[InRealLife45]

I'm taking an ethics class. I started asking people this ethics question:

Say you purchase a $900 tablet for yourself with money you saved for 6 months. Three weeks later, that tablet gets stolen from your home, along with over $200 worth of accessories you bought for it.

HOWEVER the accidental damage warranty is still active. You can go and purchase the same model (broken) tablet off of eBay/Craigslist at a major discount of $150 (due to it's brokenness) and then submit it for (free) repair under the original warranty (purchased with a third party-NOT the product manufacturer). You do not have to match serial numbers or provide a receipt.

You CAN get away with this repair. Is this ethical or unethical? Why or why not?

WOULD YOU DO IT?

[Ad Intra]

Personally, no but that's just because guilt has never settled well with me.
If it's ethical or not depends on the person.

No, wouldn't even cross my mind.

It's not ethical and I wouldn't do it. Having it stolen is unrelated to using the warranty on a different device. The manufacturer is guaranteeing the quality of the product it sold, not defective ones purchased used or insuring it against a thief. It's just another form of stealing. Clever and more refined, but still taking what doesn't belong.

[Middlemarcher]

No. It would not feel right to me, because that was not the machine that was under warranty.

But that may be easy for me to say, because I have renter's insurance.

Absolutely not. The guilt would crush me.

[ThisWayOut]

No... it's not what I purchased the warranty for.

It grates on me when I hear people (overheard conversations or with an emerging adult or two) talk about this being okay. I just don't get this kind of thinking. I couldn't live with myself if just the thought occurred to me.

[BlessedRhiannon]

I would not consider it ethical, and honestly, it's not something that would even occur to me. Homeowners insurance would cover cost of replacing the items, after the deductible was met.

[scorpiosis37]

No, I would not. It just would not feel right and the guilt would eat me alive. I know there are people who do this kind of thing, but it's just not in line with my values. I was raised with a strict ethics code: if you are given too much change, you return it. If a store forgets to ring up one of your items, you let them know. If you find a stray item on the ground, you turn it into a lost & found or leave a note in order to try and locate the proper owner. In fact, something like this happened just yesterday. My best friend and I are on vacation in the Bahamas right now, and we were accidentally given someone else's room key which is linked with their credit card. We didn't realize there had been a mistake until we went to pay for our meal-- and they called us by this person's name. When we realized, we had the restaurant cancel the check, had them charge our card instead, and gave the card back to the hotel so no one else could use it.

[Arha]

No.
If I had insurance for theft, I would claim on that. That is what happened.
To do otherwise is deceptive, and fraudulent.

The insurance and warranty companies involved would see it as deceptive also.

To behave like that is to say it doesn't matter who pays me for it, I still benefit the same, but not only is this not true, as the effects are on completely different groups, it also disregards what the insurance companies premiums and warranty calculations have been based on.

[Partless]

This is a good question but why is this in the psychotherapy section?

[catonyx]

No, I would not.

No. People who steal piss me off.

[ThingWithFeathers]

No, would not ever have crossed my mind. But as a pure ethics question, I don't think it's so simple as yes or no. There are many layers, hypotheticals and dimensions to examine in whether the act could be deemed 'ethical'.

[stopdog]

Is this some sort of therapy test?

[Ellahmae]

No I wouldn't.

[feralkittymom]

No. I think it's clearly unethical because it violates the rules governing the warranties involved. I think it's also immoral, but that is personally determined so there's more room for interpretation.

[StillLearning99]

Most tech warranties will match your item serial number so you probably would not get away with it. I hope the temptation is gone now.

I would not do it, and I think it is unethical because it involves dishonest behaviour: even though you don't need to provide the wrong serial number (which would be a direct lie) you are still implying that it is the same piece of equipment that you bought. The cost of the warranty is included in the cost of the tablet, and when you lost the tablet you also lost that warranty. Hence you don't have the right to use it, and implying that you do would be unethical.

Originally Posted by StillLearning99

Most tech warranties will match your item serial number so you probably would not get away with it. I hope the temptation is gone now.

As I understood it, this was a hypothetical question for an ethics class, not an example from the poster's life.

[InRealLife45]

Originally Posted by StillLearning99

Most tech warranties will match your item serial number so you probably would not get away with it. I hope the temptation is gone now.

It's just a question, if you read the original post. It says that.

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[InRealLife45]

Originally Posted by Mastodon

I would not do it, and I think it is unethical because it involves dishonest behaviour: even though you don't need to provide the wrong serial number (which would be a direct lie) you are still implying that it is the same piece of equipment that you bought. The cost of the warranty is included in the cost of the tablet, and when you lost the tablet you also lost that warranty. Hence you don't have the right to use it, and implying that you do would be unethical.


As I understood it, this was a hypothetical question for an ethics class, not an example from the poster's life.

Mastodon, the cost of a warranty is NEVER included in the cost of the item- ever. Warranties are purchased in addition to the cost of the item at about $100-$200 extra for an under $1,000 item.

You guys all have high morals. Lol I asked my friends on Facebook and a lot of them said they knew it was immoral but they would do it anyway.

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Originally Posted by InRealLife45

Mastodon, the cost of a warranty is NEVER included in the cost of the item- ever. Warranties are purchased in addition to the cost of the item at about $100-$200 extra for an under $1,000 item.

Interesting. I didn't know consumer protection laws were so different. But even if you have to choose to pay extra for it, the cost of the warranty is (presumably) part of what you paid when you bought the equipment. And that doesn't weaken the case for only using the warranty for that specific piece of equipment any.

Ethically I have no problem with doing it. These big companies screw us over daily. BUT I'm to lazy, and couldn't be arsed to do it.

[JustShakey]

Honestly, I'm with Mouse. I'm not always nice, but I'm lazy. Too much work for me.

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