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This whole thing still makes me question how any of this as described would be fraud. I've had 2 (much smaller dollar amount) situations that seem very similar, but I can't see them as fraud. Maybe some of the "this was fraud" can explain how these situations were me defrauding someone.
One time I ordered from a non-amazon some headphones for $30. The arrived smashed to pieces in the package. I went online to say on their site "Look, these were destroyed inside your packing - IDK if you packed them poorly and they got destroyed in shipping (so you need to open a case with the shipper) or if you shipped me already crushed headphones from your warehouse." They said, fine, pay $10 to ship them back to us for a replacement. I did a chargeback, they canceled my account (after years of orders with no issues BTW) and now I never do business with them in the 15 years since. I just can't see why I should be out 1/3 the cost for shipping back when I did nothing but receive a crushed object. Card company sided with me. Was this fraud on my part?
I also years ago now signed up for an online service for $500 for a year. I logged in after signing up and paying and it let me browse around the first day. I went back 2 days later and could not log in. I always use a password manager, and so I notice when various websites lose or reset your password without telling you, and I'm sure this is what happened, because that first day I logged in using the password manager. It didn't forget the password. No problem you would think, except I could find no way to reset my password without already logging in. I also could not find any phone number or e-mail address or form to contact customer service without logging in first. I did a chargeback on that too - why should I pay for a service I literally can't use and there was no way to get in touch with the company about the issue? Especially 3 days into a year. It's not like I actually used it for 6 months or something. I still get occasional letters I throw out about that. Card company again sided with me.
In a lot of ways I guess by the logic I've seen here, I've committed fraud 2 times in those situations, but I can't see it. I don't see why I should expect to eat the costs when the companies won't even try and talk to me about the actual situation. And look - I would be fine with paying shipping back if I decided I just didn't like the color or design of the headphones, or paying the service bill if I just didn't like the actual service - it was getting 0 service that did it for me.
One time I ordered from a non-amazon some headphones for $30. The arrived smashed to pieces in the package. I went online to say on their site "Look, these were destroyed inside your packing - IDK if you packed them poorly and they got destroyed in shipping (so you need to open a case with the shipper) or if you shipped me already crushed headphones from your warehouse." They said, fine, pay $10 to ship them back to us for a replacement. I did a chargeback, they canceled my account (after years of orders with no issues BTW) and now I never do business with them in the 15 years since. I just can't see why I should be out 1/3 the cost for shipping back when I did nothing but receive a crushed object. Card company sided with me. Was this fraud on my part?
I also years ago now signed up for an online service for $500 for a year. I logged in after signing up and paying and it let me browse around the first day. I went back 2 days later and could not log in. I always use a password manager, and so I notice when various websites lose or reset your password without telling you, and I'm sure this is what happened, because that first day I logged in using the password manager. It didn't forget the password. No problem you would think, except I could find no way to reset my password without already logging in. I also could not find any phone number or e-mail address or form to contact customer service without logging in first. I did a chargeback on that too - why should I pay for a service I literally can't use and there was no way to get in touch with the company about the issue? Especially 3 days into a year. It's not like I actually used it for 6 months or something. I still get occasional letters I throw out about that. Card company again sided with me.
In a lot of ways I guess by the logic I've seen here, I've committed fraud 2 times in those situations, but I can't see it. I don't see why I should expect to eat the costs when the companies won't even try and talk to me about the actual situation. And look - I would be fine with paying shipping back if I decided I just didn't like the color or design of the headphones, or paying the service bill if I just didn't like the actual service - it was getting 0 service that did it for me.