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

[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 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

@notacooldad

The number of times the tight old bugger had ‘forgotten his wallet’ when the 4 of us were eating out, turned into a very wry joke between me and dh That doesn't wash with me anyone. I know which friends are genuine if they haven't got enough money or whatever in them. Those that I know pull thatctrick get told 'no problem, let's do a bank transfer now" I've not lost it since I started sticking up for myself over money.

My dh is just far too soft. Once we’d got back to their house the tight old sod would usually pretend he still couldn’t find his wallet, and would get his wife to give us a cheque. The thing was, it was a 2nd marriage, with very definitely separate finances, and he was much better off than she was. Since we strongly suspected that he’d always very conveniently ‘forget’ to pay her back, we never paid the cheques in.

He’s gone now, and because of other less pleasant factors on top, , I could never mourn his loss at all.

A leather jacket in Italy. 190€ Very pushy shop keeper and my mum was begging me to get it cause she wanted to buy it and they didn't have her size. I wore it a handful of times but really wasn't my style. My mum kept saying "but it's Italian leather, you won't get anything like this elsewhere"
Thankfully it wasn't a total waste as preteen DD has pinched it and it's never off her back 🤣
Better last her till shes at least 50 🤣

I knew someone would mention cherries! They're always more than you expect and always on these threads!

I've grown a backbone recently and politely decline if I don't want to spend the money.
I avoided spending £1.50 on one organic courgette and never looked back - nothing bad has happened!

Went to the zoo with DD and agreed to buy her a cuddly toy.. The one she picks was on a table with other toys labelled £8... Cashier puts it through the till.
28 fucking pounds.
It was boiling hot, we queued up for ages and I literally couldn't face the tantrum.. Like a mug I paid for it..
Fortunately its her favourite cuddly toy still. But bastarding hell it was expensive.

@blairresignationjam

This happened just last week! Booked an audiologist to have microsuction done on my ears, I was completely certain I had impacted ear wax. Turned up to be informed there was nothing in there. Settling up I was charged the full £75 for double ear wax removal...of which I had none. I felt like too much of a doofus not to pay for their time.

Well you wouldn't have been a doofus not to pay! You'd have been unreasonable. it wasn't their fault there was nothing in there! They'd done the procedure.

A cooked gammon joint in a rotisserie shop. I usually buy the supermarket ones which are about £3 each but I was passing this shop and they looked delicious. It turned out to be £12, but by the time I found out how much it was, the assistant had wrapped it up and put it in a bag on the counter top and I was too embarrassed to say it was too expensive. I've never bought anything from there again.

@thinkingaboutitall

10 years ago I was 14 and whenever I would walk through a beauty hall, counter staff would ask to give me a makeover. I think they thought I was older and more wealthy than I actually was

Benefit staff were the worst, and 14 year old me felt pressured to buy all the makeup they tried out on me (even though it was like £100!)

I was just coming on to say the same. Had a make up session at Benefit and took a very small number of the things she'd used to the till. They came to £130! This was 10 years ago. I was so embarrassed I just paid. Everything I bought except the pore cream was rubbish, especially the eyeshadows and mascara - they dried out and flaked within a couple of weeks, like really cheap pound store make up. I've used Rimmel and Maybelline ever since for a fifth of the price.

@user1494055864

Not a massive amount of money, but I got my ears pierced the other week. The website said £20 lobe piercing. Paid a £10 deposit to book. Chose the studs from the selection on a stand he showed me, so I presumed in that price range, and he said, "or you can have these more expensive ones" I chose the standard studs, and he charged me £35. (He knew I'd paid a £10 deposit) I paid up, but am still confused how they can put £20 and charge £45.

The 20 is for the piercing and the studs were 15....however he probably ignored or forgot you'd already paid a deposit

Not me, a friend.

Shopping for wallpaper and, not fancying any of the rolls on display, started looking in the sample books they had of wallpapers you could order in.
The assistant did say “those are a little more expensive”. Friend thought “how bad can it be?”.
loved a wallpaper and requested the required amount of rolls. They were £110 each!

@Reallybadidea

This is pretty minor compared to some of the others but I recently had a splitting headache whilst out shopping so popped into Boots for some ibuprofen. I passed over the Nurofen brand because I know it's more expensive than the generic stuff and doesn't work any better for me. Picked up a pack of cheapo ibuprofen that I usually pay 38p for in Aldi that was price marked 55p. I thought that was a bit of a hike, but needs must. Got to the checkout and was charged £1.50. I was gobsmacked but felt like too much of a cheapskate to query it.

I am still absolutely livid about it 8 weeks on and have boycottes Boots ever since

I remember having the headache from hell,so after vomiting my way into town I popped into boots and headed straight for the chemist I explained my head felt like it was going to explode and could she pretty please sell me something to shift it She told me that this brand would shift it in 4 minutes and at that point I would have sold my soul and firstborn just to be able to move without feeling like I was being hit over the head with a hammer £6 for 4 tablets that did nothing I ended up at a mates house,laid on her sofa for 4 hours until I could take some of her cheap,non branded painkillers I was right as rain within 20 minutes

Also the pick and mix stall that didn’t have scales
£25 for a bag of sweets that would have filled a wilkos small tub and have an inch to spare
Still fuming

£18 (or around that) for freakin CEREAL!!!!!

Yes! A cereal box of Froot Loops in an american shop in London

I took photos of the pretty cereals

Today I paid £2.80 for 8 carrots. In a village shop. Not organic just normal carrots . These would be 45p for a whole bag in a supermarket. £1 for a whole bag organic in a super market.

Re Ryanair

DP and i lived apart and met at airport to go away for a weekend , his bag was under the allowance but mine was over by 2kg. Jobsworth insisted i be charged excess, while i was trying to explain that they should be weighed togetherarguing he opened my bag and took out 2 jumpers and demanded she weigh again .She was absolutely fuming

An ex Boyfriend declared grandly he wanted to take me to the South of France for a week. However, once I’d agreed to go, he got me to pay for the all travel, accommodation, food and drink…….

Bloody Haribo at winter wonderland, Hyde park. DH and I knew it was going to be expensive, but we put a modest amount in a bag... £15!! I think DH was about to say don't bother, but I was 38 weeks pregnant with our first, I'd been dragged round London and Hyde Park for a whole day while we had our last break before Dd1 was born. I really fancied some sweets.

We passed about 6 shops on the way back to our hotel all selling haribo for £1 a bag!

On holiday in France we went to the Isle of Noirmoutier for the day and although I had the four kids jackets somehow I had forgotten mine. It suddenly changed and a storm with torrential rain started. We went into a shop and I loved a bright turquoise and lime green cagoule which folded into a pocket at the front and could be clicked around your waist on a belt. We took it up to the till and it cost about £50 DH paid it I couldn’t believe it. On a good note I still have it and were it occasionally and take it on holiday ...thirty years later so I guess we got our moneys worth in the end.

Not the only thing, but the one that still bugs me to this day. Buying first alcoholic drink in a ropey nightclub aged 16. Didn’t know what I was doing so asked for a martini. Barmaid complicated things by asking what kind, which I couldn’t answer and obviously tipped her off that I was still wet behind the ears.
She charge me £7.00 for it in the early 90s. I knew I was being ripped off at the time, but felt too stupid to say anything to the cow bag. I hope she’s proud of herself.

@BlobbyBloo

Never that I can recall.

I am a frugal northerner and proud. I have no problems walking away from anything that I consider poor value for money.

I am the same now as I've got older and my confidence has grown. I now have no qualms about saying "sorry no I won't be buying that".

Last weekend, beer seems to have suddenly become £6 or even £6.50 a pint in London pubs, not even nice ones in Central London. Tried 3 different pubs and pricing all very similar

Mind you, 15 years ago in Monte Carlo, I paid c. £35 for two small bottles of larger

It wasn't until afterwards, I realised just how much they had cost. I knew they'd be expensive, but....

Had a procedure done privately under insurance. For various reasons the insurance didn't cover the final consultation which I assumed would be face to face but because it was at the start of covid, it ended up being a phone call. He rang up, said "any issues" I said "no" and that was it. £150 for less than a minute on the phone

Just thought of another. Romantic trip to Venice sans DS. Sat down at fancy bar in the posh square. Aperol sprizes were pricey but hey we were on holiday. It was only once we sat down and ordered that we realised there was a 6 euro supplement per person for the orchestra. Ok fine whatever we settled down to enjoy the music. Then as soon as we started sipping our drinks, they went on a break never to return.
Profligate DH wanted to order another drink, but I wouldn't let him.
Mind you I'll never forget our 42 euro drinks.

Paid about £125 for 2 drinks, 2 salad/burger and chips type meals, and 2 ice creams, whilst on holiday in America. Prices on the menu didn’t include tax, there was a random fee added, then the worst thing was when the waitress handed me the bill I handed her a (fairly generous) tip in cash. Looked at the bill to discover a 20% tip had already been included. Raging. The ice creams were delicious mind.

@Noshowwithoutpunch

Nougat

Oh god, not you too?

Back when they still did the Christmas market on the Champs (Anne Hidalgo banned it, said it was tacky, which it was. Still fun), we found a stall selling so many different types of nougat. So i got a bit of this one, a bit of that one. At the end? 90€ I nearly laid an egg. I ended up throwing them out some months later, because I felt bad every time I had some.
I've never bought nougat since.

I was in a shoe shop years ago and they were having a sale. I saw a pair marked down to £6 and there were two pairs so I bought both.

At the counter the assistant asked for £52. I paid.

Looked at the tags later and they said 26, I'd misread the 2 as a £...