Incorrectly refunded for an item
Discussion
A friend of mine made an international order before christmas for an electrical item valued at £1300 give or take. This was paid for using paypal checkout with a credit card on the paypal account.
Once the order was made he realised that he had selected his work address and not his confirmed paypal email for delivery so rang the company and asked them to change the address.
Said company said they could not deliver to an unconfirmed address any way so he would need to reorder and they would cancel the first order.
Well they canceled the first order, but refunded the second payment and the first payment which was waiting for authorisation has now expired. The said electrical item arrived last week and up to now no payment has been made.
Legally where does he stand with this? is it theft? I'm sure once the error is noticed they will request payment but does he have to pay this? They cant just take a payment as they have no credit card details.
Morally he should do the right thing but currently is enjoying having the item for free...
Once the order was made he realised that he had selected his work address and not his confirmed paypal email for delivery so rang the company and asked them to change the address.
Said company said they could not deliver to an unconfirmed address any way so he would need to reorder and they would cancel the first order.
Well they canceled the first order, but refunded the second payment and the first payment which was waiting for authorisation has now expired. The said electrical item arrived last week and up to now no payment has been made.
Legally where does he stand with this? is it theft? I'm sure once the error is noticed they will request payment but does he have to pay this? They cant just take a payment as they have no credit card details.
Morally he should do the right thing but currently is enjoying having the item for free...
Devil2575 said:
He needs to contact them and make the payment.
No he doesn't. He can but he doesn't have to. If it was me I'd wait and see. If they came asking I'd pay up, but if they didn't I'd be very grateful and wouldn't feel too bad. It's not his job to chase companies to pay them.
photosnob said:
Devil2575 said:
He needs to contact them and make the payment.
No he doesn't. He can but he doesn't have to. If it was me I'd wait and see. If they came asking I'd pay up, but if they didn't I'd be very grateful and wouldn't feel too bad. It's not his job to chase companies to pay them.
They've clearly made a mistake and my conscience wouldn't let me ignore it in the hope that they don't realise. Plenty of things "Aren't my job" but I do them because i'm a decent human being
90% of the people here would of course tell you to contact them and make payment.
90% of the people here would actually do something completely different.
Said company employ people to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen.
I would simply say nothing. If they come calling for their money I would pay it without question, but until then it would remain in my bank account. A simple end of month, end of quarter accounts check will highlight the issue.
90% of the people here would actually do something completely different.
Said company employ people to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen.
I would simply say nothing. If they come calling for their money I would pay it without question, but until then it would remain in my bank account. A simple end of month, end of quarter accounts check will highlight the issue.
Contrary to other posts on this thread your friend may be committing an offence if he keeps the money. Section 24A Theft Act 1968 - Dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit
The money could be classed as stolen given knowledge it doesn't belong to your friend and failure to make reasonable attempts to return it, see theft by finding and similar. You are expected in law to make reasonable efforts to return found items, for example find £1 on the floor look around and no one nearby probably reasonable, find £50,000 in a suitcase you need to make more effort such as reporting to police. Given the amount stated in this post and the knowledge where it is from you'd be expected to at least contact the company to make them aware.
FWIW I had a similar issue where a company sent me two laptops when I only paid for one, as it goes they didn't want the other one returned as too much hassle. Always better to have things guilt free.
(1)A person is guilty of an offence if—
(a)a wrongful credit has been made to an account kept by him or in respect of which he has any right or interest;
(b)he knows or believes that the credit is wrongful; and
(c)he dishonestly fails to take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to secure that the credit is cancelled.
(2)References to a credit are to a credit of an amount of money.
The money could be classed as stolen given knowledge it doesn't belong to your friend and failure to make reasonable attempts to return it, see theft by finding and similar. You are expected in law to make reasonable efforts to return found items, for example find £1 on the floor look around and no one nearby probably reasonable, find £50,000 in a suitcase you need to make more effort such as reporting to police. Given the amount stated in this post and the knowledge where it is from you'd be expected to at least contact the company to make them aware.
FWIW I had a similar issue where a company sent me two laptops when I only paid for one, as it goes they didn't want the other one returned as too much hassle. Always better to have things guilt free.
On a slight tangent, imagine this:
You go out for dinner whilst on holiday and rack up a £200 bill. You duly pay the bill and tip well using a credit card and leave.
Then, once you've flown back to the UK you happen to notice your credit card bill seems a bit short for the past month and read it in more detail, and find that you never got charged the £200. I just can't see a prosecution holding any water when this is all based on intent, knowing and believing.
I could well believe the OPs friend doesn't read his bills all that often etc.
Obviously the product should be paid for, but I do see there being some middle ground when the purchaser has tried in good faith to pay and the company has f
ked up taking the money from the provided card. I mean, if he'd paid by cheque and the company didn't bother to bank it, you wouldn't think the buyer had done anything wrong. Makes you think..
You go out for dinner whilst on holiday and rack up a £200 bill. You duly pay the bill and tip well using a credit card and leave.
Then, once you've flown back to the UK you happen to notice your credit card bill seems a bit short for the past month and read it in more detail, and find that you never got charged the £200. I just can't see a prosecution holding any water when this is all based on intent, knowing and believing.
I could well believe the OPs friend doesn't read his bills all that often etc.
Obviously the product should be paid for, but I do see there being some middle ground when the purchaser has tried in good faith to pay and the company has f
ked up taking the money from the provided card. I mean, if he'd paid by cheque and the company didn't bother to bank it, you wouldn't think the buyer had done anything wrong. Makes you think..Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff