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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Stupid teen son found a lost gift card and spent some of the money, what will happen?

191 replies

yunogin · 12/02/2020 19:51

Could honestly slap him but have refrained so far!

He's 16, usually a good boy but told me he had a lapse of judgement when he did this and only panicked afterwards.

He didn't nick the card as in grabbed it off someone, he says he found it on a bench in the town centre. I believe him as he isn't a teen delinquent. He mostly stays in his bedroom playing games, he'd only gone into town to pick up something for me from the shop.

He idiotically brought it home and purchased something for £7 on Sports Direct. He used a Sports Direct account with his name and birthday etc linked. Then immediately after he did it he became overwhelmed with panic and regret and ran downstairs with the gift card white as a sheet and told me everything. I laid into him at first about the moral and legal implications of this but he's terrified the cops will be round any second. We tried to cancel the order but you have ring Sports Direct to do that and explain why which seemed a bad idea.

He found the gift card in its sleeve with a receipt, but I've gone on to the issuers website (it's one of those high street ones that can be spent at many stores) and used the number on the card to check the balance and the owner last used it weeks ago. They clearly bought it out to spend more of it today and lost it. It's still got £70 on it so the poor sod will be looking high and low for it. I'm very ashamed of my son but I don't want an idiotic mistake landing him in court.

Apparently the company won't do anything about a stolen card unless you provide them with the number or receipt. So unless they remember the number there is nothing the owner can do which I feel awful about but as I said, I don't want DS ending up in court. I wish there was some way to return it to its rightful owner without possibly getting DS in a world of shit. Though they may have written down the number in which it will be really easy for them to trace DS as he hardly covered his tracks!

I've considered contacting the gift card issuers and explaining everything and apologizing on my sons behalf, and also saying I will get the Sports Direct order refunded to the card but will they contact the police? Shit shit shit!

OP posts:
TildaKauskumholm · 12/02/2020 22:03

Why bin the gift card?? It's already been paid for. If the owner can't be traced then give it to the police, or use it. Give a donation to charity if it makes you feel better.

VanGoghsDog · 12/02/2020 22:06

a customer being able to provide a gift card number wouldn’t have resulted in us being able to do anything more than block the card...

Yes, but as stated, this isn't a store gift card, it's a high street one. So they may have details of the owner since the OP checked the balance online, there must be some sort of account.

I don't need advice about Dropbox. As I said, you can only open Dropbox on my phone after unlocking the phone with both my face and my fingerprint, and then the Dropbox password.

SallyWD · 12/02/2020 22:15

Jesus! What drama. I actually find this hilarious.

Sagradafamiliar · 12/02/2020 22:22

Poor lad!

Isadora2007 · 12/02/2020 22:24

I’m now feeling a bit guilty that I spent the money on a M and S gift card I found in a car park last December. I was so excited to be able to treat myself (and family!) to some Xmas food and didn’t even consider handing it in or sharing on fb or whatever.

BlackSwan · 12/02/2020 22:28

Return whatever he bought with it, and hand it in.

wotsittoyou · 12/02/2020 22:29

He made a mistake and told you about it. I'd be surprised if he makes the mistake of telling you next time.

Maduixa · 12/02/2020 22:31

I doubt your son will get in any trouble. It may be possible to trace the owner - usually you can "register" the card online, set up a password, and put your contact info in. If that's the case the issuer may be able to return it. (Or the owner may have the info saved to continue using it on line anyway.)

If you're really, really worried about the £7 charge, call Sports Direct and see if they can switch the charge to your own credit or debit card. Just say you or your son accidentally used the wrong card. That way the transaction will look like it's cancelled and for all anyone knows it could have been the shop's mistake.

SylviaC · 12/02/2020 22:32

I think theft by finding is something from US law not UK law.

PeakingDuck · 12/02/2020 22:33

I don't need advice about Dropbox. As I said, you can only open Dropbox on my phone after unlocking the phone with both my face and my fingerprint, and then the Dropbox password

Yup. Ok... 🤦🏻‍♀️

OP...

Try not to worry unduly. There are a number of things you can do to attempt to trace the owner (although be careful of people scamming) and if you manage it, simply give them £7 with a truthful explanation of what happened. It won’t go any further.

IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere · 12/02/2020 22:35

My teenage son found a £ 40 M&S gift card in the middle of the street. I was with him at the time and he picked it up and stood in the street holding it up in the hope that the owner would turn round and look for it. No one did.

It was inside a birthday card with a greeting in it so we had the first name of the purchaser and recipient. We contacted M&S in the hope that they could link the number on the card to a debit card and contact the purchaser but all they told us that if we returned it they would cut up the card and dispose of it.

We contacted the police, the local radio (you would be surprised at what passes for news in our area!) and posted on various FB groups. The police said that if we heard nothing after a certain time we could keep it. So we waited, heard nothing from anyone, and he spent it.

Smilebehappy123 · 12/02/2020 22:36

Fucking hell no wonder your lad is a nervous wreck , do you over analyse everything like this?

Smilebehappy123 · 12/02/2020 22:37

Are you american as it's all very dramatic ?

youareacuntychops · 12/02/2020 22:40

Nothing will happen.

As a side note you don't have to explain why you're cancelling an order. It's your statutory right to.

Hadenoughofitall441 · 12/02/2020 22:46

As an employee of sports direct I can tell you I think you’ll be fine, I’ve worked for them for over 13 years and in that time no one I’m aware of has reported a gift card missing. So unless the person who’s lost it reports it which is highly unlikely as they probably don’t have the details or will actually care about a gift card that they’ve probably just assumed they’ve lost. If it’s an outside issuer I doubt sportsdirect will give it much thought. If it does come back to you just explain the situation, it’s pretty obvious it’s a finders keepers situation and what else are you suppose to do with it, you hand it in somewhere I guarantee it probably won’t make it back to the owner. But just so you know you won’t be able to refund it back on, it will go on to a sportsdirect credit note not back on the card.

youareacuntychops · 12/02/2020 22:49

Are you american as it's all very dramatic ?

Would you say this about Pakistanis or Indians or Africans etc? Why is it ok to say about Americans?

smashstore · 12/02/2020 22:50

As an employee of sports direct I can tell you I think you’ll be fine, I’ve worked for them for over 13 years and in that time no one I’m aware of has reported a gift card missing.

It's not a sports direct voucher though, so if the owner did report it missing, they wouldn't be reporting it to SD anyway.

bitheby · 12/02/2020 22:50

If you do put it on Facebook you don't say what it is. You make the owner identify it. Gives enough detail so the rightful owner will know and make them describe it to you - brand, roughly how much on it, when lost etc.

BlueHarry · 12/02/2020 22:57

Of course it's illegal, it's called stealing by finding. A defence would be that you made reasonable efforts to trace the owner.

It was found on a bench. Not in a place where the owner could be easily tracked. It's not theft.

HoppingPavlova · 12/02/2020 22:57

Why bin the gift card?? It's already been paid for. If the owner can't be traced then give it to the police, or use it. Give a donation to charity if it makes you feel better.

I don’t think a charity would accept a partially used, or indeed full gift card would they? I would have thought too much potential/nervousness around accepting stuff of questionable origin?

Faffing around trying to find the owner or giving to police (who would probably think you have gone mad) would cost more in your time than the money on the gift card.

The OP using the gift card is not an option as they have already had a near nervous breakdown over the small purchase already made.

Thus, it becomes a redundant piece of plastic.

iswhois · 12/02/2020 23:01

Either take is back to the bench which he found it with an envelope containing £7 and leave it up to the Gods

It just forget about it and move on

Incontinencesucks · 12/02/2020 23:06

Is it an all4u card? Because then often it is online registered to check the balance. I'd try local fb site first but then the supplier may have the holders details.

rabbitwoman · 12/02/2020 23:10

Aw, bless you both for having integrity. It is obvious that if there were any contact details with the card, or any way to get it back to the owner, you would have done so. But there isn't. So what are you supposed to do? If it were a wallet, a credit card, expensive jewelry, a phone you'd have some way of reuniting it with its owner, but in this case, it's just some good luck for you....

Sometimes the universe gives. I remember one occasion finding £50 in the street. There was no one around because it was 3am, I was wandering the streets crying because I had seen the man I loved with his new girlfriend, it just seemed like fate was telling me, it's gonna be fine....

And sometimes the universe takes. One day, you might lose £50. Or a gift card. Or an engagement ring.

Don't worry. Spend it. Enjoy your good luck.

Ingridla · 12/02/2020 23:10

Do a post on Twitter with location of where it was found and let twitter work its magic. Stop stressing! Lessons ave been learned.

Ingridla · 12/02/2020 23:12

This is only the beginning of his life of crime. Lock your doors tonight. Who knows what else he might be capable of.

😭🤣🤣