Freebies that you didn’t ask for

A lovely ex-neighbour found a plant in her porch, honeysuckle or the like with no clues as who'd left it. Though she had her suspicions no-one would own up to it. After asking around she felt she had no option but to plant it.

Luckily, she was a keen gardener.

The Christmas of 2011 we had a beautiful parcel arrive addressed to my husband. When we opened it we were like eh! We didn't order this.

We rang the company. It was never meant for us. We were told to keep it and they would send a new parcel out to the proper recipients.

When I asked if they were local we were told no. The person lived in S. Wales. We are like WTF. My husband had never shopped with them.

We will never know how it happened. They didn't either. What I do know is it was the first Christmas without mom. It felt like a gift from her

My daughter ordered a small item from The Body Shop during a lockdown. A week later the doorbell rang, she couldn’t rush to the door as she was feeding the baby. When she opened the door a massive box from Body Shop was on doorstep the delivery man had gone.
The box had over 100 items in it we think it was an order for an agent. After weeks of arguing with the Body Shop, they kept saying send it back and they would refund the 3.99 postage it was so big and heavy she could hardly lift it and kept telling them they needed to send someone to collect it. She got very stressed as she had just had a baby in lockdown and got easily upset. Eventually she said to them you have 7 days to collect or I will keep the box. They never replied so she gave lots away and sold quite a bit on ebay. She never got her original order but didn’t dare chase it up.

I find it very irritating (grumpy old lady here!) when charities send free things - pens, coasters etc. - in an attempt to get you to support them. Feels a bit like blackmail.

I had some kippers delivered to my address. It was definitely my address on the label but a different name and I definitely hadn’t ordered them and didn’t recognise the name. I phoned the company they’d come from to report an incorrect address and they just told me to keep them and enjoy…..sadly I don’t really like kippers so gave them away?‍♀️

oh I'm so with Luckygirl3. It makes me fume when I get stuff from charities I don't support on the expectation you'll send them money. I'm sorry but they go straight in the bin and I make a mental note not to support that charity as they waste money.

Not something I didn’t order, but something I did order for free. Years ago, in the early years of on line shopping, I was perusing the website of a well known brand of cashmere clothing, and noticed that there was a glorious cardigan showing a price of £0.00. I was genuinely curious so I ordered it in four different colours, just to see what would happen. At check out it calculated that I needed to pay £4.95 delivery.

They arrived, and I wore them all. Several months later the company contacted me to ask for them back. I checked with Which? legal advice line, who said that (a) the postage payment constituted a transaction from me, which counted in law (don’t ask me how) so I didn’t have to send them back, and (b) they needed to send me a means by which they could be returned e.g. prepaid envelopes. I pointed out to the company they were now used cardigans, but I would send them back if they arranged to collect / prepaid envelopes. They never did, so years on, I’m wearing one of them whilst I type

Due to confusion about Street/Road/Crescent, my friend had an ambulance arrive for Road, then a hearse complete with coffin ( Miss Road had died, obviously), then she came home to find her husband complaining about not being informed that a new bathroom was to be installed. It was for the new owners of Miss Road’s house, so they had a new bathroom for free.

The charity freebie that annoys me the most is the printed page of self-adhesive name and address labels. The are sticky so can't be shredded. They have very personal information on them, so can't be put in the recycling. Luckily, I have one of those security ink rollers so they just go in the rubbish bin.

I sent for a fairly expensive mirror from Wayfair. When it came, my eagle eye spotted very faint marks across the glass that looked as if the warehouse packaging had been opened with a sharp knife. I contacted them for a return label and replacement. They didn't want it back, nor did they wish to see the damage. They simply sent a new mirror. So now I have two...

You can buy a carpet cleaning machine and receive a steam cleaner worth £60for free.
I would rather have £60 off of the purchase price.

We had a free gift literally fall out of the blue one day. Startled by a loud "boing" on the roof DH went to investigate and found a golf ball rolling on the drive. We're nowhere near a golf course and wonder if a crow had dropped it thinking it was an egg he could smash.

When I was expecting my first child we decided that we needed a carpet for our bedroom. We had been on bare floorboards for two years. We went into town and bought one But the next day my husband decided that he and his pal could fit it. So they went into the shop uplifted it, brought it home and fitted it. 3 days later while I was out the shop delivered another one. We made phone call after phone call. They kept saying they would come for it but they didn’t. We finally sold it for £20 which is what we paid for the first carpet. So we had a free carpet. £20 was a lot of money in 1970.

Monday a new dishwasher delivered and fitted. Tuesday 2nd dishwasher delivered, I explained I'd had one fitted the previous day, but delivery driver wouldn't take the unwanted machine back, he put it in the garage and told me to contact the store, who promised to collect 2nd dishwasher, many phone calls later I still had two dishwashers- later that year I gave the spare to my parents. 15 years on and their free dishwasher is still doing it's job.

Frankie 51, that's a lovely story

Have you ever had anything free , out of the blue ?

Years ago a furniture firm sent a bedside cabinet I'd ordered but minus the plinth. They sent a replacement but didn't want the other one back again; DH made a plinth so we had two cabinets for the price of one.

Once I had a gun delivered! I'd ordered a model of a plane for DH but the firm sent a pellet pistol instead. When I contacted them they asked me to send it back via the Post Office but weren't going to pay postage. I refused, eventually they sent a courier to collect it.

I regularly gey a pair of Bamboo socks delivered free. They're very good, very attractive socks but I've never ordered any and have never been asked for any payment. A bizarre way to do business, no wonder their prices are so high if they're doling out freebies to all & sundry!

A few months ago we had our usual weekly grocery order delivered by Asda and amongst the items were 2 large joints of beef and 4 packs of very expensive steak. I told the delivery driver they weren't ours, but after checking on his list he said they were definitly down for delivery here so he told us to keep them. We checked the bill online when it came through, but there was no mention of beef or steak, so guess what we had for Sunday dinner?

My brother once ordered 42 pints of milk instead of 2. He made a mistake on the online form. All 42 pints were on their doorstep the next morning. They managed to give most of it away to neighbours and the local food bank. Come to think of it, I don’t know whether they paid for them or not.

We once had our heating system flushed and cleaned free. The plumber told us we'd receive an invoice and payment instructions. They never arrived and we received no communication asking for payment. This was several years ago and we've moved since.
We had parts for our new bathroom delivered twice. We usually keep quiet and if there's no communication we sell or pass on excess items.

I have another take on freebies. I run a number of online shops and I sometimes added a freebie to a package. However I stopped this practice when I realised it can turn around and bite you in the bum.

One customer bought a batch of 3 blue hair combs. When she received 4 she complained that one was "not blue but purple" When I told her it was a freebie "Oh well I suppose it will work ..."

Another customer bought two brooches and I added a third. When she asked why it was there and learned it was a freebie she replied "Well I have two daughters so Im wondering how that will work out!" No doubt angling for another freebie. I was tempted to reply "Well here is a valuable opportunity for your daughters to learn to share" but of course I didnt.

After several such experiences from rude and ungrateful people I stopped giving freebies and only add them now for my very best regular customers who appreciate them.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Many years ago I returned from taking my children to school to find a large wreath on my doorstep! My first reaction was shock and slight fear because where we lived it was often done as a threat to someone! But there was no message on the card just the florist's details on the back. I rang them and it was a case of roads with similar names, we were 'Road' and it should have gone to 'Close'. Very soon a young woman ran up the path grabbed the wreath and ran back to her van. I thought to myself 'an apology would have been nice', but no doubt she was more concerned with getting it to the correct address in time for the funeral. The following morning she came back with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me and profuse apologies.

During lockdown I sent for some masks....two, to see what they were like. When they arrived there were four - and when I opened a packet, it said '10p' on it- 40 pieces in all!

Being one of those 'at risk' I'm still using a mask in the shops; so I have some left for this winter....

Happens every week with our online shop. They try to substitute some items then for some reason the items I'd originally wanted suddenly appear and instead of switching them they send both. Driver tells me their delivery arrives just before the orders go out. So if they have substituted something and it comes.in they chuck it in but can't be bothered to take out the substitute. I've had huge blocks of cheese, steak, wine, numerous items extra. Or on some occasions I've had full bags clearly of.someine else's shopping and they won't take it back once delivered and tell you to keep it then they replace the original buyers at the shops cost it's ridiculous what they must lose daily.

Other than that creepiest thing was a cartoon image of me, my husband, my son and our pet dog with our names on, clearly someone knew us well but we tried to find out who had sent it and never did.

DH had a cousin who could bore for Britain and he had the habbit of calling in without forewarning us though he lived 30 miles away . Our house was quite high up from the road and one day DH spotted cousin W who seemed to have forgotten which was our house. He then went to the house next door but there was no reply . We did not realise that W had left a jar of honey on our neighbours doorstep ( W kept bees ) and so later had a very bemused neighbour wondering who would have left him the honey. We never told him.

i had an order delivered from poundshop online, he gave me my box and another larger box with my address also on it, called the company and nobody showed up, went into hospital then when i got home a message saying they are sorry for the mix up and just to keep the items, i did keep some and gave others to family and neighbours. i check out latest free stuff online and get free samples and enter free competitions.