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Calling and repayment for a previously refunded item

Question:

I ordered an item on Amazon and I received an email that it was delivered. After contacting Amazon and notifying Amazon that it was never delivered to me they refunded me the full payment. Two days later someone from around the corner with the same address (just the street number was different) came and said the had received my package two days earlier (on the day I had been notified by email that it was dropped off by my house ). Am I now obligated to call Amazon up and tell them to recharge me because I had received the item and there was a mistake and it had been delivered to the wrong house?

Answer:

You are not obligated to tell them to recharge you. When you called them, the item was lost, and now it was found. Since we can assume that the seller is not Jewish, we are not obligated to return the lost item to him. It would be a good idea to return it in a way that will make a kiddush Hashem, such as telling them that we are Jewish and we don’t want their company to have a financial loss, and therefore you are letting them know that they can charge you for it. The Be’er Hagolah writes, “ I have seen many who grew rich from fooling others and they lost all of it, (as it says in Sefer Chasidim par. 1074). And I have seen many who returned the mistakes of gentiles of large sums, and they became rich and left over a lot for their children”.

Sources:

Be’er Hagolah CH:M 348-8

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