislation says. See: 39 U.S. Code § 3009 - Mailing of unordered merchandise https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/3009 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/3009 If you're mailed merchandise that you did not expressly request or consent to, it becomes your property to do with as you will, and you cannot be billed for it. There are no exceptions for accidents.
    - eridius 8y ago
      What I "find reasonable" only applied to the sentence that contained it. Receiving accidental packages has nothing to do with "reasonable". If you receive a package that was not intended for you, that's an accident, and you are not entitled to that package. That's my core point. If you receive a package that is intended for you, but it was a bona fide mistake on the company's part, you'd have to ask a lawyer as to whether that counts as "unordered merchandise" or not. I certainly wouldn't simply assume it is.
      - 8y ago

gnopgnip 8y ago

You are misconstruing what the laws on unordered merchandise mean. If you have a business relationship with a company, and they send you something mistakenly, they can bill you if you do not send it back. You will not win a lawsuit for fraud or similar unless you have no business relationship, or the company refuses to send you a return mailing label.