Sounds like theft to me. They took his money and gave it to someone else. How is that not theft?

sounds like theft to me. with a side of stupidity.

There goes Circuit City at its best. Screwing the customer. You know, I'm beginning to think they are being quite creative. I think business schools should make case studies out of the numerous ways their incompetent staff manages to come up with a new way to screw their customers. How much longer before they are gone for good?..........

One day soon, some really smart company will swoop in and steal customers like this. Think about it, what would happen to this guy's loyalty if Best Buy very publicly gave him a $130 BB gift card?

I'm crazy, I know. Still, it would make BB money in the long run, I think.

its theft. try the EECB tactic first, and failing that, do a police report and take them to small claims court. sure, you'll have to pay to file in small claims, but it will get their attention. in some states you can sue to recover the filing fee too.

It doesn't sound intentional, sortof an "accidental theft"

However, if I was in their store with a $130 item I hadn't paid for, and absent-mindedly walked out of the store without intentionally stealing -- I'd still be going to jail.

They're the modern day Robin Hood I tells ya!

Oh MAN, they're idiots.

Nighty-night, Circuit City. I think you're just circling the drain now. (Not that the competition is much better, but whatcha gonna do?)

Every store I've worked at has had the ability to post-void a transaction. They obviously didn't feel like, or didn't know how to do this.

What would CC have done if the clerk punched in the wrong credit card number and returned the money to a totally unrelated third party? They must have a process in place for that, to say that they can do nothing is pure laziness on their part. They are relying on Sean's relationship with the gift giver to do the work for them. And Sean's right, the simplified story is he went in with something and came out with nothing because of CC's actions, that's theft.

they very easily could have cancelled the last transaction. they do it all the time when they've made a mistake (and actually acknowledge it) and need to stop a transaction from going through. the clerk was an idiot who really could have cared less.

Shouldn't the supervisor have been able to do some kind of "postvoid" on the original transaction, which would have canceled the return to the original purchasers CC and added value to the gift card? Shirley if that wasn't an option the supervision should have funded a $130 gift card for the customer and taken care of the paperwork during the next day's audit cycle.

They absolutely could have rescinded the transaction. This is incredible stupidity on their part.

@jtheletter: I don't think it's a matter of punching in a CC number, when the return was processed, the money was automatically refunded to the purchasing credit card. Usually, when a store processes a return, the cashier will have to chose if it's going as store credit or refunding the credit card, there's no way to refund the money to a credit card that wasn't used in the original transaction. The cashier evidently refunded the credit card without asking if Sean wanted store credit or not.

From Circuit City's online in store policy:
"If you return your merchandise to one of our stores, a credit will be issued to the credit card used for the original purchase."

Given that he used a gift receipt, it seems likely that the original card was credited with the amount, as per company policy.

@Dooley:

Intent is the key word in many crimes.

If you removed the item from the store, caught the error and returned it, I doubt they could say you had the intent to steal. However, if you took the item, realized you didn't pay for it, and didn't return it, then that would be theft.

I think there is more to this story. Who is the originally purchase and why can't he speak to that party?

Further more he should have asked to have it as a store credit knowing that he wasn't the original purchaser.
Most return policies on the back of the receipt say that any returns are processed back to the original form of payment.

Just out of curiousity, was a gift recipt the only one give to the CC clerk? Then it must be pretty obvious that it shouldn't be credit back to the original card. So regardless of them being able to fix the mistake or not, it seems like a mistake that CC should be held accountable for. I could see if maybe the customer handed them the regular and gift recipt, they might get mixed up...but I don't think that happened.

Why not just go back to the store shelves, locate the exact remote they stole from you, and steal it back? I know it's not the right way to handle it, but it would have forced action on Circuit City's behalf.

isn't that the point of gift receipts to begin with? I would have called the police right then and there.

@OldJohnRobinson: Shirley, you jest.

I do not, and don't call me Shirley!

I'm sorry! I'm really sorry. I couldn't help it!

This is why many (most?) stores require you to show the card you purchased the item with before they will put the money back on the card.

Of course, folks complain about that practice too.

That's one stubborn poo. Flush again, please.

Go back to the manager, right now, and tell them you'll be filing a police report immediately if things aren't resolved. And if they're not, call the cops. Every day you wait on something like that makes it harder to get your positive result.

Of course you can hope the EECB deal works, often they do. Your call, but if you're going to go the cop route get started on it.

They screwed up, but not in a criminal sort of way (unless of course they conspired with the original gift giver), since they didn't intend to or benefit from giving away your money.

I would expect that once this hits the eyes of the right executive, this will be taken care of. One would hope at least.

My question is why can't the original purchaser just go to the gift giver and ask for a new gift or a gift card? I'm at a loss here to see which of the parties has actually suffered any damage. It seems that everyone is back where they started.

If Circuit City allowed their stores to take a loss by giving away merchandise or cash after an erroneous return like this, it would potentially open up a new avenue of fraud. Someone could just take a stolen Circuit City receipt along with a shoplifted (or eBayed) item, return it, allow the return to be credited then say that it was a gift and demand that they receive compensation.

This is not theft as far as penal code is concerned. There was no intent. Calling the police would have gotten him nowhere and would have just wasted the officers' time. Besides, this was just a clerk mistake. Who would the officer arrest? The clerk who can't get the computer to do what he wants? The manager who didn't make the mistake? He can't arrest a store. Think, people.

The reason the credit couldn't be rescended is very simple. It would result in a charge to a credit card. That would require the credit card number or an actual swipe of the card. The credit card number, while present in a database and tied to the receipt bar code, is not accessible by anyone at the store, so it would be impossible to charge it again. In any case, the cardholder could easily dispute any subsequent charge because he was not present, the card was not swiped and there was no signature.

Call the state Attorney General's office. They're the only authority that might be able to get something done.

Sounds like the cashier didn't understand that the customer wanted a gift card/credit, and not a credit to the charge card....

I wouldn't call it theft since CC gained nothing. It's just stupidity on their part that they could have fixed by voiding the transaction.

Meijer did the exact same thing with a gift my parents bought for my daughter. I wanted a store credit, but they put it back on my parent's card. Instead of overreacting and accusing them of theft I simply explained to my parents what happened and they got another gift.

Just one more reason to stay away from Circuit City. Their days are numbered.

I'm going to have to join the masses saying that CC should have been able to void out the transaction. Credit card transactions (purchases and returns) are processed as batches. This means that if this particular store (or register, however they have it set up) does $10,000 in credit transactions, when they close out the batch, the entire list of data is sent to their transaction processor. Authorizations happen real-time. When the clerk swipes the card, the computer checks with your bank to make sure you have the amount, but you're not technically "charged" until the batch is processed. This is also why refunds take a few days to show up to your account. Merchants don't have to get an authorization to refund money to a card, so the first time your bank will know about it is after the batch is closed out.

@jtheletter:

I don't see how this could easily happen. Credit cards are coded a certain way that would prevent most miskey transactions from going through (they use check digits, etc).

I had autozone do this to me and it really made me mad. I took an item in to exchange that I had bought on a debit card that I currently did not have with me nor did I have any cash. The idiot runs it as a return instead of an exchange and immediately scans the replacement(all one transaction within seconds). Then asks me for payment. I said it was an exchange. He told me he credited my card. No matter what I said, he was not going to undo the transaction. I left partless. It was a large inconvenience. I wonder why stores are so against voiding transactions, especially when it needs to be done to fix the stores mistake.

Sure Circuit City did something stupid, but can we all be grown-up about it and realize it was a mistake? Just go to the person who bought it and ask if they can give you the money... Say it wasn't your fault.

Circuit City can not recharge the credit card, that is a whole different authorization to begin with. It is odd though, ever time I returned something at Circuit City, the system made me swipe my card...

The whole thing is a stupid mess made by underpaid employees, write a letter to the CEO and just collect your money from the person it was refunded to. If Circuit City cares to respond to you reasonably, great. If they do not, you know where to not take your money next time and spread the word around.

@ShadowFalls:

just collect your money from the person it was refunded to

I think the OP's resistance here goes something like this:

OP: Hey, buddy... remember that great Osterizer you gave me for my birthday?

Giver: Yeah, I figured you'd like it, we enjoy making frappes every Friday night!

OP: Yeah, about that, um... so I returned it to CC, and the darned clerk put the money on *your* credit card, so...

Giver: So you want me to make you a frappe now?

...hilarity ensues...

@Jesse:

In that scenario, you assume that you are able to get out of the store without being caught. Most of the time some alarm would go off because of some security device in the product; if you were "unintentionally" removing an item from the store you would surely not remove this device. I would assume that employees wouldn't find your "no intent to steal" defense too credible, as anyone who is actually trying to steal could just use that defense and, according to your logic, get away scot-free.

@Jesse: @Jesse: The Luhn hash is better than nothing, but it's not even close to infallible.

A variation on a theme: Comcast (my favorite) decided I was responsible for returning a stolen cable modem I purchased from Craigslist. Their logic is like this: The modem is ours no matter what. The last person we find with it is liable. Therefore, I should sell it to someone else and then inform them of who now owns the modem. In reality, I no longer will be their customer and as a gift, I will donate it to them free!

@PixiePerson:
But at least he got ripped off for the same price in the store or online!

I wouldn't give the money to a friend or relative if they came to me with that story. Sorry bout your luck feller, take it up with CC. I did my part and provided the obligatory gift. What you, or circuit city decided to do after that is out of my hands. I would provide them with the number for customer service though.

It was a huge mistake on the part of the cashier and CC should have given her a gift card for compensation but there was no way that they could of "voided" or "reversed" the transaction like a lot of you seem to think. Once a credit has been made back to a card that is it. There is no taking it back. They would be commiting credit card fraud if they tried to "re-charge" the original purchaser's card without their permission.

It was a bad situation that CC made worse by telling the customer to "take it up with the card holder".

I think the OP is not giving us the whole story. He is intentionally oblique on who gave the gift. I don't think he knows who gave the gift. Or this is some kind of eBay thing.

Something's not completely right about this story.

Right. His name is probably Cliff Yablonski.

@PixiePerson:

What Circuit City did sucks. But police will not investigate this as a theft, as it is at best a civil matter here in Wisconsin. This really is an unfortunate mistake for which Circuit City refuses to make right. And the do have the means to reverse the improperly credited money, despite what they say.
What if, instead of crediting the person who gave the gift, they credited someone completely unknown to the PR.
This one is a slam dunk in small claims court though, with additional costs tacked on for expenses & legal fees. It's too bad it may have to come to that.

I'd try contacting the consumer reporter at the Appleton Cresent Post, and tell them your story. I'll bet that resolves it quickly.

Anyway, below is the law which applies to this matter, so that no one thinks I pulled this out of my hat. In particular see 939.23 (4)

943.20(1)(a) THEFT
(a) Intentionally takes and carries away, uses, transfers, conceals, or retains possession of movable property of another without the other's consent and with intent to deprive the owner permanently of possession of such property.

Under WI 943.20, theft requires intent. There was no criminal intent here. WI 939.23 (1) through (4) defines intent.

939.23(1)
(1) When criminal intent is an element of a crime in chs. 939 to 951, such intent is indicated by the term "intentionally", the phrase "with intent to", the phrase "with intent that", or some form of the verbs "know" or "believe".
939.23(3)
(3) "Intentionally" means that the actor either has a purpose to do the thing or cause the result specified, or is aware that his or her conduct is practically certain to cause that result. In addition, except as provided in sub. (6), the actor must have knowledge of those facts which are necessary to make his or her conduct criminal and which are set forth after the word "intentionally".

939.23(4)
(4) "With intent to" or "with intent that" means that the actor either has a purpose to do the thing or cause the result specified, or is aware that his or her conduct is practically certain to cause that result.

I had a similar issue with circuit city about 2 years ago. I got a $50 American Express gift card for Christmas. I bought something and then returned it to circuit city. When I bought I didnt notice that the CC agent took my gift card and i guess put in the trash. When i return the product the refund was sent back to the American Express Gift card. CC tried to talk with American Express and I also talked to them, but they could not do anything. I was told to contact the person that gave me the card. In this case though, the person that gave me the card, bought the card at a store and he no record of it either. So there still a American Express card number in cyberspace with about $50 minus the yearly fee.

Circuit City shouldn't have let it go this far. Most point-of-sale systems allow you to have a manager void a transaction as long as they do it on the same day. If I was handling a return that one of my cashiers botched, I'd simply void and re-ring it.

At this point, it's too late. If I were Circuit City, I would just give him the gift card.

@humphrmi: Yes, even if there weren't a principle here, the OP understandably doesn't want to be so rude as to tell somebody who already gave him a gift to fork over cash.

I agree, though, that this is a matter for the AG/State's Attorney rather than the police.

Maybe we should all agree to stop giving "stuff" as gifts, including gift cards, and switching to money as gifts. When did it become impolite to offer cash as a present? I love getting cash, who doesn't, yet why is there this stupid stigma about giving cash as a present?

A whole lot of problems reported here on consumerist and elsewhere would be eliminated if we all took a collective stance to stop filling the coffers of retailers every time a present is needed and just gave the person a $20, $50 or $100 instead. Problem Solved.

@morganlh85: they can void the transaction, but not the credit card refund. The original purchaser's card would have to be charged, which is not possible if the card is not present.