Oil delivered to wrong house - what are our rights?

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peemac said:
Plenty of people can access a property legally once they have reasonable excuse to enter
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No. It doesn't work like that. They key point is permission, not reasonable excuse. Permission can be given by the legal occupier of the property. Entry without permission is trespass.


peemac said:
As in the grounds not the physical house.
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Irrelevant. Unless you're a Guard or agent of the State. A "dwelling" attracts a higher level of constitutional protection than other property and generally speaking, a warrant is required for entry. There are numerous circumstances set out in legislation allowing for entry onto premises but excluding premises used as a dwelling, eg environmental health officers, health and safety inspectors and suchlike.

peemac said:
Post and parcel delivery services to start with.
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Implied permission. Which an occupier is perfectly entitled to withdraw. At the cost of getting no post.

peemac said:
Meter readers.
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Contractually required if you want electricity. Again you can withdraw permission but you mightn't like the obvious consequences!

peemac said:
Neighbour's contractors if it's an emergency and requires access via your property.
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Getting one's oil back isn't an emergency! But, yes, emergency can, sometimes, in some circumstances, justify what would otherwise be an act of trespass, eg to save people or property from a burning building. That's not what we have here.

peemac said:
As I said above, someone with legal knowledge is better placed to give the legal standing, but I would think that they would have an entitlement to enter the grounds to retrieve their property.
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Absolutely not. Your don't get to make a "mistake" and then use that mistake to generate an entitlement to enter other people's property and interfere with their stuff.
 
I doubt this is a scam and more likely gross incompetence on behalf of the oil company. It's called unsolicited goods and they do have a legal right to try and recover but cannot legally demand payment. They have to give you notice in writing and I would start by trying to figure out how much does your oil tank hold and how much do you reasonable think was added.
 
Wow! What a read. God bless anyone who makes a mistake to the contributors to this thread. It's going to cost them!

The OP has confirmed that oil was put into their tank. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to check the oil levels in a tank. I use a stick :rolleyes:.

Just like an oil tank can measure how much oil left the truck and into the tank, they can measure it going the other way. Arrange for them to call to your house and remove it. And that is the end of that.

They may have handled it better but bad manners doesn't imply criminality.

As for a scam? Offering to do deals or a discount doesn't seem a great way to scam someone. Couldn't they just call to their property when no one was in and steal all the oil?
 
There is no "May have handled it better" about it Steven, they absolutely could and should have handled it better. Sending a letter weeks after the fact starting it with "you hold in your possession misplaced goods" is an awful way of trying to resolve the matter.
It would have been far better to call in person (or at the very least over the phone) to explain their mistake, apologise for it and then discuss how it could be resolved. To compound the matter by then being rude on the phone just worsens an already bad situation.
Also you say it's easy to measure the tank, however you missed the point that the mistaken delivery was 5 weeks prior to the threatening letter so any measurement would be 5 weeks late.
The company need to back down here, apologise for their bad handling of the situation and then discuss how it can be resolved (and they really should be willing to do better than a measly €30 discount!).
Until then the OP is under no obligation to take the next step imho.
 
Didn’t the OP make contact with the supplier first and open discussions by demanding to know how this could have happened, implying that it might be a scam, and questioning the quality of what was put in the tank?

We still have people here who think it’s a scam which is just insane.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
Didn’t the OP make contact with the supplier first
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No. The first the OP heard of this was by letter which prompted the phone call.

It’s now clear it’s not a scam, but the Oil company didn’t do anything to cover itself on glory in its handling of the thing.
 
Ceist Beag said:
There is no "May have handled it better" about it Steven, they absolutely could and should have handled it better. Sending a letter weeks after the fact starting it with "you hold in your possession misplaced goods" is an awful way of trying to resolve the matter.
It would have been far better to call in person (or at the very least over the phone) to explain their mistake, apologise for it and then discuss how it could be resolved. To compound the matter by then being rude on the phone just worsens an already bad situation.
Also you say it's easy to measure the tank, however you missed the point that the mistaken delivery was 5 weeks prior to the threatening letter so any measurement would be 5 weeks late.
The company need to back down here, apologise for their bad handling of the situation and then discuss how it can be resolved (and they really should be willing to do better than a measly €30 discount!).
Until then the OP is under no obligation to take the next step imho.
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They had over 600 litres of oil in their tank before the delivery. They had over 1,100 after the delivery. Good luck using 500 litres of oil in 5 weeks. it is not in dispute that oil was added to the tank and the OP seems happy that it is ok. What people want is compensation for them being rude!
 
Johnno75 said:
No. The first the OP heard of this was by letter which prompted the phone call.
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They got the docket for the oil. Seeing as the OP isn't a customer of the oil company, they couldn't have received a call as they wouldn't know their phone number.
 
Johnno75 said:
The oil company lost its credibility and legal standing once it sent a letter stating that the law allows them to effectively trespass on the OP’s property to get the oil back! Any reputable company would not do this. If it was a mistake, the company should be big and bold enough to absorb the loss (its only a few hundred quid - I’ve lost more on a night out!). Or if it feels really strongly about it, dock the driver’s wages for delivering to the wrong address.
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Agree. The company should be willing to just write this off. Sending that letter was not the right approach and would totally get my back up.
 
Steven Barrett said:
They had over 600 litres of oil in their tank before the delivery. They had over 1,100 after the delivery. Good luck using 500 litres of oil in 5 weeks. it is not in dispute that oil was added to the tank and the OP seems happy that it is ok. What people want is compensation for them being rude!
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They had over 600 litres but they don't say exactly how much they had (they may not even know for sure). They don't say how much was in the tank 5 weeks later so we can't be sure on that. All they have is a letter from the company stating they delivered 500 litres. Assuming the OP agrees there may have been 500 litres delivered, as someone else said, a fair offer would be to take back 400 litres, once they actually engage properly with the customer and cease threatening them of course!
 
TBF to Gordon, it is slightly unclear as to the sequence of events here so maybe the OP can clarify.

Was the first the OP knew about this when the registered letter was received (last Friday according to the OP) and was the phone from your husband subsequent to that letter?
Or was the first contact made by you to the company via a phone call?
If the latter then you must have known there was a delivery of oil so when did you know this and how did you know who to contact and did you measure the oil at that time?
 
Ceist Beag said:
They had over 600 litres but they don't say exactly how much they had (they may not even know for sure). They don't say how much was in the tank 5 weeks later so we can't be sure on that. All they have is a letter from the company stating they delivered 500 litres. Assuming the OP agrees there may have been 500 litres delivered, as someone else said, a fair offer would be to take back 400 litres, once they actually engage properly with the customer and cease threatening them of course!
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Why should the OP get 100 litres of free oil for someone making a mistake?

Do you believe that everyone who makes a mistake should pay for it?
 
Steven Barrett said:
Why should the OP get 100 litres of free oil for someone making a mistake?

Do you believe that everyone who makes a mistake should pay for it?
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Given the approach here then yes I do believe in this case they should be willing to take some loss. Do you believe they should not compensate the OP in any way for their mistake and subsequent poor behaviour?
 
Ceist Beag said:
Given the approach here then yes I do believe in this case they should be willing to take some loss. Do you believe they should not compensate the OP in any way for their mistake and subsequent poor behaviour?
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People make mistakes all the time. I don't expect people to pay financially for making one when the OP can go directly back to the situation she was in beforehand without suffering a financial loss herself.

I also don't believe that people should suffer a financial loss for being rude. Yes, people should treat people nicer (like not trying to make people pay for making a mistake), but it is not a reason to try to get money out of them.

And remember, the OP also questioned the quality of the firms product. Questioning whether you sell a low quality product is going to annoy anyone.
 
Steven Barrett said:
People make mistakes all the time. I don't expect people to pay financially for making one when the OP can go directly back to the situation she was in beforehand without suffering a financial loss herself.

I also don't believe that people should suffer a financial loss for being rude. Yes, people should treat people nicer (like not trying to make people pay for making a mistake), but it is not a reason to try to get money out of them.

And remember, the OP also questioned the quality of the firms product. Questioning whether you sell a low quality product is going to annoy anyone.
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Fair enough, we won't agree on this one. I think in this case the company (it's a company not a person) should be willing to accept some responsibility here and compensate the OP for the inconvenience. I don't think the cost of 100L would be onerous and it may encourage them to work harder to prevent such a mistake in the future.
 
Johnno75 said:
No. The first the OP heard of this was by letter which prompted the phone call.

It’s now clear it’s not a scam, but the Oil company didn’t do anything to cover itself on glory in its handling of the thing.
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No, they got a docket

We got a docket with someone else’s name on it, the person who the oil was meant for but nothing in our name.

We rang after the event and said we weren’t happy with how this happened and how do we know what was put in, considering everyone has eircodes (detached house) and that we knew nothing about them. We also asked could they verify the amount they were taking back out. Nothing too serious in the lines of conservation, more enquiring. They got very rude and told us to hang up and go and get the oil tested – so my husband hung up!

Today they sent us a ‘sale of goods act’ letter mentioning unsolicited misdelivery saying they could access the property to take it back. This was sent by registered post. Just feel this is very threatening when we did nothing wrong and didn’t say we weren’t going to engage.


There is no need to turn this into an episode of Perry Mason. To be fair to the OP, they seem more than willing to arrange a solution. The company were rude but an innocent mistake was made. If there is a remedy that can suit all parties then what's wrong with that. By all means be careful it is not a scam and by the sounds of it, the company won't win customer service awards but just allow them to their oil or else keep it and pay for it. Talk about legalities is just nonsense.
 
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