I know it’s stealing….but…..

[VidalSass]

Im going to be Annihilated here……

i took out a store card to pay for a large tech purchase, interest free, over 36months. This was four months ago

I set up a direct debit straight away for the monthly payment and then cut up the card.

I checked my account and noted direct debit not come out, so I logged on to the store card account and the charge is still ‘pending’ - therefore minimum payment is 0 as the charge has not been processed by the merchant.

would I be unreasonable to just ignore it and therefore avoid the repayments? Surely it would eventually just be cancelled? Although it’s already sat there for four months….

i don’t want to call the merchant as obviously they will then just process the charge…..

im worries that eventually it would just be charged but a part of me is excited at the thought that an error may have occurred resulting in me getting free stuff. I know it’s technically stealing but it’s a huge company (probably not paying corporation tax in the uk) and I’m not exactly rolling in it

AIBU - should call the merchant to process the charge and start paying it back

NBU - technically it’s stealing but fuck the man and ride the freebie wave

Ride the freebie wave but be prepared for it to come to light so save the money for if it does

It will catch up with you, contact the card provider. It's fraud it you don't get in touch

That's what I was going to say, too.

I couldn’t live with myself by knowingly ignoring it.

Stop trying to justify, at least just own it that you’re stealing.

Years ago I had this with a Brantano card. Then I got billed for both the cost of the item plus a £30 fee for failing to pay (I’d never received a bill to pay and the interest wasn’t what it is now back then). Honestly I’d chase them up and just get it sorted.

Do you really want this hanging over you for 6 years? Your morals are shit btw

Yes, exactly this.

That way if they ask for it they can have it, no hassle for you, but if they don't, happy days.

I'd be annoyed at myself but I'd have to phone up. 😩. I like to think of myself as a normal decent person with morals so not paying someone when I know I owe them money wouldn't sit with that.

I think it's scummy, dishonest and cheap not to do anything. I've been sent things by mistake by companies before and have always let the companies know. It's not a dilemma for me as i don't consider keeping stuff that's not mine for a moment.

Amazon once sent and expensive special edition games system, I can't remember which one now but it was worth nearly £500 instead of a set of pans. I let them know and they arranged someone to collect it. It would have been nice if they had let me keep it.

Is it fraud though? I entered a contract with the merchant, they have processed their end of the contract therefore I can’t process mine? It’s not like I have false information with the intention of getting free equipment? I don’t know I’m processing all the options

It’s not your job to train their employees. Sit tight. Be prepared to pay. If they do figure it out and bill you deny all late charges saying you never received a statement/bill. It’s a bit opportunistic but I think it’s also a bit harsh for readers to comment on your morals.

Scummy, dishonest and cheap. Tell me what you really think 😂😂😂😂😂

Fraud by failing to disclose information (section 3) of the fraud act 2006

I know it’s stealing….but…..

You didn’t need the last word.

Fess up. You may think it’s just a big faceless corporation that loses out, but they have to recoup the money for things like this somehow, so they raise prices and actually it ends up being the rest of us who pay.

I'm on the fence about whether this could be stealing. I value my time and hate unnecessary admin. Unless the company are going to compensate me for the time it takes me to contact them to let them know what has happened, why would I be expected to spend time rectifying their mistake? I think this about a lot of things where admin falls to someone who isn't being paid to do it because of someone else's failings (current bugbear being previous owners of our house, who were too tight to set up post redirect...)

As others have said though, I would absolutely be prepared to pay as soon as I was asked to and wouldn't quibble doing so, so I'd be setting aside the money you had been expecting to pay by DD until you have the full amount saved up.

You've set up the direct debit. Most people wouldn't even check that the amount was going out.

For me it's their mistake . Keep an eye on it and be prepared to pay but I'd not be alerting them . It's their issue .

I would consider theft of a something frivolous to be immoral and the OP wants to get away with not paying for such an item. She asked if she is being unreasonable and I responded. It wouldn't even be a dilemma if she had decent morals.

You're probably asking I the wrong place because on MN if you forget to scan your Asda carrier bag and don't make the 10 mile journey back to pay for it you're a theif nowhere in real life most of us would sit tight and see what I occurred. Maybe don't use the card again

You are still acting with intent to defraud them in the moral sense if not the legal one. No matter what excuses you want to wrap this up in it's still theft and it's still wrong. Our morals aren't the things we do in public they are how we act when no one is watching or will know what we've done or said. If you do this you're a thief whether you want to admit it to yourself or not.

No it’s not fraud at all. You signed your DD agreement (in person, or virtually), it’s down to the company to request the money from your bank. The error here is theirs, not yours. If they come back to you with any extra charges, or interest, you should challenge them. Plenty of people (foolishly) don’t check their bank account transactions. They would never be guilty of fraud when they believed a DD was being paid until the company in question wrote to them to highlight a problem.

I would probably call tbh just so it looks like I tried to address the issue in case they try to charge you interest or something. It will be easier to argue against paying extra if you can show you actively tried to sort this.

Mn is mean , nasty , vindictive, yet everyone is a moral saviour according to these threads ! Makes me laugh .

Like fuck would everyone own up to this . Sanctimonious shite .

You've kept up your end of it.

Whatever the problem is, it's their end and they must deal with it.

Don't do their job for them.

OP, ignore all the bashing comments about morals.

Just sit right and see what happens. It's not your problem to sort.

Put some money aside for if the direct debit does ever get sorted their end.