Paying it forward, sort of

TidBITS Talk
1

Anyone here in need/want of an AMD Ryzen 7 2700x, 8 core,16 thread processor model 20YD270XBGAFBOX free (see it on Amazon)?

Here is what happened — i noticed an unauthorized charge on my credit card at Amazon. Not to my Amazon account, so credit card cancelled and charge removed. Two days later, the Ryzen appears on my doorstep from Amazon. Some poor hacker forgot to change mailing address. There is no point sending it back to Amazon as no account to credit for it. No packing slip in box.

I am not a gamer, but I imagine one of you folks is, or has a family member who is and might enjoy this. So it would give me great pleasure to pass along my unexpected good fortune to a member of my favorite Mac community.

First one to holler gets it, free shipping.

1 Like
2

The IAAS student observatory could almost certainly take advantage of it; I’ll ask the current docent to be certain, and reply with an address if yes.

1 Like
3

I think Amazon’s already out the money. I’d at least call Amazon and explain the situation and see what they want to do.

4

I guess I didn’t read that very carefully (I’m totally fragged tonight); sorry.

I agree, it’s essentially stolen property until someone says otherwise; somewhere I got it in my head you’d said Amazon said there was no point in returning it, and you could just keep it.

On cheaper items, they do exactly that (I should post a picture of my collection of incorrect items shipped by Amazon; it’s an ever growing box of truly useless crap that looks nothing like what was ordered).

Anyway, if you drop a note with that explanation, they’ll either give it to you, or give you a return label.

If it becomes yours and want to donate it to the students, the docent says they can definitely use it.

5

I see it as a gift from an anonymous donor. A package was delivered to my door, unsolicited. It is not an incorrect order placed by me. How it was paid for, or not, isn’t really my concern.

So, Frederico, let me know where to send it. I can think of no better solution than helping students, especially star gazers. When ranching out in the boonies, we had virtually no ambient light. The stars went right down to the horizon in every direction. I would lie on my back, while checking on cows, and feel wrapped up in the Milky Way. Doesn’t get much better than that!

2 Likes
6

I’m not a lawyer so I don’t know the legalities of the situation (but my
amateur knowledge of the law suggests it is stolen property and, while
you didn’t steal it, you’re receiving and possessing stolen property),
but even if you’re fine legally, I think ethically you should at least
see what Amazon wants to do. But of course it’s your choice.

Brian

1 Like
7

I guess I didn’t make it clear in the beginning. The first thing I did was call Amazon and they could not find the order.

1 Like
8

I’m no lawyer either, but my understanding from back in snail mail order days was that if you receive an unsolicited package it is considered yours to keep.

1 Like
10

Mark – Exactly. My understanding as well.

Frederico – let’s continue this off-list.

And just to clarify a few things: The charge to my credit card had not yet been posted to the account, it was a temporary authorization. Amazon shipped without waiting for the charge to clear.