I would return to the store and tell them about the substituted returned items ... or at least the second one (you might make them suspicious if you tell them about BOTH occurrences). If you don't tell them, you'd better stay out of that store. Also, while you are waiting to see if your CC is credited and you got away with it, you could be arrested tomorrow at your home (after they get your address from your CC company or your license plate).
I speak as a former shoplifter who was arrogant, gambled, and got caught. If you don't tell them what happened, even if the subsitutions were accidents, you are a shoplifter since you are cognizant of what really happened. And while you might very well be good at shoplifting, I guarantee you they are better.
So if I go over to the store and try to explain, this constitutes knowledge and therefore a form of a confirmation of wrongdoing?you are a shoplifter since you are cognizant of what really happened
So the answers to what they CAN do:
* arrest me on the spot if I step foot in the store
* have cops come and get at my house me from my cc records
ouch.
I look at the cc not to see whether I got away with it, but to attempt to find out what is going on on their side, to see movement by them, and what movement or non movement might mean. I wd be really fine with scenario #1 below since either of the two scenarios above are not very nice.
So far, no cc crediting. Is it possible that LP simply said,
1) 'we won't credit her cc'; case closed; we got our money?
or
2) 'we won't credit her cc'; we'll wait til she comes in and asks about the transaction, then get her?
or
3) 'we won't credit her cc'; we are now assembling the evidence to go to her house to arrest her?
what are customary things that LPs do in this situation, assuming the customer does not come in?
the first poster suggested that I might be a big fish due the frequent above avg returns. But none except the one I mentioned last week were wrong product in boxes returns.
last poster: was that your experience, that the cops came to your door to arrest you? if so, what was the value of your s-lifted stuff?
cy mentioned not what they CAN do, but what they very well MAY do , depending on how I present myself, which is VERY interesting - thanks. but isnt cy, or someone on this forum, who keeps saying that you cannot tell the future.
update - just confirmed that the store credited my cc in the normal two day manner ( for some reason I did not see an email to this effect like I normally do; thus my extra concern. ) I bet that this means nothing. they can still get me, right, either on the spot in the store, or at my home?
I still want to go over to set it straight, but............................................... ....................................
why wd they credit the cc if there was a wrong product in the box? what normally occurs at a big retailer for a return ? when the clerk does his or her thing, is that it - pkg it as defective and then put it ...where? and what do they then do?
how long does such a returned product stay in the store?
or is this box sent to the man. and then they eventually see it and ...do what?
will it eventually be seen and analyzed by LP, maybe just not yet - in a case of wrong product in box?
i confirmed - still no email from cc. so maybe the posting of the credit is just the normal way of the operation, but since cc did not send email, maybe this means that retailer and cc (and cops???) are talking ... like the tell tale heart!
I wish they checked the stupid box before granting me the return. law people- does this have any weight or put *any* bit of blame on the store? tiny bit like, but not wholly like, in sweden a car owner gets a ticket along w/ the perp, for having the car unlocked (and it gets stolen). might it be enuf for them to not pursue me ?
thershold/ the big question - big enuf fish, does it often enough? This is the tell tale question - what is the retailer's threshold? I bet each store has its own threshold where they decide to go ofter people.
Listen.
Every minute that goes by makes you appear more guilty... and if they find YOU before YOU find THEM, you chances of making your excuse work are none.
"Yes, I know I returned the wrong item but I was going to return it. Really."
since I am not sure WHERE in the retailers world the box / product is that I returned, would it be better to straighten this out by :
* going in to the store with the real product and returning it? leave the return transaction as is?
* going in to the store w/o the product, but with just the receipt of the return, explain what happened , and say I want to simply keep the product that I have, in which case they wd 'take back' the return?
what 'looks best'?
I want to do whatever is easiest for them, and makes nice w/ them, and without increasing legal risk to me.
Go to the store with the product THEY paid for and explain the mistake.
If I may be blunt, I don't believe your story. I think you did this on purpose and have figured out that you could get caught. It sounds to me like you tested their return process and when you were comfortable that they weren't looking in boxes (or knew which employees didn't look) you started to make fraudulent returns.
But whatever the case, yes, the fact that you've now "figured out" that you've twice returned a cheaper item "in the wrong box" to the same store makes you look guilty. If you go to the store and start admitting to the returns, I doubt that they'll try to charge you on the spot, but you pretty much guarantee that their LP's will investigate - something that may already be happening.
If you want to create a paper trail that helps cover you in the event that the police come a-knocking, from what you say you've effectively taken about $170 of this store's money. So send them a money order for $170, along with a cover letter explaining that this is to pay for returnes where you accidentally included the wrong item in the box (it can be anonymous if you like, but keep a copy). If the police do come to your door you can produce the letter and receipt from the money order to try to argue, "It was a mistake and I paid them back".
This whole thread is rather odd...
If you're worried that the police might come to your house (regardless of local, state or federal), hasn't it already been established here on what you should do?
1) You know you returned the wrong item. Fix it.
2) You know you could get in trouble if they research a little further into your history. Fix it.
3) You know that what you did was wrong. Fix it.
Regardless of whether the customer service rep checked the box is irrelevant. It was YOUR responsibility to place the right product back into the box, OR better yet, don't put it back into the box at all. Just take the item with your receipt in to the store.
You mentioned above that when you purchased items, neither worked and you planned on returning both. Then why was the item not put back in the box immediately upon realizing it didn't work? But this is moot as well, since you could have just done the above... no box at all.
You keep looking digging for law and how far the limit can be pushed. If you are so worried about what "looks best", then you've got your answer. Make a right a wrong.
If you're wondering if police will show up (and what type), keep searching the internet and waste the time you could be using to FIX IT.
pardon my flipping the old saying in my above post...
Make a wrong, a right...