Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth

[W3WN]

Something very odd happened about an hour ago.

Amazon Delivery dropped off a package. What's odd about that? Well...

Last week at work (no, I don't work at the insurance broker anymore), I realized that one of our lab routers was bad. It was a 24 port Netport unit. (Now I know why it only cost me $5 at the last hamfest; here I thought I'd talked the guy down from $15, he was probably happy to take whatever a sucker offered him! But I digress). So over the holiday break, I went online and ordered a replacement. Only an 8 port, as that's all we need for what we're about to do.

The key is that I ordered the router... as well as some extra long CAT-5E cables... on eBay.

So why would Amazon deliver a brand new, still in shrink wrap, router to me? At home? And... marked as a gift, an anonymous gift, for free?

How could someone have known?

Coincidence? Sure would be an odd one.

I checked with my Field Engineer. He didn't order it. No reason for him to, either. I get reimbursed for office expenses, and this counts.

Cookie harvesting? Someone would have to have harvested cookies on my work laptop, and from there jumped to my home address. Not impossible, but highly unlikely.

I just don't get it.

Now, I'm not complaining. I can certainly USE this! I'm just trying to figure out what happened.

(And I have to wonder why couldn't my anonymous benefactor shipped he, oh, I don't know, a TS-890S?)

[W3WN]

Things just turned a little stranger.

The router I ordered was, allegedly, delivered about 1602 PST, 12/28 (today), according to the e-mail informing me of delivery. Hmmm. Got the message at 1159 EST... that’s 0859 PST. So who’s doing the delivery, Marty McFly and Doc Brown?

So, I get home about 1830 EST... no package. Nothing. Nada. Not on the porch, not down by the garage, zip.

Delivery ZIP code? 15216. Dormont. Small borough a few miles from here... 15234. There’s a whole community, The Great State Of Mt. Lebanon, between hither and thither.

Not sure what all is going on. Already contacted the seller and requested a refund. We shall see.

[W3WN]

Heard back from the seller.

Yup. The "gift" I received on Monday was the switch I ordered. But no paperwork, no indications who sent it, just sent as an anonymous "gift."

Yesterday's delivery receipt? Bogus. Not sure how he pulled it off... or if there was really a delivery, or where it went...

I smell a scam. I wasn't the one being scammed; I don't know if he scammed eBay out of whatever they'd get from the delivery fee, if he scammed Amazon for a "free" delivery he should have paid for, disguised as a "gift", or if something else is going on... like the real delivery being something... I don't know, illegal? contraband? a cover up for something else?

It certainly is the strangest "gift" I've received in a long time, if ever.

[n6hcm]

is amazon delivering directly to you, or are they using ups/usps/...?

we got amazon direct delivery a few months ago and things have been kinda weird. they just turn up and drop off a tremendous pile of packages in the lobby of the building (not with the reception desk) and it is very much an inexact exercise.

[W3WN]

is amazon delivering directly to you, or are they using ups/usps/...?

we got amazon direct delivery a few months ago and things have been kinda weird. they just turn up and drop off a tremendous pile of packages in the lobby of the building (not with the reception desk) and it is very much an inexact exercise.
Direct.