What to do with unordered merchandise

A Coeur d’Alene reader received a call from a representative identifying himself as an Amazon employee. The representative informed the reader that they were shipping her a pair of Nike tennis shoes that she ordered. They also informed her that if she didn’t place the order for the shoes, she needed to call them back at 810-212-0249.

This is a Michigan number and the phone number has been tied to this same ploy. It's been reported as a scam. However, this does beg the question: What happens if you receive merchandise you didn't order?

According to the Federal Trade Commission, you're not required to pay for any unordered merchandise you receive. Federal laws prohibit the mailing of unordered merchandise to consumers and then demanding payment for the goods. Consumers are also under no legal obligation to notify the seller of the error.

There is a caveat. If you participate in a sweepstakes or order goods advertised as “free” or “trial,” be cautious. Read the details to make sure you're not joining a club with regular purchasing requirements. In those circumstances, you will be on the hook.

But in this case, if you receive a call informing you about the shipment of merchandise that you did not order, don’t bother to return the call since it's unlikely you will be shipped the goods anyway. Remember, by not talking to the scammer, this eliminates the chances of you divulging any of your personal information.

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DOUBLE CHECK THAT POLICY: If you own any life insurance policies, it’s a good idea to dust off that binder and review the documents to see what conditions might negate your policy. A Coeur d’Alene couple recently reviewed the policy that they have had for a long time and discovered that there are restrictions that they weren’t aware existed.

It's well-known that most policies exclude suicide as a valid cause for policy payment purposes, but are there others? Yes. It turns out for our couple that disease is a cause that's not covered under their policy. To better understand what that meant, our reader called and queried the insurance company. They were told that if they died from COVID-19, the policy would not pay out.

This surprised our readers so they wanted me to warn others to go back and review their life insurance policies to see what conditions would be covered in the event of a death.

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COLLECTION AGENCY NOTIFICATIONS: A reader received a letter from a collection agency called Credit Management, which was attempting to collect $549 owed to Cox Communication from 2018. Problem is our reader never had an account with Cox Communication so never had any business relationship with that company.

To entice the reader to pay the debt, Credit Management offered a 30% discount off the original debt so the amount owed was only $384. However, to get the discount the debt would need to be paid immediately.

In this case, the reader didn't owe any obligation because the debt did not belong to her. Even if it had, Idaho has a statute of limitations on debt collections. All debt has a termination period which prevents collection agencies from continuing to collect on a debt outside the statute of limitations period.

In Idaho, open accounts such as auto loans or retail installment accounts have a statute of limitations of four years. Credit card, mortgage, private student loans and medical debt each have a five-year statute of limitations. The statute of limitations clock begins as of the date of the last charged item or the last payment. But it can also be the date you made to promise to pay the debt or entered a payment agreement. You can also resurrect debt by acknowledging it or signing a new promise to pay the debt.

In short, prior to entering into any agreement to pay off a debt amount, consumers should ensure that the debt belongs to them and is still due and payable and did not fall outside the statute of limitations, which abdicates your responsibility.

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Remember: I’m on your side.

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If you have encountered a consumer issue that you have questions about or think our readers should know about, please send me an email at [email protected] or call me at 208-274-4458. As The CDA Press Consumer Gal, I’m here to help. I’m a copywriter working with businesses on marketing strategy, a columnist, a veterans advocate and a consumer advocate living in Coeur d’Alene.