Abandonded or not?

[Mill Shires]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Washington (state...not DC)

If a consumer orders a product from a retailer either online or in person for "store pickup", but does not pick it up after repeated phone calls and emails:

1. How long does the store have to hold the order/merchandise?
2. Can the store, after XX days, declare it abandoned or unclaimed? (if so, how long do you have to wait and does the terminology matter?)
3. Can the store keep the product for resale to other consumers?
4. Can the store sell it to a wholesaler or jobber at a discount to pay for shipping, handling, storage, paperwork, etc?
5. Can the store just donate it to a charity?
6. Can the store treat it as "negligable value" property; what value is attached to "negligable"?
7. Can the store demand additional "storage" fees? (We didn't, just curious)

Thanks for any help....I just had a hell of a fight with someone who bought some merchandise a year ago and never picked it up. Now they want a refund! They said I had to hold it 3 years, that I couldn't give it away or sell it to pay for overhead related to the handling, that it had to be given to the state of washington or to the sherriffs office, etc etc...this was all over a $110 college textbook! I can't find a law that really covers something like this.

 

[xylene]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Washington (state...not DC)

If a consumer orders a product from a retailer either online or in person for "store pickup", but does not pick it up after repeated phone calls and emails:

1. How long does the store have to hold the order/merchandise?
2. Can the store, after XX days, declare it abandoned or unclaimed? (if so, how long do you have to wait and does the terminology matter?)
3. Can the store keep the product for resale to other consumers?
4. Can the store sell it to a wholesaler or jobber at a discount to pay for shipping, handling, storage, paperwork, etc?
5. Can the store just donate it to a charity?
6. Can the store treat it as "negligable value" property; what value is attached to "negligable"?
7. Can the store demand additional "storage" fees? (We didn't, just curious)

Thanks for any help....I just had a hell of a fight with someone who bought some merchandise a year ago and never picked it up. Now they want a refund! They said I had to hold it 3 years, that I couldn't give it away or sell it to pay for overhead related to the handling, that it had to be given to the state of washington or to the sherriffs office, etc etc...this was all over a $110 college textbook! I can't find a law that really covers something like this.

Why are YOU doing the irate customers work.

Stick to you guns.

If they want to sue you, THEY will have to find a legal reason.

Some idiot blows some smoke, you don't have to start a fire.

 

[Zigner]

Just give them their textbook

 

[Mill Shires]

We would have given them the book if we still had it. We disposed of it and moved on. We don't get rent for storage, and that's not our business! LOL!

I want to find some laws to give a foundation for a policy formation that we would post in the store and online to prevent this from happening in the future.

 

[justalayman]

You might want to go lock the other thread with this question where I posted:

what does your contract with the purchaser state?

 

[Country Living]

Bumping to override spam