Order One iPad, Get Five From Best Buy

[whrswoldo]

"Mistaken Delivery" isn't defined in the TX code, all it says is

A person who receives unsolicited goods as the result of a bona fide mistake shall return the goods.

The statute is certainly open to some interpretation, but I also think it's clearly intended to be a consumer protection statute, not a consumer payday statute. Assuming TX law even governed (who knows what state this happened in?), Best Buy would not have a difficult time proving there was a mistake considering the customer plastered evidence on the internet. All they'd need to do is produce a record of the sales.

Pretend you have a small business and you accidentally mail a customer more products than they actually paid for; can you see where you might interpret look at things differently?

Read it again. First, the burden of proof is on the sender to prove it was a mistake, and that only applies for "Mistaken Delivery", which is generally defined as a product delivered to the wrong address/recipient.

Unless the other 4 ipads were to delivered to 4 other people and Best Buy can prove it, the recipient is legally entitled to keep them as "gifts".

 

[Ducman69]

The statute is certainly open to some interpretation, but I also think it's clearly intended to be a consumer protection statute, not a consumer payday statute.

Yep, although it would get a little confusing if it were a consumable item.

Papa Johns inadvertently delivered my pizza to my neighbors house, and those mexicans ignored the fact that it had MY name on the receipt pre-paid and fact that THEY hadn't even ordered pizza, and just signed for it and ate it.

Wish papajohns could use that law to make them pay for it, serves em right for constantly screwing up my fence with their soccer games in the back yard.

 

[StillFunkyB]

Seriously... I'm amazed that only a couple of people seem to share this sentiment. Companies are always vilified (Best Buy in particular) and consumers are always viewed as helpless victims. If the roles has been reversed and Best Buy accidentally charged her for 5 ipads when she only ordered one, they would fix it immediately. But because it was the big bad company that made the mistake, the thought of returning the exrta ipads and doing the right thing doesn't even seem to cross people's minds.

The fact that the media was involved at all is absurd.

Agreed.

 

[Cannydog]

The only catch is that I don't even want "1 iPad"... the Asus Transformer Infinity is a far better piece of hardware IMO. And that's completely disregarding the difference in price.

 

[sfsuphysics]

The fact that the media was involved at all is absurd.

Actually the "media" wasn't involved, the media is who got involved. Reading through the article it seemed that she sent a question to the Consumerist

For a while we just sat there shocked, not knowing what to do.

Later on they mentioned actually trying to find a solution, because I'm guessing they thought that they'd soon get a bill from Best Buy for 4 iPads. It was then that the Consumist went to Best Buy.

Also I doubt anyone is going to lose their job over this, $2k worth of merchandise is rather small in the larger scheme of things, and in the same way it'd be bad PR for Best Buy to demand their product back, it'd be bad PR to see an article "I was fired because Best Buy told someone to keep something that was my mistake"

 

[BoogerBomb]

Actually the "media" wasn't involved, the media is who got involved. Reading through the article it seemed that she sent a question to the Consumerist


Later on they mentioned actually trying to find a solution, because I'm guessing they thought that they'd soon get a bill from Best Buy for 4 iPads. It was then that the Consumist went to Best Buy.

Also I doubt anyone is going to lose their job over this, $2k worth of merchandise is rather small in the larger scheme of things, and in the same way it'd be bad PR for Best Buy to demand their product back, it'd be bad PR to see an article "I was fired because Best Buy told someone to keep something that was my mistake"

People get fired for FAR less.

 

[Navilor]

This sort of thing happened to me when the game Quake was new. I bought it for $5 and the person who took the order (over the phone because the web wasn't ready for that) accidently put five into the quantity to be shipped. I called them up to let them know the mistake and they said "have fun," so I did and gave the four extra copies away to friends.

 

[d_stilgar]

I am confused, did you read the article? Apparently the receiver sent a note into the Consumerist. The consumerist then contacted Best Buy. Best Buy then contacted the recipient personally.

Nope, I didn't. Thanks for relaying the info. (I'm being sincere)

Hows the weather up there on that high horse?

If I ordered from a corporation that is known to overprice everything and basically rip everyday Joes off who dont know any better. And if the law is on my side (theoretically, not sure of current laws) why wouldn't I keep the bonus product.

They make enough to cover it (and more) pushing Monster cables and other overpriced crap onto people who don't need it. I'll follow the laws. No need to trot around on the high horse. But yea let me know when when that high pressure system moves in.

What is legal, and what is moral are two completely different things. Sure, the laws are based on our concepts of what is 'right' or 'wrong' in many instances, but in many others it's just based on lobbying.

In this case, it is legal to keep the iPads. But it's still immoral. We all know what the right thing to do is. She didn't work for them, she didn't win them, she didn't buy them, but she's keeping them (at the obvious expense and loss of others).

 

[next-Jin]

Pfft I would have kept them, and sold them BNIB in the FS/FT forum for 425 each shipped. The employee who made the mistake might be out of a job but it sucks to be him, mistakes are followed by consequences.

Best Buy as a whole could care less, they just got National PR for a measly 2000 bucks and a phone call.

 

[Trepidati0n]

Pfft I would have kept them, and sold them BNIB in the FS/FT forum for 425 each shipped. The employee who made the mistake might be out of a job but it sucks to be him, mistakes are followed by consequences.

Best Buy as a whole could care less, they just got National PR for a measly 2000 bucks and a phone call.

Ding ding ding!

 

[jtemplin]

Nope, I didn't. Thanks for relaying the info. (I'm being sincere)



What is legal, and what is moral are two completely different things. Sure, the laws are based on our concepts of what is 'right' or 'wrong' in many instances, but in many others it's just based on lobbying.

In this case, it is legal to keep the iPads. But it's still immoral. We all know what the right thing to do is. She didn't work for them, she didn't win them, she didn't buy them, but she's keeping them (at the obvious expense and loss of others).

Is it moral to run a company the way they do? I'm sure you wont buy the two wrongs make a right argument, but thats what I'm gonna tell you.

If they want to inflate their profits up by over-selling (a monster cable when all you need is string and 2 styrofoam cups) and over-pricing (they'd still be in business if certain products like graphics cards weren't quite so jacked up in price) then they can afford to pay for their sloppyness. So it was an honest mistake? Well too bad, maybe they shouldn't have expanded their business to the point its at, if they can't run such a large operation without these mistakes--or without paying their employees more to be less sloppy.

Besides the rate at which this happens has got to be super low--an extremely rare event. Whereas the whole loss-leader get'em in the door and sell em a bunch of other overpriced stuff to make the $$ model is a constant.

So no I don't think its so ethically shady to keep the result of their rare mistake, especially when they have little legal recourse to come after me. Of course the most right thing to do is return, but time is money and all the above non-sense I tried to explain...

Cheers

 

[d_stilgar]

Is it moral to run a company the way they do? I'm sure you wont buy the two wrongs make a right argument, but thats what I'm gonna tell you.

I can totally see the point that since people generally hate Best Buy that they think keeping the extras is just karma nabbing them in the butt. I understand why people think Best Buy gets what they deserve. We would all think this lady is a scum bag if she accidentally got five iPads after ordering one from a Red Cross or church or school fundraiser, and then decided to keep them.

So, I agree that she's within the law, and I also think Best Buy needs to drastically change or die off. But I still think that keeping them is wrong, and contacting the press to help in the matter is worse.

And in this case Best Buy did the right thing in the eye of their market by calling her and telling her to keep them all. It was a pretty cheap positive PR move on their part. And hopefully it lessens our general hatred of them.