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

Perfectly said @EliflurtleAndTheInfiniteMadness

The people defending massive corporations here will undoubtedly be found in the next benefit bashing thread 😁

There's no legal (as opposed to moral) duty to 'get in touch' so it's not fraud. Eventually they are likely to spot it tho so keep the money to one side.

Op, they will come for it in one lump sum eventually so I would put it aside in a separate account for at least the six years. Not quite the same, but our City Council, who couldn’t run a piss up in a brewery, haven’t taken some business rents for months even years. Suddenly they have come for lump sums and many can’t pay. Savvy folk put the rent away waiting for this day. At some point, the accounts will be audited and your nonpayment will likely be flagged. Personally, I would say something now for your own benefit.

I buy a LOT online. I could literally write a book about myriad errors/confusions. Some errors to my benefit, some not.

My only dilemma when notifying a company of their error is am I costing, or saving, someone their job by doing so. To be clear, I do always report and just have to hope I'm saving someone's job.

Some of the situations in which I've found myself are amusing when looking back, but extremely frustrating in real time!

Check the T&Cs in case of fees/penalty for non payment.

Have you made 1 payment? Or direct debit for full amount owed?

I wouldn’t draw it to their attention, but I’d put the money in an interest bearing/offset off debt account. At the end of the interest free period I’d make sure I had it fully paid off - the financial penalty is often huge if you don’t and your not have much standing having made no payments and being fully aware of that.

I would put the money aside just in case but it may be subject to penalties if not paid off in time, I think it would be difficult to plead I didn't notice after several months though, especially if its a sizeable amount

How much is it, large tech doesn't mean anything, it could be an Apple Studio of over £10k or £1000 laptop.

@Abouttoblow
Can you explain what all these "things companies sent you by mistake" were. Did you order something and receive something else? Or did companies just send you random stuff? Do you think someone else is entering your address by mistake?
What happened when you told them? Did they find out how or why you were sent things.
I'd be really concerned about random people entering my address details

You asked a question about my post. It's happened a good few times but only when I'd already ordered something so nothing alarming. Amazon, marks and Spencer's, Waitrose and Tescos.
The games console was by far the most expensive. Marks once sent a large box full of kitchen items when I'd only ordered one. Supermarkets do it fairly regularly . I've always phoned.

You sound like your talking yourself into not paying. Be prepared for it to come back to bite you when they eventually catch up with you if you don't.

These companies don't give a shit about us, any of us. You go back and say 'you're forgetting to charge me' and they say oh sorry about that.
Do you think they offer the same kindness to any of their customers?
Do you think Mrs X who's husband has just died is let off the £12 charge when her husband dies and she's trying to sort out the finances?
Do you think easyJet show any mercy when a break up means that you're not going on holiday anymore?
Do you think Amazon say 'oh yes, we did leave your package in a puddle, please have all your money back without us making you have to return a soggy where's Wally book when you live miles from a post office and the book was for a birthday party which is happening this weekend?'

People assume that these corporations are run on anything but capitalist malice. They do not care about you. Don't do their job for them.

It will get sorted at their end. Someone will do an audit and it will come to light. At that point they may well try to take out all the money owing up until that point. Personally I’d call them to avoid that.

Op
YABU to keep it but you are being even more unreasonable in trying to justify keeping it. It comes across as so fake. Some people would keep it without a second thought and some people would return it without a second thought but you are in that annoying middle ground where you want to keep it but you also want to pretend it's ok.

Unless you are new to Mumsnet then you must know that a lot of the posters will tell you to keep it so posting here will help you feel better about it but it's a simple decision. You can either do the right thing or the wrong thing. It's not complicated.

I wouldn't give it any thought - I'd phone.

It's stealing.
You are being vv unreasonable not to address it.
I absolutely would address it myself and have done in the past in similar circumstances.
Your attempts to justify it don't stop it being wrong.

@NewFriendlyLadybird will it? I can't think of one person I know who doesn't have a 'guess what I never had to pay for' story?

Sort of. Things like this happening are already factored in to their pricing, so the public is already paying the higher price.

I agree that I would contact them, though.

Firstly, they have six years to pursue the debt. So you will need to put aside the full amount for six years. So you might as well pay it.

Secondly, it’s not true that you don’t have a liability. You have signed a contract that you will pay x amount within x amount of time, not that they will take it, but that you will pay it, and the direct debit is just a means for them to take it.

Failure to pay makes you liable, and if it is picked up they will be within their rights to pursue the funds by whichever legal means they see fit, including debt collection agencies which will have an impact on your credit rating if that’s what it comes to.

Ignorance is no excuse. If the debt isn’t paid then you won’t get away with just saying that they didn’t take the direct debit and you didn’t notice. It’s incumbent on you to know what does and doesn’t go through your bank account. So while you can choose to ignore it, you won’t be able to use the fact that the direct debit wasn’t taken as an excuse.

If you don’t sort it out now you’ll pay a hefty price in interest/fees and late payment charges. Honestly store cards are another way to boost profits.

I was persuaded to take out a store card by the assistant who basically cried and said she had a target to get people to have them, and it was a great way for shoppers to pay for things, and that I would only get charged interest fees from month 2. etc. etc So the first statement they had charged me interest and hefty fees. I paid up in full and cancelled the card and wrote to them saying I had been “mid-sold” (got extra fees/charges refunded) and never shopped at that shop again.

Well I suppose it depends exactly how expensive the purchase was. Big companies would write off small amounts, but multiples of thousands would be spotted.

I ordered a fairly large Christmas toadstool decoration from JL and a huge box appeared with 6 of them, I suppose I could have kept them but took 5 back to local Waitrose for return, I did gain in the end though because they gave me a strange refund of most of the amount of the one toadstool I kept so I only paid a small amount for it.

I also ordered a £350 rug from JL and the order was cancelled and refunded as not in stock but then the rug appeared about a couple of weeks later on my doorstep. I rang up and paid for it.

When they notice it will be charged to the store card. As storecard is usually a seperate company the 36 months interest free will be from the date you opened it so you may not be able to spread the cost over 36 months any more and still avoid interest.

I would definitely be saving for this payment to be charged, I don't think i could be bothered to chase them unless easy to contact but I would be expecting charge within the year as the will notice at year end accounts if not before.

@BobnLen and what thanks did you get?

I agree re: the comments on OPs morals. We none of us know what we would do if we were really strapped for cash.

Personally I'd get in touch, just because I'd be worrying myself sick that I'd be slammed with either a huge late payment, or that I'd have to pay out a load of cash in a lump.

I d think it will catch up with OP - probably when she's least expecting it, so it would be easier together in touch with the firm.

Was going to say this – the current price will already have been calculated to leave a good margin for this sort of loss caused by accounting errors, etc.

I was just going to post as I forgot to add, for the rug debacle, I got a £50 gift voucher so I was pleased with that and my conscience was clear.