Freebies that you didn’t ask for

Not quite the same but my husband and I came home one day to discover that we had aquired a (sort of), daughter in law and new grandson! We knew our son was seeing a young woman, but not the rest. Meanwhile her own parents had refused to allow our son to visit so he'd brought them both home!

I can think of a couple more.

Every so often at a previous house we'd get a free sample of disposable nappies sent to us with no indication of who'd sent or requested them. The last owners' youngest child was in her 20s so obviously a mistake somewhere, but we never found out for whom they were intended.

Another time we bought an electric blanket which came with a free alarm clock. We didn't really need it but that very weekend the old one conked out, so it actually did come in handy. Touch wood, it's still going strong.

What fascinating accounts of free things.The only freebies left on my doorstep are french beans from my neighbour who always has a glut of them, or over ripe bananas from my family who want me to make banana cake for them.

Last Christmas DH ordered a cushion with arms for me to read in bed.
It arrived and he put it away to give to me on the day.
A couple of weeks later another one arrived. He queried it with the company, but they only had record of one being sent, and were quite adamant they were correct.
So now we have one each.

A few years ago, we went into a large department store to buy a new suite. We close a three seater, two seater and armchair in leather, filled in the appropriate paperwork, paid the deposit and left. It was delivered and we rang the store several times to say we hadn't paid the balance but they insisted each time that we had! So we had a brand new leather suite for the price of the deposit ??

I used to enter a lot of competitions, and won quite often. I once had a vacuum cleaner delivered, with no information about where it had come from. I presume that it was a prize, and just hoped that it wasn't a wrong delivery.
My daughter in Australia once asked me to buy a £100 gift voucher for her friend, who was getting married, and deliver it to her. I duly did so, posting it through, as there was no-one home.
A few days later, chatting to DD, I found out that her friend no longer lived at the house I had delivered the voucher to. I dashed back, and the bemused lady, who had been puzzling over the mystery gift, returned it to me. Thank heavens she was honest!

pce612

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.

Ah yes, but then the company wouldn’t be able to shift those pesky steam cleaners that no one wants !!

biglouis

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.

I remember the first time I got a sweet in withba small order I had placed. I wasn't familiar with the practice and assumed an employee had mislaid her humbug when packing the order.

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.

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.

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.

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....

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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!

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.

Frankie 51, that's a lovely story

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...