View Full Version : When Thrift Becomes Theft
Last week I was perusing the web site called "One Pretty Thing", entranced with all the projects that could be made with recycled items or at least inexpensive ones. Somehow, one link led to other unrelated websites and I was looking at an attractive wreath made from paint chips. It didn't dawn on me until I read the accompanying description that the creator of this wreath had gone out to a big box store and grabbed green paint chips by the stack. She even bragged about the materials being free! I thought that was disgusting - someone had paid for those chips, even if it was some big, rich company that could easily afford to replace them.
I'm not going to ask if I was overreacting - I'm just venting my view on this kind of "freebie". Discarded materials found in the trash are fine with me, but just taking things that belong to someone else is not, no matter how insignificant the item.
catherine
12-21-11, 7:56pm
I agree. I remember one time Amy Dacyczyn got a lot of flack because a TV talk show flew her out for an interview and put her up at a hotel. She said she lived frugally while there by going to the continental breakfast and taking 3 or 4 muffins to her room to get her through lunch. She put that in her newsletter and a bunch of fans were surprised and irate and she wound up admitting that she was wrong.
That kind of petty "theft" drives me crazy, too, Jemima.
Miss Cellane
12-21-11, 8:28pm
From some design blogs that I read, paint chip arts and crafts are big right now. People are papering walls with them, covering furniture with them and doing all sorts of other things.
I think it's one thing if you end up with lots of paint chips because you were undecided about what color to paint your room. It makes sense to use them up in a project. But going to the store and clearing out all their green paint chips? Not so nice.
I agree. I remember one time Amy Dacyczyn got a lot of flack because a TV talk show flew her out for an interview and put her up at a hotel. She said she lived frugally while there by going to the continental breakfast and taking 3 or 4 muffins to her room to get her through lunch. She put that in her newsletter and a bunch of fans were surprised and irate and she wound up admitting that she was wrong.
That kind of petty "theft" drives me crazy, too, Jemima.
Thanks for your reply, Catherine. I remember hearing about the Amy D. episode some years ago, so the story really got around and is well-remembered.
I used to have some friends who thought it was perfectly okay to make copies of software and pass them on to others or to copy music CDs borrowed from the library. I had just completed two certificates in programming and I tried to tactfully explain to the wife (who was the one who mostly did the thieving) how much work goes into a program and why piracy was wrong. It apparently had no effect on her at all. For that and some other ugly reasons, we're no longer friends.
From some design blogs that I read, paint chip arts and crafts are big right now. People are papering walls with them, covering furniture with them and doing all sorts of other things.
That sucks. I hope the stores catch on.
I think it's one thing if you end up with lots of paint chips because you were undecided about what color to paint your room. It makes sense to use them up in a project. But going to the store and clearing out all their green paint chips? Not so nice.
Exactly.
I have a feeling it won't be long before you have to ask and are limited to 8 or 10 paint sample cards or they charge you for them. It has gotten way out of hand on the crafty blog scene.
sweetana3
12-21-11, 9:03pm
You should try working for the IRS for over 30 years and listening to the people (some who know and some who dont) how they cheat on their taxes. I had to tell my best friend that this topic was not to be discussed with me.
Whether small or large, theft is theft.
One cross stitch designer I met gave up the designing of charts since so many were stolen and illegally posted on the web. Each stitcher may think her using a posted copyright design is ok but multiplied it removed this designer from the business.
I have a feeling it won't be long before you have to ask and are limited to 8 or 10 paint sample cards or they charge you for them. It has gotten way out of hand on the crafty blog scene.
I wondered why the Sherwin Williams store personnel watched me so closely when I was picking out the colors for several rooms. Now I know.
You should try working for the IRS for over 30 years and listening to the people (some who know and some who dont) how they cheat on their taxes. I had to tell my best friend that this topic was not to be discussed with me.
Whether small or large, theft is theft.
One cross stitch designer I met gave up the designing of charts since so many were stolen and illegally posted on the web. Each stitcher may think her using a posted copyright design is ok but multiplied it removed this designer from the business.
I'm a CPA and I did taxes and bookkeeping for small businesses for over ten years. I saw a lot of attempted dishonesty. One guy tried to hide $40,000+ from me and nearly cried when I found it - and I was only doing his monthly accounting. I had to tell quite a few potential tax clients that I won't fake tax deductions and if they wanted to do that, they could go elsewhere, and no, I didn't know another CPA (or even an H&R franchise) who'd be interested in their business.
Thanks to my former friend, The Queen of Sleaze, I'm now well aware of how little a copyright means.
They will be causing a lot of extra work for staff and inconvence for the regular person just looking for samples.
Too bad all around!!!
They will be causing a lot of extra work for staff and inconvence for the regular person just looking for samples.
Too bad all around!!!
I agree. As usual, the innocent end up suffering for the guilty. >:(
iris lily
12-21-11, 11:54pm
Copyright DOES mean very little. Just check out Youtube to see all kinds of entertainment video that is under copyright.
So, nobody here ever takes a couple of items from the 'free breakfasts' at hotels for later in the day? Gosh, please don't take this wrong, but I know I've had 'free breakfasts' while staying somewhere and taken fruit or something for later.
That would majorly aggrivate me as well. I'm always amazed at what people will do in the name of frugality.
My brother's girlfriend thinks "free sample" means take as many as you can fit in your oversized purse. Its embarrassing. The vendor is giving away samples to lots of people to entice them to use the product. Taking 10 or 20 or more defeats the vendor's intentions.
catherine
12-22-11, 7:58am
Yes, you hit another raw nerve, Jemima! Pirating music is taking money out of the artist's pocket--and most artists don't have money to spare. It's crime to rob them, of all people.
fidgiegirl
12-22-11, 8:02am
So, nobody here ever takes a couple of items from the 'free breakfasts' at hotels for later in the day? Gosh, please don't take this wrong, but I know I've had 'free breakfasts' while staying somewhere and taken fruit or something for later.
I thought the same thing, Tiam :|( Maybe not 3-4 muffins, but a banana, for sure . . .
catherine
12-22-11, 8:40am
I thought the same thing, Tiam :|( Maybe not 3-4 muffins, but a banana, for sure . . .
I guess from an ethical point of view, you could ask what the hotel's intentions and expectations are, and you could ask yourself, "What would happen if everyone did what I am doing?" (Kind of an application of Kant's Universal Law)
So, in this case, the hotel probably expects and even wants you to take the pens and shampoos, but they clearly don't want you filling your suitcase with towels. If everyone filled their suitcases with towels, they'd have to raise the room rates by $20-30 and so everyone would suffer--even those who don't want to bring home towels.
A banana is not a caseload of towels. Nor are a couple of muffins. But the intention of the hotelier is to provide breakfast, not breakfast and lunch. To me, a banana is grey area, but if everyone planned on funding their lunch with breakfast muffins taken out of the breakfast area, they'd probably have to stop offering free breakfast, or they'd have to raise their rates. Again, everyone suffers.
iris lily
12-22-11, 9:01am
Along this same line, but further along the continuum of grey, is: sneaking your own food into a movie theater. Now, that is not stealing. But it is the theater management's intention that IF you are going to eat, THEY feed you. The food stand is their profit center.
Years ago I would have taken in a sandwich, but now-nope--because I saw the result of theaters no making money. There was a period where there were no functioning movie theaters in our city (within the city limits.) And that was hard to take!
Seldom is a cause and effect so clearly demonstrated for Iris.
And, it is lovely that wine is now on the menu at upscale and art house theaters. One of them even has a full scale bar.
Miss Cellane
12-22-11, 10:02am
Along this same line, but further along the continuum of grey, is: sneaking your own food into a movie theater. Now, that is not stealing. But it is the theater management's intention that IF you are going to eat, THEY feed you. The food stand is their profit center.
Years ago I would have taken in a sandwich, but now-nope--because I saw the result of theaters no making money. There was a period where there were no functioning movie theaters in our city (within the city limits.) And that was hard to take!
Seldom is a cause and effect so clearly demonstrated for Iris.
And, it is lovely that wine is now on the menu at upscale and art house theaters. One of them even has a full scale bar.
This one I think is kind of a gray area. Some theaters have signs posted stating that outside food is not allowed. Others do not. You could interpret that to mean that some theaters allow outside food to be brought in. (It's a moot question for me because I don't eat at the movies.)
reader99
12-22-11, 10:46am
I agree. I remember one time Amy Dacyczyn got a lot of flack because a TV talk show flew her out for an interview and put her up at a hotel. She said she lived frugally while there by going to the continental breakfast and taking 3 or 4 muffins to her room to get her through lunch. She put that in her newsletter and a bunch of fans were surprised and irate and she wound up admitting that she was wrong.
That kind of petty "theft" drives me crazy, too, Jemima.
I recently re-read the Complete Tightwad Gazette and noticed that in that edition she says that she actually didn't take extra food, she just said so in her newletter, carried away into exaggerating. So now I don't know if she did or not.
This is a good topic Jemima! I agree........its taking something that's not yours. I think too often people think there is no victim in this kind of thing, but there is.
I agree with Float On......if this gets bad enough, they will start charging to take a few paint samples. Its like anything else that gets abused/stolen........its the innocent people who end up paying the price for those who have abused things.
Originally posted by Reader99.
I recently re-read the Complete Tightwad Gazette and noticed that in that edition she says that she actually didn't take extra food, she just said so in her newletter, carried away into exaggerating. So now I don't know if she did or not.Or, if she exaggerated A LOT, in order to full-fill content.
This thread reminds me a lot of promotional samples (food related) in supermarkets, and how some people specifically make a point of making a beeline for the promotional tables. If it's free...
leslieann
12-22-11, 11:09am
This is a great thread about "gray" areas; some are more gray than others, and it is obvious that people develop different lines that they are unwilling to cross.
I do share my music purchases with friends who buy music because in my experience, getting a little taste often prompts people to purchase. I don't think it is okay to use stolen music as my only source of tunes but I don't worry about sending a track or two off to a family member because I am confident that that person will buy if they want more. However, I do feel like I am on some thin ice in this matter, even though the overall outcome is actually MORE positive for the artist (at least that is how I rationalize it). Interestingly, my youngest son had perfected a method of bootlegging movie DVDs when he was in high school. This was before this kind of piracy was seen in the current light of crime, but it certainly had a strongly unethical tinge. The interesting part isn't what he used to do, but what he is doing now: he is currently finishing law school, with a primary interest in protection of this kind of intellectual property...so-called entertainment law. The kid who formerly copied everything he could possibly copy is now a serious copyright watchdog. He'll lecture anyone about property rights and how artists are being exploited. How things change!
Here is another grayish area. We had an interesting discussion about mail-order items here yesterday. What if a company ships your stuff to the wrong address, you call about the missing item, then they re-ship (sending you a new whatever it is you bought)....and then the original order appears on your doorstep? Do you keep BOTH items even though you only paid for one? Sending one back seems obvious to me. I'd probably have trouble sleeping if I didn't do that, but the general consensus amongst a younger group was that the company made that error and that they should "pay" for it by you keeping both shipments. Thoughts?
This thread reminds me a lot of promotional samples (food related) in supermarkets, and how some people specifically make a point of making a beeline for the promotional tables. If it's free...
And that's ok if you just take the sample and move on. I think its ok even if you know you probably won't buy the product. Marketers know most people won't, but the exposure is worth it to find the few who will and the very few who will be repeat customers. Where it would cross the line to me is if someone kept returning to the same sample table and basically tried to get a free lunch out of the deal. To say the least that is tacky, to say anything it is wrong.
Originally posted by Leslieann.
Here is another grayish area. We had an interesting discussion about mail-order items here yesterday. What if a company ships your stuff to the wrong address, you call about the missing item, then they re-ship (sending you a new whatever it is you bought)....and then the original order appears on your doorstep? Do you keep BOTH items even though you only paid for one? Sending one back seems obvious to me. I'd probably have trouble sleeping if I didn't do that, but the general consensus amongst a younger group was that the company made that error and that they should "pay" for it by you keeping both shipments. Thoughts? I'm of the old-school variety, and would return the duplicate sent item(s) back.
Here is another grayish area. We had an interesting discussion about mail-order items here yesterday. What if a company ships your stuff to the wrong address, you call about the missing item, then they re-ship (sending you a new whatever it is you bought)....and then the original order appears on your doorstep? Do you keep BOTH items even though you only paid for one? Sending one back seems obvious to me. I'd probably have trouble sleeping if I didn't do that, but the general consensus amongst a younger group was that the company made that error and that they should "pay" for it by you keeping both shipments. Thoughts?
I don't see anything gray at all. You need to alert the company and be prepared to send one of the shipments back. If you call the company and they tell you to keep it because its better for them than trying to coordinate the shipping then you just got a good karma bonus. That happens alot, but does not relieve the recipient of the responsibility to do the right thing to begin with.
treehugger
12-22-11, 11:39am
I don't see anything gray at all. You need to send alert the company and be prepared to send one of the shipments back. If you call the company and they tell you to keep it because its better for them than trying to coordinate the shipping then you just got a good karma bonus. That happens alot, but does not relieve the recipient of the responsibility to do the right thing to begin with.
I definitely agree. It's a simple thing to call the company and let them know. I would not be prepared to spend extra money to ship something that was their error, but I would assume that a postage-paid label would be sent upon request.
This happened to us with a fridge from Sears. Due to their error, we got a larger, more expensive one (with dispenser and ice maker) than we had ordered. As soon as we realized it, we let them know. They gave us the option of keeping it (since they would have had to resell it as used if we returned it), so we did.
(Side note in questionable taste: we bought this fridge with reparations money the German government paid my grandparents [not "sorry we killed your family" money, but "sorry, we made you sell us the family business for $1.00" money], so now we call it the fridge that Uncle Adolf and Sears bought us).
Kara
My boss did something that floored me. He was planning a driving trip for vacation and he had two small kids. He purchased a video/dvd player that fits over the front seat so the kids in the back can watch movies in the car so they wouldn't be bored. Upon his return from vacation he returned it. He planned to return it right from the start. I personally feel that what he did was outright theft.
My grandmother used to go to senior citizen lunches once or twice a week and at the end she'd go from table to table emptying all the sugar and sweet and low packets into her purse. Fortunately I had only one experience going out to a restaurant with Grandma and was too small to have cringeworthy behaviour affect me.
Originally posted by Gregg.
Where it would cross the line to me is if someone kept returning to the same sample table and basically tried to get a free lunch out of the deal. To say the least that is tacky, to say anything it is wrong.
The irritation that settles within me related to supermarket promotions, is when one or more people stand at the table and try each and every item, as if they're purposely taking advantage of a free situation.
Allow me to further elaborate to better get my point across. Mrs-M is out shopping, and while navigating my way up and down the isles and through the store, I pass four promotional tables with offerings. With the Christmas Holiday season in full swing, I've been wondering about options in the way of cold cuts, and since they have a new variety of sausage I've never tried before and have been wondering about, I think I'll stop by and give it a try.
Oh, but look, they have strawberry cheesecake, six kids of different cheeses, eight types of cuts and sausage, and, they even have some oven roasted chicken, too, and, look at all the tasty specialty dips to go along with! Mmmm... I think I'll make a meal out of it today because I'm not going to be home for a couple hours yet. It's that sort of thing, the take, take, take, mentality, because it's there and available, that rubs me. (It's promotional people, not come and eat for free). Can you imagine if everyone who walked through the doors of the store took on the same colour in relation to conducting themselves around the free offerings?
It's a good thing I never established myself in the workforce, because I would have make for a real nasty service rep in this department. "You are only allowed two things on the table". "That's, two". (Tee, double-you, oh). Yes, I have my quirks and quarks... :)
JaneV2.0
12-22-11, 11:58am
I would be happy to pay for a full selection of paint chips from various manufacturers. As it is, I pick up interesting color combinations when I see them, but I'd really prefer to have all of them.
I think downloading music from the library (music my grotesquely high taxes help pay for) is a gray area. However, in the interest of being scrupulous, I buy (used) copies of the CDs I like and delete the rest. I rarely buy CDs new at the wildly inflated prices charged. In the end, I'm only benefiting the music industry by paying property tax.
The irritation that settles within me related to supermarket promotions, is when one or more people stand at the table and try each and every item, as if they're purposely taking advantage of a free situation.
Allow me to further elaborate to better get my point across. Mrs-M is out shopping, and while navigating my way up and down the isles and through the store, I pass four promotional tables with offerings. With the Christmas Holiday season in full swing, I've been wondering about options in the way of cold cuts, and since they have a new variety of sausage I've never tried before and have been wondering about, I think I'll stop by and give it a try.
Oh, but look, they have strawberry cheesecake, six kids of different cheeses, eight types of cuts and sausage, and, they even have some oven roasted chicken, too, and, look at all the tasty specialty dips to go along with! Mmmm... I think I'll make a meal out of it today because I'm not going to be home for a couple hours yet. It's that sort of thing, the take, take, take, mentality, because it's there and available, that rubs me. (It's promotional people, not come and eat for free). Can you imagine if everyone who walked through the doors of the store took on the same colour in relation to conducting themselves around the free offerings?
It's a good thing I never established myself in the workforce, because I would have make for a real nasty service rep in this department. "You are only allowed two things on the table". "That's, two". (Tee, double-you, oh). Yes, I have my quirks and quarks... :)
I have to laugh at this. We (my daughter and I) faced a somewhat different episode with a supermarket sample lady. We were shopping and my daughter stepped to another isle to sample something, I don't remember what. Sausage or something. Well, the sample lady took one hard look at my daughter and refused to hand her a sample saying, "you need to ask your mother if you can have a sample" Well, the look on my daughters face was priceless. She just shook her head, informed the sample lady that she was 22, and finished shopping without a word. It was hilarious! She later agreed it was but I think this was the time she started wearing makeup on a regular basis.
catherine
12-22-11, 12:24pm
I worked at Macy's once, in the dress department, and I can't tell you how often special occasion wear purchased on a Friday got returned on a Monday. Smelling of perfume.
ROTFLMAO, Peggy!
Catherine. Now that's just wrong.
Gosh, I shouldn't share this, but I'm going to anyway. My husband (late teen years) would visit department stores around town, buy one or two cassette tapes, and under the pretense the tapes were birthday gifts, i.e. "can I return them if there's a problem" sort of deal, he'd bring the tapes home, dub them on his dual-cassette player, then return them for a refund. Bad, bad, bad.
Happy to say, DH has changed since his earlier days.
I'm thinking alot of the "everything is free" feelings come alot with younger people. Maybe they just haven't lived long enough to know what its like to have people take from you? Hopefully they develop a "moral compass" early in life, but it does seem to take some maturity to not think everything isn't for the taking just if you can get away with it.
This thread reminds me a lot of promotional samples (food related) in supermarkets, and how some people specifically make a point of making a beeline for the promotional tables. If it's free...
I had a friend once tell me one of her most uncomfortable childhood memories was of spending Saturdays with her grandma who took her and sibs shopping with her on sample Saturday, cuz then she didn't have to feed them lunch.
Originally posted by CathyA.
I'm thinking alot of the "everything is free" feelings come alot with younger people.I totally agree.
KayLRZ. How awful that is. In fact it's sad.
My future SIL's father is one of those guys who thinks nothing of purchasing an item, using it for a special event and then returning it. He has dozens of examples. He will also pull into any hotel when running errands at breakfast time and help himself to their fare. Coffee? He just looks for the closest tire store. His list goes on and on. I got in his face about it once. We used to own a hotel so I have some pretty defined feelings about the whole thing. Anyway, it was obvious he felt entitled and was not going to change so, for the sake of my DD, I keep my mouth shut and severely limit my exposure to the guy.
Miss Cellane
12-22-11, 2:06pm
I worked at Macy's once, in the dress department, and I can't tell you how often special occasion wear purchased on a Friday got returned on a Monday. Smelling of perfume.
That must be why stores in my area put the tags in really weird places on dressy dresses, along with a tag that clearly states the dress can only be returned if all tags are attached.
Most of the younger people I know (I'm in my 50s) seem to think that music should be free. They understand all about copyright and such. It's just that for a while there, when they were teenagers, there was Napster and the like and they got all the music they wanted for free. I've had discussions with several people about this and they simply can't wrap their heads around the fact that six people copying one CD means that the artist and recording company lose money. Hey, someone paid for the CD, therefore, ipso facto, the company and artist made money! It's an odd little disconnect in their brains somewhere.
treehugger
12-22-11, 2:24pm
My future SIL's father is one of those guys who thinks nothing of purchasing an item, using it for a special event and then returning it. He has dozens of examples.
There are so many stories like this, along with hundreds of thousands of grandmothers collecting all the unused Sweet N Low packets from tables, that I don't think we can say this sense of entitlement or "lack of moral compass" is confined to the young.
Kara
chanterelle
12-22-11, 3:40pm
When I was in high school, I worked for a high end department store. Every year just after the New Year, the store would get returns of many artificial Christmas trees, some with garland and tinsel still attached....reason for return? 'Unsuitable'....
Seriously, scamming the store with the tree you put an angel on top of and your chilfren's presents underneath... I learned a boatload about ethics and personal pride in that job.
I would hate to think that being able to return things was stopped, because of all the people taking advantage of it.
Gregg........good luck with your future SIL's father. You'd better keep an eye on him, if he ever comes to your house. ;)
flowerseverywhere
12-22-11, 5:45pm
I know someone who dropped their phone in the hot tub and returned it saying it didn't work.
And I know several people who are collecting unemployment who have made no serious attempts to return to work, only applying for jobs they don't qualify for. We don't even have high unemployment around here- not that you can get the job of your dreams all the time, but places are hiring. And now people who really need that unemployment check will probably be going without.
Don't even start me on when I worked for an insurance company and people claimed total disability saying they couldn't do any work at all, even with retraining. We would get tips all the time and be able to film people on roofs, waterskiing, working in other businesses etc.
fidgiegirl
12-22-11, 6:28pm
Re: the supermarket tastings: I was appalled once in Costco, where samples abound. I watched a family hover over the poor sample lady, practically drooling, and then as soon as her little paper cups hit the table, they scooped them ALL UP (well, collectively, all their little hands shot right in there and grab, grab, grab). Gross.
Miss Cellane
12-22-11, 7:13pm
About dropping a cell phone in the hot tub--a lot of people keep their phones in their pockets and the phone falls out while using the toilet. To the point that the phone companies now exclude water damage from their repair/replacement policies most of the time. And the companies have ways of knowing that the phone was immersed in water--one company has a sticker on the battery that changes color when wet; I'm sure the other companies have similar telltales.
So, nobody here ever takes a couple of items from the 'free breakfasts' at hotels for later in the day? Gosh, please don't take this wrong, but I know I've had 'free breakfasts' while staying somewhere and taken fruit or something for later.
I think most hotels expect that. In fact I distinctly remember the last place I stayed having a supply of small doggie bags at the front desk and lids for the coffee sitting by the cups. I used to travel a lot for my job and often wouldn't have time to avail myself of the continental breakfast and get to work on time, so I took it with me, usually a cup of yogurt and a piece of fruit. It's the people who try to live off the free breakfasts all day to save money who are the problem.
My most enraging experience was staying at a Comfort Inn where peeled, hard-boiled eggs were offered. I'm gluten-intolerant, so I'd have two hardboiled eggs, a piece of fruit and a cup of coffee every morning. One morning these clods, who I think had more people in their room than legally allowed, came into the breakfast room with a cooler and took every hard boiled egg on the breakfast bar along with some other stuff I don't remember. Now that's really low-down behavior.
This is a great thread about "gray" areas; some are more gray than others, and it is obvious that people develop different lines that they are unwilling to cross.
I do share my music purchases with friends who buy music because in my experience, getting a little taste often prompts people to purchase. I don't think it is okay to use stolen music as my only source of tunes but I don't worry about sending a track or two off to a family member because I am confident that that person will buy if they want more. However, I do feel like I am on some thin ice in this matter, even though the overall outcome is actually MORE positive for the artist (at least that is how I rationalize it).
What you're doing is definitely a copyright violation no matter how you rationalize it. There's nothing "gray" about it. If you want your friends to have this music so badly, why not buy extras and give it to them? That would definitely help the artists. Or invite them over to listen with you.
My boss did something that floored me. He was planning a driving trip for vacation and he had two small kids. He purchased a video/dvd player that fits over the front seat so the kids in the back can watch movies in the car so they wouldn't be bored. Upon his return from vacation he returned it. He planned to return it right from the start. I personally feel that what he did was outright theft.
Here's another area where the rest of us pay instead of the guilty party. I'm sure merchants know that this happens and build it into their prices.
I worked at Walmart for a few weeks one Christmas and one of my assignments was to retrieve shopping carts full of clothing returns and weed out the things that were too damaged to put back on the rack. Most of the discards were dresses reeking of perfume and one even had an enormous lipstick smear on it.
I agree with Charity that this is outright theft.
It's a good thing I never established myself in the workforce, because I would have make for a real nasty service rep in this department. "You are only allowed two things on the table". "That's, two". (Tee, double-you, oh). Yes, I have my quirks and quarks... :)
Oh, I dunno Mrs-M. The world might be a better place if there actually were service reps like you! :D
I don't see anything gray at all. You need to alert the company and be prepared to send one of the shipments back. If you call the company and they tell you to keep it because its better for them than trying to coordinate the shipping then you just got a good karma bonus. That happens alot, but does not relieve the recipient of the responsibility to do the right thing to begin with.
I agree completely.
However, I once saw a really ugly side of this. I ordered a sewing table online and when it arrived, it was obvious that it hadn't been packed well. (This was from a company that sold nothing but sewing tables and accessories, not an eBay buy.) When I took the table out of the box, sure enough it was too badly cracked and broken to use.
The company offered me a replacement or a refund, so I asked if they'd pack it better the next time, and the customer service person said no, but they'd tell FedEx to be more careful. It turned out that they could be generous with me because they were filing claims for damaged merchandise with FedEx and not giving a hoot that a lot of tables were being broken in transit. UGLY!!!
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