MONEY MORAL DILEMMA: Should you come clean about the extra refund?

Ebenezer_Screwj

Yes, of course I would hand it back. That is not an honest way to be a Money Saver.

Pound

This happened to me before, got a £5 discount on an item but after buying it realised I'd got the wrong one so had a refund minutes later onto my card. Didn't notice until a few weeks later though when I got my card statement that they'd refunded £5 more than I'd paid.

9411john

Definitely not. Am a firm believer than in the vast majority of instances, sale prices, discount vouchers etc. etc. just reduce the profit that they make anyway. No store, big or small, sells items at a loss; they just make a smaller profit!

biosh

I'm astonished at how high a proportion of respondents would take the money. This is just wrong. I would have to give the money back.

grrrl

I had a similar situation a couple of years ago.

While at Uni, my Mum bought me a jacket in the sale and posted it to me for my birthday. Eight weeks later it finally turned up having been lost in the post for all that time!

It was completely the wrong size, shape and style and my Mum had kept the receipt so I took it back to the shop in my home town the following weekend. The assistant's first comment was "we can only give you vouchers if you don't have the receipt", so I gave her my receipt. The shop then refused to return the item even though I had a valid receipt because it was out of the set time period.

I returned to Uni, took the coat back to the branch of the shop in my University town and claimed that I didn't have a receipt. The shop accepted the refund, but said that since the item was in the sale, I'd have to be refunded at the last sale price... which was £5 more than my Mum had paid for it.

Given that I'd gone through so much hassle beforehand and the choice was between no refund or being dishonest, I chose to be dishonest.

(btw, at the time I was a working-class, student rocker and jacket was in the style of jazzed-up, glitzy chav, hence the fashion issues)

dbfisokay

The key points of this question are that 1. You bought something at 20% lower than the usual price because of the voucher facility and 2. You returned it and received a full refund.

NB: You were only able to buy the product 20% lower than the usual price because of the voucher facility hence you paid for the “bargain” via:

Paying the full price minus 20% plus one 20% off voucher which = 80% cash value + 20% voucher value which =100%
Hence; You are entitled to 100% remuneration, which at the discretion of the store, might be 100% cash value or 80% cash + 20% voucher value or any combination thereof.

As there is a 100% payment being given and received there is a complete cancellation of each element of the transaction by its counter element therefore there is no dilemma, primarily because there was no bargain; merely an alternative funding method which is rendered meaningless by the actual overall payment value of the item.

It is wise to avoid seeing all payment as being dependent upon “cash” value.

ms_ora

It has happened many times with me in the past. Just recently I had bought two trousers from T J Hughes store in an offer of 2 for £10 or £6 each. Since I didn't like them I returned them and the lady at the till paid me £12 instead of £10. I then drew her attention that I had paid only £10 & not £12.
To me it doesn't matter whether the amount is £2 or £200, its the morality that matters the most.

sbcsexeter

The key here is the voucher - if you got the lower price refund PLUS the voucher returned, then thats OK - or if you get the full price refund, with no voucher, then thats ok too. Higher price refund and a voucher returned - thats the moral dilemma. Thing is that the store already has the full price for the item - your cash plus the value of the voucher which is given by the promoter of the offer - either the store, manufacturer, whatever.

Nigel

aaranj

i would keep the money. why not? i paid the full amount in the first place and the store decided to give me a discount. if i decide not to offer the store a discount when i return the product (ie. own up) then that is up to me and me alone. also next time you get a discount voucher read the back of it, you will usually find something like this:

We reserve the right to refuse any discount at our discretion

i would simply be doing the same to them. i wouldn't lose any sleep over it, i doubt they would.

one final point, what does martin teach us? company's are NOT our friends. a company's job is to make money from us and our job is to stop them.

Nightowl

Unless it's a very small shop I'd take the refund and run. It would go somewhere towards all the times these companies overcharge us, bet they loose no sleep.

Mental note: ask for a conscience for Christmas!!

Amanda