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Mrs C has just cancelled her summer holiday. She was supposed to be jetting off to Madeira with a pal in June - they were actually going last year (booked before Covid), they pushed it on to this year and have now decided to cancel it.
All straightforward so far.
I've just received the credit for on my credit card - that's how they paid for it originally. The holiday was just under £2,000, they were actually expecting around £1,500 after the holiday co kept the non refundable deposit.
I've got a credit against my card for the £1500 ish and another the same day for about £2,000? So £2,000ish more than she was expecting.
So, is this free money? Do I spend it on coke n hookers? Have to be diet coke as I'm in the chub club this year. Or do I leave it as a credit on the c/card so they can take it back when they realise their mistake?
I think you know the answer 🙂
If it were me i'd just keep quiet about it - and leave it there in case they ask for it back.
There must be a legal period for them to be able to reclaim their over-payment?
N+1
Could your good lady have spent a little more than she let on at the time? Or pre booked her C&H for the hols?
You can prebook? What a great idea, much better value than a normal excursion!
I'm not sure it's technically 'your' money if it's been 'refunded' to a credit card. It's the credit card issuers money. That being said they may never notice but they may also have as part of their terms and conditions that you must notify them of any discrepancies you become aware of.
If it was a small amount I'd keep quiet but for that amount I think I'd rather tell them and put my mind at ease.
Don't do what one of the previous residents of my flat has done: had a big refund for something onto his Amex card, £4k+, and forgotten about it. Even after living here 8 years I still get his bill from them asking him to contact them about giving him his money. I also have enough documentation to legally assume his identity! Yes I have tried telling them he no longer lives here but they can't do anything about it so every month I get a bill for them with an invite to claim a big chunk of money.
As long as you’d be happy them keeping £2k they had accidentally taken off your card I don’t see the issue.
Course I would Drac! It's the rule of 'finders keepers' isn't it, cuts both ways! 🙂
Yes, I don't think it's my money. I think it's the holiday companies rather than the credit card companies. But it's nice to think about inventive ways of spunking £2000 of someone else's money.
The Amex billing dept are very strange folk. Mrs C's ex husband's brother has an Amex with a credit of about 87p on it. They've been divorced about 8 years, the brother (account holder) had emigrated to SA about 5 years prior to that - and they're not interested in doing anything other than sending us a statement every month regardless of what we do.
So, is this free money?
No.
Unless you booked with a very small, "one man band" type operator (in which you should really give it back asap) they'll notice, there will be many checks within the business to ensure they're not losing money to errors or pilfering.
I'd bet it disappears off the account within a day or two, if not at a month end or something.
No.
Unless you booked with a very small, “one man band” type operator (in which you should really give it back asap) they’ll notice, there will be many checks within the business to ensure they’re not losing money to errors or pilfering.
I’d bet it disappears off the account within a day or two, if not at a month end or something.
Ethics aside, pretty much this. Its unlikely to go undescovered for ever.
Whether they contact you or just take it back is anyones guess. So remember it could disappear at any time before you go running your card to the limit based on what you hope next months statement will say.
is £2k alot of money to you, if yes, dont spend it, if not, then expect a chance they may ask for it back in which case agree £20 a month.
having worked for numerous ftse100 big companies, i always found the bigger the company the more cobbled togeather the accounts.
once had a little consultancy business come in to our big business to audit our balance sheet/accounts payable sections, it was a free service whereby they receive a xx% commission for reclaims on Invoices paid.
on the first day they found an invoice that had been paid 4 times, it was worth circa £1m, that week new faces kept appearing, they'd hired more staff..
I bet that
She was supposed to be jetting off to Madeira with a pal in June
and
I’m in the chub club this year.
Are very much linked.
on the first day they found an invoice that had been paid 4 times, it was worth circa £1m
Are you the NHS ?
sharkbait
Free Member
I bet thatShe was supposed to be jetting off to Madeira with a pal in June
and
I’m in the chub club this year.
Are very much linked.
Yes, but don't forget I'm currently £2,000 more attractive! 🙂
Ethically you should pay it back.
But all that will happen is that you contribute to the credit card companies bottom line. The retailer will not be down - it's credit card company liability.
A colleague once paid for a deposit on his house - £12,0000 - on his credit card. The solicitors got the £12,000 and the credit card company didn't take it from his card.
7 years later, he took the £12,000 he'd kept in a high-interest savings account and blew it on hookers and coke (presumably).
I'd stash it in an ISA. Banks are thieves anyway - the money they loan you is created out of thin air - they just add some zeroes to their spreadsheet and hey presto! - you owe them that back plus interest. (No, they don't owe it to the bank of england or anything - they just take the profit they've made there and pay it to shareholders and their boards).
If you're going to panick about it, pay it back. But I'd stash the equivalent in an ISA for 7 years so if they ever come calling you're not out of pocket.
When I have been in a similar situations I tend to take a view of 'are they a big company and afford to lose out on what will be a significant fraction of a percentage of a tiny bit of profit for the year'? If yes then I keep it.
Did your better half pay for her pal too - or has he also received a refund?
oldtennisshoes
Full Member
Did your better half pay for her pal too – or has he also received a refund?
Yup, she paid for both of them, total bill was just less than £2000, less their non refundable deposit means she was expecting £1500 ish back.
Personally I would be contacting them, and returning the money.
It doesn´t matter if they are a big or small company. The money is theirs. They made a mistake.
Anything else is morally just shit.
I'd say anything else is morally shit @iolo - but for the fact that banks create money out of thin air - which is morally shit in the first place.
If you had stiffed an actual business then I'd be all over that.
Yes. I work in a bank 🙂
@reluctantjumper - you are aware of course that it’s an offence to open someone else’s mail 😉
Just return to sender with ‘no longer at this address scrawled on it’ 🙂
Yes. I work in a bank 🙂
Why do that if they are all morally shit?
Because @imnotverygood, in a capitalist society my fastest route to freedom (the only route to freedom) is financial freedom.
And they pay well.
I vote in accordance with my morals, I work the reality I live in.
We're all doing what we can. 🙂
Yup, she paid for both of them
Whoosh!
😉
Could be worse, you could have sent $500m to the wrong account and a court rules they can keep it!!!
Citigroup loses bid to recover $500m sent to funds by mistake
US judge rules recipients can keep the money in case involving loan made to Revlon
A bizarre quirk of NY State legislation...
https://www.ft.com/content/de433d55-5cea-4929-9954-c08e5b98f004
you are aware of course that it’s an offence to open someone else’s mail
Is it an offence to open someone else's mail when posted through your letter box?
Whenever the postman gets it wrong, I only notice after opening when I go 'WTF, I don't have a Lloyds bank account' and then post the opened letter through the right letter box.
One year, one of the Xmas temps at the PO posted an entire streets mail in our street - all the house numbers were correct, the street name wasn't. I popped out and told him, as we're right at the end, he probably wasn't best pleased to hear that...
@dannybgoode - I phoned AMEX not long after moving in thinking it was just the previous tenant's post and they said to open it to get the account number. Tried the 'Return To Sender' thing but the address is in Ft Lauderdale so they just come back! Now I just find it funny that some guy called Karl has just over £4k waiting for him to claim it but he has no idea 🤣
you are aware of course that it’s an offence to open someone else’s mail
It is an offence to do so without good reason.
Is it an offence to open someone else’s mail when posted through your letter box?
Same answer.
The company may well be able to take the hit but there’s going to be a person responsible and for all you know their job may be hanging by a thread. That person doesn’t need any more crap landing on them.
You think an error by a multi-national will be somehow pinned on an individual? If they finger-point like that then the person deserves better (not that it would happen).