moral dilema. found money in a game, what do you think

well so far the guy hasnt given me the key for it like he said he would and i spent about four hours tearing it apart and cleaning and fixing it. plus i had to order a $40 top for it. i guess where i stand is that he sold me the game and knew there was money in it. whatever is in the game goes with it. there was about 8 hard as a rock gumballs in it...should i give those back too...
 
If the guy didn't know that would be one thing. The fact he estimated $75 makes it pretty clear he knew there was almost twice what you paid for the thing in there. So yes, he was basically paying you to take it, and he knew that. He wanted it gone, and didn't want to mess with getting the money out.

As others said, you can offer him some amount back, but he won't take it. If he cared, you would not of gotten it in the first place.
 
HFK said:
Not the same thing at all. A better comparison would be buying a wallet at a yard sale and finding $120 in it when you got home.
Click to expand...

Only after the person selling it notices what looks to be $75 in the wallet and still selling it to you for $40.
 
HFK said:
Not the same thing at all. A better comparison would be buying a wallet at a yard sale and finding $120 in it when you got home.
Click to expand...

I disagree, If you knew who the money really belonged to does it not make a difference? I mean yeah, if you just found $120 laying on the side of the road it's fair game, but if you attach a face or name to it, then I believe it becomes your responsibility to return it to it's rightful owner. Would you not want someone to do the same if it were your money that fell out of your pocket?
 
Does he have any other $40 machines for sale? I'll take them all....
LOL
 
gregatron said:
I disagree, If you knew who the money really belonged to does it not make a difference? I mean yeah, if you just found $120 laying on the side of the road it's fair game, but if you attach a face or name to it, then I believe it becomes your responsibility to return it to it's rightful owner. Would you not want someone to do the same if it were your money that fell out of your pocket?
Click to expand...


Once again, totally different. He purchased an item. During the transaction the seller and buyer both knew there was money in the item, seller even commented on how much was probably in there and not very far off.

After the deal as the seller was walking away money did not fall out of his pocket and then was pocketed by the buyer. That is different, watching somebody drop money and then taking it is wrong. Finding a wallet on the street with ID and taking it is wrong. Both of those examples you cited are stealing.

This is not in any way shape or form theft. Yes, the buyer could contact the seller and tell them how much was in there but is under no obligation since the seller already knew this when the deal was made.
 
I had a similar situation with an old operator a few years ago. He was being very generous and gave me all the machines in his storage locker, if I helped him clean it all out before the end of the month.

It was one of those deals- take it all, or nothing, and there were several dumpster candidate pieces for sure. There were also plenty of outstanding machines.

While I was loading one of the machines, I unclipped the bill stacker and it was jammed full of bills, and I don't just mean ones, and when I say jammed, I mean like a hefty stack. I already had the machine on my trailer, and technically we had our "all or nothing" deal, but I still walked over to him and handed him the wad of bills.

The guy was so happy he ended up giving me even more games from another location, one was a Last Action Hero pin, which I shopped, sold for 1K and then drove over and handed that money to him as a surprise.

Come to think of it, why did I do that again?

Oh, I remember, that damn Christian upbringing!
 
Mike Doyle said:
I had a similar situation with an old operator a few years ago. He was being very generous and gave me all the machines in his storage locker, if I helped him clean it all out before the end of the month.

It was one of those deals- take it all, or nothing, and there were several dumpster candidate pieces for sure. There were also plenty of outstanding machines.

While I was loading one of the machines, I unclipped the bill stacker and it was jammed full of bills, and I don't just mean ones, and when I say jammed, I mean like a hefty stack. I already had the machine on my trailer, and technically we had our "all or nothing" deal, but I still walked over to him and handed him the wad of bills.

The guy was so happy he ended up giving me even more games from another location, one was a Last Action Hero pin, which I shopped, sold for 1K and then drove over and handed that money to him as a surprise.

Come to think of it, why did I do that again?

Oh, I remember, that damn Christian upbringing!
Click to expand...

I still see your situation as a bit different than the poster's. Main difference is the seller was aware the machine had cash in it and still said take it. In your scenario the seller had no clue the cash was there. In your scenario I wouldn't hesitate to return the money. In the other I just assume the guy doesn't care about the money or want to put forth the effort to look into it or he would have. If it makes you feel good to give it back then I see nothing wrong with that but he more or less said go ahead and keep it IMO.
 
i disagree. i think in both scenarios you should keep the money. if you sell something, should you not be obligated to make sure you know what you are selling. if i sell a game i will look in it for money first, if i don't its not mine anymore after its sold. now if i left my medding ring in there i would say the buyer mas a MORAL and CHRISTIAN obligation to give it back. but this is MONEY.
i guarentee that this guy probably thought to himself i should have taken the money out first. i have sold countless things where i asked a price , and the first person came along and bought it. after i sold it i though, damn, i should have asked for more. but thats life and business. it took me a while to tear this apart to get to the money because i didnt want to drill it out and my time is money. $120 worth...
 
Just be honest and offer the money back. If he takes it, no loss to you because you still got what you expected. If he doesn't take it, well it's to your benefit. Either way, a clean conscience is most definitely worth more than $121.
 
Personally, I'd give him the difference and keep the cost of the game. Win-Win for all.

Brian
 
It's a much more common situation than you think. I've had it happen at least twice (both times it paid for the machine). Exactly like your situation. They knew there was cash in the machine and were like, "enh, whatever". I offered for them to open it and take the cash out but refused.

You're okay regardless of how you play this out.
 
Mike Doyle said:
I had a similar situation with an old operator a few years ago. He was being very generous and gave me all the machines in his storage locker, if I helped him clean it all out before the end of the month.

It was one of those deals- take it all, or nothing, and there were several dumpster candidate pieces for sure. There were also plenty of outstanding machines.

While I was loading one of the machines, I unclipped the bill stacker and it was jammed full of bills, and I don't just mean ones, and when I say jammed, I mean like a hefty stack. I already had the machine on my trailer, and technically we had our "all or nothing" deal, but I still walked over to him and handed him the wad of bills.

The guy was so happy he ended up giving me even more games from another location, one was a Last Action Hero pin, which I shopped, sold for 1K and then drove over and handed that money to him as a surprise.

Come to think of it, why did I do that again?

Oh, I remember, that damn Christian upbringing!
Click to expand...


I agree you did the right thing. the guy was doing you a favor by giving you the games. Its only fair he got the money back.

Not sure why you would have given him the cash from last action hero.. Must be more to that story...
 
Last edited:
armyaviation said:
... he laughed and said " you probably have about $75 in quarters in there"..
Click to expand...

Options:

1. tell there was 121 in the machine and ask him if he wants it. he may surprise you.

2. by his own words he thinks there may be 75.
give him the 75 and keep the rest.

3. by his own words he is giving you the 75.
keep the 75 and send him a cheque for the rest.

4. he sold you the machine with the coins in it. keep it all.
 
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