SOT: possible Amazon scam

Scott snipped-for-privacy@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote

Very likely

Nope, if there is a problem, it's only for the previous occupier

No reason for that unless you have real enemies

Could also just be a simple error, Amazon allows you to have several delivery addresses for such things as forwarding gifts to other people. It might be the case the previous occupier clicked on the wrong delivery address during the purchase. It is always worth reviewing delivery addresses and deleting outdated ones, I have made the same mistake following our recent house move not with Amazon but with another company which fortunately was a small family business and responded quickly following an email.

If it was for a previous occupant then I suggest its more than likely they still have the old address in Amazon and bought something by mistake. Its easily done! Dishwasher Tablets are not what I would have thought are typical items for brushing scam. They are not what I would call low value!

I would report them using this page:-

If possible, contact your vendors and ask them.

We moved here nearly 30 years ago. Whilst not in contact with the vendor, we know where he moved, and we know he still lives there. YMMV. :)

I have done this. I assume it will be easy for Amazon to delete someone else's address (mine) from an account if this is the case.

Not sure what they will do. I have several addresses in my account which are not mine. Mostly places my son has lived in while moving jobs.

My wife has similar in hers. She managed to order a lawn mower for him and sent it to an old address. She rang Amazon who just said "we will send you another to the proper address, if you can't get some one to use the wrongly delivered one we will collect it". I think it went to a church.

Dave

Yes, but in this case there is an objection by me to the use of my data. If they don't agree to delete, I think they need to show a lawful basis for not doing so.

It's the address of your home, I agree, but I'm not entirely convinced that it's your data, as it's not linked to your name or other details. So, you may well find that Amazon simply refuse to amend another customer's account on your say-so.

Your best bet by far is to contact the user of the account, as I'm sure they are upset that their dishwasher stuff has gone missing.

Amazon could help themselves in this situation, by sending an occasional reminder to anyone (individuals, not companies) who has multiple delivery addresses on their account. "Please review and amend as necessary."

That is an intriguing point that I had not thought of. My name and address would be personal data but my address only is in the public domain.

I lost contact with him when I purchased the house and left no forwarding address. Amazon would refuse to supply his details to me for data protection, as would I expect the estate agent. I wonder what the attitude of Police Scotland would be if I tried to hand it in as lost property.

The English police don't want to handle lost property. In Greater Manchester my local station building still exists but has a notice on the door saying its now closed to ring 101. Ringing this is pretty frustrating. Its designed to take so long to get to someone that you give up ...

The web site says to use social media to try and find the owner and that they will not accept low value items like keys and presumably includes dish washer tablets.

Dave

Have you seen the price of some dishwasher tablets!

He didn't say how many are in what turned up

The estate agent may be prepared to pass on a message to the vendor.

Or, just shrug, and put the dishwasher tablets away for a while to see whether anyone contacts you.

Just regard it as a gift from God. The buyer will assume it got lost in transit, get a refund and order again.

Similar thing happened to me: Amazon parcel claimed 'delivered' never arrived, I got replacement stiff and found the original parcel - or what was left of it - in a corner of the garden 6 months later, sopping wet.

One item was a USB TV adapters,. I dried that off for a week and it worked so I gave it to a friend.

Another time I got 6 beer glasses instead of high-ball glasses. The company sent me replacements and told me to keep the originals

Gave the beer glasses away as well

Theo

Thanks all, I'm now persuaded about this.

Indeed. The point I wanted to make is that the sort of morally correct way and the least cost to benefit way are entirely different.

I remember a US Robotics modem that got struck by lightning, (I kid you not: direct strike on my phone line). Lifetime guarantee. They just sent me a new one and took the old one back. In the end it was just simpler and cheaper to strip, test, and recycle bits that worked into a new machine, than fuss around with invoicing, repairs under warranty and all that crap.

Its the same philosophy that underpins a lot of consumer electronics. Let the customer do the final test in the sure and certain knowledge that 3 units in a thousand will be returned as defective or out of spec. Far cheaper than testing them exhaustively

I am afraid it works its way into car repairs as well. A part failed on my car. The only way to get that part from the manufacturer was to replace a £400 unit...or go on Ebay where someone 3D printed a part for £5 that repaired that unit just as well

Labour costs drive big business by and large. It probably cots £50 to ship a £5 part to a repair shop

Dealing with returns is expensive.

Simple replacement vi the normal sales channel at no cost is cheaper.

WE buy powder in bulk!