Moral dilemma - should I return a £25 clothes shop gift voucher?

SteveSi

A few Christmases ago, my 87 year old mother who was suffering from vascular dementia (now sadly deceased), gave me a thick woollen jumper for Xmas. Unfortunately, it did not fit at all, the arms were weirdly way too long. The new-smelling jumper still had the shop nylon loop attached through the material and the loop still held a label with the name of the shop and some printed details on it such as stock number, etc. (but no brand tag or price tag). My mother could not provide me with the shop receipt but since the shop was local, I took it into the shop and complained about the long sleeves. They didn't have another one as it was discontinued stock. I did not have the receipt and there was nothing else in the shop that I fancied, but they gave me a £25 gift voucher to use later (the item apparently was last on sale at £25).
That afternoon I told my mother that I had returned the long-armed jumper for a gift voucher from the shop and she went a bit coy. Eventually, my brother questioned her and she admitted that she had bought the jumper in a local charity shop and not at the retail shop after all (even though she told me she had!).
Since I now have the £25 gift voucher from the shop (which I mistakenly insisted that the jumper was purchased from!), I was going to spend it this Xmas but my brother says that I should hand it back into the shop, explain and apologize. My take is that the jumper was clearly 'faulty' as the arms were way too long and someone must have paid good money for it.
Should I return the gift voucher, tear it up or just use it?

Phil&Michelle

Personally, I would just use the voucher, you didn't intentionally set out to obtain a refund or voucher by deceit and now that you have the voucher it seems silly just to tear it up. If you want to balance your moral compass you could use the voucher to get something new and then perhaps donate some of your old clothes to your local charity shop.

MalMonroe

Wow! I don't think many shops would have given such a voucher, without a receipt. I'm with your brother. I'd have to take it back to the shop, explain and apologise. You never know, they may say that you can still use it. (Sounds like it's been a while anyway) They can obviously afford to give that kind of money away so they probably will. Say you can use it, that is.

Whatever happens, you will know you've done the right/honest thing. I think you know that, or you wouldn't have asked.

badmemory

I do think you need to return the voucher to the shop.  So many are in trouble at present and gift vouchers are counted as a liability until they expire.  As for apology, well no more than sorry I was lied to but this is what has happened.  Or even just return it in the post no explanation required, just no longer needed.  Would save any possible embarrassment

Pollycat

Are you sure the voucher is still valid?

elsien

Pollycat said:

Are you sure the voucher is still valid?

Just what I was thinking. Many of them have a two year time limit.

Pollycat

On the subject of the dilemma, if the voucher is still valid, I'd just tear it up on the premise that it wasn't really mine in the first place.

I'm another who's surprised that the shop gave a voucher without a receipt.

Over and above a customer's statutory rights.

Gloria_Steeth

SteveSi said:

Since I now have the £25 gift voucher from the shop (which I mistakenly insisted that the jumper was purchased from!), I was going to spend it this Xmas but my brother says that I should hand it back into the shop, explain and apologize. My take is that the jumper was clearly 'faulty' as the arms were way too long and someone must have paid good money for it.
Should I return the gift voucher, tear it up or just use it?

@SteveSi
Yes, but that "someone" decided to write off the expense by donating the jumper to the charity shop and your mother subsequently benefitted by buying it for much less (presumably) than it would have cost her at the original shop. 

Knowing the full story, it would be morally wrong to go back and spend your voucher in the shop, but maybe you could put the voucher in a fancy envelope and give it to your brother for his Christmas present from you, since this dilemma is all his fault!! Buy yourself something nice with the money you've saved on his present. You'd have been none the wiser about the jumper had he not quizzed your mother about it and then told you. So, "Merry Christmas, Bro!" 

badmemory

I suspect the brother had some idea of what had happened which is why he queried it, maybe the same or similar had happened to him.  Why else would he question it.  He probably regretted not having mentioned it but hadn't because he hadn't wanted to embarass their mother.  Giving it to him for Christmas would be totally wrong.  Wrong is the politest version I could come up with!  Why it would be his fault when it was totally not his responsibility I have no idea.  I thought we no longer did the "sins of the fathers" thing or in this case the mothers.

Gloria_Steeth

badmemory said:

I suspect the brother had some idea of what had happened which is why he queried it, maybe the same or similar had happened to him.  Why else would he question it.  He probably regretted not having mentioned it but hadn't because he hadn't wanted to embarass their mother.  Giving it to him for Christmas would be totally wrong.  Wrong is the politest version I could come up with!  Why it would be his fault when it was totally not his responsibility I have no idea.  I thought we no longer did the "sins of the fathers" thing or in this case the mothers.

@badmemory

I was only joking about the dilemma being the brother's fault as he had thwarted O.P.'s plans to spend the voucher, and also about "regifting" the voucher to him. I didn't mean it to be taken in any way seriously and am sorry for giving that impression. 

In fact, I had agreed with your previous post about returning the voucher to the shop with an explanation as I do think that's the moral thing to do and the brother is correct.

badmemory

I apologise for misunderstanding, but some of these moral dilemmas bring out the less than best in some people!  Now I "know" you I won't make the same mistake again.