UNITED STATES—How often do people actually get something for free in the United States? It rarely happens, but in 2020 and 2021,  I’ve started to see a trend where some retailers have been allowing consumers to keep their item and also get refunded at the same time. I can speak from personal experience this was something that transpired with me on not one, but three separate occasions. Was I surprised to see it transpire? Without a doubt America because I thought there had to be some sort of coup transpiring people.

Are you telling me that this item that I paid for with my credit card (one that was not cheap to say the least), you are going to let me keep AND you’re going to return those funds to my card at the same time. Yeah, that is beyond baffling, crazy and just seemed too good to be true. However, it did indeed happen and I checked my credit card statement for the past 2 months just to make sure that the charge that was initially on my credit card did not reappear. It has not and at this point I don’t believe it will.

Now if you purchased items in stores, I don’t think the retailer is just going to let you return the item and just say, “you know what keep it and we’ll give you a refund on top of that.” Not happening if we’re being honest people. If you made the purchase online, the likelihood of getting that refund increases substantially. Why? It is a direct result of so many consumers running into situations where items that were to be shipped were significantly delayed. That happened with all of my situations. In one incident, the item I had to specifically call about and it took another 2-3 weeks before it finally arrived at my residence.

The delay was so long that I completely forgot about the item. So I already planned to return the item, but I soon heard from the retailer that I could keep the item and my card would be credited for the delay. Happy? Without a doubt, but I did question how could retailers afford to do such things? I mean the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020 and of 2021 because let’s be honest so many business are still hurting greatly can’t just give money back or lose sales when they need absolutely every sale possible to stay in business.

Perhaps it is better to cut the loss than to have to worry about potential chargebacks and fees they can face from merchant processors. Yeah, those companies rig the number of fees they throw at businesses and it is absolutely ludicrous. I totally see why some companies don’t accept certain forms of payment as a way to halt having to deal with a headache that just is not worth it America.

I am just going to keep it short and keep it sweet, if you happened to be one of those Americans who got a refund from retailers take advantage of that perk and potentially pass it forward. Go back to that retailer and use that money that you would have spent on that item or two and purchase something else. That is the least you can do as a thank you for the courtesy that was extended to you.