Freebies that you didn’t ask for

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.

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

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.

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?‍♀️

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.

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.

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

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.

Years ago, when digital cameras were in their infancy, I bought a telephoto lens direct from Sony that cost around £350. When it arrived there were two of them in the box. I contacted Sony and offered to return the second one but they told me quite curtly that I was wrong and they couldn’t possibly make that kind of mistake. So I sold the spare one on eBay for £275. Result!

I once ordered 2 very smart chests of drawers from Habitat in London
They arrived on time But 2 days later 2 more were delivered & a few days later 2 more were delivered
The store knew nothing about it Maybe didn’t want to own their mistakes So they got passed onto my daughter

I used to work in mental health services, care in the community and one of my clients rang me very distressed, to say he'd been robbed .Someone had broken in and stolen his washing machine. Could I help him call the police etc. I went to his house to find that a brand new washing machine , quite an expensive one , had been plumbed in in place of his old twin tub,which didn't work properly. He had been out for the day and returned home to find it. I told him it must be a "reverse" burglary and not to worry , and rang his family . It was clear that the new machine had been supplied by his family , and he hadn't understood. His sister looked after his affairs and she forgot to tell him. I spent some time showing him how to use it and he was delighted.

I have just this minute been sent a generous £20 voucher by Brand Alley.

Payable when I spend £100.

Thanks.

A couple of years ago when I was out DH answered the door to a lady who thrust a carrier bag into his hands and said something he didn't quite catch and disappeared. Turned out it was a rather ghastly looking ?breakfast? Hard to tell!

Very recently I found a very large envelope in the front porch delivered from Waitrose by Deliveroo. I rang Waitrose to say it was not mine and was told I could keep whatever was in the envelope and they would send out another delivery presumablyto the correct address. The envelope contained a large bunch of red roses The label said 'flowers and cutlery' but the cutlery was missing

My son lives in Canada and sends me a hamper for Christmas .(from the UK).
Once he sent me a port and stilton cheese gift in a wooden box . He received a notice to say it had been delivered and and I'd signed for it. Thing was I was out at a Christmas lunch . The signature wasn't mine. He rang the company and they sent another, which was delicious . In February my next door neighbour came round to tell me he'd found a parcel with my name on under his hedge , well away from the boundary . I opened it and there was the missing parcel .The box was fine , The stilton was sealed in a ceramic pot and as the weather was freezing we decided to open it . It was delicious, as was the port .
That same Christmas I had sent my son and daughter in law a Christmas hamper. Two arrived ,one for someone 500 miles away on the other side of Canada . He rang the company and they told him to keep it and enjoy it .They sent another out to the other person .We both got double hampers that year.

Whilst shopping yesterday I received cooking apples, fresh pizza and cocoa powder free. It was unusually very busy in the shop and the manager had called 4 assistants extra on checkout. I put my goods on conveyer but the scanner wasn't working. All other customers were asked to go to another checkout, but as my goods were out of basket manager told the assistant to type in numbers and if she couldn't read them just to give me. I was over the moon as I walked out with nearly £10 worth of goods. I said I would be happy to pay the extra but was told no.

I had some large plastic storage boxes delivered to me for no reason I could understand. When I rang the company they said it was the wrong address but it was too expensive to re-collect so I was to keep them. That was a long time ago and they have been invaluable when I have moved or needed to store big items.

Some years ago our next door neighbours came home from work to find a new garage door had been fitted - they hadn't ordered it and had no idea where it should have gone. Their son was at home at the time and assumed they'd arranged the installation! It was much better than the original so they were quite happy to keep it FOC when the company were finally located!

I once received two pairs of boots from the same supplier. I only ordered one pair. I'm still waiting for them to realise their mistake it was a year ago so I think they may have missed it on their audit check. Finders keepers.

About 10 years ago an elderly neighbour had a new pushchair delivered and as it concerned him we located the correct receipent but she said she had asked for a replacement as the original had not arrived.I contacted the sender who asked me to take it to the Post Office but I insisted as they made the error to collect it from my address.3 months later after no collection I gave it to my son and wife as they were expecting their 1st child.The pushchair was worth over £130!!

My husband ordered some special lighting connectors for his Lego buildings. Not cheap. He ordered six sets. What arrived was sixty. Sent a message and the company just said keep them. I actually offered to pay for them but they said it wasn't possible to do so
Husband still has some of those lights left now , two years on

We ordered some more cupboards for our kitchen and the wrong ones arrived, then they sent the right ones. Same thing happened twice, so our garage has a lovely bank of solid wood cupboards which will move into our next house with us. They are lovely and we intend to put in the same design of kitchen so will now have half what we'll need to do so.

Only once :
I've never seen one before nor since -
a massive cake for funeral !

I put in the fridge where it took up a whole shelf and then had a complete nightmare trying to find , who should have received it .

I tried phoning the baker - no answer .
I tapped on doors .
No one had ordered it .
No one knew who had died .

In the end , I put a massive advertisement up in our local supermarket .
After two days , a guy turned up to collect it He was entirely gung ho about the whole event !

I once came home from Christmas shopping in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I'd been in Boots but didn't get much further as I received so many freebies through buying just one item, that they practically made my gift giving for me!
My mum was in awe!!
Now you don't get that these days.

In our village the Main street has no name, also tucked away Barn conversions so often get parcels left when delivery men cannot find the right barn. I got one with the label torn and it just stated the village. It lay in our porch after asking neighbours until in the end I opened it and found the invoice and took it round.
Not quite the same but a few years ago I ordered a pre-lit Xmas tree, and they sent four. I phoned the company and they were very harassed and before I could say four they said:" Oh keep it." and put the phone down. So DDs benefitted from their generosity.

A neighbour came home to find a Mercedes in her drive and on opening the front door found the keys which had been posted the front door.
Confusion reigned until they got a very anxious call from the garage.
There is a road a few miles away with the same name and the driver ,returning it as arranged from a service, hadn’t checked the post code.