I have received 2 iphones which I have never ordered !

[Anonymous]

I wish to warn everyone out there ! I have received 2 days ago an iphone which I have never ordered. I phoned customer services the following day to complaint but because of data protection they would not give me any details on how the order was placed nor which credit card was used. After insisting all I could find out is that it was ordered online on the sunday, 2 days before, (i was out of the country at the time). I had to ring up my bank and all the credit card companies which I have an account with but no money was taken out at the time. Because O2 cannot give me any information, I am not able to know whether someone could have applied for another credit card without my knowledge and therefore I cannot pursue nor stop further orders. I was also promised a ring back within 48 hours from their fraud office. It's been 48 hours now and noone has called me back. I have since written a complaint letter to O2 complaint office and awaiting a response. Today, which is 2 days later, coming back home from work, I was amazed to find out that a 2nd 1phone from O2 has been delivered to my home, after warning them 2 days before that I never placed the first order !!! This means that I will have to spend another hour on the phone to O2 tomorrow going through the whole explanation once again to no avail as they are not willing to give me any details on the phone because of data protection. Who are they kidding? Who are they trying to protect here? I am going to the police tomorrow and see what they say but let this me a warning to anyone out there! And if anyone has had the same problem, please let me know as we need to join forces ! Shame on O2 !!!

[Anonymous]

o2 aren't doing this on purpose, they don't just send phones out to people, hoping they accept it so they can make a bit of money on a contract. Data protection is in place for a reason. If they aren't letting you access the account it is likely to be in someone else's name and not yours. You should have just refused the delivery of the handset if you weren't expecting it.
Wait for the call from fraud, they will contact you and they will get this sorted out.

[Anonymous]

If it was attempted fraud then they’d be unlikely to have the ‘phones delivered to you !

A similar thing happened to me last month from CPW, I got an email to say my new iPhone 4 was being dispatched - I’d already had my new one for several days. When I phoned up I found that it was an old account of mine but with someone else’s credit card and address details! they said they’d recall it and cancel the order and I haven’t heard anything since.

[Anonymous]

if you havnt ordered it or signed upto a contract qand you've received it out of the blue, then it falls under the grounds of unsolicited goods, and technically you can do what you want with the phone legally.

[Anonymous]

But in this case it looks like someone did order the goods - in that case they are not unsolicited, even though it is not the OP who ordered them. And O2 are aware now that the OP has the goods so will doubtless require them back.

It does look like this could be identity theft as O2 do not send out unsolicited items. OP should hang on to the goods and wait for instructions from either O2 or the police as to what to do with them.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the post. I've never heard of a such thing before! It's almost a dead-end if O2 aren't telling you anything due to Data Protection Act.. so much hassle...... sigh...

[Anonymous]

Hi guys - you can keep them
'Under the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971, (as amended) it is an offence to demand payment for goods known to be unsolicited, in other words, they were sent to a person without any prior request made by them or on their behalf.

Someone who receives goods in these circumstances may retain them as an unconditional gift, and does not have to pay for or return any unwanted goods.'

info taken from here: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/unsolicited.htm

so up to you what you do with them

[Anonymous]

Surely that is only if a company decides to send something out without ANYONE having ordered them where in this case it is highly likely someone did order them. As the OP was abroad at the time the goods appear to have been ordered it is possible someone was expecting to collect the packages before the OP returned.

I say this because years ago when living in a tower block someone else living in the block used my address to order goods from a catalogue - they didn't use my name, just the address. At that time deliveries of packages tended to be dumped outside the door of the flat and said person would pick them up. Thus the sender never knew the actual address or identity of said person. Until the catalogue sent a letter to my address which I opened (thinking it was for me).

[jonsie]

I always thought that you had to write to the company concerned giving them an optimal time period in which to collect the unsolicited goods, and after that qualifying period, the goods then became a 'gift' if the said goods were not collected by the suppliers?

[Anonymous]

I have to say I'm a little suspicious of all these people popping up lately who seem to join, post once with some crazy horror story about how bad O2 are, and then never post again.

No offence intended to the OP if you are indeed relating a genuine problem, but it does seem a little odd to post once, get all these responses and then not post again for two weeks.