Keeping clothes I haven't paid for??

[calistaraines]

Ordered a coat from an online retailer. Full price £150.
I paid for express delivery 1-2 days as I wanted it for a specific event.
It hadn't arrived the day before so I called the company and they said it hadn't been dispatched yet but they could upgrade to next day delivery so I would receive in time.
Next day two deliveries arrived each with a coat. I returned the extra coat and thought nothing more of it.
Have now realised that they have refunded my card the full amount so I essentially have a coat for free.
My mum thinks I should own up. What should I do???

The thing that always concerns me is that someone has made a mistake somewhere, and if the company track who made that mistake, they might then take it out of that person's wages. I wouldn't want to be responsible for that person losing £150 (or however much!)
While some companies would just write it off, others wouldn't - and I wouldn't know which were which.

3luckystars those things would have happened anyway. And you would have been even more upset at the waste of money! It's not like your dishonesty caused your children to do those hideous things...

Or is it...????

I always call and let them know in those sorts of circumstances. In almost every case they've said not to worry about it. It seems it's normally difficult for them to add in another charge without sending out another X and they'd rather not go through the rigmarole! However, a couple of times they've been very grateful and charged me what I owed, once it clearly a really small company and once it was a big company, but several hundred pounds.

I feel better if I call and even if they charge me I'm not down anything I wasn't expecting to spend.

A few years ago at Christmas Amazon sent me the wrong item. Was meant to be a book for DD and got sent a Best of Donovan DVD.
Live chatted with them, they refunded the cost of book and said they would email
a returns label for the DVD.
Except they didn't and I didn't chase them. Instead I sold the DVD to someone who appreciated Donovan. Was about 6 years ago now so think I am all right.
Was a lot less than £150 though. I would get in touch with coat company here.

Honestly if it's a big company I wouldn't bother, £150 isn't an obscene amount of money, morally it's still wrong but equally I'm the sort of idiot who doesn't chase up refunds I'm owed so I'd just keep it - swings and roundabouts and all that

Are you sure they haven't charged you for two coats and then refunded one?

I'd tell them, but hope they aren't bothered and just thank you for being honest.

I bought a graphics card for a gaming pc from amazon. I contacted them when it arrived to complain about the fact that it had clearly been opened previously, even though the outer shipping carton was sealed when it arrived. I tested it thoroughly and it was totally functional, so I asked them if they wanted me to return it, or were they willing to discount it significantly. They refunded me a third of the cost, but accidentally did it twice (a couple of hundred quid in total!!) I emailed them to tell them about their mistake (on the same support ticket thread that I'd made the initial complaint, so they should have got it) but I never got any response, so I didn't bother pressing the matter.

That was 6 months ago so hopefully they won't be taking the extra back when I'm not expecting it!

Had similar with m&s delivery, £83 worth of clothes. They let me have them free for my trouble. Call them.

Own up and pay for your coat.

Amazed at how many people would take the obviously unethical choice

I'm always amazed that people feel the need to ask this question...obviously the right thing to do is to call them. Maybe it's obvious to me because I have a moral compass though I don't know

I would own up. Mind you the only time this happened to me the company still didn't take payment so I got the stuff for nothing anyway.

To keep the coat would be against the law (fraud/theft etc).

There are cases around what is in effect unsolicited goods.

There is no such thing as 'finders keepers'

Remember the woman who found £20 in the supermarket and pocketed it recently?

How would you feel if you went to a cash point and found £100 beside it? Would you pocket it, or hand it in to the bank? Would what you did be affected if you knew had seen the last person who used the cash point and they looked rich, or alternatively if they looked poor? Would it make a difference if you thought you'd be seen?

Stealing is stealing, no matter who you steal from. You know that though. I would phone the company and tell them. They may well tell you to keep the coat as it's too much hassle for them to collect it. This happened to me once with some shoes ordered from John Lewis - sent 2 pairs and wouldn't come to collect the second pair.

This happened to me a couple of years ago, I bought a few things from marks and spencer as Christmas presents, and got them delivered directly to my mums (as I lived 200 miles away at the time). When I arrived at mums on Christmas Eve noticed they had delivered two of everything. I phoned them and told them, they told me to email which I did- never heard anything back!

Fuck that keep the coat!

Similar happened to me... bought DH a gorgeous £170 leather man bag but got refunded it by accident.

I would notice £150, but this thread has got me thinking that I buy loads of smaller value stuff online and don't assiduously check whether I've been charged or refunded correctly. The primary duty is with the companies to get this right and not to rely on customers constantly checking their accounts.

In this case I'd give them a ring, but it might take me a while depending on when their opening hours are and what their call handling is like. I can't always just make a personal phone call at work or hang on for ages to a call centre. It's their mistake and is very inconvenient for the customer to have to take time out of their day to sort it out.

Don't mention it if it's a large company, it's not like they're gonna miss £150.

Different story if it was a small independent retailer.

I ordered a gift card at xmas and 2 arrived. I phoned up to let them know and they kept me on hold for ages, then wanted me to travel to the next town to post it at one of their designated drop offs and also wanted me to find a friend who's printer I could borrow (I don't have one) for the label! I said that all of that was ridiculous considering it was their error and I was being honest. They decided I could keep it but turns out it hadn't been activated anyway and when I got the bill the phone call had cost £7.50!!! Definitely wouldn't bother trying to be honest again!!

I'd tell them. If they say it's fine then no guilt but then I'm not a thief and do the right thing.

I def wouldn't say anything.

I would own up.

A lot of people are telling stories on here about being told to keep goods sent in error. Fair enough, but that did happen to you and they asked for it back. It is not a big deal for them to take £150 online, so they are unlikely to tell you to "just keep it". Its not like they have to organise a courier.

Keep you side of the contract that you agreed to in the first place.

I've sometimes gone weeks without checking my bank account so I wouldn't notice for a little while if this happened to me. I'd use that logic and not own up. Bit like many PPs I obviously have no morals sorry!

I wonder if any of those saying to keep it were the same people calling a little girl a thief on another thread for eating a pick n mix sweet. I hope not.
I would call and explain. I'd just feel bad otherwise.

This isn't the same as being told to keep an extra item though.

They don't need to send a courier/pay for shipping to get their £150 back.

It always amazes me on these threads how many people are happy to steal money from big businesses, but it's okay because it's IKEA/Debenhams/John Lewis and not a small independent in town.

Theft is theft.