I received a dictionary

[Lateralthinking1]

I received a dictionary two days ago. It is a very good one from the Oxford University Press and it has a value of £30. As I hadn't ordered a dictionary, it was obviously a pleasant surprise. Another big plus point was that no payment from me was required.

Being an appreciative and mainly civil sort of chap, I wanted to find out who had bought it so that I could give my heartfelt thanks. I rang the distribution centre and was given the alarming news that I had won it in a competition.

Seeing that I have never entered a competition to win a dictionary, it is sitting in my living room in cellophane. I am afraid to unwrap it in case something else unexpected happens.

What should I do? What would you do? It would seem a shame just to keep it as an ornament but at the moment I am finding it strangely troubling. :erm:

[mercia]

send it to the next mossagebearder who can't spall

[Lateralthinking1]

Grate eye dear Hercules. Thanks 4 the info bruv. :cool2:

[Flosshilde]

Lateral,
Consumer or trading standards law is that if you receive unsolicited goods you should contact the sender & ask them to arrange for it to be collected from you (at their expense, of course). If they don't respond (within a certain period, I think, but I'm not certain how long) then you can quite happily keep it, without having to worry about a bill arriving.

[Lateralthinking1]

Flosshilde, Thank you. I rang the OUP distribution centre in Northamptonshire and they said it was a prize. No details had been given to them and they weren't interested in contacting Oxford because it had been paid for. I have the invoice saying paid.

It is all very odd. Last autumn, I walked from Guildford to Dorking on the North Downs Way, starting off at a cafe outside Guildford station - not my usual area. There was a box of coins in there and you had to guess how many coins there were. I applied some basic arithmetic and thought nothing more of it. I am sure it is the only competition I've entered in the last year, I wouldn't have thought that the prize was a dictionary and it was a very long time ago - Lat.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Flosshilde hasn't got her (his?) consumer and trading standards law quite correct. These days a recipient of unsolicited goods sent by a business deliberately to a consumer is entitled to treat the item as an unconditional gift. This is a kind of 'self-policing ordinance' - a company sending out unsolicited goods with the intention of invoicing for them later will risk losing a lot of money, as well as committing offences when it attempts to secure payment for them.

But there are limits: a company that sends a valuable item accidentally to the wrong address will not lose title to the goods and is entitled to recover it.

The difficulty in this 'ere Case of the Dictionary seems to be that it is closer to the 'misdirected' scenario than the 'deliberately-sent' one since Lateralthinking1 says that payment is not required.

[Bryn]

The tale of Joe Brant's pyrrhic victory (http://www.r3ok.com/index.php/topic,2825.msg99520.html#msg99520). :winkeye:

[Eudaimonia]

If you're feeling "iffy" about it, you might forward it on to one of your friends as an unexpected gift. When I was a kid, being given your own large dictionary was quite the occasion, with a bookplate dedication and everything. In all, a nice tradition...if you have any young relatives, it might be a nice one to take up! :smiley:

[Lateralthinking1]

Thank you for these comments. Bryn - a great story and extraordinary timing. What a pity we don't have more councillors like Joe.

[Flosshilde]

Thanks for the update, LeMartinPecheur. I was relying on memory of past research on the subject. It would seem to still be a good idea to contact the sender (as Lateral did) to make sure that it wasn't 'misdirected'. And then enjoy the free gift :smiley:

[Lateralthinking1]

News. I have been back to OUP and apparently I won a crossword competition in The Independent. Certainly my newspaper of choice if I really have to have one but I am sure that I didn't submit a completed crossword. Thoughts now go to some caring souls who remain, just about, in my old workplace. They are holding on and hoping like the participants in X-factor and I feel really sorry for them while they are feeling sorry for me. One chum dashes off crosswords in "The Times" more quickly than it takes me to cook a dinner. Chris, if you are reading this, I have my suspicions and if I am right it was very kind of you. I really appreciate it.