Am I terrible?

I take it you received the Amazon order even though the transaction didn't go through

I forgot about Amazon.

I've often had the items, 'Parcel handed to resident' which is absolute nonsense and I've complained and got a refund or a replacement only for the item to be found in some ludicrous place days later or the driver to deliver it the next day.

When Amazon are informed I now have the item, shall I pay again they always say no.

I have also received compensation when they have left it in a place where they have clearly trespassed (warning signs) and have damaged property putting it there.

Amazon do have excellent customer service.

This is exactly how I feel ✌️

You had time to fix all three things, you didn't. You were wrong. I personally don't care what anyone else does, I try to always do the right thing.

I'd chalk the Amazon and the petrol down as a bit of good fortune. But the towels was a bit naughty tbh. I certainly wouldn't go bragging to all and sundry about my "free" towels.

The only time I can think of similar was when I was in my late teens/early 20s, and bought some earrings from... I think it was H&M. They were £2 reduced in a sale. I paid with a £2 coin, but the girl behind the till accidentally entered £20 by mistake. There was a lot of faffing around to rectify it, including calling a manager over. And after a while, she proceeded to hand me £18 in change...

Needless to say, I high-tailed it out there sharpish.

I bought something from John Lewis and picked it up.at Waitrose on New Year's Eve, it was about an hour before closing.

They gave me 2 parcels. I said I think this is wrong it's just one thing I ordered. She looked at the note and said no, the other parcel.is the accessories for it. I asked if we should have a look as the parcel seemed too heavy, she said no it's fine and walked away.

When I got home there were indeed two of the item! I did wrestle with myself about keeping them both but I kind of felt I had tried to give it back. I was probably wrong to keep it having read all this.

But part of me thinks capitalism.fucks us over so often, sometimes this is pay back. How many things have we bought that break a few weeks after the guarantee has run out? I spent £300 on supposedly very high quality solar lights. They all stopped working just after the one year guarantee ran out.

You don't need anyone to tell you if it's on. Surely your own clear conscience should be guidance enough.

If a genuine mistake has been made and I've offered to pay and the company have been rude then I have no qualms about accepting freebies!

Past Times were dreadful. Part of an order included one pack of sterling silver Christmas pudding charms but when they arrived the shelf picker had sent the entire wholesale box of carded charms. It was years ago so I can't remember the exact amount, it was at least fifty.

I phoned them up and the woman was immediately very rude and said no way could that happen.

I asked her to check their stock and she refused!

Most bizarre. No wonder they went bust!

Superdrug are equally appalling.

Three times I have ordered to collect in the store and they have not checked off my order so have marked it as customer didn't collected and refunded me.

The first time it happened it was a big order, just under £200 and I collected it and a week or so later for an email to say they had refunded me for not collecting it.

I phoned and again I had the rudest woman on the phone who said 'We don't make mistakes!' She was very snotty and said that I was mistaken! I hung up.

The next time I collected I asked the assistant to make sure they had checked it on their screen to say I had collected and they said yes they had. Lo and behold I hit a refund a week or so later. I didn't bother to waste my time phoning. It wasn't a great amount.

The third time was another big order and again I specifically asked the assistant to make sure their records showed I had collected it. I got a refund!

One of my step daughters has also had the same with Superdrug and has been refunded several times for items she has collected despite asking store staff to check it off on their screens!

My sister has had the same with a Lawnmower from Argos and a coffee machine, the latter costing over £700 and Argos also denied that this could happen and that she definitely did not collect it! She even offered to send them a photo of it in her kitchen!

When the customer service staff are snotty, then tough shit to the company.

What you did was way worse than anything OP did.
Someone did this to me albeit only £40 but I was horrified that someone would do that.
Shout after me, let the machine take it back but don't pocket it

Also, you made this thread because you know it is wrong but you want validation that 'everyone does it'. Many do. But if you really thought it was fine, you wouldn't have made a thread.

AIBU: I used washing up liquid to do the washing up.

You don't start threads about things you know are normal and fine.

We are in the same society. We teach children right and wrong. But some people are not taught right and wrong. Others realise they can get away with doing wrong, so they discard normal morals.

So you’ve determined that because of the three examples I gave, my morals are that I will steal when I’m fairly sure I can get away with it?*

Yes.

I am presented with easy theft opportunities every day but I never take them.

Because there's a fairly good chance you will get caught.

The three fluke opportunities where you would probably get away with it, you chose to be a thief.

This.

I ordered a phone once. Very hard up at the time so it was from the online catalogue studio. 2 weeks went by and it hadn't arrived so they refunded me the money to my account.

It arrived about 10 days later. Did I contact them? Absolutely not. 5 years later I'm still using my free phone.

I've accidentally stole. One time I filled up with petrol, got a coffee, and absent-mindedly paid for the coffee but not the fuel - I'd just checked my phone and found out a relative had died so I was in a bit of a daze. The police did say it looked like I had genuinely forgotten because I was in no hurry to leave the shop or the forecourt and did pay for the coffee.

I tucked a book under my arm in a bookshop and was halfway up the street before I realised it was still there and I dashed back to pay, mortified. Past a security guard as well!

One time I ordered an item online, it didn't arrive so sent off a query email. They sent out another, swiftly followed by the original one. So I returned the extra one, and they refunded me for the original. I rang a lovely lady who said her system couldn't fix it and to just take the freebie. Another time that happened I emailed the company to find an address to send the accidental orders back to with me willing to cover the postage but I never heard back from them.

I'd just lie awake if I didn't at least try to pay for what I got. Must be the residual Catholic guilt!

I've been ripped off enough times by faulty products or things being missed off of takeaway orders etc that I just view events like these as the world balancing things back out. I've never engineered something like this happening but I'll take the benefit it one falls in my lap.

Though only if it's a corporation taking the hit - if I saw a random person drop money I'd give it back right away.

I'm more like you. Dh is of the mumsnet moral variety. Just yesterday he went to a chemist to pick up his monthly meds and they said those are free, dh pipes up 'no, they should be €80". We are in Ireland where you pay for prescriptions but it is capped at €80 a month per family we reach the cap every month just on dhs meds so sometimes our meds are free. I would have just said thanks very much and gone on my merry way but dh always does the right thing 🙄

Oh god this makes me seem like a goody two shoes! I can’t be doing any of that! I bought a round of drinks at the pub last night, paid for it then the guy poured another pint of beer and gave it to me even though I’d only paid for one pint, I immediately said ‘oh, no I only paid for one !’ And so he took it and poured it down the sink 🤣 I can’t even do things like that ! Maybe I need to be a bit more naughty!

Exactly. The prospect of trying to contact a petrol station and persuading them to bill you makes my blood run cold. Amazon probably even worse ( don’t know, don’t approve of Amazon, never use)?

The towels, it wouldn’t have crossed my mind not to walk out without paying for them.

Also with the Amazon one - you did everything you could to ensure the payment went through - ie entered your card details etc. The store then later failed to process the payment correctly. That was completely out of your hands and I don't think there's an onus on you the customer to fix it. So I think the Amazon one is fine.

The same is true of the parking lot - you were there prepared to pay, but the machine broke and then there was no one to take payment. That's not your fault, it's the store's, and again I don't think the onus is on the customer to wait around until there's someone who can charge.

It's different from the lady who accidentally walked away with a big shop, as she (accidentally) didn't complete the card transaction at the self checkout machine - ie it was her error. So the right thing to do would have been to correct it. Similarly with the towels - the OP didn't offer to pay when she was in the shop.

3 is just stealing imho.

2 is reasonable - if there was no one there then you didn't have much choice but to drive off. You could have gone back the next day but I doubt they would have had a record of the amount taken if the machine broke so probably would have told you not to worry.

1 - I think I'd trust Amazon to look after itself.

Might have been you that tipped them into bankruptcy haha. The towel that broke the camel's back!

I remember when my car was stolen in my twenties. I wanted to sell it anyway. The insurers were great and paid out they valued car for what I had bought it for a few years before. The day after the payment was confirmed the police found the flipping car. I rang to tell the insurers this the lady was really nice said the file was closed they had released the funds did I want to just forget about it?! Was so pleased and didn’t have to feel the guilt.

Tesco stole a sandwich from me once. I wonder how may others it’s happened to

I once saw somebody drop £20 at the cash point. I called out to them but they kept going. I picked up the £20 and chased after her. She didn't turn around so I had to overtake her and tell her to her face that she dropped the money. She looked at me, looked at the money, snatched it from my hand and walked off without a word. Hopefully it was her £200 you spent.

I think all three examples are immoral. Whenever someone makes a mistake - it doesn't matter on the size of the retailer - I attempt to correct it. In the case of Amazon, I have been told before by Customer Services not to bother, but I've given them the option.

A couple of times I've corrected my restaurant bill to pay a lot more, the server has been hugely relieved. I'm not sure of the legalities of it as I don't work in retail, but I've ben given the impression that if I hadn't identified and sorted the mistake, they would have been somehow personally liable.

The one thing I will say is I've never struggled to feed or house myself. I suppose it's easier to have morals when you're not on the poverty line.

I would absolutely judge the hell out of anyone in a similar financial position to me who didn't correct mistakes undercharging them.