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Original poster

Tell me about a time you accidentally overpaid for something because you were too embarrassed to back out

272 replies

FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop · 04/08/2021 16:55

For me it was when I was a Uni student, visiting family in France and went into a little French boutique that had reasonably priced trinkets - €10-€20. I picked up a purse simply because I needed a new one, assuming it was €20 as it was on a table with other €20 stuff. €135 Shock I couldn't speak French very well and was too embarrassed to put it back so forked out. That was my food money for the month. I survived for the next 3 weeks on pot noodles and plain jacket potatoes Grin

OP posts:
MistySkiesAfterRain · 09/08/2021 17:21

@FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop

For me it was when I was a Uni student, visiting family in France and went into a little French boutique that had reasonably priced trinkets - €10-€20. I picked up a purse simply because I needed a new one, assuming it was €20 as it was on a table with other €20 stuff. €135 Shock I couldn't speak French very well and was too embarrassed to put it back so forked out. That was my food money for the month. I survived for the next 3 weeks on pot noodles and plain jacket potatoes Grin
I did this with a watch in France! I thought it was £5 (noo it was £50), cue embarrassment as I left (I didn't have £50).
MistySkiesAfterRain · 09/08/2021 17:25

@SedentaryCat

2 bras for £160. They were lovely and fitted beautifully, I was just too shy to say no to the bra fitter. Not something I would have a problem with these days.

Every time I wore them I'd calculate how much each wear was costing me!

Strangely enough, the shop went bust. I guess there's no a market for £80 bras where I live.

The bra shop went bust Grin
halfmoonbay · 09/08/2021 17:29

I had a shock yesterday, popped out to a 'pub' for a late Sunday lunch - a lovely roast beef dinner and only £12.99 - perfect. I then saw how much my vodka and tonic cost £10.40 WTF 😮
I obviously don't get out much!

MeredithMae · 10/08/2021 12:18

@3luckystars

Was it nice though ?
I won't lie, the baklava was so nice but it felt like I was eating pound signs
ToomuchHeat · 10/08/2021 12:27

First year ball for Uni / took my Nan shopping with me to a specialist shop and she negotiated a price for me but we're talking about 1999 here and I spent 150 on this outfit I couldn't afford at uni - she did say to my mum afterwards I don't think @toomuchheat needed that expensive an outfit! Cheers Nan!

NonShallot · 10/08/2021 12:41

We took my parents and PiL out for an afternoon tea to announce to them that I was pregnant. It was a nice and the food was lovely but the service was a bit lacking at the time. When we had booked it we had misunderstood the pricing and thought it was £35 for two people sharing. Nope, it was £35 PER HEAD! So we ended up paying £210 for afternoon tea, one of which was barely eaten by me as I was suffering from morning sickness.

We've never been back!

kizzywizz · 10/08/2021 16:34

@notacooldad

Today in a farm shop, no prices on anything, picked up a pack of farmhouse butter 500g, took it to the till, 6.25, six pounds twenty five pence You didn't buy it did you?
I did but won't buy it again.
Hemingwaycat · 10/08/2021 16:41

Lots of things over the years. I’ve thankfully got better at saying no as I’ve aged but in my teens and early 20s I really struggled.

During my first pregnancy I went for a bra fitting in mothercare when I was about 37 weeks pregnant and needed nursing bras. She told me I was a much smaller cup than I knew I possibly could have been (I’d comfortably been filling out F cups but she managed to measure me as a D somehow!). She pointed the bras out to me afterwards and I think they were about £40 for 2 which she recommended I get because it was a ‘great deal’. I ended up buying them and obviously they were too small, I knew I wasn’t a D cup and wish I’d just said as much but I was young and didn’t have the guts.

ProfessionalWeirdo · 12/08/2021 18:10

Not me (thankfully), but a friend told me some years ago about an embroidered tablecloth that had caught her eye in a shop in Spain. Unfortunately she'd misread the price tag, and hadn't noticed the final zero. By the time she realised that what she thought would cost €40 was in fact going to cost €400, the shopkeeper had beautifully gift-wrapped the cloth and she was too embarrassed to admit that she'd made a mistake.

Novelusername · 12/08/2021 19:42

Specsavers. I had previously got contact lenses from them, and they made you do a follow up appointment. The optometrist checked me over for two minutes and said I was fine and wouldn't have to pay for my appointment, but then when I went downstairs the man on the till who I think was running the place demanded I pay him £50. I was a teenager at the time and very timid, so I didn't dare stand up for myself and paid it out of my measly part-time bar job wages. I definitely SHOULDN'T have gone to Specsavers and have never gone back.

NigelWithTheBrie79 · 12/08/2021 19:42

I took my niblings and kids (7 in total) to the cinema at the Lowry. They wanted pic and mix so thought I would get this elsewhere to make it cheaper. We went into an outlet store that does old fashioned 1/4lb bags of sweets as well as standard pic and mix. I told the kids to make up 2 bags that could be shared. Luckily the shop assistant stepped in and weighed up the first bag which was £23! (I was about to myself to some cola cubes but stopped). I paid as they had already bagged them up and I couldn't be sure they hadn't touched them without tongs.

Laiste · 12/08/2021 19:53

I had to insist on overpaying to get into Corfe Castle in Dorset once. It was excruciating!

XH and i had borrowed my parent's Nat Trust membership cards and were pretending to be them to save a bit of £ getting in to see the ruins Blush

In my defence DDs were 2, 4 and 6 and money was very tight. We were hoping to just pay for the three kids and us get in free. We were skint and on a very tight budget caravan holiday and this was the only 'pay for' activity that we could afford using the cards.

A very enthusiastic young Nat Trust worker pulled us out of the queue and asked if we wanted to quickly sign DDs up and get them Nat Trust cards for free. Special deal.

Well, a) we didn't know what my Dad's password was or anything and b) couldn't prove 'our identity' because it wasn't us ! and c) if we got the kids cards they'd have to have a different surname which would have been odd ...

All this flashed through my mind so i said
''OH ha ha no thank you, it's fine we'll just pay for the kids!!''
He was Confused
''But ....''
thinking we hadn't understood
''it'll take just 30 seconds for me to just enter it all on the computer in here and they'll get their cards and get in here free today and all NT properties for the next x years!!''

Me ...
''Oh, ha ha, no really - we'd really rather just pay for the children .... ho ho .....'' Blush
And we stayed in the queue and payed for the kids.

Oh god. I mean ...
When he walked away he looked soooooo confused. Poor bloke. And i felt like such an idiot!
That's what you get for fiddling the system i guess.

SunShinesBrightly · 12/08/2021 20:01

My DD (14 at the time) bought a reusable metal straw from the vegan health food shop on our high street.

She said that the overattentive saleswoman/owner was pushing all sorts on her. She chose a straw as it was the smallest thing she had been shown and she thought it would be £2/3. No prices on anything.

It was in a brown card envelope and she was charged £15.99.

When she came out to meet me she was so upset. She said that she didn’t have the nerve to say she couldn’t afford it.

I did though. I went straight back in and got a refund. I told the woman that she needed display her prices. Considering you can buy a pack of 4 metal straws for around £5 , she was raking the p**s.

LubaLuca · 12/08/2021 20:37

A packet of sanitary towels at Palma airport. Our flight was delayed by 8 hours, I'd used everything I had in my handbag and it was a long time until I'd have access to my case. €10 for 10 sanny pads in the little newsagent. I saved the unused ones 'for best' for a long time afterwards Grin

LubaLuca · 12/08/2021 20:42

I should add, I'd had to ask the man at the counter for them because obviously behind the counter is the best place for very personal items. I had no idea how much they were until he'd scanned them, and then it was too late to say I'd changed my mind and would stuff my pants with bog roll instead.

youaresunshine · 12/08/2021 20:56

I'll

BrennieGirl · 12/08/2021 21:01

I used to work around the corner from Harrods. One Friday after a rather boozy lunch with my boss, I popped into Harrods on my way home to get some salad bits for dinner. I got a tub of potato salad which cost about £15. I was way too merry and embarrassed to not pay for it.

JumpJumpSlide · 12/08/2021 21:16

Not me but DH and his friend years ago. Our first house together, just finished renovating it before Christmas and were having our parents round for Christmas Dinner. Everybody agreed on duck (bit of a change as we usually get turkey).
DHs friend finds a Facebook add in local selling page for free ranged ducks £10 each, DH thinks its a bargin. Off they went to get one.
I come home from work to the pair of them putting up a shed and mesh run. Let's just say the duck wasn't quite ready for Christmas Dinner. They came back with the 6 ducks left (£40 as guy did them a deal) but proceeded to then buy a £300 shed and £80 run. Add all the food and vet bill etc over the years it was one expensive Christmas Dinner.
He said he felt like an idiot for thinking they'd be like the ones in the supermarket and didn't want to ask if they were meant to be for Christmas dinners, he felt awful seeing them there so took them all.

We had turkey in the end by the way... and he's never been tasked with buying the Christmas Dinner again.

NameChanged15729 · 12/08/2021 23:09

I feel a bit mean for saying this but Bristol Aquarium!
£55 for a family ticket and it was over in about 50 minutes.
I was expecting at least half a days worth of activities but no... it’s a walk through where you basically view the same tanks from different angles. It’s not helped by the fact that the zoo is around the same price and you get your money’s worth there.

Ozgirl75 · 12/08/2021 23:21

It’s the same with the Aquarium near us - it costs an absolute fortune but we’re in and out in about an hour. Zoo is the same price and you need a full day.

Persephonee · 12/08/2021 23:50

Not as bad as some but it annoyed me! £3 for each child to have 6 minutes - yes, 6 minutes on a bouncy castle. They even set a timer and the order everyone off! It wasn’t even that busy!

slightlysnippy · 12/08/2021 23:59

£10 for a cup of tea in a tea shop at the bottom of the Spanish steps in Rome.

CorianderBee · 13/08/2021 00:25

£40 for some sweets. A man in Tunisia was selling them, they were nice, he was very lovey and looked very raggedy. DP went to pay the price he said and he snatched more cash out of his wallet. We were 19, didn't speak the language and didn't know what to do.

So we ate £40 worth of nut-sweets from a man with a lizard on his head on an all-inclusive holiday. Oh, he did throw in some fruits. Which the rep at the hotel told us to throw away as they're inedible and give you the shits.

Pretty sure we got scammed.

Rainbows89 · 13/08/2021 00:36

I asked an Italian deli if they could order me
Some smoked
Mozerella. It arrived and I went to collect it.

The man told me it was £40 and I was 😳😳😳 but I would have paid it because I was embarrassed that I didn’t ask how much it was before asking him to order it.

Then it turn out he was joking and it was like, £3.50.

ShitShop · 13/08/2021 02:00

@kizzywizz

Today in a farm shop, no prices on anything, picked up a pack of farmhouse butter 500g, took it to the till, 6.25, six pounds twenty five pence.
To be fair though, at 500g it’s twice the size of a regular block of butter, which would be £1.70 at least. For a posh butter in the supermarket it would be £2.50 easily, so £3.12 per 250g isn’t the end of the world