Call Kurtis: Amazon seller sending returned items to Vacaville couple's home
VACAVILLE - When packages addressed to Expedia kept showing up at a Vacaville viewer's home and he couldn't get them to stop, they called me to investigate.
Most of the items were damaged, and no one could seem to figure out why he was getting them. It took some reaching out to find out.
Ring doorbell footage shows Tony Pirondini's wife, Jennifer, rushing to stop the UPS man from delivering the 14th package, a large standing basketball hoop addressed to the Returns Department for Expedia Virtual Card. It's the second one they've received.
"A lot of pet supplies," said Tony, who called the travel company Expedia but was told they don't have a virtual rewards program. "I was having absolutely no success."
CBS13 reached out to Expedia, which investigated. They found that there is no actual connection to Expedia or any Expedia program or product and that the shipments were actually tied to an Amazon seller.
"We have worked with Amazon to deactivate the seller's account and the consumer should not be receiving random packages in the future," Amazon said in a statement.
Tony is hopeful that the ordeal, which has been going on for months, is at an end.
He says that Amazon told him to keep the stuff, but since most of it was damaged, he threw most of it away and donated what was salvageable, including the first basketball they got.
But that got Kurtis wondering, can you legally keep unsolicited packages sent to you?
Well, it depends on what's on the address label. It's a federal crime to intercept someone else's mail – punishable by up to five years behind bars. In this case, there was someone else's name on the shipping label: Expedia's.
But, if a seller sends something to you that you didn't order, if it's addressed to you, with your name on it, it's yours to keep.