4 ms·

This is definitely fraud, yeah? I wonder if they have fraud detection for this kinda thing. Or if it's just not worth the expense for most things.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
Fraud requires mens rea. They are going to have to have a hell of a time proving mens rea when the local law expressly allows a consumer to exchange a defective product in the time limit when the supposed fraud happened. Ethical or not it's expressly not criminal.
- slg 7y ago
  The old two wrongs make a right defense. I have a feeling this will be as successful in court as it was against my mom when I was 6 years old.
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    >The old two wrongs make a right defense. Where the hell did you get that from my comment? I'm saying that no prosecutor is going to take a fraud case where the fact pattern is of a consumer manipulating a return system in order to achieve an outcome that was identical to one expressly allowed by their state law (return or exchange for non-defective example within 90 days).
    - slg 7y ago
      If a store overcharged you $5, are you allowed to break into the store after it closes to steal your $5 back? Because that seems to be your argument that you are justified in breaking the law as long as it returns you to some natural state of evenness.
- jedimastert 7y ago
  > Fraud requires mens rea You mean like saying you're going to return one item (the one amazon just sent you and the one you clicked on with the shipping date) and actually sending another (one you bought two years ago)? I think it'd be pretty easy to prove, tbh. That's not what I was referring to anyways. They almost certainly wouldn't go to court for a $50 backpack, but they can definitely bar you from using the service if they think you're going to cost them more money than you give.
byoung2 7y ago
Amazon support specifically recommended this approach to me when I was outside the return window.
- banana_giraffe 7y ago
  I don't doubt a rep told you this. My question would be: Is this their policy, or something the rep figured out to make customers stop complaining?
  - byoung2 7y ago
    This is a case that is not specifically addressed by Amazon's return policy. As is the case with any return, all they really care about is that the item number of the item being returned is the same as the item number on the order they are crediting. Consider the following scenario: I buy 2 widgets from Amazon, and 2 of the same model widgets from Best Buy. I line up all 4 widgets to test and find that 2 widgets are broken. I have no idea which store the broken widgets came from since they are all identical. I return them to Amazon because it is more convenient. It is quite possible that I returned the Best Buy widgets to Amazon.
    - imtringued 7y ago
      You can also send bricks back and they will send the brick to the next buyer. [0] [0] I don't recommend this.
rland 7y ago
If you make too many returns, they shut down your account.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

Fraud requires mens rea. They are going to have to have a hell of a time proving mens rea when the local law expressly allows a consumer to exchange a defective product in the time limit when the supposed fraud happened. Ethical or not it's expressly not criminal.

slg 7y ago
The old two wrongs make a right defense. I have a feeling this will be as successful in court as it was against my mom when I was 6 years old.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  >The old two wrongs make a right defense. Where the hell did you get that from my comment? I'm saying that no prosecutor is going to take a fraud case where the fact pattern is of a consumer manipulating a return system in order to achieve an outcome that was identical to one expressly allowed by their state law (return or exchange for non-defective example within 90 days).
  - slg 7y ago
    If a store overcharged you $5, are you allowed to break into the store after it closes to steal your $5 back? Because that seems to be your argument that you are justified in breaking the law as long as it returns you to some natural state of evenness.
jedimastert 7y ago
> Fraud requires mens rea You mean like saying you're going to return one item (the one amazon just sent you and the one you clicked on with the shipping date) and actually sending another (one you bought two years ago)? I think it'd be pretty easy to prove, tbh. That's not what I was referring to anyways. They almost certainly wouldn't go to court for a $50 backpack, but they can definitely bar you from using the service if they think you're going to cost them more money than you give.

byoung2 7y ago

Amazon support specifically recommended this approach to me when I was outside the return window.

banana_giraffe 7y ago
I don't doubt a rep told you this. My question would be: Is this their policy, or something the rep figured out to make customers stop complaining?
- byoung2 7y ago
  This is a case that is not specifically addressed by Amazon's return policy. As is the case with any return, all they really care about is that the item number of the item being returned is the same as the item number on the order they are crediting. Consider the following scenario: I buy 2 widgets from Amazon, and 2 of the same model widgets from Best Buy. I line up all 4 widgets to test and find that 2 widgets are broken. I have no idea which store the broken widgets came from since they are all identical. I return them to Amazon because it is more convenient. It is quite possible that I returned the Best Buy widgets to Amazon.
  - imtringued 7y ago
    You can also send bricks back and they will send the brick to the next buyer. [0] [0] I don't recommend this.

rland 7y ago

If you make too many returns, they shut down your account.