How on earth...?

Years ago we had a kitchen table delivered from Ikea but it was cracked. We phoned and they promised to replace it. It duly arrived but old one was never picked up despite multiple phone calls. It ended up as a good homework table in my teenage son's bedroom. He didn't mind the crack!

It’s obviously sometimes not worth it for the business to have items returned. My DD ordered a quite expensive large print and frame for her wall. On receipt it was found to have a small fault and as it was expensive they asked for a replacement. They asked what to do with the damaged print and they were told to keep it! Luckily we weren’t put off by small fault and it now looks lovely on our wall.

Well, my experience concerns the leaving of packages in bizarre places and the consequences thereof. I once ordered a set of lightweight Corelle china for our caravan (highly recommended, lovely product since you ask) and we were away when it arrived. We had left our bins out for our daughter to call in and place at the bottom of the drive on collection day. Yes, you’re there in one - we arrived back to a note through the door that said ‘parcel in bin for safe keeping’. Of course our daughter didn’t look in the bin before she put it out as she didn’t call into the house, so away when our lovely new china to the rubbish tip! The sender was very understanding though and sent a replacement set with no problem at all. (And someone somewhere possibly had a whole new set of Corelle china with my name on it!)

I had an extra t-shirt from an order from Seasalt. They asked me to return it, at their expense, which I did. I then received the same order again, and was then told that their system was difficult to adjust so best just to keep it.

That is so funny Grammargran. I had a parcel of two dresses left under the front doormat. ie set on step and mat put on top. We do have a front garden but still. It was there when we came home from holiday two days later. The email we got said "If you are not at home we will either leave in a safe place or leave a card"

I would ring them up and say what has happened. It's either the right thing or if a mistake they are likely to say Forget it. Just get the name of the person you speak to and make a note of date and time of conversation.

In 1972 I sent off for a nest of three stainless steel bowls. They did not arrive so complained. Then the originals did arrived followed by another set. Meanwhile the company unsurprisingly went bust. I use them all every day including the set I gave at the time to my MIL and which in the fullness of time I inherited back.

3 years ago I was going to England so ordered some clothes from Bon Marche to be delivered to my DD's house. When l opened the parcel it didn't contain my order but someone else's who lived in South Wales. There were some women's clothes size 12 and a pair of mens beige shorts size 44 waist. I rang the company and offered to drop them off at the local branch but they said to give them away to a charity shop or whoever. In the meantime a lot of what l had ordered was now out of stock so I later got a much reduced delivery. So someone somewhere got a large order of size 20 clothes. My DGD liked the pretty pink sweater with a lace collar and DDs MIL had the 2 pairs of capri pants. The rest went to the charity shop.

Stanlaw. I would have done the same.

I received a very heavy love seat at Christmas time which the family assembled for me and placed in the garden as it is supposed to be suitable for withstanding all weather. Within a fortnight it was so rusty it looked dreadful so we asked the makers to take it back. It is still here but at least the payment was refunded and a friend has offered to paint it with hammer right to stabilise it all. Don't know what it will look like but we will see.

I recently placed an order for 1 litre of organic coconut oil and then received a large box containing 12 litres of coconut water which we cannot even lift. Following my phone call I am still waiting for my coconut oil to arrive and the returns label and courier to collect the wrongly delivered items, Just in case, I have been searching on how to use cocout water.

If it’s a charity I would return any extra items. I went to McDonald’s recently and ordered about 30 cheeseburgers as well as a few Big Mac’s & Fries (my oldest dog was ill and he would only eat the cheeseburgers or roast chicken so this was to last him and my other 2 dogs 3 days, the Bic mac’s we’re ours)! When I got home I realised they had given me 3 bags of popcorn chicken which I hadn’t ordered nor was I charged for. There was no way I was driving all the way back for their mistake plus the popcorn chicken was horrible even the dogs wouldn’t eat it so it went in the bin. Keep the scarfs they’re yours now.

I ordered a memory foam mattress which cost an eye watering £599 and it arrived a week or so agonalthough I was meant to get 2 free pillows with it which were not delivered. Did they contact me to tell me about their mistake? No. I had to email them and they said they would send them out but did I get an apology? No again.

I have a whole catalogue of delivery faux pas. My daughter has frozen chicken carcasses delivered - food for her large dog, The time is always prearranged, so that she is sure to be at home. On one occasion she returned from the shops to find a note through the door. "Sorry I was a little early. I've left the box of chicken behind the gate." Unfortunately, the dog must have been having a snooze around the corner, and had not been spotted. My daughter went outside to find a torn-open box, a lot of the chicken missing, and a very bloated and guilty-looking dog.

Someone who lives in a similarly named road to mine often gets my deliveries, and I get hers. It is easier just to drop them off to each other, rather than report the mistake. I received a beautiful bouquet recently, and was so disappointed to find that it wasn't mine at all.

I also once had a parcel dropped into our dinghy, which was at the side of the house, and half full of water. Luckily the water couldn't damage the contents.

Delivery men are a law unto themselves!

DoraMar the post about all the clocks had me laughing out loud! I love these threads!

I ordered a lovely scarf from SeaSalt and only received one. I’m feeling cheated! (It was in the sale though)

I would return scarves to SeaSalt as they’re not a large company and the staff are lovely and very helpful. John Lewis on the other hand .....!

I've worked in a mail order department staffed largely by Eastern European women with varying levels of competence in the English language and widely differing levels of interest in getting things right. There should be no excuse for failing to understand numbers, but some staff lasted a remarkably long time in their job despite repeated and glaring mistakes!

Yes, if you find mney in pocket you should definitely keep it or it'll just get nabbed by person you hand it to. I was working in retail and found £80 strewn over floor. Handed it to superiors who said if it wasnt claimed we'd put it towards Christmas staff do. Repeated queries showed no one had claimed it...but when Christmas came round it had 'disappeared' and no one knew who'd taken it or showed any motivation to find out!