Money Moral Dilemma: Should I tell the holiday company it's refunded me twice?

MSE_Sarah

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

I bought my mum a holiday, which had a 14-day cooling-off period in case she changed her mind. Sure enough she did, and I asked the company for a refund. It ended up refunding me the £1,849 twice. What should I do?

Unfortunately the MSE team can't always answer Money Moral Dilemma questions as contributions are often emailed in or suggested in person. They are intended to be enjoyed as a point of debate and discussed at face value.

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.

Got a money moral dilemma of your own? [URL="mailto: mmd@moneysavingexpert.com"]Suggest an MMD[/URL].

[purplesignup][/purplesignup]

Caz3121

move it to a separate account, contact them and arrange to repay
or you could keep quiet and hope that they don't reconcile their figures over the next 6 years

gettingtheresometime

These 'dilemmas' never cease to amaze me.

koalakoala

Why are you asking, you know what to do !

tgon

It’s not a dilemma, it’s just dishonest to keep money that doesn’t belong to you.

Jackson7148

The worst case scenario is that you keep the money, spend it. Then at some point in the future they realise their mistake and demand their money back. In which case as I'm sure most people will be, you will struggle to find £1,849 out of the blue to repay.

Best case scenario is they never realise their mistake. But are you seriously going to keep the money in an account for the next 6 years just in case they never get in touch to be repaid?

My advice, do the right thing and make them aware of their mistake, they may even offer you a discount on next holiday booked through them for making them aware. If they don't offer...ask. Worst they can say is no!

bigpat

If this is a dilemma, it says a lot about you.

A business made a mistake. It happens. To think that you could profit by almost two grand on that, well, it's little short of robbery. I hope I never drop my wallet on your street.

elsien

How about the next dilemma being one that isn't a statement of the bleeding obvious?

AndrewHawthorne

It's not your money, whether or not the company notice and ask you to pay it back, and it never will be. If as individuals we don't behave with integrity, how can we expect better standards from businesses, which are also run by people like us?

I anticipate that if the company had charged you twice and realised what they did, you would expect a refund from them, whether or not you also noticed? If they did not, what would you think of that business? Ethical? Trustworthy? No.

hunnibee_2

Write to them informing them of a mistake and they have 14 days to respond giving clear instructions on how to repay this so you have a clear trace & so that you will receive no follow up once completed.
Make it clear that if they haven't responded in writing within 14 days then you will assume that they do not wish to make a claim for this money.

Post it recorded delivery.

highseapirate

Step 1. Keep the money. Book another holiday and cancel it during the cooling off period to see if they refund you twice.

Step 2. Repeat step 1.

Hopefully they'll never notice...you might even be able to give up work.

(Alternatively you could decide that they have made a genuine mistake and tell them)