Originally Posted by bugger_not_plz
Old discussions of similar, but not identical, ethical and legal issues:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=474613
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7798
No offense, but a person who "work(s) for a retailer of high ticket items" will not know everything about what gets flagged as possible fraud. This is 2006. There are various scams related to high-ticket returns (and no, I am not going to say what those scams are) and there are things that can get a person flagged as a possible thief. If a person established a pattern of doing this, imagine that person trying to justify to someone why he was doing it, and what his real purpose was, and why he was just a goober and not a thief.
Even if a person's moral compass is off-kilter and the person doesn't see anything wrong with doing this, it's an absurdly silly thing to do.
Someone told me that they bought and returned like crazy at an REI store because they didn't really know what they need and because the sales people encouraged them to do so. After a while, they got a letter from REI telling them that may be they need assistance from sales people. Then a customer service rep at the store gave them a dirty look and said the store will soon not let them return anymore. Needless to say they stopped buying and returning and feel very much like a criminal.
My question is about the fllagging thing. Are they being flagged as a criminal or something less than that? Why? And will the store ever lift the flag? Or it's with attached to their account forever even after they only buy and not return?