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I got a free computer.... UPDATE
Everywhereasign
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I bought a computer from a very well known store more then 6 months ago. I purchased it with a credit card and have been waiting since then for it to appear on my statement.
Is their some type of statute of limitations on this kinda thing?
I have all my reciepts, it says the transaction went through. I got a confirmation e-mail and copy of the reciept by e-mail from them afew days after I bought it. I've bought things from them since then and it's gone through the same day or the day after.
Although I *do* feel kinda sorta bad, It's not like I didn't do everything I was suppose to. It seems they just haven't submitted it.
What should I do? Tell them? Forget about it? Enjoy my free computer?
Is their some type of statute of limitations on this kinda thing?
I have all my reciepts, it says the transaction went through. I got a confirmation e-mail and copy of the reciept by e-mail from them afew days after I bought it. I've bought things from them since then and it's gone through the same day or the day after.
Although I *do* feel kinda sorta bad, It's not like I didn't do everything I was suppose to. It seems they just haven't submitted it.
What should I do? Tell them? Forget about it? Enjoy my free computer?
"What are you dense? Are you retarded or something? Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the goddamn Batman!"
Everywhereasign on
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Arrest this man
and then part of me says "watch me lose my wallet tomorrow."
...damn. Um. If this is a company that offers you excellent products at a decent price with no drama... I would say tell them that they neglected to charge you. I mean, that money has to be accounted for SOMEWHERE. You don't want someone to get laid off or something because of it, do you? Additionally, don't burn your bridges, you know? What if you want to buy something else from them in the future?
But. If it's like... best buy, or some corporate thug company that charges outrageous shipping and makes you fight with 3rd parties for rebates and THAT sort of crap... screw em. That's THEIR karma, not yours.
You're not L33T enough for IDI/RN FTP!
Yeah, my original thought was dropping by and asking them. I have no problem paying for it, I mean I thought I did. I'm dealing with a fairly large company, I don't know how well I'm going to do asking them if I paid for something with my reciept in hand saying I did. I can see it turning into one of those Modal Logic problems.
On the other hand, doing so would most likely provide me with a very good story to tell.
Hmmm...
it's Apple
<ducks>
Mario Kart DS: 3320 6595 7026 5000
This, to me, is why I recommend calling and clearing it up. Yes, it was a while back, but what if it suddenly goes through? Then do you need to find out if you were actually charged way back when?
What I would do is look through your past statements (either that you received in the mail, or online, or, if you're really low tech, go to the damn bank) from the time you bought the computer until now. Make sure you were never charged for it. Obviously a computer from apple isn't a cheap $200 thing you may have overlooked, but you never know.
Of course, if you have enough money on hand to cover it if it would appear, then you can do what you like. Personally, I tend to have no problem, morally speaking, correcting a company on such an error. Have I received extra money at the bank, or has something rung up wrong and I haven't corrected them? Sure. But charges that don't go through have a tendency to haunt my bank account, even if they never show up, and there's nothing worse than suddenly having significantly less money than you thought you should've.
For future reference, when stuff like this happens, you're technically under no obligation to contact the company -- your obligation is at the point of sale. They give you a receipt, you receive the product, and it's done for. In fact, in this situation you have handed off responsibility to the credit card company, so your CC company negotiates it out with the retail store. If you have been undercharged or not charged at all, you are not really morally responsible or legally responsible to contact the company in order for them to collect their funds.
However, they ARE legally allowed to draw those funds if/when they find the error, even though you'd be surprised by it in 3-4 months. If they do end of year accounting and find the missing amount and it's tied to your receipt, well, as far as I know they can still collect those funds from the CC company. Which is why I'm leery of leaving big charges unaccounted for.
Look up the law in your state about adverse possession of personal property.
From there, it's their deal.
Honestly, this wouldn't make a difference one way or the other to Apple; they wouldn't even notice it.
Fuck me was I wrong. It turns out Subway's credit card machine had been dicked for that time period and none of the purchases went through. They had to go through and put them all in manually when apparently took a shitload of time; i.e. why it took so long for the charges to hit my bank account. Well about seven charges hit exactly when my bank account was drained completely. I got seven charges of $6-7 each for the sandwich and then I get seven fucking overdraft fees as well.
Ultimately I got all my money back and I have yet to return to said Subway. The important thing here is to remember the golden rule of econ: TINSTAAFL. Someone in this world other than you and the people on this forum know you bought that computer. They are going to get that money at some point. Just lift this boulder off your chest and pay for it.
Shogun Streams Vidya
Go over to the Apple store and speak to the manager. Like someone else said, don't sign anything. Explain what happened, and who knows, maybe they'll be grateful and give you an iTunes giftcard or emp discount or something.
I'm headed over the Apple store with my reciept. I have a feeling this is going to be comical, but at least then I'll know they haven't been hunting me down.
The question is, what happens if they say everything is kosher at their end?
check with your credit card company or something, perhaps you lost the transfer receipt or something. but yeah, do't swipe your card again or anything
If they don't know how to use credit cards properly then don't sweat it. Apple is a thug when it comes to selling computers by charging waaay too much for them. They are simply not worth the price they are sold at.
Perhaps you could even just return it and get a refund on your money and buy another computer. This time you make sure you pay for the new computer and the old one won't suddenly come back to charge you because you will have returned it.
That's...horrible advice on quite a few levels. Whatever your personal feelings on Apple the OP obviously purchased one with the mindset that it was worth what he was being charged for it, and is doing the right thing by informing them of the situation. Seemingly advocating stealing from Apple (by returning the product for money back that he never gave them in the first place and buying a different computer) is completely wrong.
To try and answer the follow-up question, if they tell you everything is okay try checking with your card company to make sure you didn't overlook the charge. If it hasn't happened yet, I'd suggest keeping the money for the computer around for as long as possible just in case. At that point I think you've fulfilled any moral or ethical obligations as far as trying to rectify the situation, so just worry about your end.
When I spoke with the first person, they were a tad confused. She did exactly what I thought she would do and looked at my reciept and said "Yes, it says that the transaction was approved." I explained the lack of billing and she suggested my credit card company. I told her that was my next step but I wanted to be sure that according to Apple I had paid for this. She pulled up the store copy of the reciept (identical to the one they e-mailed me) and again, said yes, it went through but she would get the manager.
I talked to him for a short time and he checked out both reciepts. He said according to their system, the card was approved and verified on the same day. Which (according to him) means my CC company gave Apple the money at that time. He suggested going to them about it, but assured me that according to Apple, the computer was paid for.
So excellent, I know *someone* gave Apple money. If it was my CC company, they never asked for the money from me. So, I'm going to give them a call. Before I do I'm asking around for advice.
My plan, call and ask them to go through my statements with me (I have them all online) and determine that it was never charged. If that's the case, explain that I have a reciept and the store claims it's valid, but I never got charged.
I was looking at statue of limitations, and it seems like my credit card company had 6 months to request payment, and then it's considered null.
Now, I'm not some fancy big city lawyer, so if they say "Oh yes, this must've slipped through the cracks, we'll put it on your next statement."
I don't really know how to repond "Oh no you won't! Statute of Limitations SUKAH!"
I'm going to wait a little while before calling them.
EDIT. SOL is 6 years.... ignore that last bit
how long the business can wait before requesting the amount from your creditor after being intially approved, AND how long your creditor can wait before requesting the money from you
I really dont see why you should be going around fixing their mistakes. If they can't get their shit together, and ask you for the money inside 6 months (which a long and reasonable time) they have forfeit their right to ask at all, as far as I am concerned.
enjoy your now free computer.
edit: 6 years? ouch
Still, it's fraud. Even if they try to go after you once the 6 months are up, they can still do a lot of screwing with your finances before you can proove your rights here. (ie, the credit card company discovers the mistake, sends it to a collection agency - because they're jerks like that. Collection agency tries to take action, and it will take a shitload of manouvering to get anywhere with them.)
Despite all that, I'd still be undecided if I were you. Just don't kid yourself - you know what is right and wrong in this whole debacle. You're just testing your morals now.
from this
It says that they have 10 years to collect it.
Nearest I can figure, they have 2 years to realise I haven't paid and send it to a collection agency. They have 6 years to go to court. After 10 years it's considered null.
None of it mentions how long they have to ask for the money in the first place.
I'm not looking to get out of paying for this thing, I have the money and was always planning on buying it. I just want to know what my rights are.
if you could pretty much always afford that, then just wait for the day they ask for it
Also, enjoy your free apple computer... jerk...
The laws favor the credit companies in this situation.