Real Life MMD: Should we keep the wine?

A question about : Real Life MMD: Should we keep the wine?

Please give this MoneySaver the benefit of your advice...

Should we keep the wine?

We received our weekly grocery delivery this evening from a leading supermarket. My husband accepted it whilst I was otherwise engaged and on checking the order I discovered we'd received 6 bottles of Merlot wine worth over Ј40 that we hadn’t ordered (or been charged for). My husband said we should keep quiet, but my conscience said otherwise. I called customer services and was on hold for over 30 mins before giving up. Should I persevere and ring again another day, tell the delivery driver next week or keep quiet and consider it an early Christmas present?

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Best answers:

• I think I would keep the Wine for 2 weeks and if not requested back I would then give it away as Christmas Presents. (I don't drink red)
  The supermarket will probably write off the wine as breakage anyway and if it was off someone else's order they will of raised it as a concern.
  However if this was a small local shop (if any are left) I would return keep on trying to get it back to them.
• To be honest I would probably keep it - you did try and let them know, but realistically, are they going to send someone over to collect it?
  If you feel really bad about it then try to ring once more, but at this time of year the phones will be busy. They will have refunded the intended recipient anyway so I wouldn't feel bad about it.
• keep it, you tried to hand it back with no success
• I'd probably keep it - you've tried (and possibly spent money on the phone call) to tell them, but haven't been able to. Plus, given that its a big supermarket, it won't be a disaster for them to write off the money.
  If you still feel bad about it, and will drink the wine, why not give a small donation to charity to make up for it.
• One thing that boils my blood is being overcharged in supermarkets it happens all the time, and I have to spot it and waste my time waiting at the cs desk for my money back which sometimes is only say 20p. I know it's a mistake but it's theft, if I stole from them they'd have me arrested but I rarely even get an appology.
  So based on that I'm of the opinion it's up to them to spot it and contact you for the wine back, and if they did phone me for it I'd put them on hold for 10 mins too.
• A similar thing happened to me with an online shop. Alas it was some meat-based ready meals and ice cream and not expensive booze. Being the honest person that I am, I rang the supermarket's customer service. They said they would send someone round to collect the excess items. That was six months ago and we're still waiting for them to come round.
  So yes, I would probably keep the Merlot. It would go down very nicely at my New Year's Eve party.
  On a sidenote, another time I received a phonecall from the same supermarket asking me if I had ordered a toaster and blender with my online shop. They had these in the back of their van and had no idea which order it belonged to
• I had a friend who got delivered a tray of someone else's posh shopping along with hers from Tesco - she called them & got told to keep it so I think the likelihood is they'll let you. If you're paying for the call then I'd be very tempted not to bother again, but if it's inclusive then I'd prob try once more.
• You should send a letter to the supermarket telling them what has happened, giving them a reasonable time to collect, say 14 days.
  If the wine is not collected by then it is yours.
  Anything else is THEFT and you could be prosecuted.
• What a bonus. I'd most definitely keep it! It'd make quashing each one all the nicer!!
  As for THEFT etc - how would they prove it??
  Denial is a great tool..............
• Chances are if you give it back to the delivery man it will end up in his wine rack!
• What a bonus. I'd most definitely keep it! It'd make quaffing each one all the nicer!! 
• It is very odd that the relative wealth of a victim of crime seems to change people's judgement of whether it is indeed a crime or not. It is often said "Tesco can afford it", etc. Would you feel different if you found out that the delivery driver had it deducted from his wages? I bet you would!
  I find it almost laughable that one person posting claims he/she spots 20p errors in the supermarket bill. That sounds like a complete exaggeration to me and devalues their opinion to worthlessness.
  Putting it simply, to knowingly deprive any person (no matter how rich) of property to which you know you have no right to is theft. If the property "falls into your lap" then your lack of action in appropriating the property does not excuse the crime of "theft by finding".
  I suppose the supermarket will never find out where the wine went, but shame on the other posters for claiming its all fair against a supermarket. There are plenty of people with less than you and I doubt you would think it fair if they saw your property as game for stealing.
• You made a genuine attempt to contact them to return the wine. It's hardly your fault they don't man the phones. What if you had been missing the wine, would you be expected to hang on for an hour? Two hours?
  Keep it, you've done the right thing already.
• I would send them an email and let them take it from there. If you hear nothing back at least you have a written statement proving you told them about the error in the first place. But you really should try to let them know.
• keep it - its an early crimbo present and will taste so much better cos it was free - maybe give some of it away but also enjoy some in the run up to christmas and thank your lucky stars
  i love a nice freebie
  now...tesco delivery man...where are ya...
• It's not yours, you know it, so keeping is thieving. You must contact head office and tell them you have it and ask them what they wan you to do. Probably they'll say keep it. Then it's not thieving.
• We all know you SHOULD try to return the wine, but human nature is regrettably easily persuaded otherwise. I agree that sending an email with a suggestion that the wine will be kept for the next 14 days is an easy and quick way of ensuring your conscience is appeased. If nothing happens then you can assume it's not worth their while collecting it.
  I wonder what the responses would be if the Ј40 worth of goods were not an attractive keep? For me, Ј40 of any booze, as I don't like the taste of alcohol, would less useful than Ј40 fertiliser!! I would make a decent attempt at letting them know regardless.
• Donate half the value to a charity and enjoy the wine ;-)