A mother ordered furniture for her daughter and then when it came time to pay, there was something the matter with the mother’s credit card. She told the store she would be in touch to straighten out the problem with the cc. Then the daughter decided she would pay with her cc but she told the furniture store they would have to wait till she filed taxes. She would then use the refund money to pay. Now she has been told that her refund will be less than she thought and she will not have enough money to cover the entire purchase. Are the mother or the daughter bound to the sale? Can they buy something cheaper instead or forget about the order?
Answer:
If the order has already been placed, and the store has already acted upon the order (so that the store will lose out from the cancellation), it will not be possible to back out.
Also, if the furniture has already been delivered, it won’t be permitted to back out.
However, if no action has been taken, it is possible to back out, though Chazal consider it unethical to do so, and some authorities consider this a prohibition.
Yet, for most modern stores the policy is that purchases can be returned within a certain amount of time of purchase, and this is also the law for most developed countries. If the law and the store policy is that purchases can be returned, it follows that there is nothing wrong with cancelling the order, because there is surely no obligation to receive the furniture just so that you can give it back to the store.
Best wishes.
