Is it ethical..?

Its good to know that people feel that its up to them to decide who really needs money and who has enough. I'm glad I don't have that responsiblility.

I don't have that responsibility either. I'm not setting myself up as arbiter of who's deserving or not, I'm just saying what motivates me to 'fess up and hand back the goods. I'm no saint.

@Charlotte re the Tesco change. What if Tesco deducted the mistake from the person's salary? Or accuse them of stealing the money etc...

Actually, I don't have a problem with that. Mainly 'cos unless I have the raving munchies in the middle of the night and nobody else is open, I'll shop somewhere else. Tesco are a big, bad bunch of evil corporate motherfuckers and I avoid buying stuff from them as much as I can because I'd like to see them wither and die.

If they want to screw their staff over for an honest mistake (not that I'd imagine this is legal) then it's their bad karma, man...

It was an act of loving-kindness, helping you not getting fat.

it left me feeling dirty. and i liked that feeling. which made me feel guilty. so i bought more chips to comfort myself. then his big man hands were all over them. will this nightmare never end?

If they want to screw their staff over for an honest mistake (not that I'd imagine this is legal) then it's their bad karma, man...

Ah, but if you know that this will happen and it's within your power to prevent that action, is it ethical to not do so?

Seldom Killer is wrong.
you are not guilty of theft. You are not even at risk of being guilty of theft.

The Unsolicited Goods and Services act, 1971 makes it an offence for a company to demand payment for goods they have sent you that you didn't ask for.

The extra box is legally yours, and you are under no obligation to either inform them of their mistake, or return the box. Some companies claim the right, in their terms and conditions, to reclaim duplicate orders, under the Sale of Goods act 1979. This has not been tested, but the presumption is that this claimed right is invalid, and has no legal force.

http://www.onlineshoppingrights.co.uk/legally-can-i-keep-second-laptop.html

Who'd be a lawyer, eh? What about that someone vs Readers Digest case? Post it all here in full.

The 30 day window in the original act has been superseded by the way. The company now have no window in which to claim it back.

I'm not a lawyer, but I was in a similar position with Scan Computers, and I got Trading Standards involved. Scan were told to fuck right off.

i'm disappointed that no one has made an Ethics Girl joke yet.

I think Tiswas is winning on points.

I'm getting very interested in this 'Someone versus the Readers Digest 1973' action.

Is it on youtube?

everything is on youtube.

I once booked someone for an event a few years back. The events company was supposed to pay me a finders fee of £400. A month later when the invoice was paid I noticed they paid me 4K instead. No one found out.........

Keep it.

If they want to screw their staff over for an honest mistake (not that I'd imagine this is legal) then it's their bad karma, man...

I was just trying to look after your kharma...

Kramer: It's a write off for them.
Jerry: How is it a write off?
Kramer: They just write it off.
Jerry: Write it off what?
Kramer: Jerry, all these big companies, they write off everything.
Jerry: You don't even know what a write off is.
Kramer: Do you?
Jerry: No. I Don't.
Kramer: But they do. And they're the ones writing it off.
Jerry: I wish I could have the last 20 seconds of my life back.

ebay...give the proceeds to the forum!

Seldom Killer is wrong.
you are not guilty of theft. You are not even at risk of being guilty of theft.

The Unsolicited Goods and Services act, 1971 makes it an offence for a company to demand payment for goods they have sent you that you didn't ask for.

The extra box is legally yours, and you are under no obligation to either inform them of their mistake, or return the box. Some companies claim the right, in their terms and conditions, to reclaim duplicate orders, under the Sale of Goods act 1979. This has not been tested, but the presumption is that this claimed right is invalid, and has no legal force.

http://www.onlineshoppingrights.co.uk/legally-can-i-keep-second-laptop.html

I'm not sure who the alleged expert is from this site, but the advice given seems pretty shaky. I doubt that is would stand up in a court of law. The Unsolicited Goods and Services Act (UGSA) is pretty much inapplicable for two reasons;

1) The goods were not unsolicited, there were erroneously sent twice. You could argue that the second set was unsolicited, but legally this is unlikely to hold water. Something that is unsolicited implies that is was provided through intent and not error and you'd have a hard time proving that.
2) The UGSA only covers an attempt to obtain payment for said goods or services. It doesn't cover a claim of ownership of goods that a company could entirely legally exercise.

The Theft Act, however, is very implicit on an intention to deprive the legal owner of their property or reasonable remuneration against it. Much more applicable.

I once booked someone for an event a few years back. The events company was supposed to pay me a finders fee of £400. A month later when the invoice was paid I noticed they paid me 4K instead. No one found out.........

Dibs!

Bathtime hasn't been the same since dear Nurse passed away.

I didn't die, I just couldn't stand you throwing your duck out of the bath then shouting at me to fetch it for you anymore.

Gina, not sure if you're asking what's ethical and what's legal. I don't know about the law, but it is ethical to contact the sender and inform them of the mistake.

This has happened to me a couple of times--I've been sent duplicate records, bike parts, etc. In each case, they told me to keep the wrongly-sent items.

Thanks for giving me special treatment. This does happen from time to time, and people have always sent the spare one back - we cover the postage, and normally send them something cool for being cool.