Honesty is worth $20

OK, so let me explain myself...

After Christmas, Jakob spent Christmas money on a snowboard (from CCS). After we discovered the order was "lost in the system," we resubmitted the order. While we were waiting for the "new" order to arrive, the "lost" order was miraculously found and also shipped. When I discovered this, I asked them to credit my card immediately because it was their mistake and I didn't like the idea that an additional $400+ was on my credit card. And I certainly didn't want the hastle of returning something that was their fault in the first place.

I know this is getting long, bear with me...

Everything seemed fine. First snowboard was received, 2nd snowboard was credited to credit card and returned to sender. After about a week, I discovered that I had a 2nd credit on my account for the snowboard (I check my credit card statement often). Apparently, they did not note on our account that we had already received the credit, and when the item returned to the warehouse, they applied the credit again.

Getting to the point, I promise...

Now as much as I would have liked to keep $428.99, especially in this economy, I knew it was not mine to keep. And after wrestling with the idea of keeping it (only for a fraction of a second), I called customer service again because I have been raised to do the right thing (thanks, Mom and Dad!). I explained to the rep the long, drawn out story I just told you, and explained that there had been an error and they had credited me a second time. He told me, "I can't believe your honesty. This has never happened to me before. I need to talk to my supervisor to find out what to do." After a moment, he came back on the line and said, "I just want you to know that you blew my supervisor's mind." And then discussed what they needed to do in order to get their money back (and I'm sure they were quite anxious to have it back).

Social commentary inserted here: I think it's a real sad state of affairs when doing the right thing blows peoples' minds. And it's really sad that it has become the exception, not the rule.

So, all that to say that they were so impressed with my honesty (and they said that over and over), they felt they needed to give me something in return - a $20 gift card. I will accept it and Jakob will have a great time spending it!!

After the gift card arrived, we all got a kick out of the notation on the card...Honesty. I'll bet they haven't made that comment much :)