a few months back the misses gets given a parcel that she has to sign for by the post man, thinking it was something from a catalogue she signs for it. upon opening the package she finds that its a book sent to her by readers digest called something like 'useful stuff around the house' and seens as she had never asked for it or wanted it she chucked it in the bin. after a while she receives a letter from them explaining that she owes them £40 for the book, which she put in the same place as the book. she's now been sent a letter threatening court action if she's doesn't pay up, and saying that it will go up to £130 if we don't pay up straight away

to me this sounds like the usual con pulled by people that don't actually have a leg to stand on but like to scare you into paying up knowing that a lot of people will. i've done a bit of reading up and it seems it's illegal for companies to try and charge you for unsolicited parcels and any dept collection agencies or solicitors sending threatening letters to you about them can face big fines. she phoned up the agency that sent us the letter and told them this, to which he replied "yes thats true but there was an invoice attached to the parcel saying that if you kept it you were agreeing to pay for it which means you have to pay". this seems like bollocks to me, even if it did have that it doesn't stop it from being an unsolicited parcel surely?

what the law says...

Unsolicited Goods and Services Act

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. Anyone who receives a demand for payment for unsolicited goods should report the matter to their local Trading Standards Department, whose details can be located from

there seems to be a lot of cases of them pulling this trick with OAP's and them just paying up through fear of being sued, and a lot of people accusing them of being scamming bastards. does anyone have any idea if they can fuck us over because it had an invoice attached to it?

in hindsight i wish we had kept the book so i could post it back after wiping my arse on each and every page

Can't you just say there was no invoice with it as where is their proof over yours and hope you fuck them over I hate scams like that

Just tell them they're acting illegally at that you will be billing them £30 a time to write back to every letter they send you from that point on.

It was junk mail. You didnt order it or ask for it, it is like most parking tickets an unenforceable invoice.

Send a letter demanding payment for inconvenience and worry caused to you and you misses to the sum of £130, threatening court action if they do not cease and desist from harassing you.

I went to Mc Donalds twice in one day once (it was a passenger thing) and the car park enforcement company used this to pull a fast one - they sent a picture of me arriving the first time, and leaving the second. Then claimed i'd been on the premises the whole time, and tried to fine me.

They were adamant, and pushed their protocol for this.

I got advice which basically accounted to the whole thing being a troll case. There was no point chasing my tail over it. They didn't have a leg to stand on, and would only continue if i kept feeding them with responses.

The law in your case puts you in the same position. I think you have them sussed, you know where you stand with the law and you know what they're trying to do. And you know they succeed with people who fall for it. It's bullying and that isn't right, but you're best just not letting it be your problem.

I think it'd be wise to just send them a final correspondence (even if it's just for your own closure) to inform them that you will no longer read anything sent, and the case is closed as far as you're concerned - and you'll see them in court when you're summoned. They can't take you to court so it closes it. Yeah they'll still try it on with the letters for a while, but i'm afraid that's junk mail you're gonna have to deal with unless you know of a way to enforce them to stop. I believe junk mail can be stopped by application, but i don't know how.

You could always take them to court of course, but it's a pretty pointless thing to take on. The danger there is that it could cost you, because they're likely to be acting legally.

what a nice people trick!

i would not worry, never ever will that stand in any small claims court.

You can tho put in a counter claim, send them a letter explaining why you are not paying it, and explain how much you will charge them for responding to each letter, as normally each letter says to contact them immediately.

I am in the process of putting in a counter claim against virgin media, i charge them £30 a phone call and £50 a letter, explained this to virgin media and the debt collection agency in writing all signed for and received.

I do not know how things like that are even allowed, playing on peoples lack of knowledge and fear.

When you consider the type of people that they will mostly be trying to pull this on is old people it makes it even more cnutish. companies like this seriously need their buisness methods looking into imo

did you get a postage paid envelope with the letter? i love them:-) whenever i get crap mail - i use the postage paid envelope to send them a letter back - its brilliant:-) because you fill it full of heavy washers and it goes back overweight and they get charged loads! you used to be able to just stick them to an object and take it to the post office but theyve changed it - my mate got rid of 2 old fridges doing that!

Genius

No idea what came with it tho, the misses binned it before I got a chance to look at it

i remember now - just fill the envelope with £10 note shaped cutouts of magazines - so it was still standard sized letter form - just a nice weight to it so the post office will send it as it looks like a wad of cash.

the washers one was given back to me lol

I had a similar thing with a debt collection agency that was chasing me for some money I allegedly owed. Apparently it was some business that owed them money and some how it had something to do with me. Anyway I told them that I didn't have that business. They wanted me to prove I didn't have it, which I'm not sure how to do. How do you prove you DON'T have a business?

Either way I told them if they want money that is owed to them then they need to prove to me why and how I owe it. I'm too busy to deal with that kind of thing trying to prove why I don't owe them money. It has nothing to do with me. Needless to say they have stopped contacting me.

Half the time they are just trying it on because some people must just cough up the cash.

did you get a postage paid envelope with the letter? i love them:-) whenever i get crap mail - i use the postage paid envelope to send them a letter back - its brilliant:-) because you fill it full of heavy washers and it goes back overweight and they get charged loads! you used to be able to just stick them to an object and take it to the post office but theyve changed it - my mate got rid of 2 old fridges doing that!

All you need is a sorting office with a bulk mail letterbox outside. You can't get a fridge in them, but I've sent a breezeblock to a parking company before!

Shame old tyres don't fit in there really.

my mate got rid of 2 old fridges doing that!

That. Is. Brilliant!

Go on Guy, send them a turd.............you know you want to

absolutely pissing myself over objects you guys have sent back. makes me wanna go skitz and send something crazy for a laugh.

Used rubber?

LOL! at the response to this thead I will be sending back every postage paid envelope i get now, crammed full of heavy things.

Used rubber?

Guy doesn't know what one of these is