Moral dilemma

[gonegirl2]

Not as dramatic as the title makes out but no idea how else to describe it.

I ordered a parcel online around christmas for a luxury candle retailing £48 for my aunt's birthday (well known brand). The candle ended up getting lost in transit so another was reordered and arrived last week. Today I have had an email to say my parcel will arrive today, it has the same tracking number as my original order, so I'm guessing the delivery company found the original parcel and are now delivering it today.

This is something I would love for myself, so much so that I almost bought a second for myself but realised I can't justify spending that sort of money on myself. I already know I can't handle the guilt and will be phoning the company to let them know the original order has arrived (though secretly really hoping they'll let me keep it!). DH, DM and friends I have spoken to think I'm crazy to tell them and told me to keep it! Don't think my conscience will allow it, I'm such a goody two shoes that I'm even convinced the police will be knocking on my door if I did

I guess what I'm asking is what would you do?

If it's Jo Malone something similar happened to me a couple of years ago; they sent the order twice by mistake. I rang them and they said to keep it as it was their error.

If a second one DOES arrive, I'd contact them. Similar happened to me a while ago and I told the company and they said I could keep both.

You should absolutely contact them ( once you are sure it's what you think it is). They may ask you to post it back ( fine if they send a courier) but usually they'll just tell you to keep it. I got a free mattress this way ( they said it wasn't worth their while picking it up even though it was expensive)

Call them so they know to complain to the courier about the right thing, i.e. late delivery not loss/theft by the courier.

For a small item they will almost certainly tell you to keep it.

I had this happen once when a duplicate turned up - I called the company and they said to keep it so I gave it away to a friend who was very pleased to get it.

I couldn't have kept it without letting them know.

I can't see a dilemma. Contact the company. Chances are they will just tell you to keep it.
If you just keep it without contacting them its stealing.

Also, what if the courier is in trouble for the supposed theft of it? Would you really want to be responsible for getting someone else in trouble unnecessarily?

How would you feel if it was the other way around, and they kept your money but didn't deliver the goods? Would that be ok? If not, then you have your answer.
Theft is theft.

I don’t know a single person who wouldn’t keep it

God mn is so moral.

In fact most people I know would sell it and make the money off if it.

I agree with messages which advise: Contact them and say for them to take it back as so late and they will prob say keep it.

I’ve had this happen, once with Amazon once with a smaller company. Both times I contacted them Amazon said straight away to just keep it ( it was a low cost item) the other company said they would arrange for it to be uplifted, then a couple of hours later got back in touch to say just keep it (it was a £30 item and I guess the cost to get it back wasn’t worth it). I also once got an extra item in a delivery from an independent shop I got in touch and they said to keep it or donate it.
I order a lot online and I expect the company to believe me if I say an item hasn’t arrived or if it has arrived damaged so why wouldn’t I be honest in return.
Keeping it would be theft IMO.

@MonstranceClock you must move in dubious circles.

Think of all the time and efforts it's taken to track the package, message to say it's missing etc. Keep it!!

You sound like me. And I wouldn't be able to enjoy the candle if I had come by it dishonestly. I'd ring them and explain, and if they say keep it, you will be guilt free and enjoy it!

Clearly!

I wouldn't keep it unless they said I could because I'm not a thief.

I don't know a single person who would keep it
It's morally wrong to keep it without notifying them of the second delivery

If it's tracked they'll know you've got it. I would offer to return it otherwise you might get billed for it or an email asking for it's return. If your lucky they'll let you keep it, guilt free!

Depends where I'd ordered it from. If it was a big company like M&S I'd be tempted to keep it. If it was a smallish company then I'd definitely contact them and see what they wanted me to do, but only if it wasn't going to cost me for the postage if they did want it returned.

I think the vast majority of people would just keep it though.

They’ll know it’s been delivered since it’s tracked. The same happened to me a while ago. An item was assumed to be lost in transit. I got a refund. Then it got delivered. Right after delivery I got en email saying it’s been delivered.

I really would just keep it, as would most people I know I think! In fact I read a depressing article about how lots of returns get sent to landfill, so I think environmentally it would be better to keep it too ...

Have a company charged you twice and let you know?

Yes. Quite recently, I paid for something over the phone, gave my card details and was told the payment hadn't gone through so they took them again. The next day they contacted me to say that the first payment had actually gone through so they were refunding me.

But that's irrelevant. It's not a race to the bottom. You shouldn't base your moral standards on what others do. I hate the 'everyone does it so it's okay' attitude.

How is this thread not about the fact that someone is willing to pay £48 for a candle?

I am agog.

They may well contact you about it.

The courier, depending on who it is, may let them know that the package is now delivered.

It happened once with Amazon. Within a few days of the original arriving they contacted me to tell me they were invoicing me for it.

I suspect if I had let them know and asked them to collect they would have told me to keep it anyway. I was going to let them know but life got in the way and I had had it a few days. They collected it. I really didn't want 2 so it really wasn't an issue for me and I would have let them know.