The three milion point dilemma...

[cove]

It is never necessary to cheat to get ahead.....own up and see what happens.
Doing the right thing can be painful but a clear conscience is worth more.
i was left with a BMX jump bike when my bike was stolen. I really felt good about the call I received from the parents who got their sons bike back. To me that call was more valuable than anything else that day!

 

[james1]

I can guarantee you that gaining advantage (that is, using services such as hotel stays or free flights) by using points which do not belong to you IS considered an offence.

There is a very simple solution to this - if in doubt - don't use the points!! No one is forcing you to use them just because they are there.

It is never necessary to cheat to get ahead.....own up and see what happens.
Doing the right thing can be painful but a clear conscience is worth more.

My own thinking exactly which is why I 'fessed up' pretty quickly (see post #17). They are still sitting there ATM but Priority Club are notoriously slow in responding to emails sometimes.

 

[cove]

I need lessons on Priority Club. I only use it if I get stuck in Singapore for more than 12 hours and other than that it is a half priced dinner card for the two of us.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

My own thinking exactly which is why I 'fessed up' pretty quickly (see post #17). They are still sitting there ATM but Priority Club are notoriously slow in responding to emails sometimes.

no no! My comments weren't directed at you - more just a cautionary note in case anyone else gets a windfall

 

[james1]

no no! My comments weren't directed at you - more just a cautionary note in case anyone else gets a windfall

No apology necessary. I read them just as you intended. Cheers.

 

[samh004]

There’s been many a thread like this to do with points or money or something else of value. The honest thing is to alert them to their mistake, though I’m sure half the time you’d get no reward other than perhaps karma for that.

Depends what the value was and how badly you needed that value I suppose.

Can you live in a non-extradition country for the rest of your life?

 

[AirportAddict]

So do you still have them now????????

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I doubt it would be treated as theft by finding as QF still controls the points even if they are sitting in your account (unlike the owner of a bag of $250,000 in cash when you walk away with it).

All that matters is that they are not the persons. hat a mistake was made in awarding them is I think irrelevant.

= Theft by finding.

If you reasonably should not have known that they are not yours, then using them technically becomes theft.

There was a case for example of a CEO who was awarded bonus shares as part of his package. By mistake they went to another person.

The value of the shares was substantial.

It was not for many years that they mistake was notice when the CEO went to leave the comparing and then discovered that his bonus shares had gone missing. An investigation then tracked them down.

The recipient of the shares had sold then and was found guilty of theft. From memory they went to jail.

A few thousand, or even tens of thousands, of points one could claim to have not to realised about. With 3 million it would always be assumed that you will have known that they were yours.


The interesting point (and lawyers may care to comment on) is whether being FF points if somehow that makes a difference as compared to cash, shares, etc..

Materialising the 3 million points would however cryrstalise the value of the points making it difficult for one to argue that they had no value.

 

[james1]

So do you still have them now????????

Quick update from OP. After two weeks I received a fairly generic email from PC thanking me for my loyalty and apologizing for any inconvenience. The points were deducted soon thereafter.

Anyway, by using the promo's posted on the PC thread I have already qualified for platinum again in 2013. Knowledge is the true power!

 

[bigjobs]

So...what would you do if you suddenly discovered that 3 million points had been credited to one of your loyalty reward accounts??

you should hand them to police ... everyone knows you can claim them as your own after 3 months.

I know what I wouldn't do if it happened to me ... make a thread about it on a public forum.

 

[JohnK]

For those of you who said morals should come into play just answer yourself these simple questions.

- How many times has an airline sent you a letter/email to advise you have been overcharged taxes and surcharges and will be refunding to you the amount owed
- How many times an insurance company has sent you a letter/email to advise the their was an error in the rating engine and the premium on your last renewal was incorrect and you are now entitled to a refund

I know 2 wrongs do not make a right but when faceless corporations are allowed to effectively "steal" your money and have no consceince then I have no issue what so ever using any points that may end up in my account. It is not like I keep track of exactly how many points are in my account at any given point in time.

 

[Deleted member]

For those of you who said morals should come into play just answer yourself these simple questions.

- How many times has an airline sent you a letter/email to advise you have been overcharged taxes and surcharges and will be refunding to you the amount owed
- How many times an insurance company has sent you a letter/email to advise the their was an error in the rating engine and the premium on your last renewal was incorrect and you are now entitled to a refund

I know 2 wrongs do not make a right but when faceless corporations are allowed to effectively "steal" your money and have no consceince then I have no issue what so ever using any points that may end up in my account. It is not like I keep track of exactly how many points are in my account at any given point in time.

I keep a very close track on my points, I am also in the business of ensuring my clients are not ( mistakenly or otherwise ) " stolen from " by any of the " faceless" corporations you speak of.
The earlier case of the executive and his shares is a case in point. Why did he not manage his affairs better?
Many people abdicate responsibility for many aspects of their life and have an unrealistic expectation of the outcome .
The problem is that so much of our life is automated these days, I suppose it's why some of us will use a travel agent vs book on line direct,
SWMBO runs my office, she is CFO, & Travel and events coordinator.
I can get accurate financial information both business and personal at very short notice because of the close monitoring she does.
I wonder how many of you here check your Telstra phone bills "carefully" in 30 years we have barely had a correct account. Some times they can be hundreds of dollars out , once over a thousand. The difference over the years would buy a small car.

 

[albatross710]

I wonder how many of you here check your Telstra phone bills "carefully" in 30 years we have barely had a correct account. Some times they can be hundreds of dollars out , once over a thousand. The difference over the years would buy a small car.

case in point..just last month my Telco charged us $545 instead of the usual $34.95. They decided to start billing for a service disconnected last year.

 

[medhead]

For those of you who said morals should come into play just answer yourself these simple questions.

In fairness, I was referring to internal morals; its up to the individual conscience. Everyone is going to answer your questions differently, and those answer will not be wrong for each individual.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

And then there is the law. Spending something to which you reasonably know you are not entitled is theft. No moral issues come in to it.

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

As a matter of interest GIO have recently had a major mailout to insureds holding a Seniors Card that they had been overcharged. only a few dollars but they still did it. not all big Companies are crooks !