Did I Steal $55 From Staples?

Earlier this month Office Depot had a good sale on the Microsoft Surface Pro 4.  I’ve been keeping my eye on Surface Pro 4s for some time thinking they would be a good resale opportunity.  However, they seemed to rarely go on sale. When Office Depot had their sale I decided to leverage that with Staples.

The Surface Pro 4 usually sells for $999.  Office Depot had it for $50 off.  At the time Amazon was selling them for $995.  I asked Staples online to price match the sale at Office Depot and they did, plus they added another 10% for a total of $55 off.  $55 off would allow me to break even upfront.  I would earn profit using a shopping portal, credit card bonus, and Staples Rewards. Unfortunately, things did not work out as planned.

As soon as I got the item I went on Amazon to add it to my inventory and get it ready to ship.  However, to my surprise I find out that not only had the price dropped by $95 but Amazon itself was now selling them.  Thanks but no thanks. That meant there was only one thing to do.  Return the Surface Pro 4 back to Staples.  I noticed, however, that my receipt showed a sales price of $999.  I checked my credit card online and it showed I was billed $944.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to do in this situation.  When I return the item to the store do I say something or not? I decided not to say anything.  At the time I was thinking that it would probably work it’s self out.  It can take a few days for a return to be processed by the company and put back on your card.  So I guess I assumed that it would work out. Only it didn’t.  It took about four days for the return to hit my credit card but when it did I was credited $999 or $55 more than what I paid.

Did I steal $55 because I failed to say something up front?  It sure feels icky. What would you do?

To add a post script to this, I did call Staples customer service and they seemed not to really care.  That or the lady did not understand what I was telling her.  I told her I paid $944 and they returned $999 to my credit card.  She told me that she could not see it in her invoice so there was nothing she could do.  She also said that the $55 discount was an inconvenience discount and not to sweat it.  Not sure what that means but I feel like it absolves me of any guilt.  I did my part to get the money back to them.  Staples, I will be happy to return the $55 to you, just let me know how.