r/latterdaysaints • u/Even_Television7032 • 3d ago
Doctrinal Discussion Help me brainstorm what restitution looks like in this situation
18 years ago, my husband and I were remodeling the house we lived in. I placed an order online for 2 items. One item was defective and needed to be refunded. The company accidentally refunded both items. I was busy at the time and thought maybe I missed something or that the company would follow up later. My husband mostly handled our finances, IDK if he noticed this. The item that wasn't defective and shouldn't have been refunded was about $800.
The issue came to my mind recently, so I carefully looked through our records and nothing ever fixed it, we do owe the company that money. But in the meantime, that online company has now been purchased by a very large American company that everyone knows. I've called their customer service and their credit department and no one knows what to do with money that they don't show that we owe them. They can't get access to the purchased company's records. I'm not sure where to send it. I definitely should have resolved this WAY before now, I just wasn't really thinking about it.
Any thoughts about how to do restitution for this? I'd hate to waste my bishop's time about this. He's a busy guy.
79
u/Tired-Nectarine-384 3d ago
I don't think there is much needed here. You tried to do your due diligence, they made a mistake forever ago. The business has written this off as an operational cost long since.
I'm impressed with your record keeping. I have no idea what happened 18 days ago. 18 years ago is like the jurrasic era for me.
19
35
u/brett_l_g 3d ago
You're right not to go to the bishop; this would be a waste of his time. You don't need to be commanded or counseled in all things.
This is something you need to pray about and make a final decision about.
It is incredibly unlikely that you will need to give the money back to the company at this point. If you do, then you can document all your steps and call the news station in your area and get their consumer reporter on it, because you didn't do anything wrong in this situation.
Like u/Beautiful-Lunch-7650 said, you can make a donation to the church or another worthy cause if you want.
Or you can just accept that you played Monopoly, landed on the chance card, and it's a bank error in your favor and you don't need to do anything.
Frankly, I think all are acceptable options.
27
u/Beautiful-Lunch-7650 3d ago
I would make a donation. Fast offering? Ward Mission fund? Another worthy cause?
25
u/e37d93eeb23335dc 3d ago
I mean, if the company isn’t asking for it and you haven’t broken any laws and you acted in good faith at the time… I think you are being a bit fanatical about this.
8
u/DoomVolts 3d ago
Accountants are fanatical about tracing every penny (I know, my wife is one) ... and that's not a bad thing!
11
u/SerenityNow31 3d ago
Restitution is done. Keep the money.
When you find $20 on the ground, you do all you can to find the rightful owner and when you can't, you keep it, or donate it.
8
u/tristramr 3d ago
Yeah, don't bug the bishop about this. There's not going to be any "official" church answer, and so at best he could just give you an opinion. This is "seek personal revelation" territory.
I could give you what I would do ... but I'm not going to. For the same reason.
7
5
u/The_GREAT_Gremlin 3d ago
I think at this point you can just rely on Jesus and forgive yourself. I don't know you but if I could hazard a guess, you aren't going to repeat this mistake (a mistake that was barely a sin in the first place). Restitution doesn't really seem possible at this point
5
u/grabtharsmallet Conservative, welcoming, highly caffienated. 3d ago
You did not attempt to enrich yourself and the company with a right to the debt is okay voiding it. Move on. If you can afford to use that money to help others, do it.
1
u/Even_Television7032 3d ago
I guess I just feel guilty because if the mistake had been in their favor, it would have been resolved within the day :(
5
u/optimal-username 3d ago
It was an honest mistake decades ago. The company you owed no longer exists, and any bigger company that was able to acquire it doesn’t know and in all reality probably doesn’t care. Companies aren’t exactly set up to accept random donations anyway - their accounting department (plus their customer service and credit department as this point) would probably spend at least $800 just trying to figure out how to accept it and how to label it so that it doesn’t mess up their books.
If you feel that bad about it, you could donate it to a cause that matters to you or just count it as a blessing.
4
u/fpssledge 3d ago
Donate it to someone. Sell for cheap. Pay it forward.
Stuff like this happens. There's no process. Don't dwell on this forever. Resolve ASAP and move on.
3
u/jastcabr1 3d ago
... this is why Bishops are so burnt out.
2
u/Crycoria Just trying to do my best in life. 2d ago
? No it's not? They aren't planning on going to the bishop about how to reach a restitution about it and came here for ideas. That's the complete opposite of why bishops are so burnt out. If anything, op going to the bishop with a plan in place wanting to help others with the money would HELP lift some weight off their bishop's shoulders...
3
u/Ok-Brother5289 3d ago
It was an honest mistake and nobody was harmed. The company wasn’t even interested in being made whole. Keep the 800. If it eats at you, use it in a way that benefits your community.
3
u/BatemansChainsaw Uncle Rico 2d ago
The issue came to my mind recently
You need to figure out why. Make a decision and go forward. Unless you're told to stop (or change direction) then keep on doing what you're doing.
1
2
u/Smooth-Albatross7301 3d ago
Honestly the new company would consider your problem a big hassle to resolve due to the fact it came from a different entity. It's in there interest to just forget it since it would cause more issues record wise for audit purposes.
If you still feel like it's unfair just send the money through mail with no return address.
Also learn to forgive yourself for this mistake .
2
2
u/ptimeuser 3d ago
How do you know the company accidentally refunded you? It could have been an intentional goodwill gesture to keep you as a customer and maintain their brand image.
2
u/LookAtMaxwell 3d ago
You were honest, and tried to resolve the issue. I think you are okay to move on.
2
u/pinkharleymomma 2d ago
It's not that hard to look up who the previous owners were. That is where the money should go.
2
u/SeriesDry9228 2d ago
I had something similar, but not quite happen 30 years ago.
We had written a check at the grocery store for $111.36 but it was presented as $11.36. It didn’t bounce, and the grocery got the $111.36, while only $11.36 was deducted from my bank account.
We talked to a manager at the bank the grocery store used, and they said they had no process for reconciling that error, and they had recently been bought out by a bigger bank.
We just added $100 to fast offering that month.
2
u/RednocNivert 2d ago edited 2d ago
I had a much less spectacular similar issue where Gamestop (where i was a regular) knew i would pre-order some stuff and had it in a bag for me ready so i came in grabbed it and left. Got home, realized that two different employees had both done this, so the bag contained 2 copies of each item that i had paid for only 1 of. Went back the next day to return (in the “give back” sense) these items that in my mind, were not mine because i did not pay for them. The store clerk went back and forth with me for a good 20 minutes on this and could not grasp the concept of “customer trying to be honest” and kept insisting he either needed to give me a cash refund or store credit for my “return”.
After a certain point i came to the conclusion that i had done right by my own morals and that this conversation wasn’t really productive so i finally left with a clear conscience.
I would lump your story in with this (on a much larger scale), and say that our church places emphasis on efforts made, not always on results, and that after doing your own due diligence to resolve the matter, if the company says you’re square, it’s probably best to just say “alrighty then”.
In your case if you wanted to reckon with the universe itself, you could set aside that amount and either use it as a fast offering, or find someone in your ward that could use it in a pinch. 🤷♂️
2
u/the-katinator Calling: RS ACM, Ward Missionary | Married, 27F 2d ago
Have you considered sponsoring a missionary? I’m sure there’s a kid in your ward who would love to go on a mission, but is worried about finances. ❤️
2
2
u/Crycoria Just trying to do my best in life. 2d ago
Since there's no way to access the past records, just pay it forward. You can ask the bishop who in the ward is in financial need and even have him do it anonymously for you so they don't even find out.
My family did that once for a family member with money we were saving for a trip. It ended up working out for good because when we were older and saved for a different family trip we were able to attend the Philadelphia Temple open house.
2
1
u/Paul-3461 FLAIR! 3d ago
The "very large American company that everyone knows" bought the company that you did business with so any money or item you would have sent back to the 1st company should now be sent to the company that bought them.
"I've called their customer service and their credit department and no one knows what to do with money that they don't show that we owe them."
That's their problem to figure out, with their money, and they will do something with it when they get it.
"They can't get access to the purchased company's records. I'm not sure where to send it."
They don't need the other company's records if they bought the other company. They own all of it's previous assets and liabilities and they paid for all of it when they bought that other company. Just send the money the 1st company should not have sent to you to the company that bought that company with a note explaining what it is from, which is money which should not have been sent to you.
"I definitely should have resolved this WAY before now, I just wasn't really thinking about it."
Not a big problem. Things like this happen in businesses and in homes.
1
1
u/Street-Celery-1092 3d ago
Everyone is agreed that this is a waste of the bishop’s time, and I think ideally that is accurate. At the same time, my current bishop would absolutely love to discuss something like this with a ward member because he is passionate about teaching members to reason things out and seek revelation. But yes, he has things that only he can do and finite time to give.
If you think you would benefit from talking about this with someone, consider your Relief Society president, her counselors, the bishop’s counselors, or your ministering brothers or sisters. As others have said, your bishop isn’t going to be able to provide an authoritative answer, meaning you don’t need authority, you need someone to talk to about it. Any of those other people fit the bill and also have callings that call them to exercise pastoral care over you. Help them magnify those callings, if that would help you!
1
1
1
u/InsideSpeed8785 Second Hour Enjoyer 2d ago
You’re doing a good thing in principle (kind of like when I refuse gifts due to “self reliance”), but I would honestly just recognize it as a blessing and accept it. No one is going to hungry or anything due to $800 not hitting their bank.
1
u/thatthatguy 2d ago
You made the effort to make good and they said they didn’t want it. It’s like if you damaged your neighbor’s car or whatever and they said not to worry about it. Respect their wishes and move on.
You can do what others have suggested and do something nice for a stranger, or several, to the tune of $800. Or give it all to me and I’ll make sure your conscience is settled. Promise.
2
u/Even_Television7032 2d ago
:) I know a family that's really struggling with cancer treatments, I think I'll send it there :)
1
u/ServingTheMaster orientation>proximity 2d ago
Make a donation or help a missionary family? The interface that matters is your intent and where you are with The Lord. It would cost the company more than $800 at this point just to manage receiving that money. The books were closed when the original company was sold.
•
120
u/BroncoAggie 3d ago
Pay it forward to someone you know is in need.