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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Would you give the money back, be honest?

156 replies

Queenlivi · Yesterday 09:59

I recently had a really bad experience with an online shop. It’s a long and complicated story but ordered something, I got an order confirmation and they took payment. It was quite a lot of money around £150.

I never heard anything, no dispatch notification and eventually I contacted customer services and they had no record of the order. They said it would be automatically refunded but it wasn’t. So I had to contact to them again, this time they said that the order had been delivered. Well it hadn’t.

I eventually managed to get a refund about 4 weeks later after contacting the head office, I spent a considerable amount of time chasing it up and spent hours on the phone as when you ring up you’re placed in a queue. Live chat is just an ai bot.

It was very stressful and on one occasion on I was more or less called a liar and that the order had been delivered. It turned out to be a ghost order that had never gone through due to a glitch.

About 3 weeks later again over randomly had an email saying that they are processing my refund and the money has arrived back in my bank account So now I’ve essentially been refunded twice.

Be honest, would you bother letting them know? It’s a large company, I know technically the right thing to do is let them know, but part of me thinks sod th, why should I spend another hour on the phone trying to get through they’ve messed me around enough.

OP posts:
TemperanceWest · Yesterday 10:01

I would send an e-mail and that's it. I wouldn't waste my time phoning.

WhosGotTheKeysToMyBimma · Yesterday 10:02

Honestly, no i wouldn't.

I'd probably feel guilty though.

DillyDallyingAllDay · Yesterday 10:02

I agree with PP, I’d send and email/online chat message to let them know and offering to pay the extra back but wouldn’t put much more effort than that in.

OttersOnAPlane · Yesterday 10:03

No, and I wouldn't feel guilty. An idiot tax on their part.

itsmycheese · Yesterday 10:11

I'd send an email but that would be it.

As it's a large company, I don't think there's anything to feel guilty about it you don't bother though.

Sahara123 · Yesterday 10:12

Similar happened to me recently, duplicate item delivered then when I sent one back they refunded me so I actually ended up with a free item. I briefly thought about not bothering to pay them back but I couldn’t do it, I felt dishonest. Got 10% off my next order for being honest.

muddleofpuddle · Yesterday 10:13

No. I'd see it as payment for my time and compensation for the stress.

randomchap · Yesterday 10:13

I'd let them know, but only once. Let them chase you for it if they want it back

PeonieLover · Yesterday 10:15

Send them an email to say that due to their incompetence they've refunded you twice so you can't be accused of stealing. They've already called you a liar so I'd move the money into a separate account. So if they do ask for it back in 2035, it's there but I wouldn't chase them anymore than that.

Motomum23 · Yesterday 10:16

Nope - id put the money aside and wait for them to figure out their mistake.
If it was a small business I definitely would- thats someone's income, but big business make enough to cover those sorts of losses.

SukiPook · Yesterday 10:19

Hmm I'm not sure what I'd do, because I'm a Christian - so I'd pray about it and probably I'd feel convicted to contact them and let them know etc., so in that case I definitely would.

(But my natural instinct absolutely would be sod them, they've done this to themselves!)

If you decide not to contact them I wouldn't feel bad about it. They've made an error and they also have messed you around.

Yupstillhere · Yesterday 10:21

No I wouldn't, you wasted lots of time chasing them. They can figure it out and chase you if they notice.

I probably would feel guilty though.

PleaseDontTreadOnTheDaisies · Yesterday 10:22

I don't think I'd bother - I'd give them back the money if they asked for it, but I honestly don't think I'd do anything to let them know, after all the hassle they'd caused.
Obviously one those things that when it goes wrong, it goes really, really wrong.
I am a basically honest person, so if guilt began to eat away, I might let them know by email, or I might just <ahem> not "notice" I'd been refunded twice.

LetMeGoogleThat · Yesterday 10:41

I wouldn't, unless they chased to the same level you had to! Karma almost never works that quickly 🙌

Ethelspagetti · Yesterday 10:45

This exact same thing happened to me around 10 years ago with Argos. I kept it and said nothing. If they had contacted me then of course I’d send it back, but they never did! Don’t say anything but leave it to one side for a couple of months just in case.

dontforgetofeedthecat · Yesterday 10:47

I would send an email and forget about it until they wake up, IF they wake up.
So I'd be covered but wouldn't waste any more time.

Toothsome · Yesterday 10:48

randomchap · Yesterday 10:13

I'd let them know, but only once. Let them chase you for it if they want it back

Exactly this. (On the one occasion something similar happened to me, the company decided it was too much work to do whatever they needed to do to arrange to get the money back, after I'd said they would have to do it, I wasn't going to put myself out, other than letting them know.'

TFImBackIn · Yesterday 10:50

No. I would if it was a small business, but in this case I'd be so irritated at what had happened that I wouldn't.

nomas · Yesterday 10:51

TemperanceWest · Yesterday 10:01

I would send an e-mail and that's it. I wouldn't waste my time phoning.

This. Send an abrupt email and be done with it.

42goingon14 · Yesterday 10:52

Not a chance

Yennefer17 · Yesterday 10:52

sth similar happened to me (similar value), I contacted the company and they told me not too bother and keep the item and the money as too much hassle to return it.

clopertyclop · Yesterday 10:53

Wasn’t dunelm was it? I had one of these ‘ghost orders’ for around £270 and took me ages to get it sorted

FinallyHere · Yesterday 10:54

If you contact them about it, you risk being given the run around again. Keep it and don’t give it another seconds thought. I’d make sure that I could comfortably afford to pay it back if I needed to, so if you couldn’t I’ll probably keep it separate from spends for a good few years.

SeraphionLightbringer · Yesterday 10:58

I wouldn’t bother. We went to NYC earlier in the year and booked a river cruise around the Hudson through Fever. They didn’t message us to tell us that the timing changes in winter from 6pm to 5pm so we missed it, even though we were there at 5.30pm (as the website said). The guy on the gate said this happens every year through third party sellers and they never do anything about it. We were so disappointed as it was supposed to be one of the highlights of our trip.

Anyway, I contacted Fever and they agreed to reinstate my voucher that I’d used. Weeks later it hadn’t arrived so they reimbursed my credit card. A few days later, they also reinstated the voucher. I didn’t care and I certainly didn’t let them know. We missed our trip so tough luck to them.

Dollymylove · Yesterday 11:03

Awful customer service. I wouldn't be paying it back. A large company probably wouldnt even notice

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