What to do about the big shop I may have inadvertently shoplifted!

[ImGoingUpstairsToTakeOffMyHat]

Did my big shop yesterday using a scan and shop doo-dah.

Racked up £100+ worth of goods, and went to the tills to pay. I was told scan and shop wasn’t working so I’d have to put it through again on the other tills. They also said Google pay wasn’t working and made sure I had a physical card.

Went to self scan, and it was chaos. I could hear that other customers’s payments weren’t going through and a few people had to take themselves to the cash machine or go to sort it at customer services.

Anyway I scanned all my shopping then went to pay with via contactless with my card. It asked me to insert the card and enter my pin, which I did. It took a really long time but the screen on the card machine, and also the self scan machine, displayed a green tick and said “approved”/“transaction complete”. But then suddenly the self scan screen showed up a red exclamation mark and said “Error - call for help?” With a yes and no option. However, by this point the machine had spat out a receipt, and staff members were all busy helping others, so I assumed it was just the machine glitching. Also DD was in the car and didn’t want to leave her much longer, especially as scanning the shipping took so long. I pressed no, took my receipt and left.

However, no money has left my bank. I didn’t realise until I was making a transfer this morning and noticed I had no transactions for yesterday.

I was going to go back and tell them but DH said that they may make me pay, only to find that the payment is just taking a few days - so says I’d risk a double payment and may struggle to get a refund on one of them. I tried calling the customer services today but was on hold for ages and we had plans. I don’t want to go into the supermarket and ask for advice in case they accuse me of shoplifting, or force me to pay (see concern above about potential double payment )

The receipt says “Total paid £102.34”. Just for clarification. It’s not the kind of receipt you get when a transaction fails.

Should I worry about this? Is it shoplifting? Has anyone experienced this before? I don’t know much about banking, can transactions take a number of days?

If I go to Asda or Morrisons, I almost always get the “quality check” (aka shooter check) but I never have in Sainsburys. I do wonder at how much theft happens via the shop and scan doo-dahs.

I almost faint when I see a human sitting at a check out rounds these parts. It’s so rare now.

Happened to me. Just take it as a nice win. Stop being soft.

The alarm would only go off if she took a security tagged item through, it doesn't register barcodes of items or anything like that.

Was this Asda? They've had a new software system installed, our cashier apologised for the total chaos today.

She may or may not have paid - unclear at this point due to potential delay hitting bank account.

And I’m referring more generally to people saying stuff like “enjoy the free food” “…record profits so don’t worry” “pretend you didn’t notice”. Most people are giving the impression that not paying for something you have taken is fine so long as it’s come from a big supermarket. Stealing is stealing regardless. (Not saying the OP has done this deliberately in this case, just surprised at the “don’t worry they make loads of profit so take the free food” attitude here.)

Whenever there is a thread like this it seems the majority of posters say (1) It’s a big company, they can afford it and/or (2) It’s not your fault if the system failed.

But to me, neither of these factors make it ok just to shrug and walk away. If you haven’t paid for something, you haven’t paid. It is stealing, albeit unintentional. And the ‘ it’s a big company so it’s fine’ justification just means prices go up for everyone else.

I’m talking generally, not about the OP’s situation ( and agree with PP saying to wait as it may take a while for the payment to go through)

I don’t want to go into the supermarket and ask for advice in case they accuse me of shoplifting

I see this excuse trotted out often for not doing anything, when the reality is you know that the supermarket is never going to accuse customers who proactively come in to say they haven’t paid, of shop lifting.

You want to keep the money, just own it.

You have a receipt. That’s proof of payment. If their machines broke that’s their fault and they won’t be hunting you down when you have a receipt. Just leave it. If anything ever did come of it just show the receipt.

We have shopping from a supermarket delivered weekly, using the same time slot.

One week the shopping wasn't delivered. I checked online about half an hour after the time slot, only to find that the order had been cancelled because, apparently, someone had tried to deliver the shopping but we hadn't been in.

We had been in, of course! Before I could get through to the supermarket to complain, the bell went and the driver was at the door, full of apologies - he said he had previously turned up early and got no answer (this was odd, as we were in, but never mind) and the cancellation message was sent by mistake. Thought no more about it, as we had our shopping.

However, on checking bank statements later, we realised we were never charged for this particular delivery. And when we contacted the supermarket afterwards, they insisted the order had been cancelled and we didn't owe them anything. So we could not pay them, even though we tried to do so (twice).

OP, I'd just let this go now, if I were you. You have tried to pay and it's not your fault the payment wasn't taken.

Unlike most of you I would go back to the shop with my receipt and pay if they can show the money wasn't taken out. When did people think stuff like that is right?

Just call your bank / credit card provider and they will tell you if any payments are pending.

Honestly you paid in good faith, have a paid receipt and are on here fretting about it…so no one can accuse you of stealing! Give it 10 days. If there is still no money taken and you are determined to put this right then talk to the manager of the shop next time you are in.

If you go back to pay you are crazy imo

This is EXACTLY what I’d do.

Your bank is what counts and is far more reliable than the market.

Perfect advise from @Arlanymor

Agree

You have a receipt. This business made the decision to not employ humans but to rely on machines. What has occurred is a consequence of their own actions.

They had you do all of the work of processing your purchases - they did not make this activity easy. You then paid and received a receipt. The interaction is over.

You should not be expected to do an audit of your personal finances every time you go to the shops. It is the responsibility of that corporate entity to ensure their technology works.

I would never have called. Take the win and use that money to buy something you want that you otherwise wouldn’t have spent the money on.

Very few in a supermarket. Some alcohol has a plastic tag that physically needs removing - the self serve till will call an attendant when you scan it - partly for ID and partly to remove the tag. Some clothes might have tags, but supermarket clothing is cheap so largely they don’t. A few regularly shop lifted items might have the magnetic security tags, like steak.

But your cabbage, chips, beans and washing up liquid can be removed without alarm.

Yeah I know. I guess I thought she might have at least one thing that had a tag. Thank you! X

I think it is always best to be honest and to try to pay.

I would wait a few days to see if payment has gone through then go back in. If they say not to worry then it’s fine

I would do nothing. It will probably come out of your bank in next few days

You have a receipt. My guess is they had a big glitch and there will be a delay in it showing up in your account. I had the opposite once, shopping in M&S. It said the transaction hadn't gone through so I redid it and they charged me twice. I never got the money back as I was on the way to see my ill dad who then died and I spent the next few weeks sorting out his funeral and looking after my mum, so by then it was felt late (and too much hassle at the time) to chase. Still pisses me off every time I pass that M&S.

This is totally the right response.

I had something go through twice once for a train ticket and I phoned the bank to try and sort it out. Had to push it a bit as they were not on my side at all , but eventually they refunded it.

oh honestly - this reads like genuine mistake / cock up. I would leave it.
The way things are if you admit anything you might get into bigger mess.
Just take more care next time.
You could rais the point with the supermarket about tills not working and leave them to fix it. Sound like their stupid IT problem as well.

Go back and pay. The same thing happened to me - was an issue with their tills and when I went back the next day they had a receipt showing that the shopping had not actually been paid for. People saying the supermarkets can afford it are missing the point. They will not accuse you of shoplifting if you go back into the shop

I was basically really worried when it happened to me. I went home and there was no pending transaction. I could have just left it but I would not have felt right about doing shopping and not paying for it.

They will get into no mess if they go back