Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

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:
Original poster
FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop · 05/08/2021 09:57

@OhRene

A schoolyard mum friend asked me if I wanted some toys she had been given. At the time I had older kids (too old to play with these) and a newborn baby boy and the toys would need to be kept for a few years before he could even play with them. (They were Happyland) but I said yes, thanks. She brought them to playgroup and put them in my boot with a "Great. Shall we say, £60? Good, I'll be around on the school run" I can't believe I actually paid up. She had got them for free too!
Funnily enough the exact same thing happened to me with Happyland toys when my eldest was 1, with a colleague - she brought them in and said "£50 will do". I begrudgingly paid it but I tell you what, best £50 I ever spent! Probably about £200 worth and the kids, 5 & 9, still play with them today
OP posts:
Ozgirl75 · 05/08/2021 10:01

The thing I’ve realised with age is that mainly no one cares or even thinks much about other people. So if you back out of a sale, the worst they might think is “they’re too poor to buy this” - well, who cares?! Most people are too poor for something unless they’re Jeff Bezos.
But probably they won’t even think about it again.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 05/08/2021 10:18

I think you're right there, Ozgirl75 - they're probably counting on enough people being too embarrassed/not noticing/being so fabulously rich that they don't care anyway, but I seriously doubt they're analysing or judging you - they just see you as a sale and are more bothered about your money than you!

Considering that they are 'smart' with the money (in what they're looking to charge you), if anything, they probably admire (or at least respect) you for saying No. They must factor in that some people will refuse to pay such a high price, and that many will simply not be able to, even if they wanted to. Once you've declined and left, they likely forget all about you and look for their next mark valued customer.

MrsMaizel · 05/08/2021 10:19

@ShitShop

Oh and a ‘traditional’ Finnish meal in Lapland including bear broth and teeny tiny reindeer chops Sad. Was £100 for two of us (no alcohol) and we ended up going for a McDonalds afterwards as we were still hungry.
😂😂😂😂😂
BecauseMyRingBurnsSheila · 05/08/2021 10:22

@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.
That's really unfair of them.

I booked and paid a deposit for the same thing. When they did no earwax they not only didn't charge me full price but also refunded the deposit. Which I thought was very reasonable of them given they had checked my ears so I had received a service.

robotcollision · 05/08/2021 11:18

@LoveFall

Paid far, far too much for a bag of teas in a market in Istanbul. I was entranced by the colourful display and the shop keeper portioned the ones I pointed to into bag. The price was then quoted at over 150 Euros.

I balked but this huge Turkish guy became quite threatening when I refused to pay. Sadly for him I was not about to let him get the better of me. In the end we were shouting at each other threatening police (both of us). His co worker said something I am sure along the lines of get rid of her and the price suddenly dropped.

It was still too high but at that point I just wanted out of there and I paid. He shouted never come back. I most certainly would not be back.

My husband was mortified.

I find the way to deal with this is to look incredibly sad, close to tears and say 'sorry' apologetically as if you'd LOVE to buy a few dusty old tea bags for £150 but sadly you are a shameful pauper.They jsut lose interest then.
whynotwhatknot · 05/08/2021 12:33

Not an overcharge but whilst in vegas got accosted by a time share salesman my dh paid 40 dollars just to get rid of him and no we didnt do the time share tour

Tigerstripe20 · 05/08/2021 12:57

DH, Bought some bags of Turkish 'artisan' delight and nuts from a stall at our local farmers market ...I think it was about £30 for similar to the nuts etc you would find in Lidl
My work includes advising start ups and the amount of them that add the word 'artisan' as a sales pitch to their products ...I have advised on enough 'artisan' olives to set up my own olive grove

SunshineCake · 05/08/2021 13:03

I'm still annoyed I paid full price for two lunches and two drinks when they were supposed to be half price as after 3pm. She chucked the receipt without offering it to me and I didn't want to seem tight in front of a friend as she had ordered a fancy tea.

LindaEllen · 05/08/2021 13:04

I once paid £9 for pick n mix when I was 18 with my mates because I didn't realise they were so expensive and I couldn't bring myself to say I couldn't really afford to pay it 😂😂

lightlysparkling · 05/08/2021 13:35

I feel like a lot of this is just being very British. In Australia I'd just say 'yeah nah'.

SunshineCake · 05/08/2021 13:46

@latte101

Oh and another time. We moved into this nightmare of a house. Needed to replace fence. DH got this bloke to do it after receiving several quotes of £1k+. This bloke was charging £600. He sent his workers, they were quite intimidating so I kept out of their way. They did one side of the garden and started packing up, I went out and asked when the other two sides would be done - they laughed and said they were only doing one as that's what their boss has told them. I remember checking with this bloke it was 3 sides because I pointed to opposite end of garden with decking and asked what he'd do there to make it all level.

My DH was heartbroken, we spent so much money on this house. The bloke threatened us with legal action. We didn't have the quote because it was 'cash in hand'. Huge lesson learnt. We had to get someone else in to finish the job Sad

On what grounds were they threatening you with legal action ?Hmm
SarahAndQuack · 05/08/2021 15:23

I have a few. As 19 year old students my mate and I saw a sale in Jigsaw and we naively thought we could afford it. I saw this lovely, butter-soft suede mini skirt in a lovely, deep, chocolate brown. I didn't actually feel confident wearing it, but it was £15 and my mate was egging me on so I went to the till. Yes, it was £215 and I stupidly paid thinking I'd go back and return it tomorrow. No returns, they said. I barely wore it, too.

DP has a worse one - we were moving house and she'd done bugger all of the work house hunting so I insisted she get her finger out and organise the removal van. He turned up, super-friendly, slightly weird vibe, and gave us a price. I told DP he seemed a bit off and she insisted he was from a reputable company and it was fine.

He turned up on the day, loaded all our stuff, drove off with DP in the passenger seat. Two hours in he hit a traffic jam and declared it was silly to carry on and he'd drive back home and do it another day. Which he did. The next day he came back, picked up DP, and this time they got all the way there. At which point, standing outside our very isolated new house where we didn't know anyone, he demanded she pay twice the agreed price in cash to cover the 'double journey'.

She paid.

Then she googled him and found he wasn't a reputable company, he was a scammer who'd ripped off the logo of that company.

Oh, the joy.

OwlDoll · 05/08/2021 17:56

I was in Primark a couple of years ago buying new underwear for my Dc. At the checkout there were small Harry Potter chocolate bars and my 3 Dc asked if they could have one each. I said they could and they were put into my bag. It came to £20 and I was so shocked as I knew I had bought only £8 worth of underwear. I told the assistant that there must be some mistake. She said no and showed me the receipt. The Harry Potter chocolate bars which were the same size as Freddo were £4 each. I was so shocked as I expected them to be about 40p each. I was too shocked to feel embarrassed and told the assistant that there was no way I was paying that for a small chocolate bar. We went next door to the Pound Shop and bought a packet of 4 bars for a pound.

modgepodge · 06/08/2021 11:34

@OwlDoll

I was in Primark a couple of years ago buying new underwear for my Dc. At the checkout there were small Harry Potter chocolate bars and my 3 Dc asked if they could have one each. I said they could and they were put into my bag. It came to £20 and I was so shocked as I knew I had bought only £8 worth of underwear. I told the assistant that there must be some mistake. She said no and showed me the receipt. The Harry Potter chocolate bars which were the same size as Freddo were £4 each. I was so shocked as I expected them to be about 40p each. I was too shocked to feel embarrassed and told the assistant that there was no way I was paying that for a small chocolate bar. We went next door to the Pound Shop and bought a packet of 4 bars for a pound.
In PRIMARK?!?!? 😲😲😲
carriehagshaw · 06/08/2021 11:59

I went for a colonic using one of those voucher offer things (wow her I think)

All went to plan and as I was leaving the practitioner asked if I'd like some vitamins and said they'd be beneficial. I said yes please to 2 bottles and she handed me the card machine..... £97!

I was too embarrassed to say no so paid up. Obviously they made no difference to my life at all

OwlDoll · 06/08/2021 14:36

Yes Modge podge, in Primark. I think the fact that it was there added to my shock. (Sorry, I'm not sure how to quote from your post)

GrrRightBackAtYou · 06/08/2021 18:00

Worst that can happen in a supermarket is to 'buy' something from a special counter or promotion, which you can jettison before going through the check outs.
So long as you leave the product in the store, it's all good

Give fresh/frozen stuff to the checkout staff and just say you’ve changed your mind. The stuff that gets wasted because it can’t be sold pushes the prices up for everyone.

modgepodge · 07/08/2021 20:06

@OwlDoll

Yes Modge podge, in Primark. I think the fact that it was there added to my shock. (Sorry, I'm not sure how to quote from your post)
I was shocked (as you were!) that a tiny chocolate bar would be £4 in primark!! Seems completely out of kilter with their normal pricing!
NotThatSocial · 07/08/2021 20:32

@Starlight39

A little dinosaur tail that went round the waist for 3 yo (at the time) DS at a festival. I asked how much it was and heard £13 and thought "oh, fair enough". They put it in a bag and said "that'll be £30"! I guess it was sort of reasonable as they were probably paying the festival £££s for the pitch but was definitely more than I wanted to spend!
My daughter persuaded me to spend £30 on a skunk tail for her at a festival when she was 3. Amazingly, that was 2 years ago and she still wears it regularly.
3luckystars · 08/08/2021 09:32

This long and boring story has a happy ending.

A few weeks ago I went for a walk with my daughter past a new pop up coffee shop nearby. There is always very long queues outside the door.

So it was 9am on a Sunday morning and we were the first people there, I went in and she waited outside with the dog as only one person is allowed in at the time. I got a small hot chocolate, a tea and a can of 7up. In the space of a minute, a huge queue had formed outside and one very aggressive woman was making noise at the door. I changed my mind about the tea and got something else for my daughter. Well the aggressive woman started making a lot of noise outside, I had €20 and just handed it over. There were no prices displayed. They gave me change and as I turned around to leave the shop, the woman at the door was screaming from outside the shop ‘give me a cappuccino!!!!!’ Through the window!! So when I went outside, I saw the change and they had changed me 17.50! The queue was so big that I couldn’t go back in and also that woman was a bit scary.
I was really annoyed about it though, and went back a few weeks later and told them what happened and and they refunded me straight away, it was a mistake. They now have the prices up on display too. That coffee woman though, I keep thinking about her. She walked there so was not in a rush to go somewhere else but she was really desperate for that coffee.

A similar woman was beside me in the petrol station, she was getting coffee and nothing else mattered. I started wondering about all the anxiety around and am wondering did all the caffeine cause it, or are people using caffeine to help them through it.

Anyway that’s for another thread! I was overcharged but eventually got the money back. The end.

MeredithMae · 09/08/2021 12:38

I also got robbed blind by a baklava stall in a market! He was shoving little samples at us and insisting we eat- I felt very overwhelmed and said I'd have 4 bits and it was £40. I apologised and said I couldn't afford that so he 'knocked it down' to £25 Blush I'm a grown adult in my thirties and still bloody paid!

3luckystars · 09/08/2021 15:50

Was it nice though ?

kizzywizz · 09/08/2021 17:03

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.

notacooldad · 09/08/2021 17:20

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?