Lately I have dealt with two what I would consider ethical issues and for those of you who read my blog I'd love it if you could comment or reply to these. I want to know if I'm being unreasonable here because sometimes I tend to over-react.
Issue #1:Someone hits my new car, rear-ends it, and at the time of the accident admits guilt in person, calls his mother and also admits guilt to her. The accident happens on private property so all the police do is note the damage. Also, there were not any witnesses. When it comes time to report the accident the kid says my car "flew" into his and he was at a stand-still. HE LIES. It's my word against his and even though he admitted guilt at the time (and, um, my car was rear-ended) nothing can be done. He lies, benefits, I tell the truth and am out the $500 deductible to fix my car. Do I take him to Civil court to recover my costs or just chalk it up to bad luck and I guess the simple fact that I don't get to own a vehicle without someone damaging, destroying or stealing it?
Issue #2:I forget to deauthorize my iTunes account on my iMac at SDSU (my old job) before I move out here. Somehow a gift certificate is purchased using this account (I had the "remember my password on this computer" enabled on that machine, dummy) and was sent to the general email account all of us in reference used (that's about ten or so people). A former co-worker of mine opened the email and clicked on the "Redeem Now" button and redeemed the gift certificate (oh, it was for $100). Now said co-worker said when they opened the email it "just downloaded automatically" but that isn't how iTunes works, you must hit the "Redeem Now" button to redeem (I even called iTunes to verify and know people who work at Apple to confirm that there isn't/wasn't another way). Because this gift certificate was redeemed I have no way of cancelling the order. And apparently there is no way for that money to get gifted back to me. Now my bank won't credit my acct (they did initially but after the investigation they cannot prove fraud since the gift certificate was redeemed). The individual who redeemed the gift certificate refuses to reimburse me as it wasn't their "fault." So, that makes me $100 poorer and them $100 richer. What do you do in that instance? Should I even have expected a reimbursement? I think yes, what do you think? I guess if it was me on the other side, downloading the gift certificate, I'd volunteer to reimburse because I use iTunes and would eventually use the money anyway (although not budgeted, I realize) and because I shouldn't have downloaded the thing in the first place since it wasn't addressed to me by name (the to and from lines both had my name on them). I think it's the right thing to do. Simply put.
Weigh in all.
4 comments:
Well, I'm the one Danielle is referring to in the 'i-tunes' incident. I just wanted to state that I STILL have the $100 credit in my i-tunes, as Danielle claimed she gave her bank my contact info., and that they would be contacting me to investigate. They never did. I do not actually purchase much through i-tunes, so to me, writing her a check for $100 isn't really fair - it would take me at least 2-3 years or more to spend that much in i-tunes. And, to boot, I'm annoyed that she never actually came out and asked me to send her money - I think blogging about it instead of just asking me directly is pretty cowardly (sorry, Danielle, but you know better!). This happened in April/May, and I haven't heard willy nilly about it for two months, and now this. Ugh. And, also just wanted to state that I did not click the "redeem" button. I don't give a fig what Apple says. This is fraud and with all their magical technology, they should be able to just pull the $100 out of my i-tunes and plug it back into hers! But, it is her blog, so that's pretty much all I can offer.
That is the reason for the blog post was to inquire the advice of others if it is reasonable for me to ask for reimbursement. I decided last night, after talking to my best friend about it, that it is, in fact, unreasonable to ask you to reimburse me. Thus the reason why I asked others to "weigh in."
~Danielle
Cowardly, I don't think so.
I do think I over-reacted, a bit, and for that I apologize.
As for iTunes, well, I can only repeat what they said to me and yes, I agree, it is amazing that they didn't or won't or can't or refuse to do anything about it.
I forgot to mention that yes, had I 100% thought it was the absolute right thing to do, I would've talked to you further about reimbursement. I did, however, think it was the "nice" thing to do, shoe on the other foot and all that. But your point is well-taken, and in a constant battle between what is right and what is wrong, well, ultimately, I don't really know. Again, that is why I wrote the post.
Anyway, I'm over it now.
Over and out.
~Danielle
Why oh why do I torture myself so? I just don't have the answer except that I tend to be a bit obsessive, from time to time (mildly, others who know me well can attest to that fact). I wish I hadn't so quickly responded to the initial comment sent by my former co-worker, I should've given it some thought. That said, I must finally comment and let it go at that. I don't need to explain myself, nor apologize (don't really know why I did, one of my compulsions is to be nice, to "please" others, or so my past therapists have commented) and in doing so I lost the point of my original post. So, I digress, I stand firmly by my original post to say that I was merely asking for people's input. That is all. Not accusing anyone of spending the gift certificate money, at this point, go ahead, merely asking if my take on the situation was reasonable. Unlike many people I know, I do not possess the need to be right about things, instead, I wish to learn about myself in this so-called life (nod to a great show by that name). So, yes, do I think the right thing to do is to reimburse, probably, had I erroneously downloaded a gift card not intended for me I'd reimburse. But, my friend Sara seems to agree with my former co-worker, so I guess that's that.
Again, a coward, I am not, far from it. Instead, I like to consider and measure what I say and how I respond to others instead of simply blurting-out the first thing that comes to my mind. Call me crazy, but I think it's more thoughtful that way.
~Danielle
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