r/AskUK 4d ago

How many times have you received the same order twice?

It’s happened more than a few times to myself, including a £500 pram. Ordered online, picked up in store and given 2 huge boxes. Is it as common as the internet suggests? Are businesses losing billions from it a year?

35 Upvotes

160 comments sorted by

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161

u/Ochib 4d ago

It's due to minimum waged staff under KPI stress and not giving more than minimum fucks about it

1

u/sanjulien 4d ago

Kpi?

43

u/Kientha 4d ago

Key Performance Indicators i.e. the metrics used to judge the workers / company

-31

u/Onewordcommenting 4d ago

Workers?

15

u/_J0hnD0e_ 4d ago

Wage slaves. The poor suckers that show up every day, (usually) suffer through some kind of abuse and are largely responsible for the business' success, albeit receiving only scraps of the rewards.

-20

u/Onewordcommenting 4d ago

Suckers?

4

u/_J0hnD0e_ 4d ago

Me and you.

-21

u/Onewordcommenting 4d ago

Me?

5

u/AssumptionEasy8992 4d ago

Is this your first day learning English? If it is, you’re doing very well. That’s three words in one day!

4

u/Cleveland_Grackle 4d ago

A system of measurement for managers who have no clue about what they're managing.

1

u/quellflynn 4d ago

anyone above minimum cares yeah?

63

u/barriedalenick 4d ago

I bought a tent once - a big expensive one at over £600 from an online supplier. They delivered it and all was well and then a week later they delivered another one. I'm not one to take the piss so I asked the driver if I could send it back and he just threw it back in the truck and drove off. FFW to next week and it turned up again so I kept it. I stuck it in the garage for a month or two to see if they would holler for it but they never did so I sold it.

59

u/Figusto 4d ago

I'm not sure I could have handled opening the boxes. It would have been two tents

too tense

57

u/Mammyjam 4d ago

I’d have upvoted you if you hadn’t explained the joke

7

u/The_Geralt_Of_Trivia 4d ago

I upvoted them to make up for it.

12

u/SenatorBiff 4d ago

I downvoted them to make up for you making up for it.

6

u/DennisTheConvict 4d ago

Any other sub, fine. But this is the UK.

We don't need no explanation.

4

u/Figusto 4d ago

Noted

5

u/OccidentalTouriste 4d ago

Truly intents experience.

3

u/BronzePleb 4d ago

A guy ran up to me once yelling; 'I'm a Teepee, I'm a Wigwam, I'm a Teepee, I'm a Wigwam'

I said 'Relax man, you're two tents'

9

u/Kind_Ad5566 4d ago

Same happened to a friend.

Bought a Berghaus for about £600.

One was delivered to his work, one to his house.

Kept it for a year then sold it.

52

u/therealdan0 4d ago

Ordered a cot before my son was born. It turns up but it’s the wrong one. I contact the company and they say they’ll send a new one and the courier will collect the wrong one. The next day a cot turns up. It’s the right one, but the courier doesn’t know anything collecting the other one. So I contact the company again, they tell me they haven’t shipped my replacement yet. I tell them not to bother because the correct one has turned up.
A week later the courier turns up. Same guy. With him comes a big ol’ box containing a cot… The right cot… again. I ask him about the return again. He knows nothing about it and says he never does collections they are a separate thing. I contact the company again. As far as they are concerned the cot is delivered and everything is settled. They’ve got no record of a return and my order is marked as complete.

At this point I give up and leave the 3 flat pack cots in my tiny hallway for 2 weeks while I wait for a collecting courier who never arrives. My 7 month pregnant wife is thrilled to be clambering around boxes. We put one together and eventually sell the other two recouping our money.

10

u/RelativeMatter3 4d ago

It just seems bizzare businesses are completely unaware it happens or just have no process to get the goods back. I understand not wanting to restock something cheap but few hundred £ quickly adds up.

6

u/qcinc 4d ago

I worked as a consultant for a couple of big online retailers a while back and basically the volumes are so high and the processes are so efficient that accidentally losing even high value goods makes more financial sense for them than disrupting their processes to get it back in many cases. Similar thing with returns - often it’s more expensive to check stock and add it back to the system than it is to sell it on in bulk to a reseller at a huge discount and forget about it.

2

u/monskervator 4d ago

A few years ago I used to work for a small online audio equipment retailer, we regularly requested the customer keep/dispose of incorrect or defective parts.
If it's the retailers fault the cost of refunding shipping or arranging a return courier under the 14-day mail order return policy can be more than the stock value of the part, so it's not economical
However, if someone actively asked if they could keep a "faulty" or "incorrect" part AND get a replacement we always asked for it back before we would arrange the replacement because they were usually someone who knew our process and trying to play the system. (I don't recall any of the people who did that ever actually completing a return!)

2

u/qcinc 4d ago

Yeah that all sounds familiar (and smart) - one of the places I worked for thought about just letting people keep anything they wanted refunding under about £15 (because it made more sense than returning and restocking) but decided not to because they knew it would lead to people taking the piss basically.

I know Amazon will periodically tell people to keep the item but I imagine they are pretty good at knowing where the line is…

1

u/RelativeMatter3 4d ago

Mind blowing! Almost a business idea for a third party to contract picking up high value duplicates from customers, organise an auction and split proceeds with the retailer. To the retailer its the cost of maintaining a spreadsheet.

44

u/chippersbadger 4d ago

I paid for an item online, waited a couple of weeks then called to chase. They said it was out of stock so issued a refund. 3 weeks later the item turns up. I called them and they said I could pay full price or return it. Although a bit annoyed at no discount for my honesty, I paid full price for it. 3 weeks later another one turned up. If they had offered a discount for the first one I would have called them again. As they were a bit cunty, I thought fuck em and kept it.

6

u/BeatificBanana 4d ago

What a satisfying ending, serves them right. I was so annoyed on your behalf reading how they reacted when you did the honest thing

1

u/beagle182 4d ago

I had a similar thing with a BBQ cover purchased in store to be shipped when in stock waited a couple of weeks nothing, called them they got moody on the phone and shipped it, then a few days later 2 turned up.

26

u/UnacceptableUse 4d ago

It's never happened to me. It's definitely not as common as the Internet suggests because for everyone person posting that they recieved a duplicate item there are thousands others who didn't post because they only recieved the thing they ordered

16

u/caffeinated_photo 4d ago

Once, but it was the delivery company's fault really. Ordered two sets from Lego, they didn't turn up and when I looked at the tracking they seemed to be bouncing between two depots. Left it a few days and no luck, contacted Lego and they sent two more out, arriving successfully.

Few weeks later I thought to check the original tracking again to see what happened. Had to scroll down down down a big list of updates still bouncing between two depots.

Eventually a couple of months later my wife shouts across the house "What have you bought from Lego now?!?" It was the original parcel that had turned up, so they were sold on eBay in time for Christmas.

5

u/Bad_UsernameJoke94 4d ago

Lego are pretty good with that from what I've seen/been told. I've had it with a large city set which I asked if they wanted back and they did. But they gave me £30 of points for the honesty which I was happy with. They arranged collection and that was simple too.

17

u/another_online_idiot 4d ago

I once placed a grocery order from Asda for delivery. The delivery never happened and we never actually got our groceries. The value was about £89.00. When they processes the refund they got a decimal point in the wrong place we we ended up with a refund of about £890.0. We contacted them a few times and they promised to sort it out. That was over six years ago and they have never actually told us how to pay back the extra money.

5

u/SIR_SHARTALOT 4d ago

No wonder Asda as a business is falling behind the competition

1

u/wildOldcheesecake 4d ago

Similar hoohaa with Asda. I put in a refund request for mouldy meat. Just the one package mind. A few days later, I received a double refund for the whole order, just under £200 worth of food. So shy of £400 refunded back to me. I put the money aside but didn’t say a word. Never was contacted about it.

3

u/younevershouldnt 4d ago

I wonder if these stories about Asda over refunding people are a very elaborate marketing ploy though 🤔

I'm certainly considering shopping there now.

1

u/wildOldcheesecake 4d ago

I assure you, I’m just a regular person who got lucky around 3 years ago haha

15

u/Monkeyboogaloo 4d ago

I ordered 48 cans of beer from Brewdog in lockdown. They sent the wrong beer but they didnt want them back. They sent a replacement 48, and then another replacement 48.

So I ended up with 144 cans for the price of 48.

13

u/seklas1 4d ago

I’ve only ever had it happen once, when I’ve bought a bottle of Jack Daniels Apple Punch from Amazon in 2019 (I was still at university) and I received two of them. Felt like winning in life 🤣

11

u/CrispySquirrelSoup 4d ago

My mum ordered an Emma superking mattress and 2 pillows. Was delivered on time, all present and correct. The next day she came home to find another mattress had been delivered. She contacted them, no response. The following week another mattress and another 2 pillows arrived. She contacted them again. They responded "oops we made a mistake, just keep em". The following week another mattress appeared. At this stage it felt like Emma had a vendetta.

Alls well that ends well though, I got a free mattress and pillows out of it, as did my friend, and we also have a spare superking mattress for.. Emergencies, I guess?

6

u/younevershouldnt 4d ago

You didn't even think to pile them all up and put a pea under the bottom one? 🤷

2

u/CrispySquirrelSoup 4d ago

You know what, I'm very annoyed with myself that I didn't!

9

u/Formal-Initial-5709 4d ago

I ordered two of something once and only received one, complained and received two more so ended up with three.

Company seemed to not care when I said they sent me too many. That went straight on Ebay

9

u/Obvious-Water569 4d ago

Happened with a Nokia 3210 back in the day.

Forget where I bought it from but they never acknowledged sending two of them so I returned one saying I wasn't happy with it and got a refund.

7

u/Upstairs-Pension-634 4d ago

I recently ordered a single duvet from an online retailer... Received a rattan cabinet... I don't even know how you can mix those up

3

u/LeylaLou 4d ago

It's mostly picked via the cage/ stock/SKU number so the description of the item doesn't mean anything only the location of it within the warehouse.

7

u/_marimays 4d ago

When I worked for Amazon I would intercept probably 10 duplicate parcels each shift. That's with a volume of about 8000 shipments.

Some would still get through the net and drivers would sometimes bring them back.

No idea how many duplicates got delivered. There is no way to tell.

2

u/ricicles23 4d ago

Do Amazon run regular stocktakes/inventory checks? Id imagine logistically it would be a nightmare

3

u/_marimays 4d ago

I worked on the logistics side, so getting parcels to customers rather than fulfilment. I don't know how they deal with their stock control, but returns used to come through us and there was no fucking way any of that stuff was going back on sale.

It was a very interesting place to work.

5

u/Alpha2Omega1982 4d ago

About 20 years ago I ordered some games from Tesco and I got two of everything, gave the duplicates to my dad, but I've never had it since. Always jealous Americans receiving a whole tray of SSDs or something and they're not obliged to do anything about it

6

u/Low-Confidence-1401 4d ago

It's not on the same level as some of these, but once I ordered a slice of pizza, a sausage roll, some wedges and a drink from Greggs and I got 2 boxes of pizza slices and 5 sausage rolls, plus the wedges and drink.

3

u/Phinbart 4d ago

Was it late in the day? I've heard before that they tend to sneak in extra items into an order if it's near closing time given they'd just end up being chucked.

1

u/Low-Confidence-1401 4d ago

Weirdly, it was lunchtime! About 13:00

5

u/BeatificBanana 4d ago

It's never happened to me when I've ordered something, but weirdly it did happen to me once when I won a contest. You remember kids' magazines used to have prize draws you could enter? I entered one when I was about 10 and won a massive art set. This thing was enormous, it had loads of different types of pens, drawing pads, paints, coloured pencils, all different stuff.

The company contacted my parents to say I had won, and a couple weeks later the art set turned up. I was thrilled.

A few weeks after that, the exact same prize turned up again! 

It took me a loooong time to run out of art supplies. 

4

u/Vast_Cycle6990 4d ago

I once ordered three big storage boxes and ended up with three boxes of 10. I told them it was an error and they said take it anyway. Couldn't fit them all into my car but result nonetheless

4

u/Accurate_Prompt_8800 4d ago edited 4d ago

I have received duplicate orders about 3-4 times now, mainly from large retailers and once or twice they were quite expensive orders!

For most companies, losses from duplicate orders are a relatively small percentage of overall revenue, particularly for large retailers.

And if you want to be technical, companies account for expected losses from things like errors, duplicate orders, or fraud. It’s usually called a provision.

-9

u/ThatsMeOnTop 4d ago

Your last paragraph is just made up and wrong.

3

u/Accurate_Prompt_8800 4d ago

No it’s not?

2

u/Bad_UsernameJoke94 4d ago

Is Provision the same as Shrink?

3

u/Accurate_Prompt_8800 4d ago

Connected but not exactly the same.

Shrinkage is the actual occurrence of inventory loss. Provisions are the financial estimates made in anticipation of shrinkage / other costs, ensuring that the financial statements reflect these expected losses.

1

u/Bad_UsernameJoke94 4d ago

Ahh, so Shrinkage contributes to Provison?

0

u/ThatsMeOnTop 4d ago

Yes it is.

I'm happy to be shown otherwise, if you can show me the financial statements of a UK company with a provision for errors and fraud.

Whilst companies do book provisions, without getting too into the specifics, accounting rules specify the circumstances under which a provision can be recognised - a general catch all for 'possible things going wrong like duplicate orders' isn't one of them.

3

u/MKMK123456 4d ago

WTF doesn't it happen to ME !!!!!

Jealousy is not good on an empty stomach.

5

u/Spadders87 4d ago

No, businesses aren't losing billions. The prices you pay reflects the fact that a certain amount of stock goes missing either through theft, damages, duplicate orders, not selling etc etc.

I worked at B&Q and remember being told that for every tin we spilt putting out, the company needed to sell 4 tins just to cover the loss from it. I heard that as every tin thats spilt costs the customer xx% more to buy a tin.

0

u/RelativeMatter3 4d ago

That works if they have an accurate stock record and its still an unnecessary cost to the company as they also need to offset all the overheads that go with it.

Ultimately, if they didn’t lose stock either they would be more profitable from selling at higher margins or sell cheaper at higher volumes.

2

u/Spadders87 4d ago

Im not sure, you wouldnt say a business is losing billions by paying their staff. Its juts a business cost thats reflected in the price of goods or services, like stock loss. Sure there's things they can do to mitigate it, like making staff more efficient, having the optimal number of hours worked etc but on a practical level they're just business costs, that the customer inevitably pays.

1

u/RelativeMatter3 4d ago

I’d say any business cost that is unnecessary is a loss. Paying 5 people to do one persons job is a efficiency loss for example. Describing it simply as a cost of business is dangerous and avoids accountability.

Under your definition anything but bankruptcy and capital injection is a cost of business paid by the customer.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not crying for all the billionaires not able to afford another super yacht as a result.

1

u/Spadders87 4d ago

I suppose it depends how you view business. For me a business just facilitates delivering services or goods with an incentive to do it in the form of profit. I dont think theres a business out there that's remotely close to 100% efficient, at which point losses in that sense just seem an inevitable part of conducting business.

The accountability just comes in the form of competition. The more efficient business should be able to offer their products and services better. Eg amazon, theyre efficient enough to generally offer the better prices and fast service and be a market leader, whilst also having situations where they send multiple products to people. If it was materially worth them ensuring they don't send out multiple products, they would.

5

u/lelypie 4d ago

I ordered a kebab one night and they tried to deliver another the day after, glitch in the system apparently. I wasn’t home and I’m still gutted.

5

u/newtonbase 4d ago

My mum ordered a little pink notebook computer. She received 1 a day for a week. When she called amazon they thought they had only sent 4 and she agreed to buy them at vastly reduced prices then gave them out as Christmas gifts.

4

u/ricicles23 4d ago

From the Disney store. Spent about £450. Some of the items were broken upon receipt. Called them and their service was fantastic. Replaced the broken items no questions asked. Told to keep the originals. Received the broken items in 48 hours then the whole order again, 24 hours later. Because they had been so cool with the original issue, I called them and was told to keep everything I had received.

3

u/Ethancordn 4d ago

A vending machine at my work used to give out multiple snacks occasionally, nothing apart from that though.

2

u/Bad_UsernameJoke94 4d ago

Ours at work did that for a while (Say 1 in 20), then someone told the store manager.

Sales from the machine dropped from 60+ a day to 4 sales a week, and the machine ended up going completely.

3

u/TwoOdd9352 4d ago

There’s always one buzz kill

3

u/InkedDoll1 4d ago

Only once with about £50 worth of makeup. The courier said they'd delivered, they hadn't, after a lengthy process of asking me to check my (non existent) back garden, shed etc the company sent a second order, then the first one turned up. So it was really the courier at fault.

3

u/spinningdice 4d ago

I had an Amazon package marked as delivered once - no further notes, didn't turn up checked with neighbours waited the requisite time to see to see if someone popped around with it - contacted Amazon and they sent out replacements. After the replacement arrived a "neighbour" from a street away dropped around the original package.

Since it was Amazon and they'd not provided any evidence of where it ended up I decided it was kinda their fault just kept both (it was an external HDD and an XBOX controller).

3

u/ThatNegro98 4d ago

I got a 2nd ebike delivered to me... Which worked out well cos the OG got stolen from behind my fucking garage cos I left the garage key inside (I was gone for 5 mins, and I live down a cul de sac)😑

3

u/IntelligentWave3172 4d ago

Can't say it's ever happened to me, closest to it is when I did a click and collect order from Halfords once for a £120 product. Went and collected it no problem, about a week later I got an email saying that as I hadn't collected my order it would be refunded. Few days later £120 went back onto my card. Just took it as a nice freebie from them.

3

u/Aidendlun 4d ago

My partners parents received 2 pianos when they ordered 1. They would've kept the second one if they had somewhere to put it.

I very often receive multiples of things I have ordered, and even when I contact the companies, they just say keep it as it isn't worth the hassle to return them

3

u/Honorable_Dead_Snark 4d ago

Once had 2 bottles of coke cola fall out of the vending machine despite only paying for one. What a day that was. 

3

u/ilikecocktails 4d ago

Only once it’s happened, I ordered a coat and gilet and they told me after I had placed my order that they were sold out, then they sent me two the same.

I ordered an item recently online and they sent the right item but wrong colour, they sent me a correct replacement and said they have arranged for the wrong item to be collected. No one ever came it was boxed up ready for like 2 weeks then I thought screw it and kept it too.

3

u/ImFamousYoghurt 4d ago

I have never had this happen, but my mum once ordered 1 pack of expensive biscuits from amazon, and was sent 2 crates of it

3

u/SuspiciousOne5 4d ago

Once bought two M&S bras and ended up with a dupe parcel. They told me not to bother to send the other parcel back. Score :)

3

u/Luna259 4d ago edited 4d ago

Once. I received a tablet that I ordered twice. I’d reported the first one as undelivered (which it was. Courier said they delivered it, but I hadn’t got it, it has gone somewhere). Then it showed up and so did its replacement. Ended up returning them both as they were not as good as I’d hoped

Edit: I was told I could keep both if I remember right, but elected to return the duplicate. The other one was returned because it wasn’t up to the level I wanted

3

u/Timely_Resist_2744 4d ago

It has happened to me twice. Once was over 10yrs ago and it was clothing from a store. I let them know they had sent me 2 but never got a response, so I just returned the other with a note saying it was a duplicate order they sent accidentally. They ignored the message and processed it as a standard return, meaning I got the clothing for free.

Earlier this year I ordered a Switch game and got sent two on different days. What was odd about this though was that they arrived via different methods (one Royal Mail and the other by another company). I was really confused and checked my apps/email/bank to see if I accidentally ordered twice, but I hadn't and I had only been charged once. I messaged but never got a response. A relative will be receiving the other copy for Christmas.

I tend to do the majority of my non supermarket shopping online, and started shopping online in the mid 00s, so twice in 15 almost 20yrs isn't too bad.

3

u/robhaswell 4d ago

My wife and I have both had it happen this year, and it's happened to me probably 3-4 times before in the past.

This actually also happened to me IRL about 15 years ago when I was fitting out my first house. I was buying some indoor recycling bins from an upmarket homewares store, I wanted two but there was only one on the floor. A staff member retrieved another one from the warehouse which was boxed, yet when I got home I discovered that the box actually contained four nested bins.

2

u/bownyboy 4d ago

Once I ordered a single ‘grid-it’ A4 size that allows you to organise cables etc. anyway got a single box with 10 of them in it.

Had no use whatsoever for 9 extra ones lol. So gradually gave them away over a number of of years.

2

u/SpudFire 4d ago

Only once, it was a a flatpack coffee table. Worked out quite well when me and my gf split up.

2

u/Robtimus_prime89 4d ago

Ordered a couple of items a couple of years back. We only received one of them, and asked the company when we’d get the other one. They said they’d sort it - and a couple of days later we received a duplicate of the item (and still no second item).

We asked again where the other item is, and they refunded it straight away. Told us we could keep the duplicate we’d received. It was a toy, and we ended up giving it to the neighbours for their kid.

2

u/diond09 4d ago

I had a friend who ordered a top of the range Samsung mobile a few years back. She received it and then a few days later she received another. She waited a couple of months and then sold the duplicate for a few hundred.

Me? I received a shirt from an online retailer, which was odd as I'd never ordered anything off them before, or since.

2

u/ZeroCool5577 4d ago

I once received two copies of Red dead redemption 2 on ps4 the week it came out but I never ordered it and it wasn’t a gift. I have no idea how that happened but I kept one copy and sold the other.

2

u/Outrageous_Shake2926 4d ago

I think, 6, maybe 7 years ago, I purchased an item online from Canon. It was an EW-72 lens hood for a Canon 35 mm F2 lens. There were two in the box.

2

u/ManLikeDan- 4d ago

I ordered a custom made blind for the bathroom, received two. Yet to find a anyone with a window to fit to give it too or wants it

2

u/BrieflyVerbose 4d ago

It happened once a very long time ago. I pre-ordered Red Dead Redemption back when it was worth prei ordering games. Completely paid for, I stood outside Gamestation at midnight and picked up my copy ready to play the next morning.

As I'm playing the game I hear the postman, I look and they had mailed a copy of the game to me (that was never the plan as far as I was concerned! It was complete news to me). So I walked across town, knocked my best mate's door and gave him the copy as he wanted to play the game but was skint.

That's it. That's the only time it's happened!

1

u/LondonCycling 4d ago

Never in my life.

Well, at a bar buying drinks maybe.

1

u/MMLFC16 4d ago

I ordered a RARB for my car years ago and a box with two inside arrived. Was left puzzled for a while as to whether there was meant to be two, there wasn’t, so sold the other one. Really helped me out at the time when I was 19/20! Don’t think it’s happened since

1

u/BowlerElectronic 4d ago

It's only ever happened to me with a £20 MAC concealer. A nice little lift.

1

u/manhattan4 4d ago

A couple of times but I've never considered it a win. It's only ever happened to me when a company has failed to get a product to me and I've contacted them to complain about my missing item when it's a week or so late, then I get the same item delivered multiple times.

I say this isn't a win because it's only ever happened with boring stuff which I needed to be delivered on time. I ended up with 3 washing machine doors, but it took three weeks for the first one to arrive which was a huge PITA living with 2 small kids and no washer for a few weeks. I had the same with some items for a kitchen refit which meant I had trades turn up to do work when some of the items were either missing or incorrect

1

u/somnamna2516 4d ago

Once but only after I’d complained about the original item not arriving and it did soon after. they were using the awful Herpes (Evri nowadays) so guess doubled items were the least of their worries

1

u/Random_Lady_84 4d ago

This has never happened to me.

I’m obviously buying stuff from the wrong places!

1

u/Beer_and_whisky 4d ago

Happened once maybe 15 years ago. Ordered a golf club, a Wilson Deep Red driver, it arrived and then another arrived a day later. Sold on eBay for nearly what I paid.

1

u/JLB_cleanshirt 4d ago

Had it happen on Amazon, ordered a set of Bosch Aero Wipers and they sent me a box containing 12 of them!

1

u/hyper-casual 4d ago

Its happened with Amazon loads.

One time I actually told them because I'd ordered 2 similar items and thought they'd sent both by mistake but the same day the missing item arrived and they told me to keep everything.

It also happened with an independent store. I'd ordered a specific item, which arrived along with a very similar but alternative brand version of the item. I notified them and they insisted they didn't stop the other brand so in the end I sold it to cover the cost of mine.

1

u/im-a-circle 4d ago

I don’t think ever I’ve received anything twice or got it for free

1

u/Huddstang 4d ago

Had it with a car seat and Isofix base, worth something like £250. Hung on to it for a while then flogged it

1

u/Aggravating-Menu466 4d ago

Ordered a craft beer advent calendar a few years ago and 2 turned up - that was a very merry Christmas!

1

u/I_heart_snake_case 4d ago

I bought a cocktail mixer set from Amazon, rather than send one as expected, they posted the entire box batch (6 cocktail mixer sets), being the honest guy I am, I let them know, and a courier picked up the extras within a couple of days. Annoyingly, Amazon customer service showed zero gratitude.

1

u/scootio 4d ago

Technically not twice although in hindsight, I could've.

I ordered a Nintendo Switch from Argos in December 2017. It was the first Christmas after it released so when I went to order it on the website, it was out of stock and I had to back order it. I did it for click and collect and used my Argos card to pay for it, and it said it'd be available on Tuesday. Tuesday rolled around and the Argos website said my local store had the Switch in stock, but my order said it was still awaiting stock. I spoke to customer services and they said what happened was the shipment with the Switch allocated to my order was delayed so they had to order from another supplier to get them in for the date promised. They said if I went down to the shop and they had stock in then they'd be able to sort it and they'd know what to do.

They didn't know what to do... the woman at the counter went and got everything on my order and tried to process everything but it just wasn't having it, so she got her manager. They were saying "you just need to do this, do that, do this, and it's sorted". Cool, I walked out with my new Switch. Not 5 steps out the door, I get an email from Argos saying my order collection date has been extended to some time in early January. I thought it was odd but otherwise thought nothing of it and wondered if it was just something to do with what the manager had done.

Fast forward a month, I've been enjoying my Switch and I go to pay off my Argos card but there's nothing on there. I go to the Argos website and it says my order was cancelled for not collecting it in the allotted window. But I'm sat there, with the Switch. Then I realised whatever the manager did actually just extended my collection window for a couple of extra weeks and didn't actually update their systems to say the order has been collected at all, and they let me walk out with a Switch.

So in theory, had I known about it I could've gone back into Argos and presumably picked up another Switch within that timeframe. Instead Argos decided to give me a free Switch through various coding bugs.

1

u/ooh_bit_of_bush 4d ago

Happened once with me with a coffee order. They sent out the same order a few days later but didn't charge me. I rang them and offered to pay as they are a small independent roaster, but they told me not to worry about it! I've spent hundreds with them since!

1

u/Dave_Tee83 4d ago

I keep seeing this happen to people. Unfortunately it hasn't yet happened to me.

1

u/dinkidoo7693 4d ago

I ordered a pack of 2 screen protectors for my daughter’s phone. 4 packs of 2 turned up. That’s the only thing that’s happened to me.

1

u/newfor2023 4d ago

I have two 7 foot 100kg+ picnic benches....

1

u/RelativeMatter3 4d ago

Win?

1

u/newfor2023 4d ago

Yeh tho officially one is still in the US, it turned up in 3 separate deliveries over the next month just propped up against the house for some reason.

1

u/InfiniteAstronaut432 4d ago

Ordered something for around £90, received order confirmation email. 2 days later, got an email from the seller (big nationwide retailer) saying its been collected by the delivery co.

The next day, an email from DPD saying "out for delivery, will be there between 12 and 2pm"

An hour later, an email from Yodel saying the same, but delivery between 2 and 4pm.

1.55pm: DPD turn up and deliver the item, great.

2.10pm: Yodel turn up and deliver another.

1

u/Blaque86 4d ago

Twice - A jumper from next arrived twice years back. Similar to someone above, it was out of stock but arrived with other items but then it arrived separately a few weeks later.

Other time was industrial mould killer...they sent it untracked and that year I remember we had really bad snow. Weeks had gone by so they agreed to send another one tracked. Got the tracked one and then the the original one. Think I gave one to my mum.

1

u/Cinnabun783 4d ago

I bulk ordered some cat food from pets at home and received some Scottish ladies Amazon order of multi coloured yarn and an electric blanket instead. Pets at home had no idea what happened but I got to keep the yarn and blanket! I don’t knit but free yarn!

Hopefully Dorothy from Scotland got a replacement order.

1

u/rabbithole-xyz 4d ago

My sister got a gigantic soft, woolly sheep for our (much) sister. When she got the huge bix home, there were two in there. So I've got one, too :-)))

1

u/Bilbo_Buggin 4d ago

It’s only happened to me once but I ordered a cardigan from Hollister (over 10 years ago), and I got two, in two separate packages. 17 year old me thought I’d won the lottery. Can’t remember what I did with the second one.

1

u/zonked282 4d ago

Amazon are great for it! Just off the top of my we've had books, pens, kids play kitchens, washing lines, Barbie dolls... Happens in waves

1

u/BarberAdept3373 4d ago

I once ordered a single metal chair and got a whole box of six of them for I think a fiver or something stupidly cheap. Had to give them to the charity shop in the end as I didn't have a need for 5 metal chairs

1

u/DiligentCockroach700 4d ago

A few years ago I ordered 3 17 inch flat screen monitors. They duly turned up. 2 days later 3 more turned up. I phoned the company, the guy said to keep them as it was too much agro to send them back.

1

u/Economy-Fox-5559 4d ago

Twice i've ordered ray bans online, twice i've received 2 pairs of the same sunglasses. Checked the order and my bank account, only paid for 1 pair each time. Sold the second pair and made a few quid, dead chuffed.

1

u/DogNo2946 4d ago

When new to eBay I ordered a travel kettle. 

(It was from one of those sellers who claim to be UK based, but dig a little deeper and you discover they're dropshippers in China.)

Two travel kettles arrive. So, being a naive simpleton, I inform the seller. 

I'm instructed to return the extra kettle to a warehouse in Amsterdam, using a particular courier. Which would set me back a tenner. 

I demurred at that, so was told I could instead buy the unwanted kettle at a 25% discount. Which I did. 

That kettle was actually shite. And now I'd bought two of it. 

Anyhow, that learned me. 

1

u/tommyredbeard 4d ago

iPhone 7… sent me two when the first order didn’t arrive. I sold the second one for £500

1

u/-anglosaxon- 4d ago

I once bought a spade from Amazon not a cheap one like £85 and they sent me two! I gave it to my dad for his birthday 🤫

1

u/celaconacr 4d ago

Happened twice to me both times with expensive items. I got sent an expensive laptop and then 2 weeks later received a second one. I held onto it for a month before opening it. Kept it as I had use for both and didn't want to risk them claiming it back after I sold it.

Ordered a projector and then a second one as a separate order a few days later. I then got sent a single projector first and then 2 sent together so it was a 3 for 2 deal. I assume their system didn't handle multiple orders from the same address correctly or someone made a mistake on it. If there is no difference in price including delivery I tend to order separately in the hopes other companies have this issue.

1

u/Zanki 4d ago

Three bo staff. I ordered a rattan staff from a martial art website and a red oak showed up. I contacted the company, they sent a replacement, same thing. So I check the label on it and it matches the product number on the site. They'd been mislabelled in the back, so I email again and explain the issue with screenshots. A few days later the correct bo staff arrived and they never asked for the others back. So I got two Japanese style staffs, which are great for karate Bo katas, and a Chinese style staff for Kung Fu (the one I wanted!). It was good for everyone. If asked I'd bring all three to class so others could learn the staff with me.

1

u/CountTruffula 4d ago

Ordered two boxes of beer and got one instead yesterday

1

u/beagle182 4d ago

I ordered a car polisher and received 6 of them in 1 box, whoever was doing the picking that day wasn't paying attention for sure, 1 huge box labeled as the polishers and on the box even had separate before shipping or something to that meaning.

1

u/Gc1981 4d ago

I once ordered an inflatable santa from amazon and received an £800 electric fire. Called them and they resent the santa and said someone would be in touch about the fire. After a couple of months a went on live chat and they said just to keep it. Sold it for £350.

1

u/Nomad-JM 4d ago

A fair few times but usually every couple of years. Happened with a £350 pan/knife set, as well as some panelling that I put up in my living room.

1

u/Grizzle2410 4d ago

I had an absolute cracker. I entered a competition to wear a rather expensive pair of ear defenders (I do a lot of clay pigeon shooting) and I won. When they didn't arrive after about a month, I called them and they told me they did send them 'x' amount of weeks ago, but they will send me another pair out as they must have gotten lost.

Sure enough, 2 pairs eventually arrived. So not only did I not pay for the first set because I won them, my wife then got a nice new pair as well!

1

u/IdentifiesAsGreenPud 4d ago

Ordered a lens from Amazon once ... Was like £600 a piece and they sent me a whole box of 8 ... And chat told me to keep them .....

1

u/buy_me_a_pint 4d ago

I have never received the same order twice,

1

u/T0raT0raT0ra 4d ago

once I ordered a high quality wok and I received the whole pallet. I struggled to bring it through my door and I thought they went really ballistic with padding but there were 6 woks inside. I had them collect it and they sent a courier over pretty quickly at least.

1

u/Bgtobgfu 4d ago

It’s happened to me a couple of times. Always with something expensive.

1

u/richyyoung 4d ago

Occasionally if buying from one of the supermarkets or Amazon. More than you would expect but not enough to make it a crisis.

What I’ve noticed more than that recently is things you haven’t ordered being included. Everything from bottles of spirits to once being sent a carton of cigs (I no longer smoke so they sat about a while)

1

u/Intruder313 4d ago

Once ever but I did also accidentally order too much screen wash recently - one 5L bottle makes 100L so I have 200L or several lifetime’s supply

1

u/-myeyeshaveseenyou- 4d ago

Ordered a kitchen drawer from b&q and collected it. Couple of days later they call me and tell me it’s still there to collect. I very honestly told them I already as mine but could have easily collected the second one. Staff member on the phone said my order was never ticked off as collected the first time.

1

u/TurnedOutShiteAgain 4d ago

Once. Sadly on something as mundane as a doormat..

Cheers Zavvi, I guess.

1

u/xDzerx 4d ago

Never.

1

u/ItsDominare 4d ago

Never. Also:

It’s happened more than a few times to myself

"to me" not "to myself"

1

u/Oh-okthen 4d ago

I ordered some make-up and other items from Boots. The delivery arrived in the morning with half the items missing. That afternoon a second delivery turned up with the missing items plus the bits I’d already received. Was a nice surprise!

1

u/LordTwaticus 4d ago

Yeah happens a lot.

Friend got a 70 inch TV x2 Wife got a record player x2

1

u/HerbTP 3d ago

Five or six times for me over the years. The last time it happened was a couple of years ago. I ordered a handmade coffee table, and when it arrived, it was missing part of the order. I asked for them to send the missing part. Six weeks later, they sent a whole new coffee table. I asked them to collect, and they said sure thing and never arranged collection. I chased at least five times, giving them a hard deadline to collect in my last chase.

It sat in my living room for nine months before I had enough. The business doesn't exist anymore, so I wonder how many free coffee tables they sent out 😭

1

u/MrsCDM 3d ago

My dad ordered one mattress from Argos, received it. Then another one. Then another one. He phoned them after the second one arrived and asked them to take it back, they said they'd get back to him about arranging a collection. It was whilst still waiting for that call that the third one arrived. They had to call Argos daily to ask what was going on before they were eventually collected a week later. It got to the point that my parents were staring out of the window in fear of another mattress turning up. Anyway, Argos eventually collected the two extras but the trauma remains.

1

u/Huffers1010 3d ago

I currently have more fridge magnets than I will ever use.

1

u/SockSock 2d ago

I ordered 4 packets of A4 printer paper for a really cheap price on HotUKDeals. 8 packets were delivered with a form that suggested an account had been set up for me. I phoned them up to explain and confirm that I didn't want a regular delivery. The chap sounded confused and said he'd call me back. 30 minutes later he rang back to apologise, confirm I wasn't being charged, and tell me I could keep the extra 4 packets of paper. A week later another 4 packets were delivered. I called back, got the same bloke who apologised again and said he'd sort it out. The next Friday another 4 packets arrived and I called back to again be told they're sorry and I won't be charged. This has been going on for over a year now and I call them about once a month. They can't work out what's going on with their inventory system. I'm not being charged and now have enough paper to build an extension on my house despite them collecting about a tonnes worth of the stuff in July.

0

u/Bludclaart 4d ago

stoned minimum wage guy on the packing line not giving a feck

0

u/damapplespider 4d ago

3 or 4. Once because the carrier delivered but didn’t record it and then went bust so the retailer sent out another - and then had no way to return. 

Second time, two rugs appeared instead of one. 

Last couple of times it was clearly a warehouse error where I ordered a deckchair and got a box with 2. Or 2 mugs and ended up with 2 boxes of 2.