Is it illegal to ...

[Zurvan]

Having worked in a Customer Service department for a major technology corporation, and handling rebates, I can tell you that this is absolutely illegal, and if they have not stopped payment on the cheque & cash it, they will sue you.

And it won't cost them much, because they have lawyers on staff. They'll send you a letter telling you you will be sued, and that is typically enough to convince you to pay it back (it would convince me). And if they win the case, they can hit you for court & legal fees as well as the $150.

As for the people who said that since they sent it after you returned it, so it's their fault - typically rebates are handled by an outside service provider. The rebate would have been sent directly to them, and they would send a list to Toshiba of sales. Toshiba would approve them, and (eventually) the cheque gets sent. If you returned the computer in the middle of that process, it could have been approved already.

[StellarWind]

I'm pretty sure it isn't a crime to cash it since you did not start out intending to defraud them. It would just be a civil contracts dispute if they decided to pursue the matter. They would claim you are not entitled to the money and you would argue that they breached the sales contract and wasted a lot of your time, etc. by twice delivering defective merchandise.

Personally, I don't think Toshiba's behavior is sufficiently bad to morally justify keeping the money. If I felt that they had defrauded me as opposed to merely screwing up I might keep it.

If you keep it you owe income tax.

[mcozzy1]

I would cash it, then start the same process over again......see if you could get another $150.

[Hellmouth]

Well I got some legal advice that said that cashing the check was no problem.

The check that I got was from Office Depot. The lawyer said that the rebate is an inducement to purchase the computer not to keep it. Furthermore he said that by sending it to me they had verified that I had fullfilled all of the necessary requirements, and that by sending it to me they agreed that I was legally entitled to it.

I cashed it yesterday. If there are any more developments I will post again.

Greg

[Hellmouth]

Also Toshiba never sent me one a check. I guess they do their homework.

Greg

[BarronVangorToth]

[ QUOTE ]
If so I think I would not only be out $150 but also another $29 to the bank for it bouncing.


[/ QUOTE ]

So basically you need to figure out your check-cashing equity along with your pot odds (implied and otherwise) of hitting your hand/pay-out. Simple calculation once you figure out the odds of the bounce happening.

Barron Vangor Toth
www.BarronVangorToth.com
Note: in all seriousness, I don't think it's right to cash the check.

[Hellmouth]

Unless there is a period of time that it can bounce after being posted to the account I don't think it will bounce. It was already posted as of this morning.

I guess that the right and wrong is a little gray. However, we are a society governed the law. I guess in this case my personal comfort zone says that if it is ok inside the law than I do not feel bad. That is not to say that there are some moral issues ok'd by the law that people are not comfortable with or opposed to. (Abortion comes to mind) Just that in this case, I don't really feel too bad about doing it.

Greg

PS I would have been much happier to recieve a defect free computer. However, OD might consider in the future not selling systems that are known to have defects, which I also think is a morally shady thing to do.

[Hellmouth]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If so I think I would not only be out $150 but also another $29 to the bank for it bouncing.


[/ QUOTE ]

So basically you need to figure out your check-cashing equity along with your pot odds (implied and otherwise) of hitting your hand/pay-out. Simple calculation once you figure out the odds of the bounce happening.

Barron Vangor Toth
www.BarronVangorToth.com
Note: in all seriousness, I don't think it's right to cash the check.

[/ QUOTE ]

So as long as the chances of bouncing are less than 1 in 5 it is +EV. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Greg

[reubenf]

Voted 2. I think 1 is also likely. 3 is incredibly stupid.

[Hellmouth]

[ QUOTE ]
Voted 2. I think 1 is also likely. 3 is incredibly stupid.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am curious why you feel that 3 is so stupid? It is in hindsight very close to what I was told by a lawyer. It also has them most responses of any of the answers.

Greg