That’s not the correct reversal analogy. A better reverse analogy is:
purchaser buys a love seat from Target but accidentally pays double the price through her own inattention to the actual price. Target calls her up and tells her that she’s paid too much and they are sending her a check for the difference. Purchaser recieves the check, is somehow confused, and then makes an additional payment to Target for the same amount as the check.
In this situation, the purchaser is too stupid to be allowed to have money, so it all works out in the end.
And what is it with people asking us to think about the employees of Target here? Is anyone so new to the world that they believe innocent employees of Target are going to be affected by the OP keeping the money? I hope not.
BTW, both of the Target employees I spoke to (the first to arrange to return it, the second to schedule the pick-up) expressed surprise that I was returning the extra loveseat, along the lines of “wow, that is nice of you.” I got the distinct impression that they didn’t expect people to be so honest. Imagine the reaction if I try to return the refund. I may get nominated for Target Sainthood.
I would call once more. My effort would be in proportion to the amount I spent. If its a $200 loveseat, I’d try a little. If it’s a $20,000 loveseat, I’d try a lot harder. (I would assume the loveseat would fall between these extremes!)
Money is nice, but it’s less important than feeling good about yourself. At the point where you feel you can in all honesty say, “Well, I tried,” is the point you stop.
I hate these. I’ll apologize in advance since you weren’t the one who wrote the previous threads on this same topic. But I too, am getting really tired of these threads where an OP comes in claiming to have an ethical dilemma when all they’re trying to do is justify what they know is the wrong thing to do.
Someone gave you money in error. Are you really claiming that it’s the right thing to do to keep it?
There’s a legend that Abraham Lincoln walked miles in the snow to return a penny. If he did, was he a fool or a person of great character? That’s up to you to decide. If you’re the type of person who would go out of their way to do the right thing, it’s up to you to decide how much is enough. If you’re the type of person who would take candy from a baby’s hands, then what difference does it make if a few people on the internet agree with you?
Now if the title of the thread were “Please help me justify this act” or “Make me feel better about what I’m about to do” or “I’m taking money, so there”, at least the title would be more descriptive of the thread. And really, how does any of us know how we would behave in the exact same situation? We’re not in it.
I’m also tired of these threads where if people actually discuss the ethical principles, they get called holier-than-thou or other names. They may not be saying that they would do the right thing. . . we all have to live with our own consciences. But at least, in the abstract, hopefully, most of us know what the right thing is. It saddens me to think that there are some people that actually don’t know the difference.
As it is, if someone comes in and actually discusses the actual ethics, I’ve mostly seen defensiveness and justification. That’s fine, but at least call it what it is.
But I still don’t know if I am going to keep it–I haven’t decided what to do.
I guess to me it matters that I tried to do the right thing by returning the darn thing, but Target wouldn’t let me. What should Lincoln do if he walked all that way to return the penny and someone slipped a nickel in his pocket? Walk back? What if they outright refused the penny?
Sorry if you hate these questions, and feel free to avoid the threads in the future, but I have appreciated the suggestions. It hadn’t occurred to me to write them (I just thought of calling and going through hell again with a customer service rep) or to donate the money to charity.
That would make it even worse, actually. Accounting processes are closed monthly, so the purchase and refund would be in this month’s books, then further stuff in next month’s books, making things even more confusing and difficult. Depending on when Target’s year end is, you could even be stringing things out from one financial year to the next.
This is the first thing that came to my mind, too. What more would you have Lincoln do if he walked there, returned the penny, and got back home to find a penny in the mail?
There’s a limit to the amount of responsibility one needs to accept in correcting another’s error. IMO, Brynda has done all she needs to do.
You know I don’t like it when people get pouty like this either, but I really don’t think it’s fair to accuse the OP of this just yet. A good number of posters have said yes, you’ve done enough, so I don’t think it’s so obvious what’s right that it’s not even worth staring the thread. And her last question is actually quite fair – how much more or her time should she spend trying to fix this?
For Brynda - you’ve got to go by your own morality. If you feel like you’re stealing, try some more to fix it. If you feel like you’ve wasted enough time already, I’d call it due diligence and leave it alone. We didn’t go back into the store and wrassle with them over a $20 dvd, but a dvd is not a loveseat. I think this was a fair ethical dilemma, too - really, how far DO you go to fix someone else’s mistakes?
Hmm. It sounds like you’re saying that you don’t know how to give back the money. Is that correct?
Here’s a couple suggestions that you might entertain.
You could call your bank and ask them to reverse the credit on your credit card since it was in error. You could ask your bank how this works.
You could do what** Bricker** did here and pay for the item and leave it there.
But if you don’t know how to return the money, that’s not an ethical question, that’s a logistical one. That’s a different question. I’m sure that the minds on the Dope could think of creative ways of returning the money. People here can be very creative and innovative.
I anticipated this response and should have pre-empted this in my last post. The reason that I don’t like these threads is because it doesn’t seem like the person posting the OP is looking for opinions, just justifications. If that doesn’t apply to you, then I wasn’t referring to you in my last post. However, from what I’ve read so far, I don’t have reason to think otherwise so far.
I’m glad that you’re finding good suggestions in the posts. I hope they help you find a way to do the right thing for you.
I tend to take the conservative approach to these things, not because of my respect for Target, but because I can’t afford to have conflict within myself. This doesn’t mean I have to bang my head against a wall either. So If I’ve made a reasonable effort, and the obstacles are on the part of Target, then I’d probably keep it or donate, there are plenty of people that need it more than a departement store chain. After all, they just pass the cost on to all of us anyway.
And here I was before opening the thread, interpreting your title as “ethical dilemma for me to return the loveseat, because I love (these) loveseats!”
