Thievery or not?

Is charging someone $25 to run VirusScan on their PC considered theft or fraud? Just wondering because that's what CompUSA charges for their virus scanning and removal services.

 

[AndrewR]

Oh, break out the dictionary, yamaha!

I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't deceitful and wrong, but I was just applying a different term to it (it's still not as the mods say, the "worst" kind). This falls under a different classification than what I would term "theft". It's really semantics, but I find a distinction.

 

[smp]

big words nothing..
*cough* warez *cough* napster *cough* barrowing a buddys cd *cough* the list goes on *cough* IS RIGHT!!!
IMHO I think that a lot of ppl in these forums are brown noses without the capacity for original ideas... sheep.. sheep..


baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I'm not saying I would have done it.. but if the MOD gave him the boot, then fine, that's the MOD's judgement.. everyone else fallowing along and passing their own judgement is just BULLYING!!!
If he got punished.. leave him be.. don't kick him when he's down.

 

[Sundog]

It is being DISHONEST.

 

[kami]

hypocrites. Or maybe all of you have never downloaded a song off napster, borrowed a CD to make a copy, downloaded/cracked some pirated software, or done anything else like that. You all have a completely clean slate, eh?

How many of you can honestly say you wouldn't take your $200?

"Oh no, there must be a mistake. I only paid $100...please take $200 of that back."

Call me dishonest, but I can always use more money....at least I'm being honest about THAT.

 

[smp]

well put Kami... HONESTY is not just about fallowing laws and orders.. it's about being honest with yourself too... the way you live..

 

[Ornery]

I've noted who sides with this worm and who doesn't. Not surprised at all generally. No wonder Hot Deals has gone to sh!t :|

 

[Sundog]

kami,



<< How many of you can honestly say you wouldn't take your $200? >>



I'll say it. I wouldn't!!

Went golfing last summer and found a wallet in the cart. The person was from DC (was golfing in Fairfield, PA) and there was $800 and some change in there. I could have taken the money and put the wallet in a post office box. Nope, I called the guy up and mailed it to him.

<< Call me dishonest, but I can always use more money....>>

Alright, your dishonest. What goes around comes around. Your time will come.

Guess what, it's time to grow up!

 

[kami]

Hey, I'm talking about a store who makes idiotic mistakes. If I found a wallet with ID, I would most certainly return it. I know how much I would hate losing that...not just for the money, but for how much of a pain in the ass it is to get all of your ID and card back. I lost my wallet once and there was $40 in it...I didn't get it until a week later, but I gave the guy who returned it the $40 in it as sort of a &quot;reward&quot; for his honesty...saved me a lot of trouble for getting all that ID back. He could have just taken the $40 and dumped the wallet.

Don't give me any BS about what goes around comes around. Tell these stores to get their acts together.

 

[kranky]

OK, some people feel the first and last examples in the list below are proper behavior. Help me understand why it's OK to steal in one case and not the other by filling in the blanks for the other situations.

Money scammed by falsely claiming to have bought a returned product there : keep it, the store is idiotic
Store accidentally ships your order twice, only charges once:
CompUSA store clerk gives you $10 too much change accidentally:
Local grocery store clerk gives you $10 too much change accidentally:
Above grocery store clerk who makes min. wage has to make up cash shortages out of his own pocket. Same answer?
Your neighborhood computer shop accidentally undercharges you $50 for parts:
That shop owner is your friend. Same answer?
That shop owner is your relative. Same answer?
But money from found wallet: return it and be honest

 

[Pretender]

First off, you people are misinterpreting the word &quot;theft&quot;. Theft is defined as taking something from somebody (somebody being a person or organization) without their permission.

The money was voluntarily given from the cashier (representative of the organization) to the customer, whether or not it was in compliance with their return policy.

This dispels the belief that it was &quot;theft&quot;.


Fraud, probably not. From what I can tell, the cashier never asked &quot;what price did you buy this at&quot;, or &quot;do you have your original receipt [with you]&quot;. If the cashier had, and the customer lied, that would constitute fraud, but I don't see that, so that dispels the &quot;fraud&quot; theory.


What it seems to be to me is &quot;not doing the right thing&quot;. He didn't voluntarily do what would be considered the right thing and say &quot;hey, I didn't pay X amount for this product, you've given me more money than I spent on it&quot;. Is this wrong? Well, it depends on your moral beliefs. If you are religious, probably. If you were raised in a religious family or in one with high morals, probably. Legally speaking, no way in hell.


[edit - placed parenthesis in wrong place, ambiguous phrasing]

 

[kami]

Yeah, it's all a question of morals. Personally I don't give two sh!ts about what some forum dwellers think of me, but at least I'm being honest that I would keep the money. Under different circumstances, as pointed out by Kranky, no it would be different...which sounds hypocritical but oh well...that's how it is for me.

 

[Pastore]

i think that pretenders explanation is very true...

 

[Muadib]

I agree with you Nitzylpick. I don't see how this is any different than taking advantage of a website when a pricing error is made. How many of you that got in on the famous buy.com monitor fiasco returned them after they said the price was an error? How many of you cried like little girls because they canceled your order?

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Yup, call it theft, call it fraud, call it weinerschnitzel. The fact is, it wasn't entirely honest. It was a clerk's mistake and the greed inside one person said &quot;don't give the money back, free money, woo!&quot;. I've been that person. I've also been the person who finds the wallet with $400 and calls every hotel in town trying to find the guy who lost it. The glee from being on the better half of a mistake is fleeting. Being honest, while oftentimes not the most convenient, is a feeling that sticks with you.

 

[JJWalker]

Ummmm...yup, that's a theft.

 

[SemperFi]

This person Buys this drive recieves it he owns it. At this point it is not stolen. The drive doesn't meet expectation so decide to get rid of it. At this point if this person sold it on *bay for same price that would be OK but since he went back to the store without sales slip that is stealing. I find it unethical, poor judgement, but I do not call it stealing. I think he should of gotten rid of it differently like one of those auction sites. But Compusa took it back without question.

Buying things and selling them for a profit is considered free enterprise.

 

[Missus]

I believe in evolution...


Hee hee hee... I know this is the wrong thread....

I think it is stealing... Bold.. Stupid... (for braggin')

Makes you wonder why mark up are so high...

 

[JoeDaddy]

The defination of stealing:



<< steal (stl)
v. stole (stl), sto·len (stln), steal·ing, steals.
v. tr.

To take (the property of another) without right or permission.
To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully: steal a kiss; stole the ball from an opponent.
To move, carry, or place surreptitiously.
To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer: The magician's assistant stole the show with her comic antics.
Baseball. To advance safely to (another base) during the delivery of a pitch, without the aid of a base hit, walk, passed ball, or wild pitch.
v. intr.
To commit theft.
To move, happen, or elapse stealthily or unobtrusively.
Baseball. To steal a base.
n.
The act of stealing.
Slang. A bargain.
Idioms:
steal (someone's) thunder
To use, appropriate, or preempt the use of another's idea, especially to one's own advantage and without consent by the originator.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stealer n.
Synonyms: steal, purloin, filch, snitch, pilfer, cop, hook, swipe, lift, pinch.
These verbs mean to take another's property wrongfully, often surreptitiously. Steal is the most general: stole a car; stealing a few moments for relaxation; research that was stolen by a colleague. To purloin is to make off with something, often in a breach of trust: purloined the key to his safe-deposit box. Filch and snitch often suggest that what is stolen is of little value, while pilfer sometimes connotes theft of or in small quantities: filched an ashtray from the restaurant; snitch a handkerchief; strawberries pilfered from the farmer. Cop, hook, and swipe frequently connote quick, furtive snatching or seizing: copped a necklace from the counter; planning to hook a fur coat; swiped a magazine from the doctor's waiting room. To lift is to pick or take something up surreptitiously and keep it for oneself: The pickpocket lifted my wallet. Pinch suggests stealing something by or as if by squeezing it between the thumb and the fingers: went into the study and pinched a >>



One question I need to pose. If you buy a dvd player from walmart or Compusa for example for $179. Then you bring it home and the s-video out isn't working properly. And when you bring it back and realize that you've lost the reciept. But since you bought it has went on sale for $109. How much do you think Wal-mart, compusa ,bestbuy, cc, etc will give you back? You bet your a$$ only $109.

 

[urbantechie]

Hell, I would do it and I know every other person here would too.

 

[Dedpuhl]

This thread has resurfaced :disgust:


I would do it...I can't lie. If these stores want to avoid this, they should have better return policies.

 

[TheVrolok]

Stop! Thief!

 

[BlueScreenVW]

OK, so as far as I understand he got a credit of $300 for a $100 item to shop for. Well, if that's their usual profit margin, I can't see what he did wrong...

 

[Soybomb]

<< Hell, I would do it and I know every other person here would too. >>


Some of us are more ethical than you apparently.



<< I would do it...I can't lie. If these stores want to avoid this, they should have better return policies. >>


Why not just exercise a little self control? You know its wrong and in the end is only going to raise the stores prices and make them develop a more annoying exchange policy. Then you'll whine when you want to return something you bought there and lost the receipt and they reject it.

The opportunity for fast cash comes up everyday, most people just resist the urge on grounds of doing what is ethically right to them.

 

[Duckers]

CompUSA paid him $300 for the drive, CompUSA will sell the drive for $300

This is probably the argument that some people have been using to justify these actions.

While I would not call this thievery, it is obvious that this person is preventing CompUSA from making a profit out of this product.

It is also important to consider the amount of lies that this individual had to tell before returning the product to the store. If CompUSA did not bother to ask where and when the product was purchased, then saying that they were trying to be kind with the customer is not a valid excuse.