Money Moral Dilemma: Should I insist on paying my colleague for the chair she gave me?

Fitzmichael

Send her a touching note about her generosity and say you are going to share it by giving half (or whatever) of what she saved you by giving it to a children's charity (in joint names?). That will double the effect of her good nature.

davefred

Don’t try and force money on them. 

Either pay it forward or grasp an opportunity to treat them next time you get chance. 

dragondam

no you should NOT pay her for the chair! I think the replies I have read are missing the point. it's not about the value of the chair it's about her moral position. 
she has the chair she paid for. she has a spare chair, which she didn't pay for and doesn't want. what should she do with it  - throw it away? what a waste of a perfectly good chair minus one screw); sell it?  that would be profiting from the chair company's mistake, when they have already put it right; so the answer is to give it away. She is then in the position she would have been in if the original chair had been OK.  If you pay her for it then she is up on the deal and would feel like she was scamming the company she bought it from. So accept the chair, without making her feel uncomfortable. 
a gift as a token of your gratitude would be nice, and if you feel guilty for getting something for free by all means donate something to charity, but don't involve your colleague, because you are still trying to reward her for something. 

meknowalot-51

So...........a brand new chair that's worth about £200 was delivered to a work colleague and because it had one screw missing they sent her a new one,with no mention of returning the old one.She sounds really nice,doesn't she?

Daph57

A small treat such as chocs or flowers as it was delivered. But ensure you help someone else.

allotment51

I was told years ago that I should accept a gift with good grace.

nosuperwoman

People have different attitudes to money. It's just not that important! (I realise that is only if you have enough). I would give her something nice and thoughtful as a thank you and then look for an opportunity to 'pay it forward'. I recently gave someone £5 in change for a parking fee - someone did something similar for me years ago and I never forgot it

ruralbz15

Since she effectively got "2 for 1", give her half the price she paid.

DontBringBertie

graememartin said:

Firstly, why didn't you go into your office and get your chair? I did that on the second day of home working, I have a special chair for my bad back that cost the company £500, I wasn't going to get one like that by myself. It's been a massive help. I've seen people struggling on the sofa, at the kitchen table etc; I did on day 1 of lockdown but my missus said to me 'you need to be upstairs in the spare room, I can't have you under my feet all day!' - for that I needed another chair, so I sorted it quickly.
Secondly, most people don't seem to realize that working from home is still working for your company. They are legally obliged to provide you a suitable environment to work in at the office (ie with appropriate furniture), with home-working I'd suggest they are still responsible, and therefore they need to buy you a suitable chair if you don't have one and can't get to the office to get the one you normally use. Suggest you (and everyone else out there struggling) contact them and see what they will do for you.

As for your friend, just buy her some chocolates or something to say 'ta' and call it a day at that, she did say it was free.

Most offices won’t let you just take chairs, our certainly doesn’t. Since we hot desk, if everyone took a chair there would be none left for when people go in to the office...

gloriouslyhappy

Send a thank you card and a deliveroo voucher, and allow her this lovely gesture. As others have said, she doesn't want it cluttering up her home and you need it so it's a good deal for both of you. It would be churlish to keep offering money.