How solid is your sense of right and wrong?
For many people, it varies according to the circumstances.
They’d never dream of outright stealing, but if money that’s not theirs lands in their bank account, they convince themselves that God or the universe has answered their prayers and found a way to send them a windfall.
And if the money came from a company, rather than an individual, in many cases that makes it even easier for the unintended recipient to justify keeping it.
What got me thinking about this issue was a post I spotted recently on the Facebook page 1 Family, 1 Stockpile.
Estelle Naganna wrote: “Last week I made a purchase from Checkers 60/60; a tin of Nido for my son. When the tin came, it was damaged so they were willing to refund me my full R299, but obviously not the R35 delivery fee due to the driver dropping off the other tin, which in all honesty was good enough for me because he did use his fuel and time to get to my address.
(That swap should have been made at no extra cost to Estelle — or the driver — given that the product was defective.)
“To my shock I realised that at midnight I had been refunded the R299 I had spent on that Nido 18 times, plus R175.
“I was in panic mode, unable to sleep because my account had R5,400 that did not belong to me.
“Some might call it small and think that stores have insurance to cover this but no, that is not appropriate.
“I sent through several emails at midnight in panic and then I called the company at 8am and asked to speak to someone in charge ...
“I explained the whole situation and a woman called Cheryl said they were not even aware of what had happened, and told me they really really appreciated my honesty.
“Two hours later she called me back to say there was a system error which had led to a lot of money being dished out to a lot of people who are remaining silent.
“She said they couldn’t thank me enough for coming forward.
“Honestly, guys, I felt like a THIEF even though I had made them aware of what happened. I just needed this money out my account.
“That money was kept safe in my account for four days until Sunday morning when it was debited.
“I felt like I could go to church fresh because I have now been released of something that belongs to someone else.
“Guys, it can happen to anyone, but please if something is not yours, please humble yourself and return it to the rightful owner no matter how much temptation leaps your way.
“We as individuals need to understand we are better than that, we are creating awareness for our future youth and honesty starts with us, together we can rise up and teach the next generation that just by being honest, you reap a clean heart and a fresh start.”
That post attracted more than 500 comments.
Yolande wrote: “Dear Government, please meet Estelle! #justsaying.”
Most praised her for her integrity, but some clearly wouldn’t have done the same thing in her situation.
“Yoh, God never allow that to happen to me coz I’m always broke ... so I would definitely thank God and my ancestors. But you did a good thing.”
“I would have thought ‘what a blessing!’” said another, “and counted them as I spent every cent,” to which another “stockpiler” responded: “Another person’s loss cannot be called a blessing.
“A blessing is when both parties are willing participants.”
I was on to the Shoprite Group’s media team like a shot to ask when the glitch happened, how many customers were “over refunded” and by what magnitude?
I was also interested to know what percentage of those unintended “blessees” had reported it to Sixty60, how many waited to be contacted and how many had yet to refund the money.
I was told that a “technical error” on the platform in mid-April resulted in refunds being processed multiple times to certain customers’ payment cards for a few days until a “bug fix” was rolled out.
About 440 Sixty60 customers were affected, receiving “varying” amounts.
“Representatives from the Sixty60 help centre approached the identified customers telephonically to explain the situation to them. However, they were unable to make contact with all the affected customers.
“An email explaining what had transpired was sent to each affected customer detailing the corrective steps being taken, along with the customers’ respective issuing banks.”
So far “approximately 80%” of the “incorrect enrichment” funds have been retrieved, Shoprite said. “The reconciliation process continues.”
That means about 88 customers are still steadfastly refusing to give back the money.
“It remains an ongoing process of engagement with the affected customers and the various banking institutions working to recover the funds,” Shoprite said.
Thank God for the Estelles among us, who do the right thing, no matter what, for their own peace.
CONTACT WENDY: E-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za; Twitter: @wendyknowler; Facebook: wendyknowlerconsumer
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.