They shipped 2 by mistake, now what?

[OffWorld]

I'm hoping someone else might give me some advice on what to do. I ordered a 7" Android tablet from merrimobiles.com - they were the only ones that said they had the one I wanted in stock, though I've found as many people who like dealing with them as say stay away so I took the chance and ordered.

Now I just got an e-mail from "Phillip" (doubt it's his actual name) at merrimobiles.com informing me that they shipped TWO of the tablets I ordered by mistake and it says I need to send the extra back to them or they'll bill me for it.

Unfortunately the only delivery options given to me when I ordered were DHL or Air Mail. The latter had a delivery time of about a month, so I reluctantly selected DHL - having very low confidence they'll actually deliver ONE to me, much less two. I'm well aware of DHL's terrible reputation.

Which makes me even less confident that I'll be able to send the extra one BACK to Hong Kong via them, or can I simply refuse to accept it and DHL will return it? I'm assuming if I don't sign for it Merrimobiles can't bill me for it anyway, right?

I just have a terrible feeling now that I'm going to end up with none of what I ordered, only one of the two they shipped and get billed for the extra one I didn't even get, or try to return the extra and still get billed for it. Which begs the question, if they've shipped it to me by mistake, can they even legally bill me for it under US law in the first place? I paid via PayPal, so it's not like they have my CC number or anything.

I'm guessing this isn't the first time Merrimobiles has done this, so I'm hoping someone here has some advice for me on how to deal with this snafu.

 

[tipstir]

They have to pay for it to be shipped back otherwise it coming out your pocket. I would cancel the order, but these guys already charge you for the first one and they know sending it back is a hassle and might just charge you for the second one. I would contact PayPal and let them know of the situation. That's why when you deal with China Vendor best to get a Prepaid DC Visa or Master Card and link that to the PayPal Account. So first contact the Paypal even contact the vendor through them so you have some proof of the transaction and communication between and the vendor.

 

[xaueious]

Merimobiles cannot do this by law. I'd suggest that you do not cancel your order and receive the two tablets anyways. Because you are under no obligation to pay them for what you did no order, by law.

Merimobiles is located in Canada. As such, they are by law required to obey this: What are my consumer rights? - Ministry of Consumer Services, Ontario, Canada (Ontario) or some variant of it.

If you are sent goods you didn’t ask for, you don’t have to accept or pay for them

For Ontario:
No payment for unsolicited goods or services
(2) No supplier shall demand payment or make any representation that suggests that a consumer is required to make payment in respect of any unsolicited goods or services despite their use, receipt, misuse, loss, damage or theft. 2002, c. 30, Sched. A, s. 13 (2).

Since they are in Quebec, to be exact: Help: Answer

Threaten a class action lawsuit. What they are doing is illegal. I can't find the Quebec law right now, but here's another page referencing Canadian law:
Mail Order - Entire Collection | Canadian Consumer Handbook

Unsolicited Goods

You are under no obligation to accept or pay for any merchandise you receive in the mail that you did not order.

In most provinces and territories, when the sender asks for the merchandise back, you must return it at the sender's expense. In some provinces and territories, the sender may not require you to pay for the goods or services unless you agreed to do so in writing.

To complain about unsolicited goods, contact your provincial or territorial consumer affairs office.

More importantly, do you have records of his emails? Please post them. This is corporate fraud by Merimobiles, and it needs to be addressed!



If you have records of your emails, call your credit card company to issue a cancellation on their end, claiming fraud and illegitimate business practices. You should be able to get your money back for the actual order as well.

 

[OffWorld]

I would cancel the order, but these guys already charge you for the first one and they know sending it back is a hassle and might just charge you for the second one. I would contact PayPal and let them know of the situation.

Well, it's too late the cancel the order they already shipped stuff - according to the tracking numbers they gave me the packages are somewhere over the Pacific Ocean right now.

As for PayPal, I never ever have any money in my account - I only transfer money when I make a purchase, so even if they tried to bill me that way I'd have to authorize the funds transfer first (which I obviously wouldn't do) and that would seem to me the appropriate time to dispute the charges to PayPal. As of right now, Merrimobiles hasn't tried to get any more money out of me.

 

[OffWorld]

More importantly, do you have records of his emails? Please post them. This is corporate fraud by Merimobiles, and it needs to be addressed!
If you have records of your emails, call your credit card company to issue a cancellation on their end, claiming fraud and illegitimate business practices. You should be able to get your money back for the actual order as well.

Yes, I have copies of the Order Confirmation, the PayPal transaction confirmation listing [email protected], the Shipping Confirmation, and now the notice of the duplicate shipment. There's no credit card involved in this transaction, just PayPal. I don't have any dispute over the amount I paid for the one tablet I ordered, but would certainly dispute any attempts by them to make me pay for the one I didn't order.

I should add that the "tracking number" listed with the order on my Merrimobiles account doesn't turn up anything at DHL, but both the (completely different) tracking numbers for the two packages work and show where (supposedly) they are. If they hadn't notified me of the duplicate shipment I'd probably never have received an accurate tracking number?!

 

[probbiethe1]

I agree with xaueious he sounds like he knows what he is talking about and if you do decide to send the extra one back make sure they put the money in your paypal first. it cost me 35 dollars to send a tablet to china

 

[xaueious]

I'm not a lawyer or anything, but I know there's laws in Canada against charging for unsolicited items, so you have yourself a case.

Just do your research and figure out what is going on.

 

[OffWorld]

I'm not a lawyer either, but I have taken some college-level law courses - which is enough to know how to do basic legal research. I sent a reply back to Phillip at Merrimobiles citing the specific statutes in Quebec and my US State that both explicitly say I have no legal obligation to pay for or return merchandise I didn't order. However, I realize it was an honest mistake to accidentally send my order twice, so I told him if they send me a return shipping label AT THEIR EXPENSE I'd send it back. Curious what kind of reply I'll get.

 

[AndroidIsTheTruth]

Sell it to me for $9.99

Oh happy daaaays.

 

[OffWorld]

Phillip replied to me this morning and said I had misunderstood his first email. Apparently he was never demanding payment for the extra shipment and that "of course we will pay for the shipping" to return it. Which is what he should have explained in the first place. :|

If you've ever had a company illegally try to bill you - and involve a collection agency - for goods you didn't order you can understand why I was afraid that's what was going on. I'm pleased to see Phillip is saying Merrimobiles is not such a company.

On a related note, the first package with the tablet I ordered is due to arrive today!

 

[xaueious]

Phillip replied to me this morning and said I had misunderstood his first email. Apparently he was never demanding payment for the extra shipment and that "of course we will pay for the shipping" to return it. Which is what he should have explained in the first place. :|

If you've ever had a company illegally try to bill you - and involve a collection agency - for goods you didn't order you can understand why I was afraid that's what was going on. I'm pleased to see Phillip is saying Merrimobiles is not such a company.

On a related note, the first package with the tablet I ordered is due to arrive today!

Sounds good. Glad you got it resolved