Blessed by the Potato

I did not set out to set out to scam Air Miles, let me tell you that up front, though that is essentially what ended up happening.

What happened was that I was looking to buy xmas presents, and not having much luck in the stores, so I turned online. I was worried that, being 11 days before the big day at the time, there wouldn’t be enough time for my items to ship. Not to fear, many sites had big banners on their front pages, “order now for shipping in time for xmas!” On Dell’s site they had a Nintendo DS game my sister wanted and I couldn’t find in stores. It was listed as “in stock” and “ships 5-7 days”. Great, I thought, even if it’s a bit longer than they estimate, it’ll still be there on time.

I went in via Airmilesshops.ca’s portal, which lets me get a whole 1 Air Mile from the purchase. I placed the order and got the confirmation email: estimated ship date: December 26th. D’oh! Well, I thought to myself, at least that’ll be close enough that I’ll still be at my parents’ house to give it to her, and I can just put a card under the tree or something. The next day another email came in: the item was out of stock and the estimated ship date was now mid-January. At that point, xmas was saved by Wayfare, who found the last copy in a Future Shop for me. I cancelled the order and slept soundly, having finished my shopping early for one of the first years ever.

I just got the email from Air Miles that my account has been credited the 1 Air Mile from that cancelled order. I successfully scammed 1 Air Mile. Of course, I didn’t set out to do that, and part of my conscience wants me to call them up and give it back. Of course, the rest of me thinks that the Air Mile, with an approximate value of 14 cents, is not worth the hassle and would end up costing them more to take back… and that I deserve it after they lied about the game’s shipping time and in-stock status.