Marathon Man

Im not sure if it is different.
that's not the point of my post. The point of my post was to show what happened and that I wonder if it can be done in the future.

ie: take a gift card for say $1,000 and use to to pay for some course and then just back out of them.

if that happens, maybe the school will refund your money as it had done in my case above.

In my case above my company and I honestly found we did not need the course any longer and we asked to back out of it. We did not expect a check but that's how they do it. In fact they told US that's THE ONLY WAY they can do it. So we said ok fine send it!

We took the money. If that's how they choose to give it back, so be it. Maybe they like to.

Now I wonder what it would be like to purposely do this with GCs.

I could wonder what it would like to shoot you, but it doesn't mean I will, nor is it any crime to wonder that, now is it?

When it becomes one, I am outta here on my own choice!

blueflyertalk

Which card?

blueflyertalk

When I was in college, it was how I could churn my card, but now the college started charging 3% fee if credit card is used. I'm sure this is now starting to be a trend with other schools. Maybe the school you went to is now charging a fee if a card is used?

Astrophsx

Astrophsx

Most schools do charge a fee when using a credit card, but not all of them. But... to sign up for classes with the sole purpose of canceling to profit, leaving the college to pay for the credit card fee... is this not fraud? You are scamming the college out of money!

Marathon Man

yeah. surely they have sorted it out. This was about 3 years ago now. Things have probably changed. It was just a course AT a college, not my own college. I am long since out of there. Why, they didn't even have computers back then! Ok that's not true, that famous MAC ad was released in my 3rd year but who had one of those other than Kinkos Copies! And credit cards? Well, some had them--it was the Regan years after all, but nah, we did the traveler's cheque scam instead lol. For me it was all about beer and girls. No points and miles back then.

Marathon Man

yes you may be doing that but if THEY offer the check--or rather, they tell you that is the only way they refund you the money, then what are you to do? Not accept it?

Astrophsx

Which is fine for someone who legitimately signed up for a class to take it but needed to cancel. Now you are coming up with a method to defraud the college using gift cards. NOT COOL!

tassojunior

Because of the enormous amount of cash Costco takes in I guess, I've noticed they prefer (to the point of almost insisting) on giving refunds in cash, even if the purchase was on AmEx or Costco giftcard.

I wouldn't be surprised if they have no problem cashing out Costco giftcards too, even if they were purchased on cc's.

I have no idea at what amount a check must be mailed as I've only returned a couple items to Costco.

Astrophsx

Returning things at Costco for a cash/check in return to gain points/miles has been talked about numerous times on flyertalk. There is actually a thread dedicated to returning things to gain points/miles... most members frown upon this.

Marathon Man

Mkay...
Astro
(hands him a Q tip to take the wax out of his ear)

I AM THINKING and WONDERING about it.

WHY is it wrong to do THAT?
to THINK IT UP to WONDER ABOUT IT
to ask about it?

Why is it wrong for me or any other person to discuss in here or with anyone or even with one's self such methods?

Are you from some strange planet or something?
Cmon dude. what the eff?

and yes! I HAVE thought about it but actually have not done it yet! So why is THAT 'not cool?'

(I did it --as described in my post above) but that was a legitimate class withdrawal. Seems he is saying he thinks I will do it knowingly now)

Astrophsx

Nothing wrong with coming up with ideas and posting them on here to have an open discussion. Do you or do you not agree that signing up for classes with the sole intent of canceling them to profit and have the school eat the fees would be fraudulent? Or at the very least not ethical?

Nothing wrong with putting an idea out there to get feedback. I do have a problem with you brining up and discussing an act of violence against another member.

Marathon Man

ok good. we are good on that one. You gave me the impression you had a problem with even talking about certain things. But I am happy that is not the case.

well to be completely honest, it really does depend on the situation. For example... for some, maybe they--I dunno--felt they got ripped off by that same school from something earlier on, like some fee or class thing or whatever... and this was their way to get back at them when nothing else worked? For others, maybe they felt the school does its OWN unethical things in society --maybe it votes for something they are against or whatever... and they found this out only after attending it for a number of years... for others, maybe they felt the prices are so high this softa justifies it or washes it out, and for others, maybe they had not thought it through or could care less, or they figure a college missing some fees by its own choice (the college tells you it's going to send you the check--you didnt force them to) is not a big deal.

For me? Well, I have yet to confront this particular situation with a college cuz I have not yet done it--except in that case where my company and I had no idea and it was an honest mistake. BUT, because of that, I have thought about doing it though. I am not going to seek it necessarily, out but ya know, if it comes to pass then yeah maybe I will do it! There, you have your answer!

And lemme ask you this: If they charge me 3% does that make it ok to do it? Did they cover themselves? What if they charge me only .5%? Is it now suddenly wrong because you and I know that's not a big enough fee to hurt our miles cause? What if they charge me even less? Why, what if they give me cash back like at big crumbs to do it??--like if I get referral dollars for telling others to do it!

again you very much gave me the impression there was a lot of problems with putting any idea out here for feedback. Yours, for example, seemed to be very anti-'thought'. I am, however, now glad to see you may be coming around to 'thinking'

oh, well spun mate! yer good! but kindly look back at what I said... firstly I never inferred violence against another member, ie you. But I gave the example I could think about something like shooting and I have every darn right to both think about it and say I can think about it even if we both know I would not do it. And we know this because as much as you despise me, you already DO know my reason for being on this site is to get miles and points for myself and my family of two small children and a wife in MA. I have no other goals here, cept it has been fun to meet some cool people as a result of doing that. And you know that about me because you have researched me and pried into my past posts and years here. I have not done this research on you however so it is me who has the fear of who YOU are and what strange things you may be capable of, not the other way around.

But for your own security you should know I own no guns nor do I have any intention of ever touching one myself. I am not against them but they aint for me. There, now you can break into my house and search for the stack of unused GCs and I will not have a gun to get you with lol. Because really, I do not wish any violence upon you or anyone. Not in here nor anywhere. But I can imagine it, now cant I? And so can and should you be able to if you are so inclined!

And see, that's my point--about that AND about the use of these GCs. We have the ever living right to think up any scheme we can and if we share them and someone goes out and does them, this is totally ok. You, however, SEEM to often act like a judge and jury to those who could go so far as to even consider some things we come up with in here!!

And yet sometimes I am convinced it is an act and you are just doing them all for yourself anyway.

But guess what: I not only hope you are, but it's also your right to do so--as long as you don't go 'round tellin' everybody off about it at the same time.

Marathon Man

a further point about ethics...

For me, I feel if company X offers a vehicle to cash something out and it happens to offer me a bonus, I may just take them up on it. Even if my only intent is to just go in there to use that vehicle.

Coins has been a good example, but in the case of some college that you pay by CC and then when you withdrawal, they hand you a check... well, if that's what they wanna do, I am not going to be the one to stop them from doing it.

Others can do what they think is ok or not ok. I do not think what I just said is wrong for me.

Of course, if they over paid me by mistake by say, $100 when sending me my refund check, then I would tell them, "Hey you gave me $100 too much here"

And what would be really cool is if you, like, call up the reception to inform them of that error and they let you CHARGE UP that $100 when giving it back!

But no, I wont tell them NOT to give me a check as a refund on a CC charge! Oh no

Astrophsx

So you see no difference in being over-refunded by $100 and returning that money based on your ethics and making them pay out that amount or more to credit card companies so you can make money or get miles?

If you for instance signed up for a full load of classes... say $3,000, and the credit card fee is 3% you would be costing the college almost $90.

I do not understand your logic. Maybe you are one of those types that purchases a TV for the super bowl and then returns it after the game...