Ethical / opinion question?

Question

I ordered a jump drive from an online store last month. The product was shipped an the transaction was closed. Now a month later I receive an email from the company saying they have finished processing my order and are waiting to ship my item. This is the same jump drive I ordered a month ago. I checked my credit card statement and I have not been charged this month for anything.

Do I contact the company and tell them they made a mistake and are going to send me a jump drive for free? Do I keep quiet and receive a free jump drive? If I keep quiet do I risk falling in to legal trouble later in the future?

This is similar to if you are given too much change at a store you can get into legal trouble if you do not tell the cashier they made a mistake.

To make a point clear: I have bought the first jump drive legitimately. I am about to be sent a second jump drive for free.

Answer 1

Here's what I think happened:

Your actual order moved faster than the paperwork. You received a notice that was intended to go out prior to the actual item.

I have had this happen with several items I ordered online. I order, they charge the credit card, send the item, I get it, then a few weeks later, get an order confirmation, but don't get a duplicate.

I don't think they're going to send you another. You could call them if they don't have an intolerable wait time, or simply refuse delivery when it arrives, marking "Duplicate" on the outside of the package.

Answer 2

Will you get in "legal trouble?" Probably not. Could they demand that you send the jump drive back and pay for shipping? Probably.

The general contract rules are that you can't "snap up" a mistake by the other party, and you're required to be "purged" of an "unjust enrichment."

When you get incorrect change at the store, the same rules apply. But people aren't going to track you down / sue you if you get $.25 too much in change (they'll probably just deduct it from the accidental employees' paycheck). But if the jump drive is valuable, and they have your information, sure they can attempt to get it (or the cost of the goods) from you.

It's ethical simply to reply to the e-mail and tell them they're making a mistake. It will also help with the paper trail later if they say that they don't care and are shipping it to you anyway (thus, you may have an argument that the second jump drive is a GIFT, since there was intent to provide you with something you didn't pay for).

Answer 3

They will find out the mistake at some point when they do an audit. Better to deal with it honestly now and have them not even send it to you. They will appreciate your honesty, and it is the right thing to do. If you take the free item, and they ask for it back later, you will incur charges to ship it back, or they could even charge you for it later. Again, better to let them know now and be honest.

Answer 4

Every man puts his own price on his integrity. I once bought a revolver that was priced at $500. The gun store owner rang up $400 and ran the transaction through for that price.

I pointed out his error and that I owned him another $100, and made good on the balance.

What you do depends entirely upon how you want to see yourself. In my opinion, your self respect and integrity should be worth more than any 3-figure, 4-figure, or 5-figure sum, at the very least.

Answer 5

Whether you notify them or not is a matter of your personal ethics -- unless you are a member of some profession (such as an attorney) who is required to affirmatively correct such misunderstandings.

There are few legal problems you can get into -- if the company chooses to send you something without charging you, that's their choice -- you didn't order a second drive.

Personally, if I were not an attorney, I'd wait until it actually arrived, then send a letter to the company informing them that you received something you didn't order -- and that if they want to pay shipping back, you'll send it back to them.