Honesty

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Look at it in the other direction. If your vet accidentally billed you twice what the real cost was and you didn’t realize it, and they realized later the mistake in their favor, would you want them to just keep quiet? Unless you would be fully agreeable to writing off a $200 mistake that was in the vet’s favor, it is hypocritical to keep silent here.

I have seen how people react when someone comes in and fixes errors like that. It redeems people’s faith in human nature. There can’t be enough of that in the world.

At the very least, your pet will get some especially good care in the future because they’ll remember you as the honest patient.
 
Transaction done. What they do with it afterwards is their business. If he had paid with cash and then the vet somehow lost one of his $100 bills on the way to the bank, would you still be telling the OP to pay the vet again?
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The difference in this analogy is that with cash the money would actually have left your hands. Yes, transaction done. But in this case the money never left the OP’s bank account. So the transaction was never completed. How can you say “pay again” when he never actually paid the first time. (the money is still in his account)
 
There’s another scenario: it’s possible that the bank did pay the vet, but forgot to charge the OP’s account. In that case, the OP owes the money to the bank.

I gotta say, speaking from experience, that it’s a lot easier to do the right thing for the vet - who depends on bills getting paid in order to pay for his staff and supplies - than it is to do the right thing for the bank; we tend to see banks as huge impersonal corporations who can easily absorb the cost of their mistakes.

But the important thing is not what effect our not paying will have on the vet or on the bank, but the effect it will have on our souls.

Your sister in Christ,
Ruthie
 
JaneFrances said:
Something very similar happened to us a few years ago. A check that I wrote was never cashed. Over a year went by. Finally, I called the bank to cancel the check and then went straight to the bank to get the amount I owed in cash. With cash in hand, I made a trip to pay my bill in person. The response was massive and I believe that the money, though happily received, was used not as a payment for my own bill, but for another act of charity. God works in wonderful ways.
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Liberanosamalo said:
Look at it in the other direction. If your vet accidentally billed you twice what the real cost was and you didn’t realize it, and they realized later the mistake in their favor, would you want them to just keep quiet? Unless you would be fully agreeable to writing off a $200 mistake that was in the vet’s favor, it is hypocritical to keep silent here.

I have seen how people react when someone comes in and fixes errors like that. It redeems people’s faith in human nature. There can’t be enough of that in the world.

At the very least, your pet will get some especially good care in the future because they’ll remember you as the honest patient.
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OK, I just read the two above posts to my wife and she agreed that I call the vet. Thank you people. I’ll keep you posted.
 
If the shoe were on the other foot and the Vet gave you the equivalent of $200 and somehow you or your bank muffed it and the money never got credited to your account, how would you like it? Moral issues aside, this is a situation where the Golden Rule really rules. Give the vet a call and check out the problem, its nice to have a good relationship with those you depend on in time of need. 👍
 
SO, here is the rest of the story. After my wife agreed that we contact the vet I pulled out all my old records so I’d know what I was talking about. Turns out that the transaction actually occured way back in December 2005. The amount was $410.10. But here is the kicker. I paid the bill with my VISA credit card, but mistakenly thought I had used my VISA check card and recorded the transaction in my check book register. So for the past 2 1/2 years I’ve been carrying a debit that never existed. I found the VISA statement showing that the bill was actually paid in Dec. 2005, but I didn’t know it because my wife paid the VISA bill without me seeing it. If I had been honest about this when I first discovered the discrepancy I would have put the issue to rest way back then and avoided all the inconvenience, not to mention the guilty conscience. What a good example of how important honesty is and what a valuable lesson learned. 🙂

But now here is another question for you all: Since no dishonest act was actually committed, but there was, at least for a time, dishonest intent, was there a sin committed? :confused:
 
Hello.
Code: 
  To tell you the truth, I don't understand what you just said.  (Ha, ha, ha!)  It sounds more to me like a mistake than dishonesty.  My goodness, that's a long time ago!  You probably just forgot that you paid it.  And why would you even want to keep a vet bill a secret from your wife.  I could see a set of golf clubs or something like that.  Now, I'm guilty of dishonesty by your standards, I believe.  I had a 8.00 gift card to Belk's from a return, and I ended up a victim of the marketing machine.  I got some Estee Lauder "Beautiful" body wash and some facial cleanser.  After the gift card was factored in I think I spent like 40.00.  I put it on a Belk card that I didn't even have on me and hadn't used in forever.  All I needed was my driver's license.  My husband still hasn't said anything.  My mother used to pull that mess all the time; it's not an excuse, but that's where I got it from.  The clerk wasn't even all that nice.  I probably shouldn't have done it.

  My point is, that even if there was any dishonesty (Thou shalt not bear false witness) in this situation it would be a venial sin.  I think with lying, it looks to me that the consequences of the lie determine whether or not it is a mortal sin or not.  Like if you deliberately tell an ambulance on their way to give live-saving aid to a person who is your enemy the wrong locations/directions, then I suppose that would be a mortal sin.  Maybe even if you cheat on a test if it's a really important test like the Bar for attorneys or M.D. exams.  This is just my opinion.  I think you're all right.  Of course, my parish priest says that if you have no mortal sins to confess, it's still a good idea to go to confession every so often for venial sins.  

  I hope you like my story!  :D   Have a nice remainder of your day!
Tracy
 
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