For keeping an order that I’ve received a refund for?

[Phallicfriday]

Long story short. Ordered DH a fairly expensive tech item for his birthday from large retailer. Item didn’t arrive and when I chased the retailer it was presumed lost and they sent a replacement. It was supposed to be on next day delivery but this didn’t materialize either. Week later I call again to be told the item was detained by customs and it would be returned to the retailer. They point blank refused to send another item and instead only offered me a refund. Feeling very frustrated as I still had no birthday gift, I reluctantly accepted and ordered a replacement on Amazon (which I haven’t received yet either). Since receiving the refund, both the ‘missing’ orders have turned up. I am overseas and so I imagine it would be a hassle/expense for them to arrange a courier to collect them for return? AIBU for just keeping quiet and keeping both? Appreciate that this is morally ambiguous and I am quite sure I will get lots of mumsnetters up in arms at my morally bankrupt thought processes but they are a large company and surely will have insurance to cover such losses? And who really gives a flying fuck if the insurance company are out of pocket a few hundred quid when they rob the living daylights out of us all? My only concern is if they can track / trace that they have been delivered and force me to return / repay? What would you do?

I don't understand the world any more! What is the point of posting - to see whether other people are happy to defraud a retailer in the same situation? When similar has happened to me, as it has on occasion, either they have said to keep it, or they have paid for a courier to collect it. My conscience has been clear.

You obviously want to keep it and have justified it to yourself, so crack on 🤷

As long as you are happy to accept that you are a thief.

Nothing wrong with the morals of an alley cat 😂

Yeah yeah yeah

It's theft/fraud as it stands. Let them know and they can send a courier if they want it back - if they don't then keep it. All you can do is inform them.

All this karma/big business stuff is just self justification

I think you are 99.9 % likely to get caught out because if an item is left in a safe place by the courier they take a photo of the item in the safe place.
They will only use a safe place if you have designated one.
if the items are over a certain value then the company will claim against the courier - who will provide evidence/tracking info. I think if it was just 1 item you might be ok but as it’s two I think it will get looked in to. Clearly not for a £10 Amazon order but for a tech item worth a few hundred pounds they will want to know there isn’t a theft issue with the courier firm….

Why do you need 2 free ones? Plus the thing youve paid for that’s yet to arrive?

As it's 2 items that (from their perspective) have gone missing and are high value they may be more likely to investigate further. If evidence was found to establish that both items had in fact been delivered to you (for example from the courier's records) they might be more inclined to take action. In the UK it would be a theft act offence but I expect they'd follow up with you directly first for you return them or pay for them. Would using the items create a digital footprint that could be linked to you? Anyway, as it's 2 items I'd be more worried they'd pursue it which would stress me out in your shoes.

Except they don't know any better. You do which is the difference.

Depends on the company and the accounting system.

I had one two years after which was surprising - I had the goods but they'd refunded by accident and I didn't realise. At first I was pissed off, but when I checked my bank statement (not as much as I ought to it would seem!) the payment had indeed been refunded.

Clearly a crappy accounting system!

I very much doubt they'll chase an item that wasn't signed for. It's completely up to you whether to keep or return it.

They will only use a safe place if you have designated one.

Well that's nonsense, I've never given a designated safe place before in my life, yet regularly have parcels dumped behind my bins, my plant pots, on my doorstep, over my back fence, under my car ... the courier decides what they deem 'safe'.

Well you did, because you suggested that the supplier wouldn't be interested in a return because of the cost. But hey ho, as other posters have suggested, if you're so convinced you're in the right, why are you posting on "am I being unreasonable"?

Leaving aside the morality question (and it is clearly morally wrong rather than "ambiguous") has it not occurred to you that big retailers/insurance companies will both simply add the extra overheads incurred onto the prices they charge everyone? So we are all paying. It is also entirely possible that the courier could be sacked if they suspect that that's where the responsibility lies. I couldn't do it.

I'd

1. cancel the Amazon order
2. tell the company that one has arrived and they can arrange collection at their expense
3. keep the second as compensation for the hassle they caused you
4. presuming the company isn't interested, sell the spare
5. depending on DH's morals, have a celebratory dinner together, or treat myself with the extra money 😂

I have zero patience for big companies that fuck about with me though, and no problems with Robin Hood style thieving.

I'm not up in arms about this, I couldn't do it but that's beside the point.
Two things though.
Your local postie delivered? If you denny receiving them, would he be in trouble? Suspected of theft?
Secondly, I would be seriously pissed off if my partner gave me an unpaid for gift. Its one thing to keep it for yourself, but to gift it just feels wrong.

I think it’s luck of the draw with regards to them pursuing this down the line. Unlikely but you never know if your name gets pulled from a hat in 3 years and someone decides to follow this up properly. But if you’re 100% sure that they don’t have proof you received it then you’ll be fine. Even if they have a photo of an open garage you can just argue the parcel was lifted by a stickyfingered opportunist passer by (which actually does happen where I live for any parcel left on a doorstep so I’ve had to genuinely report parcels as not delivered many times). Unless of course you listed your open garage as a safe drop off space, then you’d be liable I imagine.

Absolute lol at the morality police out in force tonight though. I say good luck to you! I love to steal off big companies when I can! Plus I give loads of my hard earned cash to charity so I’m basically a modern day Robin Hood 🤣

But that’s not what you posted. Your thread title asks if you are being unreasonable to keep it so people are answering that question. That you asked. In your thread. That you posted.

edit: sorry this was meant to include a quote but it’s vanished - I quoted the OP saying they just wanted to know if they’d get caught

LOVE this! Morality police is bang on. People love to get on their high horse about shit that doesn’t impact them.

Have you really got nothing better to do than split hairs at exactly what I said and where I posted it? I posted in AIBU as more traffic, is that alright with you?

Yep, I contacted Amazon over a similar issue and said they needed to send a courier. They never did. When I chased up a second time they said it no longer needed to be returned at all.

So you posted a question you don’t want people to answer, and now you’re annoyed people are pointing that out? Ok.

Just leave it

Most of the time it's more hassle for them to administrate further refunds and deliveries

😂

Because it's the right thing to do, but then you know that, so basically OP, if you decide to go ahead with this, then you are a THIEF, and if you do get caught, deserve everything you get! So, my advice would be, think about it, and decide whether keeping these items is worth ruining your life for.