Money Moral Dilemma: Should I keep the rewards for a broadband package I couldn't sign up to?

BHeath2Bay

No question in my mind: the company that made the mistake stands the loss and you reap the benefit. By all means send an email to their Customer Services department explaining their company's mistake and asking them for a pre-paid addressed label or envelope so that you can return the cards to the correct place. Tell them you will retain the cards for seven days to give them time to respond, after which you will use the cards to pay for your own purchases. Wait one week only; if you receive the means to return the cards, or an email saying that such means are on their way to you, return the cards, but if there is no response, or a response asking you to destroy the cards, go ahead and "destroy" them by spending them. Consider them as compensation for your frustration and wasted time and effort. 

3GGG

All those who point out that it's not your money are, of course, correct.
But anyone who talks about you being taken to court are being alarmist, to the point that I'm wondering if they'll trolling.
The reality is that it's unbelievably unlikely that they'll take you to court over something like this. And even if they do then that process will take months and months and will follow many, many letters from them.
If it gets to that point then you simply pay it back.
But it'll never go to court because it would cost them an absolute fortune to retrieve a tiny amount of money and it was their error to begin with.

EdwardB

Usually the company providing the reward is a 3rd party such as Broadband Genie, so you can expect them to audit at some point and then chase you.

I think you would struggle to say your entitled to it but they would struggle to get back amazon vouchers, so spend it on something you would have bought anyway and put the equivalent in your savings account.

EdwardB

REJP said:

Send them back.  To use them is stealing.  I am surprised you even have to ask this question.

It is called a Moral Dilemma for a reason

Also one can be entitled to a reward if one applied for the offer, for all you know the promoter gets paid for everyone that applies but can't complete because fibre is not in their area or whatever.

It is quite reasonable to think you are entitled if a company sends you an email and even twice if they say so.

Just think of how many times people have NOT been paid out, on this forum alone I must have read about a thousand posts over the years saying they did not get paid out.  Is why I only go for account credits, not prepaid card not amazon.

Littledaler

I agree with retired19 - write one letter offering them to collect the cards or pay for you to return them by post.  Give them a reasonable deadline and if they miss the deadline, the cards are yours.
Ignore all the comments about theft.  It would not be theft if you made them aware they were in your possession and offered them back.  If they don't respond - enjoy!

MrSHR

I’m in a similar position, I had an absolute nightmare with a potential new broadband provider during January… let’s just call them WalkWalk. I spent about 6 hours on the phone over 2 weeks trying to sort out a variety of problems, all of their making.
They sent me 2 expensive Amazon Eero routers which I’ve returned, but if that card turns up they can sing for it!
I lost a whole days wages due to the engineers failing to arrive, so the £75 card will go someway to compensate for that. At the moment I have no home fibre broadband as the WalkWalk idiots have taken over the line which they shouldn’t have done as they cancelled the original deal with no explanation, as a result my new provider can’t connect until 14th Feb so I’ve had to buy a mini mobile router which has cost me £89.
To anyone who thinks it’s stealing to keep the card, think again about the money I’ve lost let alone the time and frustration.

wildthing01

I think the right thing to do is contact the company and let them know the cards have arrived and ask if they want them back. They'll in all likelihood say no, or they don't have a returns mechanism and tell you to keep them, but it's right to ask them.

I recently had a refund processed for an order that hadn't arrived. As luck would have it, 2 days later the order finally arrived, so I emailed the company to ask how I could make a repayment for the items - they replied to say they couldn't take a repayment so I should enjoy them for free. It was a reasonable amount of money but I guess it wasn't worth it financially to them to set up a a mechanism to receive repayments.

Gresp

Contact the company and offer to return the cards, for which you'll charge an "admin fee" of £75 per card.