<p>I thought I would post this in the parent’s forum to get a different point of view. On the college forum, some people say I should keep the computer and some people say I should return it. </p>
<p>Below is my original post on the college forum:</p>
<p>I bought a laptop computer online for $1,500 a few weeks before I headed off to school. The company stated orders will be shipped within 48 hours. I waited a week and I never received an e-mail that the item was shipped. I contacted them by e-mail. They never responded. I went ahead and contatced my credit card company and explained the situation to me. They went ahead and gave me a full refund for the transaction. A few days after that, the company e-mailed me and said that they never know when the orders are going to be shipped and they had no exact date when my computer was going to be shipped. They did not apologize for the inconvenience or offer a discount on the purchase. I went ahead and bought a computer from another company and didn’t have any problems and received the computer in time. </p>
<p>About a month after I made original purchase, I got an e-mail that the computer was shipped and I received it a couple days later. What do you think I should do? I no longer need the computer. Do you think I should just keep it and wait to see if the company makes a claim that I recieved the computer? I thought the company provided horrible customer service and I am very dissapointed that it took over a month to receive the computer.</p>
<p>You didn’t actually <em>cancel</em> the order?</p>
<p>The right thing to do is call the company with horrible customer service, explain that the computer is no longer needed as you had purchased elsewhere after they had neither acknowledged your order or shipped your computer. Explain that you had initiated a chargeback on your credit card, you have not paid for the computer and you would like them to send a call tag.</p>
<p>In other words, it’s not yours, you didn’t pay for it, do the right thing and send it back. Let the company pick it up and pay the freight (ask for a call tag for the shipper).</p>
<p>I think you should have cancelled the order with the company once you cancelled it on your credit card. </p>
<p>However, if you have received the shipment via US mail, and you haven’t opened it, you can write “refused” and “return to sender” on it, and send it back.</p>
<p>If you didn’t cancel the order, and did open it, then it would be your nickel to send it back (insured, and return receipt requested, to prove you didn’t keep it). Just keeping it is not an option.</p>
<p>Why would you keep something you did not pay for? The fact that you are questioning that option indicates to me that you know it is wrong. You suffered horrible customer service. Wow. That’s never happened to anyone else. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Take the high road, arrange with company to have it shipped back, and sleep well at night.</p>
<p>100, are you asking for the right thing to do? Or the most advantageous? Or seeking approval of shady behavior? Are you really confused as to what is right, or just what you like best?
You have been refunded for the cost of first computer. You have already purchased another one. Try to cancel the first one. If thats too late, send it back. I see no harm in sending a harsh letter to first computer company telling them of your disappointment with their service. Tell all your friends who they are and how bad they did. But do not take something that does not belong to you- remember since you were refunded the money it does not belong to you.</p>
<p>Without a doubt - ship it back. You didn’t pay for it so it’s not yours regardless of whether the company is pleasant or irritating to work with.</p>
<p>If you keep the computer, the company has the right to charge your card again. Since you didn’t cancel your order, you may be liable for the shipping charges – in both directions.</p>
<p>“You didn’t actually <em>cancel</em> the order?”</p>
<p>I did cancel the order. On my credit card statement, it shows that I was refunded and it treated it as a return. The credit card company sends a letter to the computer company and states what happened. It is the computer company’s responsibility to contact the credit card company and let them know that the item was shipped so the refund can be reversed.</p>
<p>I think people are asking whether you informed the computer company that they should processing- by phone or internet; if so, it should never have been shipped.</p>
<p>It is not usual to rely only on the credit card cancellation to be your order cancel- the computer company could have viewed that as, “don’t charge until you ship”</p>
<p>"I think people are asking whether you informed the computer company that they should processing- by phone or internet; if so, it should never have been shipped.</p>
<p>It is not usual to rely only on the credit card cancellation to be your order cancel- the computer company could have viewed that as, “don’t charge until you ship”</p>
<p>It is between the credit card company and the computer company. I have nothing to do with this. I do not contact the computer company, the credit card comapny contacts the computer company.</p>
<p>Football100, what is the point of this thread? No matter how many different ways you try to word it, the facts are: you ordered a computer, you cancelled payment, you did not cancel the order, you have a computer you did not pay for that you ORDERED. If you don’t want to pay for it, return it.</p>
<p>The order is cancelled once I did a chargeback with the credit card company. There is no need to contact the computer company. Since I first never received the company, the credit card company treated it as a return and refunded my whole amount.</p>
<p>The whole point of this thread was to see what other people would do.</p>
<p>No, football, IRL you must notify a company that you are cancelling an order, so they may hold oyu liable for some shipping. Send it back, possibly with a restocking fee and shipping on you, or pay for it.</p>
<p>You placed an order, it is up to you to cancel with the company; it is not up to the credit card company- they only decide if your revoking the charge fits their rules or not</p>
<p>Even if the credit card company did cancel the order on your behalf and the merchant later shipped the product, they are entitled to reclaim their merchandise at their own expense. If you opened it, you may be responsible for both the return shipping charges and possibly even a restocking fee of as much as 20% of the purchase price. The restocking fee is not charged by all merchants and is not allowed by law in some locations. If they do try to charge you a restocking fee, you should ask your credit card company for help in proving that the order was indeed canceled.</p>
<p>You would have been in a better position had you sent a certified letter to the merchant canceling the order, even if the credit card company said they were going to do that for you. It is always a bad idea to rely on someone else to cancel an expensive order for you. They might forget to do it, the merchant might claim they were never notified, a lot of things could happen and you would not know about it until the order arrived. Much better that the merchant gets told twice than not at all.</p>
<p>What would I do? thats a tuffy. I might be tempted to steal it. I might think it unlikely the computer company would be efficient enough to sort out what happend and then charge me for it. If they did, well, I might figure I was no worse off- in that I had the computer and they finally charged me for it- so that isn’t unfair. Maybe if 1 out of a hundred agreed with me, then I’d say “See! I must be justified.”
While I’m not proud to admit that kind of rationalizing would go through my head, I still see that if I kept merchandise I ordered, but sent to me in error, I am not rightfully permitted to keep it without paying for it. It wasn’t a gift. My final conclusion is that if I took posession of this mdse without paying for it because the shipping dept or order dept wasn’t looking closely enough to see my credit card had cancelled it-assuming of course that all that paperwork had processed by shipping time, then I would see it as no different than if I was in a store and walked out with it because a sales staffer wasn’t looking closely enough to see my actions.
You had nothing to do with this? What? Your Op says you ordered a computer expecting shipping in 48 hrs, but that when it hadn’t arrived in a week you called the credit card company to refund your account. At no time did you say you cancelled with computer company and asked them to refund to your account. Do you think as soon as she hung up with you, that <em>Ms. Smith</em> at cc company immediately got on the hotline to <em>Karl</em> in the shipping department of the computer store and told him not to ship your item? Do you think thats how it works? Surely, whoever took the original order could have taken you cancellation or transferred you to someone who could. Or did you email customer service with the cancellation? You don’t tell us that you did. I might not feel as strongly if you had promptly emailed your cancellation but they ignored it. But you didn’t. I think you ordered from this company and you were very disappointed with their slow shipping. More than disappointed; downright angry! And maybe, rightfully so. But the actions you chose- not to contact the company to tell them off, not to contact them to cancel, but to call your credit card company and probably say or imply you were cheated and so cc company refunded your acct. You say you had nothing to do with it? Your choice of inaction led to this whole problem. You may still be mad at them but you are not entitled to keep a computer free just because the seller mad you mad.</p>
<p>Oh my gosh, football, this is a no brainer. Contact the company and return the product. Period. Regardless of how you feel about them. Seriously, you were considering keeping it and thought you could do so for free? Seriously?!? I’m going to bite my tongue and not say anything more.</p>