A bank error in my favor, and I'm pissed about it.

The BBQ Pit
1

The background: the student bookstore, which had already taken both of my arms and my leg in textbooks, double-charged me for my last book to the tune of $100 ($200 for a $100 textbook). When I pointed this out to them, they very graciously refunded my money, and it happened relatively quickly. I thought “Hey, great customer service for a change”.

Well, it appears that the customer service was too great, because wouldn’t you know it, they double-refunded the money. Now I am caught smack-dab in the middle of an interesting ethical quandary.

As usual, money is tight, although Robin got a job so things are looking up for the near future. However, until that starts paying we’re not anywhere near secure, and $100 dollars can and has broken us in the short term. So that overbilling, while minor to most people, was a big deal. Now I have $100 that is not mine, and it’s pissing me off.

Here’s the quandary: I absolutely intend to give the money back to the bookstore and to inform them of their error. Clearly something is broken in their system, and they can scarcely be held responsible for it. Further, I am not a thief. However, my concern is that since the system is double-billing and double-refunding, how do I keep them from screwing me over again with another double-billing? If I give them the money in cash, they still have my card number and there is the potential that I will get royally screwed.

So, how do I get them the money without being screwed over again at the worst possible time? Do I sit on it and let them resolve it, knowing that the money isn’t mine? I can’t do that, my conscience will punish me.

In any event, the bottom line is that they need to fix this problem pronto. I have enough to deal with without worrying about problems that are out of my control yet can have lasting effects on my life. You’d think that they would be content with taking my arms and my leg with their exorbitant prices, now they’re cutting my other leg out from under me, and I’m pissed off.

2

Will I be the first to ask - You paid $100 for a textbook?! Last year I had to pay $55 for a university textbook. I held out for as long as I could. I tried to just use library copies and make photocopies and borrow other students’ copies etc. Couldn’t you have done that?
About the ethical question, I believe that most ethicists would say that your financial situation should have no bearing on whether it is right or wrong to keep the money.

3

How did they double-refund the money? If it was a credit to a charge account, there’s no reason to feel guilty about having the credit as long as you don’t use it to buy other things. Get in touch with them and let them know about the double credit and let them straighten it out.

4

You don’t even want to know what university textbooks go for around here. I’ve had books run me upwards of $200.

Exactly. I would first double check my statements to make sure they didn’t double bill, double refund, and then restate a single charge. There’s all sorts of screwy accounting I’ve seen done by vendors. I’ve had items that posted as (seemingly) double billings somehow turn into a single billings after a couple of days, once they went from the pending column into the cleared column.

Personally, if I were to do the ethical thing, I’d go back to the vendor and explain the problem. If double billing is a problem with them, I’m sure you’re not the only person being affected.

5

Wait a few days and see if it clears up. A while back I bought something for hundreds of dollars, came home to find my account overdrawn by hundreds of dollars because they somehow triple-charged my card, called to complain, they said they had no idea what I was talking about. The next day they quadruple-credited my account, then somehow took back the fourth instance so it all balanced out without me ever incurring an overdraft fee. Who knows.

6

**Airman Doors, USAF ** can answer for himself, but yeah, man, sometimes you just have to pay the piper. Especially if you work third-shift, 28 hours/wk (like I do), live at least a 1.25 hour commute away from campus (like I do), and therefore can’t spend a whole lot of time copying texts (like I can’t).

I’m not rolling in dough or anything like that, but a few years ago, when I was MUCH worse off than I am now, I had no choice but to spend many an hour every week copying page after page after page, etc. because I no-way-in-hell could afford some of the pricier books. (Who am I kidding? They’re ALL pricey; it’s just relative, y’know?)

And, no offense, but this

cracked me the hell up! :slight_smile:

Borrow other students’ copies?! For one thing, I’m lucky (or not, depending on my state of mind) to know the mere NAMES of my classmates. Luckier, still, if I find any that I would even be comfortable with enough to even THINK of asking to borrow their books (or lend mine out, which is not possible due to the logistics of my daily life). Besides, in the eight years that I’ve been there :eek: (yeah, it’s taking me longer than I anticipated), I’ve never gotten the sense that my school is so tight-knit that something like borrowing each other’s books is, for the most part, easily done. (But I’m a commuter student, so I might not know jack in this regard.)

So, yeah, gotta pay the piper.

And I agree with your WAG regarding that most ethicists would say that **A.D., USAF’s ** financial situation has no bearing on the rightness or wrongess of his keeping the money.

Airman Doors, USAF: Clearly this money needs to be given to the overcharging bastards. I understand your reluctance, though, given their proven incompetence thus far, so I’d suggest that you let your credit card company know what’s up and see what they say. MY WAG is that they’ll tell you that these things usually self-resolve within “X” amount of time and that you should probably just wait for “X” amount of time and see what happens WRT to the charges on your account.

If nothing happens (i.e., if they correct charge isn’t posted to your account) within that amount of time, you can then revisit how you handle this, i.e., alert the overcharging bastards to their error and give them a chance to charge your card for the PROPER amount. Make sure you emphasize “proper amount”. Oh, yes, in writing, ideally. I loves me some paper trails.

7

I’d be pissed off too. The card clearly reads “Bank Error In Your Favor – Collect $200”.

8

I wouldn’t take it up with the vendor, I’d go to my bank and ask them to look into it and to make sure you aren’t erroneously charged. This might be helpful in case there is another mistake and you do get charged a fee because something else bounces then you should have some recourse to get the fees waived.

9

The risk, of course, is that they will double-straighten-it-out.

I would go to the bookstore manager’s office, explain the situation, and ask to watch while one accountant fixes the problem and closes the account.

10

I’d give them their money, not out of any altruistic motives, but just out of concern they’ll catch it a week down the road and do another chargeback, one which will catch you off guard and maybe overdraw you.

11

So you’re mad, not because they overcharged you (a legitimate beef), but because you’re worried about the possibility that they might screw up again at some point in the future, while you’re sitting on an extra hundred dollars?

Yeah… I don’t see it.

12

That’s not the ethical question. The question involves the tendency of the bookstore to repeatedly screw up and double-enter things. Airman should not be penalized by them screwing things up.

Frankly, I’d not give them cash money at all. Call or appear physically, ask to speak to the manager, and discuss the issue. Have a check ready.

Everyone’s right about waiting a week or two, though, just to be sure it doesn’t balance out on its own.

Helen: He wants to give them the money back, he’s pissed because doing so may involve them taking the money back twice, once from him, and once, say, automatically.

13

You are not a thief.

It is not your money, and your integrity is worth more than $100.

Go in to the store with cash. Make it clear that you’re now even and no more electronic hocus pocus needs to be done.

It’s hard when the $100 could be helpful, but as you noted, it’s their money not yours.

14

Yes, I would do exactly this. And be prepared to go gonzo apeshit on them when they ended up trying to charge back the $100 anyway, thus making me bounce about five debit transactions on the day before payday. :stuck_out_tongue: :mad:

15

Or you could be slightly less ethical but still be within the rules of the game by going in and buying a 2nd copy with the additional $100 and then sell it on to a fellow needy classmate.

While not absolving you of complete thievery as the bookstore loses its markup, you do bypass the electronic money route.

Or alternatively return your copy to the bookstore claiming its faulty and when they go to work out the refund run away.
Then purchase the book at another store.

16

I’d be more inclined to contact my bank or bank card customer service line and let them hash things out with the bookstore. That way your bank (card) is already on notice that there’s something odd happening to your account and they already have your version of the story.

17

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT GIVE THEM CASH.

They have been pulling money in and out of your checking/credit account sort of indiscriminately. Sit on the whole thing until the books close at month end - give it at least a week after close. They SHOULD find the overcharge in month end close, and they MAY (since they have hit your account indiscriminately in the past) back it out all on their own. If you give them cash, the chances of it getting applied properly to your account and not just ending up being “where did this extra $100 come from” are way high - $100 may be material to you, but it isn’t material to the bookstore and they will just write it off and not track it at all.

Ethically, if nothing happens for a month, I’d donate $100 to the university alumni fund - it will all come out in the wash. You’ll have had the interest on their $100 for a month, but that’s negligible and certainly fair considering how incompetent they’ve been.

18

Go back to the store and explain that the missing $100 was supposed to be a practical joke, but you were drunk and didn’t think it through.

19

Keep the money and convince yourself that it’s part of a practical joke.

Nah… I’d watch your bills and let them sort it out on their own… Forcing them or helping them before they are ready is probably going to cause them to ‘fix’ the error twice.

20

In point of fact, I suspect that’s what happened. When I checked the bank balance and saw that the cost of the book had been debited twice, I had Airman go to the bookstore to straighten it out. They told him that there had been problems with their credit card system and that everyone had been double-charged. They made the initial refund yesterday, then when I checked the bank balance again today, I noticed that we had more money than we should have, and it turned out to be a second refund.

Since they’ve been having system problems, I think the best course of action is to let it sort itself out.

Robin