Help with a moral dilemma

[deckeda]

Winston wrote:
[quote=deckeda]
[quote=MGS_forgot_password]
They person who didn't get the card will probably just complain to BB and get a new one, and the extra card will get voided.

I'd just destroy the card and not worry about it.

THIS is what will happen.
Not necessarily. There is often a long lag in receiving rebates. I've got one coming that I'm watching for, but not sure who I'd contact if it doesn't show up. It's easy to lose track of these things.

Be kind.
- Winston
Sure, but this one's not a rebate. He's got the gift card already, just doesn't know who to screw, or hate. Or somethin'!

[SteveO]

Robert M wrote:
JPK,

There is no dilemma here. You know exactly what you should do about the situation. Contact Best Buy and allow them to resolve it.

The second envelope may have been addressed to you but it is clear the gift card it contained is intended for someone else. Using that info, Best Buy can correct the mistake. If you keep the card, you are, in essence, stealing it from its intended recipient. That's on top of contributing to the agita the intended recipient is going to have to go through to get the gift card to which he/she is entitled, a gift card you have in your possession. Just my opinion.

Definitely contact Best Buy so its customer service can resolve the situation. Whether Best Buy has done you wrong in the past wouldn't matter. It has nothing at all to do with this situation nor does it entitle you to keep a $100.00 gift card that was clearly intended for someone else.

Robert

True, true, true. Resolve it with BB. You'll be doing the right thing and in doing so, some great Karma will come your way. If you spend it, it will be like stealing $100 from either BB or more importantly, the other person.

[Uncle Wig]

The address of the other recipient is listed inside on the packing slip. . . . just forward it to him.


:ftw:

[Fritz]

if you have any karmic guilt about it, donate a lil extra to your face charity this year.

[$tevie]

Two gift cards both made out with your information is a dilemma.

Two gift cards one of which clearly lets you know who it is intended for is a no-brainer.

As for the fictional 19-year-old with pimples who won't understand you, he's a nice construct to ease your guilt but it is total BS to invent him.

[DRR]

Use it. Somewhere out there, an innocent person will not get their gift card and will get the shaft from Best Buy when they try to get another.

That person will vow to never again use Best Buy and will preach their vitrol to anyone who will listen, the time that BB screwed them out of $100.

When this happens across the country enough times to enough people, Best Buy goes out of business and everyone wins.

[JPK]

I certainly don't want to "harm" the guy that this was intended. I equally do not want to fix BB's mistakes for them.

Legally, I am pretty sure I can keep the card: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/inves...Fraud.aspx

But this is not a legal question for me.

I have sent a request to BB CS explaining the situation and asking how they would like me to handle it.

I am sure they jump all over this and get it resolved quickly and efficiently! Not!

JPK

I am sure I have wasted more time on this already than the $100 could compensate for!

[N-OS X-tasy!]

raz wrote:
But, beyond that, you could return the gift card or toss it. Using it would be theft.

No, it wouldn't. U.S. mail order regulations state that a person is entitled to keep any item mistakenly shipped to him/her.

Theft is taking something from a party without their knowledge or consent. If the party sends you something, however - even mistakenly - it is not theft.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

mrbigstuff wrote:
I'd like to just state my ethical superiority right here and in front of the whole MRF community by saying that if it were ME, I would return the card and on the way home from doing so, I'd give out 100 balloons to needy children, visit the local homeless shelter, but not before rescuing puppies about to be put down and before staying up all night at the leper colony bandaging wounds. But, again, that is just what I would do; you may be different.

See, if it were me I would steal the puppies from the children and use them to beat the lepers about the head before tying them to the balloons and launching them into the stratosphere.

But that's just me.

[GGD]

N-OS X-tasy! wrote:
No, it wouldn't. U.S. mail order regulations state that a person is entitled to keep any item mistakenly shipped to him/her.

Here's the actual regulation http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/39/IV/30/3009

It needs to be identified as a gift to the recipient (not just any random miss-delivered package).

All such merchandise shall
have attached to it a clear and conspicuous statement informing the
recipient that he may treat the merchandise as a gift to him and
has the right to retain, use, discard, or dispose of it in any
manner he sees fit without any obligation whatsoever to the sender.

N-OS X-tasy! wrote:
Theft is taking something from a party without their knowledge or consent. If the party sends you something, however - even mistakenly - it is not theft.

You often see news stories of cases where a bank mistake deposits funds in someone's account, and they decide that it's now their money and spend it. It never ends well for those people.