I've been charged £65 for a pizza instead of £6.50,what can I do?

[shopoholiicc]

Went out on a date on Thursday and had a few drinks.
Popped into pizza shop on way home and spent £6.50 on a pizza (or so I thought )
He said contactless was down so I had to type my pin in.
Anyway checked my bank yesterday and £65 was pending for this pizza shop.
Went straight up when they opened and the man was rude and said I must have spent £65.
I said I only ordered 1 pizza and asked them to check cctv or the till.
He said cctv wasn't working and asked me to leave the shop.
Is there anything I can do here?

In fact, if he was a smart scammer he would have been apologetic and refunded the excess, to avoid getting caught. If he pulls this trick on a regular basis, there will be some people who don’t notice.

I know of shops who do this regularly with tipsy people - my brother paid about 200 for a kebab once!!

You can ring your bank and they will reinstate your money.
Or you can do nothing and chalk it up to experience.
I know which I would do.

If he were really smart in his dishonesty, he wouldn't push his luck so far and narrow. He'd add two or three quid on for people buying multiple items and spending over £20, so most of them wouldn't notice - and those who did check and query it could be told that somebody else's garlic bread accidentally got picked up on their order, receive an apology and then a refund.

Most people either wouldn't notice or assume they must have overlooked a drink, extra topping or something; very few would bother to query it. A couple of quid can be passed off as a mistake, but a full 10-fold multiplication - especially one that's brushed off and slapped down when queried - is rather obvious.

He's seriously risking his reputation and the continuation of his business.

I've often thought on Watchdog, when they've featured criminals who are so meticulous, so careful, put in so much effort to run and conceal their scams and frauds - why don't they just put the same effort into running a legitimate business and then sleep well at night, without having to fear a police dawn-raid?!

Whats the pizza shop called OP? Name and shame it here as what if they do it to others too

I'd contact the bank too.

Try taking a copy of your statement to the pizza place to prove to him that you only spent £6:50. I hate to suggest this but this might be one of those situations where it might be worth taking someone older/bigger or more male than you with you (depending obviously!). I sometimes get better results than my
I don't suppose you have any photos or texts mentioning the pizza?

@10EveryoneIsThere
'I'd contact the bank too.
Try taking a copy of your statement to the pizza place to prove to him that you only spent £6:50.'

Surely op's bank statement would have £65 on though? It wouldn't be proof because £6.50 wasn't charged.

[quote Popcornbetty]@10EveryoneIsThere
'I'd contact the bank too.
Try taking a copy of your statement to the pizza place to prove to him that you only spent £6:50.'

Surely op's bank statement would have £65 on though? It wouldn't be proof because £6.50 wasn't charged.[/quote]
Sorry I didn't explain that well. 😅. I just meant that if she showed him the statement he would at least know she wasn't making the whole thing up

Sorry I didn't explain that well. 😅. I just meant that if she showed him the statement he would at least know she wasn't making the whole thing up

But he isn't denying that she was charged £65 - he's just claiming that she must have ordered (and received) £65-worth of food instead of just one pizza.

Has op been back on?

@Nothingyet

You can ring your bank and they will reinstate your money. Or you can do nothing and chalk it up to experience. I know which I would do.

Indeed. Plenty of other weird and wonderful suggestions on this thread, but contacting the bank is all that is required to get the money back.

I would actually contact the police as it sounds like a scam he’s pulling. It’s theft.

Report him to trading standards, HMRC and the council.
Was your date with you when you bought the pizza. Taking a witness might be enough for the shop keeper to change his robbing ways

@Zilla1

An alternative might have been waiting until they are busy at night then returning with some friends and loudly repeating the dispute and pointing out he might have remembered someone staggering out with 10 pizzas or £65 of food if they could even cook and sell 10 pizzas at once. Would his shop allow a contactless transaction for £65 as IME most shops limit it lower though I know some raised it for COVID contamination reasons. If he asks you to leave, just stay at the front of the queue and encourage him to call the police.

The maximum contactless limit is £45 so the shop keeper still definitely 9n the Rob. He would also remember any big orders he had(as I bet most buy just 1 or 2 pizzas), so he wil know he don't serve the OP £65 quids worth of food

I had this happen years ago- not with pizza - £225 instead of £22.50 which I noticed on my statement when it came the following month by post. I had the receipt to prove I was right. I went to the bank (Barclays) and they refunded me immediately while they investigated. They contacted the shop and requested they send copies of their till receipts. They failed to reply by the given date so they told them they would pursue them for fraud. I wasn't told the outcome.

I never use contactless but, if I did, I would still always ask for a receipt. Younger people than I ( almost 70) never seem to bother with receipts but I keep mine for a year in case of disputes such as this.

I stopped taking til receipts a while back trying to reduce my paper waste. Now I think I'll start asking every time. I can always make it a bit better by recycling them after I suppose.

My local shop is a swindler. It often doesn't have the offers in the till. It wasn't til the day I only had a 2 quid cash with me and wanted two of the bargain offer £1 items (that I wouldn't normally buy cos of the price), when I realised the my were coming up at £2,50 each at the till and I'd been buying the buggers all week! I carefully watched my shopping after that and had to dispute quite a few items. I shop elsewhere now cos I hate making a scene and I'm guessing places like that rely on us keeping quiet.

OhRene - You should report them to Trading Standards and leave them to investigate.

You were fooled for a while, but what about all the school kids, the vulnerable, those with poor eyesight or learning difficulties who are regularly, routinely, deliberately stolen from?

Also, a surprisingly large number of shops print out the receipt every time regardless - and then ask if you want it or otherwise just chuck it in the bin.

Not even just small places, either - WH Smith are the worst, as they pretend to care about the environment by asking if you really need your receipt but then their tills still automatically print out two or three coupons/offers (of often dubious worth). It's caught me on the hop before (I'm a saddo who asks for receipts), where I've received some paper slips after a purchase, naturally assumed I've had my receipt and then later found it completely missing.

I've also found the odd place (maybe like your local swindler) where my request for a receipt is met with surprise or suspicion, sometimes with an assurance that it's all correct (which it may or may not be). Receipts aren't just to check for any errors, though, they're also handy as a record of what you've spent for budgeting purposes - or, of course, if you need to buy things and then claim them back as expenses.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

OhRene - You should report them to Trading Standards and leave them to investigate.

You were fooled for a while, but what about all the school kids, the vulnerable, those with poor eyesight or learning difficulties who are regularly, routinely, deliberately stolen from?

Whoever I pulled them up it was played off as an error and they were very apologetic.

Other times it is things like a sign underneath the products on the shelf saying "Xxxx just £1.50" and have the size in teeny tiny small print ie 250ml bottles or 24 wash size etc but those items that apply aren't even stocked or they're on a shelf round the corner (or even just beside it in a different flavour or fragrance and the one you want isn't on the offer despite appearing like it is)

It's a handy way of being sneaky but legally. It IS there in black and white but you need to study everything carefully. That also includes checking the very small print stating the offer dates even though the signs are there ahead of time or after the offer has ended. Arses.

@OhRene

I stopped taking til receipts a while back trying to reduce my paper waste. Now I think I'll start asking every time. I can always make it a bit better by recycling them after I suppose.

My local shop is a swindler. It often doesn't have the offers in the till. It wasn't til the day I only had a 2 quid cash with me and wanted two of the bargain offer £1 items (that I wouldn't normally buy cos of the price), when I realised the my were coming up at £2,50 each at the till and I'd been buying the buggers all week! I carefully watched my shopping after that and had to dispute quite a few items. I shop elsewhere now cos I hate making a scene and I'm guessing places like that rely on us keeping quiet.

I've noticed my local shop does this, or double scans items. I've made sure I've had a receipt now when I buy more than a couple of items. Thankfully I did that last time as I'd been charged for two bottles of wine when I'd only bought one. Contacted them via Facebook and they put points to that amount on my card.

**whenever, not whoever

Whoever I pulled them up it was played off as an error and they were very apologetic.

That might just be a clever act, though; even if not, they're incompetent and overcharging people on a regular basis. Out of interest, have you ever observed them having any errors in favour of the customer?

I may be wrong, but I believe Trading Standards/local authorities are now clamping down on traders who comply with the strict letter of the law, but who are clearly hoping to hoodwink customers. You can't have a situation where only the most intelligent/educated, neurotypical, healthiest, able-bodied, most privileged people are fine, but we somehow accept that all the rest (probably including the least able to afford it in their number) just get deliberately ripped off, even through no fault of their own, and it's just tough.

There's a shop not far from primary school we would pop into sometimes for sweets/ice cream. If I let the children go in themselves with their money, there would often be a discrepancy with the change they got back. Funnily enough, not if I was with them at the till. Luckily, they're both good at maths and I've taught them to check at the time, so they're savvy.

Happens on school trips too - DD getting her teacher to advocate for her when short-changed.

No wonder my level of trust is low!

I know you've said now you've got your money back. But honestly the cheek of this place. They've clearly done it on purpose and you won't be the only one.
So many people just zap their card or type in their pin without checking the amount. There was a programme on the other week showing how little people check. I've done it myself.
Imagine how many times they've gotten away with this. I'd put a review on their site about it as well.
CCTV was down. How very convenient.