Legal Question in Consumer Law in Massachusetts

Re: undordered merchandise

If you obtain a benefit from the heating ooil, and it was an honest error, he has a claim in quantum meruit and or "money hjad and received." It is not the best claim, nor the worst. Pay the man -- but stick to the provable wholesale cost of heating oil at his pick-up site that day. He should get his fuel paid for so he does not incur a loss, but he is not due the mark-up for profit.

Ask your neighbors if THEY had similar notes before you contact him, however. If they all did, it's a scam, and he should get his proper due for it -- a business loss for an unfair and deceptive act or practice. (I doubt this is the case, given what it would cost to empty the tanks for such a scam.)