When the inventory controller (aka SWAT) does his biweekly counts he will notice that the xbox is missing. Getting the gift card is essentially the same thing as returning an item. The quantity goes up by one. Now if someone calls Ian and tells him that the Xbox is ready for pick up, he basically just walks out with it and that is not tracked in the system. So now BBY is missing the Xbox.

Two things normally happen in this case depending on the store's size and current shrink percentage. If it is a large store, they can afford to just "key out" the item from the inventory. The same can be said if the shrink number is low and they want to focus on other items that are more valuable. Now if the store can't afford to take a hit on the shrink budget, a very easy search of recent returns will turn up Ian's receipt. If he was naive enough to sign up for the Rewards Zone Program then the SWAT will have his phone number and address.

I have run into this issue in the past and my product process manager called the customer asking him to return the item. (We know they have it because they signed a release for when they pick it up and we also know that they have a gift card sign since we can see when the Xbox was returned to our inventory.) After a few calls he leaves a message saying that we are going to notify the cops but that never happened at our store. We just took the hit and moved on.

@Stile4aly: "It may not technically be theft"

That's it right there. I understand the ethical dilema, and again, I'm not saying he should not return it, but there were no laws broken and he didn't do anything fraudulent to obtain it. It's Best Buy's fault for giving him twice as much as he should have received.

@Sanspants: He has received a product that he has not paid for. It may not technically be theft, but it would be "unjust enrichment" and he has a duty to either return the product, or pay for it. He has already been compensated for his broken Xbox through the store credit. He is not entitled to an additional Xbox on top of the credit.

God loves you.. obviously. Keep it. it's not Dishonest... it's youre reward for being an Awesome human being.

So he sends it to the consumerist :P

@Karita: Especially since now he just posted the question on the internet.

Yep, it's tempting. After all, Best Buy has been screwing people for years. The question is, do you want to sink to the level of Best Buy?

You can't have it both ways people.

I don't wrestle with guilt over Xbox 360's. Granted, stealing outright is wrong, but large corporate oversight that misses store inventory mistakes like this are really nothing you've done wrong.

If you return the console, they replace it back into inventory and the shrink budget grows a little so the store can afford for some kid to try to steal Xbox 360 point cards or some derilect employee can walk off with 3-4 Blu Rays. Whoopee. Good for you.

Or you can keep the Xbox knowing full well you didn't pay for it and just know in the future when your system breaks, for once, you're not feeling like you've been screwed over once again by Microsoft for their supremely defective hardware.

If anything keep it because the extended warranty is a massive profit center for Best Buy with very few redeeming qualities to it.

@Jesse in Japan:

Hari! Hari Krishna!

;)

@Cyberxion101: Now I'm no big city lawyer myself, but as far as I can tell he didn't do anything fraudulent to make Best Buy to give it to him. Hgot his store credit then Best Buy called him to pick up an Xbox because one part of the store didn't know what the other part did. It's not like he told Best Buy he didn't receive neither compensation nor a new system.

;)

Give it back. Your integrity is worth more than any xbox. On the note of whoever asked for a signed receipt if they gave it back, I'm pretty sure such a thing would be impossible. No receipts are made for those refurbed xboxes as far as I'm aware, just a repair tag in the system that tracks where the unit is at.

You've already gotten a great deal by exchanging your Elite for a new console, and somebody soon at best buy will have to answer why there's 1 missing 360 console...

I can't believe this is even a question. Give it back. Your personal honor is worth more than some cheap piece of consumer electronics. Or am I going to have to send a squad of Klingons after you?

And so will you...@Zerkaboid:

I want to say "give it back" but if I was in your position I would keep it.

@mralmostpopular: Ah, so I finally got one right! Thanks for the clarification. :)

@Sanspants: I'm not a lawyer, so I didn't really articulate my idea too well. I just was under the impression that obtaining something through fraudulent means could be considered theft. I may very well be wrong.

No ifs no buts, because as we all know: If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas.

Send it back!

I'm not sure what you want corporate to say in this, either. Especially if you admit to taking it on purpose.

I get the sense you feel bad about it, and there's one way to fix it: Take it back to the store, today.

@coren: I totally get what you're on about, but what I think stands the chance of bringing the OP's actions into theft territory is the fact that he obtained the 360 fraudulently, which is something he freely admits to having done.

I'm not a lawyer, but I imagine that it wouldn't be too tough to make the case that he engaged in theft, knowing as he did that he was not entitled to the 360.

@Cyberxion101: Well... they gave it to him. Real theft would be him taking off of the shelf and slipping it under his jacket and walking out of the store. I think there's another thread arguing that he did not break any laws because Best Buy made the mistake.

However, I'm not saying it's morally right. If it were me, I wouldn't have picked up the Xbox in the first place, but I wouldn't call this stealing.

@Stupidone0: I would think that since the 360 is technically not yours in the first place, it shouldn't matter where it ends up once you get your shit together and return it.

That's just me though.

reason for this is because they can charge you with theft. It was not a simple mistake to take it, giving it back will be admission of guilt and it is not worth the trouble to get yourself into and out of trouble. if you are feeling guilty, buy a tv with those warranties and monster cables, it will balance out.

But to clarify it a little further, we also sometimes call this fraud.

When they ruin your credit rating, what is the defense going to be? "I knew I had already received a full refund, but I kept it anyway?" Probably not going to fly with bill collectors.

The problem with the "receipt of unordered goods" argument is that it wasn't delivered to his house. Being handed an unordered product may not be the same, legally, as demanding a refund then picking up a product that he knows is a mistake.

#1 That karma stuff is just talk of people rationalizing when good/bad things happen.

#2 Pretending that karma is real (from the book of Earl) then look at it as you getting some of that good karma back. I don't think Karma has a rollover reward system where you can trade in a 360 for a bigger and better prize down the road.

#3 It would just be a big hassle to go through and explain everything to return it. keeping it would be much simpler and less hassle

BTW. there is nothing new under the sun.

@nstonep: I wasn't saying it would go back into the store's inventory, it would go back into Best Buy's (either the district warehouse or repair facility). Not sure how it's handled. I already have a creative solution: send it back into the repair queue as a RROD, once it hits the repair facility, it's back in their inventory once it's "fixed" even though it's not broken.

Assuming I have the story right.

So, I put the second calculator in a box, and shipped it to a young woman majoring in mathematics in Yaroslavl, Russia. She used it for the last year of her studies... and made extra money creating, checking and grading tests for the entire math department at her college. (After she graduated, her first job paid $40 per month, so she would never have owned something like that in her life). Fourteen years later, I bet that thing is still in use somewhere on the steppes.

All of Russia thanks you, Circuit City. Your "generosity" went to a good cause.

The justifications for keeping the Xbox are too clever by half.

@coren: I think a strong case can be made that it was theft, given that he accepted something that he knew that he wasn't entitled to. If it had been a mistake on both sides, then that's a whole different ballgame, but he took what wasn't his.

@pecan 3.14159265: Bingo! That's what I thought too. Seems awfully odd that he's playing the "moral dilemma" card, when if his moral compass was working from the start, he'd have never accepted the refurbished unit.

@coren: It may not though, and that seems like an awfully large risk to take just to find out. Especially as it can be proven that he accepted the refurbished unit after he had received a refund for the broken one that he returned. I'm sure that might complicate things a bit...

Should he return it? Heck yeah, it's probably going to break in a week or two anyway. (Murphy's law)

Summary
Versions / Amendments: S4931
Same as: No same as
Sponsor: MONTGOMERY (visit nysenate.gov)
Co-sponsor(s):
Current Committee: CONSUMER PROTECTION

Law Section: General Business Law

Prohibits any person, firm, partnership, association or corporation, or agent or employee thereof from offering for sale tangible or intangible goods or services which have not been actually ordered or requested by the recipient; provides that any receipt of unordered goods shall be deemed a gift to the recipient; prohibits the requesting of payment for unordered goods and services; makes related provisions including prohibiting the recipient from waiving any of his or her rights hereunder.

@ludwigk: I agree. In fact I think that he'd find it particularly difficult to defend having taken it, given that he knowingly accepted the refurbished unit a couple of weeks after he received a refund for his broken 360.

They'll both break anyway so keep it to play twice as long as any other xbox owner.

@rocketbear79: Yeah, I agree with you. If they had sent him a refurbished unit by mistake, then he could keep it or throw it away for all I'd care. I wouldn't judge him for it.

However, two weeks after being made whole on his purchase, he walked into Best Buy and accepted something that he knew that he wasn't entitled to. That's a whole other ballgame.

@crichton007: The OP states that he had already received store credit for his broken 360 "a couple of weeks" before picking up the refurbished unit. He knew that he wasn't entitled to it, but he went and picked it up anyway.

Yes Geek Squad did make a mistake, but instead of clarifying it for them, he capitalized on it two weeks after he had already been made whole on his purchase. So there's no great moral conundrum here. He stole from Best Buy, and now he wants to make sure that he's not going to be caught for it, or be held responsible for the refurbished unit.

Send it certified, return receipt requested. Send copies to the store and to the regional manager. Retain a copy.

Wait 60 days.

You now have a backup device.

@Sanspants: He knew that he wasn't entitled to the refurbished 360, but he went and picked it up anyway. So there's no need for the quotation marks. He stole it, plain and simple.

I don't get why the OP is playing at making this some sort of moral dilemma. If he really cared about doing the right thing, then he wouldn't have accepted the refurbished 360 a couple of weeks after he had already received a refund for his broken unit. The issue had long since been resolved by then, and so the responsible thing to do would have been to refuse it.

Instead of pretending that he's concerned about doing the right thing, maybe he should have been honest about what it was he wanted to know. It's clear to me that what he really wants is to know is whether or not there's a chance that he'll be caught for having accepted the refurbished 360 in spite of not being entitled to it, as well as whether or not he'll be on the hook for the cost of the unit if/when he is. Being honest about it might not have gone over as well, but it would have been far less intellectually dishonest then this was. This shit is just insulting.

Now I'm not judging him for doing what he did. I just don't appreciate this disingenuous clap-trap is all.

I feel compelled to be the Nth person who has to ask... Why did the OP even pick it up in the first place? He had already received the $400 refund plus a prorated refund on his warranty. When they called saying they had a refurb for him, why didn't he just say, "You refunded me $400 for my bad 360, this must be a mistake." If they then had said, "Well, it's here waiting for you and we don't have a way to put this back into our inventory, so pelase come pick this up" it would be a very different situation. If that had happened, he has no reason to give it back to the store. In this case, I would bring it back, because stuff like this ends up costing other customers in the form of higher prices.

Yeah, I have a feeling it'll be a moot point.

A few years ago, I bought a new Sony LCD monitor on the "World's Largest Fence". It was a bit of a "too good to be true" deal, and after minimal detective work, I discovered that it was a reasonably elaborate credit card fraud scheme. Basically, folks with stolen credit card info would sell things on the "World's Largest Fence", purchase products using the credit card from merchants who didn't bother to verify or ship to the credit cards' billing addresses, and have a 3rd party mule collect payments via "PayWho?", and forward a percentage of the transaction amount back to the fraudster.

So, the monitor I purchased was shipped from Best Buy for Business. After unraveling the details of the scheme (aided by the idiot behind it, who shortly after the product arrived, asked me if I wanted to make money accepting Paypal payments for her in exchange for a percentage...), I contacted BBfB. Repeatedly. Their reps either seemed to not grasp the situation, or they simply didn't care. I talked to managers too, but after a few hours on the phone on a few different occasions, it became clear that they didn't want the monitor back under any circumstances. The mule to whom I'd sent the "Paywho?" payment to refunded it quickly, and I kept the monitor in its box for three months just in case BBfB decided they wanted it back. I pretty much had to badger one of the supervisors into putting my mailing address into a comment on the transaction, stating if they wanted the unit back, all they had to do was send me a waybill.

The moral of this story: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make Best Buy take back merchandise that it was mistaken in giving away or that was stolen from it through its immense corporate incompetence.

Sorry, I'm of the "Why did you pick it up in the FIRST place" mentality. The customer already knew he had returned the broken one for store credit so he should have known the replacement offer was a mistake.

All in all it comes down to morality.

Locks on a house or a car doesn't keep a true thief out. They just serve to keep the honest people honest.

That said, if you can figure out how to get HP to take back an extra laptop they gave me, I'd like to know. I sent it back to the repair depot, and they returned it to me. I called the case managers and executive customer service six times and they wouldn't respond. That was a year ago.

Sucks having an extra laptop I can't use.

@Kimaroo - No Stars Upon Thars: Yeah, and that was something I brought up on the first page. It seems to me that he knew exactly what he was doing, felt a pang of guilt over it, and appealed to the internets to slap him on the back and tell him what a good job he did of bilking Best Buy. He's not going to get that from me. It's obvious to me that he knew what he was doing.

Best Buy didn't just send him a replacement unit, he approached them at the store and accepted it without telling them he had already been compensated. If they had no idea he had a store credit already, and they called him to tell him they have a replacement unit, he should have told them the truth - the fact that he didn't means that he knew exactly what he was doing.

There are many cases in which you can gain possession of something without having a legal right to it. The fact that it was given to him by a Best Buy employee won't necessarily mean anything to the courts if he understood, or came to the understanding that he did not have a right to take it.

Give it back. It's the honest thing to do. Karma doesn't exist, but integrity does.

"It wouldn't go into the trunk of a Best Buy employee/manager's car ("Hey! Free Xbox!")"

I wouldn't give it back based on that reason alone.

@coren: I think you're reeeeaaally making a stretch here. Best Buy made a mistake. Banks make mistakes depositing money. The xbox is not his, the money is not the depositee's. He needs to give it back.

Best buy is perfectly capable of determining how they want to give away their property. Head down there and explain the situation to a manager (take the xbox with ya). If they say "keep it" you can do so with free conscience as the company rep has decided thats what they want to do and you would've explained that you were already reimbursed.

I echo the earlier sentiment that you can then go one step farther and donate it to a worthwhile organization.

If you return it, someone else might smuggle it out, or they might never note that they received it and then come after you for that xbox they mistakenly handed out.

Point is, I wouldn't trust Best Buy to acknowledge a customer did something right.

@coren: Yeah, we need more of the story to see for sure whether the intent was there or not.

@pecan 3.14159265: I guess my reading comprehention isn't that great early in the morning. Thanks : )

It does sound quite shady.. but I guess he sent in the story because he's starting to feel guilty.. He was hoping we would all say, "Aww it's a gift, keep it!"

Of course, if anyone were to argue that, then they'd be right as well. Then it all gets kind of confusing.

And while your bank example is similar enough to work - Best Buy hasn't requested the item back. If they do, then this is another matter and he needs to return it. Or to put it another way, imagine this story on the Consumerist:

"Hey, my bank seems to have put an extra 400 bucks in my account. Should I let them know/try to give it back? *story goes on*".

Invariably, there would be advice to take the excess funds and put them in a high interest account or something like that, and then to return the money when requested.

Then do that. You don't need two Xbox's. A disadvantage youth program could use something like this as a gaming machine, DVD player, etc.

I have no problem with his calling them and asking about it rather than schlepping the thing back spontaneously, but just to stay silent about their error? Let's put it this way, if their behavior toward him justifies his keeping it, then his keeping it renders their subsequent misbehavior toward him justifiable as well.

@Kimaroo - No Stars Upon Thars: From the post:

Today I went and picked up a refurbished Xbox 360 Elite from my local Best Buy that they gave me as a replacement for the one I brought in a couple weeks ago which was broken. The only thing is, I had already returned the broken Xbox and received $400 in store credit for it.

Presumably, the OP brought his first XBox into Best Buy and they couldn't fix it, so they issued a credit weeks before he (for some reason) went back to Best Buy, in w hich they issued a replacement.

I'm still not sure why he decided to go back to Best Buy, why he approached the customer service desk to specifically inquire about his XBox (he had already received his store credit) and why he then accepted an XBox from Best Buy, knowing that he had already received a store credit.

Still don't believe me? Next time a bank accidentally adds money to your account, immediately spend all of it and then refuse to repay it when the bank realizes the error. See what happens. (spoiler: bad stuff will happen.)

@coren: Are you Ian the OP? If so, how did they go about giving you an Xbox when you already had recieved the credit? That sounds very strange.

Now, ethically, very much not ok, but that doesn't make it theft.

If Consumerist.com exists to promote fairness, honesty, fair play, etc.--why on earth would it pose this question in the first place? Solicitng the feedback of readers who can vote to not return the merchandise, at minimum, tactily condones dishonesty. Suggesting that manufacturers are not entitled to the same fair play undermines the integrety of this website.

And yes, all of you folks who want to hate some big bad company--go ahead and bust my chops about this posting.

Decide which would be more hassle - keeping it, or trying to explain the situation to Best Buy in hopes that they understand it and act appropriately. Who knows, you might wind up with no Xbox 360 and now no warranty.

On the other hand, I just sent back a bunch of pricey comics to Fantagraphics that was a replacement order for one I thought was never sent (turns out it was mis-shipped), because I like Fantagraphics -- they're one of my favorite comics publishers -- and I know they're not a gigantic corporation, and I would feel guilty about keeping those comics, or reselling them.

I don't claim any kind of moral justification for this "policy" of mine...I believe it's dishonesty/theft in any circumstances to keep what's not yours. It's just that some situations make me feel guilt and others don't, and I've chosen to use that as my ethical rule of thumb.

@Floobtronics: For about four months sometime ago, Barnes and Noble online kept sending me someone else's things. It wasn't even someone who lived in my state. For some reason, the stuff just kept getting diverted. I got a book and two CDs. Every time, I called B&N to tell them what had happened, and all of the CSRs seemed puzzled as to why I was calling them about it. One, I didn't want other people's things to show up at my home and two, I didn't want to keep merchandise that wasn't mine. Even after they were aware of the problem, I think all of the CSRs were puzzled at my insistence that I send the items back to B&N.

Amen to that. Stealing is wrong no matter who does it. Two wrongs don't make a right etc.....

This ain't big enuf...

Personally I'd return it rather than have the specter of them realizing their mistake and sending an invoice for it. You know that if it does happen, it'll probably show up at the worst possible moment.

Then again, I'd have never have bought the thing at best buy in the first place.

@Incredulous1:
Bingo. I wouldn't have any sort of moral dilemma about this. Give the thing back.

I have to say I'm a bit confused as to what exactly occured by the story. But I'll use my understand of the the OP's description, which was that he got another XBOX and received store credit, meaning he's duped Best Buy out of several hundred dollars.

That said, the OP already knows the right thing to do here, but wants support for doing what he's already done-stealing, albeit because of the incompetence of their employees, their sales/support systems, or both.

Best Buy or not, this is stealing, and its not okay. Its not okay no matter how shabbiliy the last cashier treated you, or how stupid the last salesman you spoke to was, or....

C-

If they don't have your credit card info, sell it and buy a bunch of smaller toys and give them away to charity this year.

OK, I WAS JUST KIDDING....RETURN IT!!

For once, sell this ''extra'' Xbox and do some good with the money. Donate it to a charity. Best Buy does not deserve it.

Did they credit him before or after he took the Xbox home?

I would probably try to solve the situation with them.. I wouldn't feel right about keeping the Xbox and the money. One or the other. Not both.

@pecan 3.14159265: As much as I agree with not "stealing", he could keep it as a spare Xbox given his trouble with the systems already.

Give them a shot to correct the issue. If they don't care (which is possible), then you've done your due diligence.

My guts says you go to Best Buy, ask to speak to someone with "Manager" in his/her title, and let that person know what happened. Bring proof of both the refund and the replacement with you, and have the manager initial and date them. If (s)he's daft enough to not get what you're trying to say, then, well, too bad at that point.

* it's the right thing to do
* there's a good chance they'll find out and come for their $400 at a time you might not have the money.

@rocketbear79: Two wrongs don't make a right. Best Buy made a mistake in giving him a refurb. He made a mistake in accepting it. Giving it to charity doesn't mean that his mistake is okay.

However, having had several Xbox consoles die on me, I would be very tempted to keep it as a back up. I hate not being able to play my own games because of faulty hardware issues. So, you could morally look at it this way too.

Why did he accept the replacement XBox? They had already issued him a $400 store credit, so why was he there to pick up a replacement console?

It seems to me that there isn't really a "mistake" here - if Best Buy had its wires crossed and didn't realize it had already issued $400 in store credit, why didn't the OP say so?

It isn't like Best Buy shipped a replacement unit to his house - he went to the store, and they handed it to him. There's no quandry - he could have just explained what the store already did for him. Why he chose to accept the XBox, and then have a "moral dilemma" is something very intriguing to me.

1) It wouldn't go into the trunk of a Best Buy employee/manager's car ("Hey! Free Xbox!")

2) That they would not try to refund me on the return. That would be too much temptation.

This stops companies from sending you goods (providing services) and then charging you whatever they like, as though you agreed to a contract. Indeed if they do this, and you don't complain, your actions would signal that you did agree.

So the correct course of action is to contact the sender and offer to send back the X-box at their expense.

They might pay the money to have it sent back. They might let you keep the X-box. But it is their choice, their property.

@HomerSampson: I second this. It's not worth the guilt you feel. And if you don't feel guilt, you should probably check your code of ethics. I mistakenly did this a while ago, and I do feel a pang of guilt over it.

Anyway, you loose nothing and in the best case they will let you keep the xbox. Also, we must not forget that if this is an human error, somebody somewhere will pay for it.

I'd offer to give it back. Chances are their systems are so screwy that you'll get to keep it anyway.

And that was a CS supervisor who told me that. Unfortunately, it wasn't a set of DVDs I wanted, so I just sold them on eBay...

Best Buy is evil.

I'd give it back, there's no guarantee they won't realize their mistake and come after you for the money or the xbox. Granted, them being a large inept corporation, I'd say unlikely, but you might be screwed down the line.

If you didn't pay for it, it is stealing.

(off to say a Hail Mary as penance...)

And on a totally different level, they may discover your error and bill you at a time when something important, like rent or healthcare, is due. Or just straight up send you to collections. Not worth it.

If it was any smaller store I'd give it back. If Amazon I'd say try to reconcile it, but you'd probably just end up with even more extra cash in your pocket.