Unethical?

[scubagirl15]

jrg once bubbled...
Of course it's unethical. He should have had the owner's permission to do that.

The store owner sounds like a real tight-a not to allow the instructor to have a discount. Too bad the instructor got caught. Did he ever get his stuff or was he caught first?

I believe the instructor does get a discount, just not the full pop. The shop is run in a rather relaxed atmosphere, which makes the shop a great place to hang out...and I guess inadvertently created fertile grounds for some folks to over-step the boundary.

And - he was "caught" first.

 

[jrg]

scubagirl15 once bubbled...


I believe the instructor does get a discount, just not the full pop. The shop is run in a rather relaxed atmosphere, which makes the shop a great place to hang out...and I guess inadvertently created fertile grounds for some folks to over-step the boundary.

And - he was "caught" first.

Well, in that case, maybe the owner isn't so bad. It's a good thing the instructor got caught!

yes, it's unethical.

 

[Walter]

Key man prices are prices offered by manufacturers to people in "key" positions. The below dealer cost encourages these "key men" (who are often women) to buy their products. Having their products used by these "key men" prompts retail customers to buy their products.

 

[Gator Diver]

If the instructor is not an employee, then yes I think
what was done is unethical unless he/she had
some previous agreement with the LDS

 

[saf_25]

so maybe I don't understand the process, but I'm questioning not only the ethics of the instructor, but also of the manufacturer's rep. Yes, depending on the understanding the instructor has with the owner, this is questionable behavior on the part of the instructor. But, what kind of sales rep takes an order, arranges to bill it this unusual way, and then behind the instructor's back goes to the owner to tell what was done? Why wouldn't the rep tell the instructor that he would have to get permission from the owner before taking the credit card and shipping info? Wouldn't that have been an upfront way of dealing with this, rahter than making it look like the instructor was going behind the owner's back?
Granted, there's a lot we don't know, and maybe the rep is someone different than the one who took the order, but it just sounds questionable on all counts to me.

 

[mech]

I'm in business.
The fact he hid this makes it theft in my oppinion.

 

[JohnVranesevich]

mech once bubbled...
I'm in business.
The fact he hid this makes it theft in my oppinion.

I used to own my own business as well (we did computer crime / infowar related work), before it was acquired by a larger corporation.

I can tell you, the main problem here isn't ethical, so much as it may be legal.

Often times things ordered and bought via dealer accounts are done so on a wholesale basis, meaning not only discounts in price, but that a sales tax is not applied.

Ordering things in this manner for personal use, without paying the sales or use taxes dictated by the state or municipality in which the individual resides, amounts to tax evasion.

The deficit would be the responsibility of the dealer, if the items were ordered through his account. Therefore, I agree with the above person in saying that this would be "theft by deception". Under some states, it would also amount to an identity theft charge as well.

 

[Otter]

Newbie sure knows a lot about the situation, key man, etc..

 

[mech]

Thank you for laying it out in better terms John Vranesevich.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Walter once bubbled...
Mike,

Did you miss, "Ethics of this situation would depend on the agreements between the instructor and the shop."?

I may have.

I may have missed a couple other things also...

When we get set up as a dealer, they open an account. They usually record things like credit card/bank info, shipping address, mailing address and whatever else that manufacturer wants. It's pretty hard to order on my shops account and charge it to another bank account or credit card even for me if I want to. Usually that would require a permenant change of account info and they would likely mess it up once or twice. Any time we have requested the manufacturer to ship to another location (like directly to a customer who was out of town and needed their stuff) they have refused. That's probably to avoid just this kind of thing.

If some one called to order on my account I would hope the big tip-off would be the request to ship someplace other than to me. Otherwise I would be charged for stuff that I'd never get. Since I didn't order anything, I wouldn't be tracking an order and wouldn't know about it at all until I was going through bank statements. If one of the manufacturers that I do business with gets a call like this they should contact me as soon as they get off the phone with the thief.

You do not place orders for any business or under their name unless you have been authorized to do so.

I can't even think of a situation in which this would be appropriate.