General Consensus, Honesty is the best policy?

A well known saying I'm sure you all agree but despite us all knowing honesty is the best policy how many of you would actually cough up with out been prompted?

This comes from a topic in the office today, a co worker ordered a christmas gift from the states.
It didn't arrive in time so on Friday 4th he complained and they sent him another one. The delivery came on Wed's 8th (i think).
However now a second parcel has arrived (marked as dispatched on the 8th)...

Now morally speaking he "should" contact the company and inform them of the mix up... but would you?

A few facts to consider:
This is an expensive item, a £300 piece of electrical goodness,
Both deliveries were signed for as received,
They don't have any debit card information as the initial purchase was done by voucher.
The only means of contact they have is email.

So I put it to you, what would YOU do. Dont give fairy tails of idealist situations I'm intrigued to see just how corrupt/angelic we all are.

[Fallout]

I don't believe in black and white mate. I think all situations are mixed race. Basically it's all about damage vs gain in all situations like this. If your gain is significantly more meaningful than their loss, then it's all good. If it's not, then it's bad. Two classic theft examples are a starving hobo nicking a sandwich from Tesco (fine), or a rich ******* nicking a PS3 from a struggling independent merchant (bad). They're both theft and both illegal, but morally I have no problem with the former.

So is this company a struggling merchant, and is your colleague short of a few quid or quite flush?

what goes around comes around I believe strongly in that...

Generally with large companies I don't bother notifying them. It's a lot of hassle and they'll already have claimed off the courier company.

If its gone outside their timescales and they've decided to send me another I simply give the extras away to people I know that will appreciate them.

It's happened twice to me near Xmas with amazon and its made me appreciate their customer service and use them more so fuzzy morality aside it's good for everyone.


If it was a small independent store I may act differently.

[Littlepeahead]

I would contact the company and say that it had arrived and then expect them to pay for the first item to be returned and also that it be collected at a time and place convenient to me.

If then then said not to worry I could keep the item guilt free.

Originally Posted by Fallout

I don't believe in black and white mate. I think all situations are mixed race. Basically it's all about damage vs gain in all situations like this. If your gain is significantly more meaningful than their loss, then it's all good. If it's not, then it's bad. Two classic theft examples are a starving hobo nicking a sandwich from Tesco (fine), or a rich ******* nicking a PS3 from a struggling independent merchant (bad). They're both theft and both illegal, but morally I have no problem with the former.

So is this company a struggling merchant, and is your colleague short of a few quid or quite flush?

I'd say he's comfortable but not flush.
The company is a international, well in the sense they sell to the world but I do believe they're based state side.

Is the company likely to go into administration any time soon?

Similar dilema--I bought a r.c. helocopter for my grandsons xmas which proved to be faulty so we returned it to the shop where it was purchased.As they were unable to repair it there and then they gave me another,better one off the shelf.They original purchase has now been repaired and returned in full working order.obviously he has now played with the replacement-------what to do

[Messie]

I had a similar situation once. I ordered and paid for a new settee, which was then duly delivered. A few days later I had a call from the delivery company asking to deliver my sette a few days later. The thought of two new settees was appealing but I chat with a layer friend of mine.

He said that if I accepted delivery of the second settee I would be dishonestly obtaining goods, as I knew they weren't legally mine. Therefore an offense would be committed.

In the end the delivery company realised they had made a mistake so the situation didn't fully arise. So, I think if you keep the goods without informing the company, there is dishonesty and illegality involved. I'd try call them, as LPH has suggested, and I would guess that it wouldn't be worth the hassle to them to return it.

[Bibio]

you are what you is.

many many years ago i walked away from a cash machine leaving the cash in the drawer. there were some students standing there when i done it. i got about 20 yards down the road when one of them shouted me back and handed me my money. i gave them £20 as i had just taken out £200 and thanked them for being honest.

they could have indeed taken all the money and done a runner but clearly they were honest people and i hope that it has served them well being so.

if you don't like it being done to you don't do it to others. honesty is the best policy.