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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to keep this mistake?

209 replies

rootietootie · 18/12/2011 00:11

I am wrapping up presents at the moment, most of which we bought earlier today. Earlier we were in Halfords and bought a dvd player for the car for ds2. We picked it off from a picture on the wall and paid for it while the customer assistant retrieved item from stockroom and put it in bag for us. Did not really pay attention as had ds2 (11 months) with us and was faffing about with him. The model we picked was £99. Now am at home, take out of bag and see that the assistant has given us the wrong model, the much nicer, upgraded twin model that is worth £199. Would I be wrong to think that the gods have smiled down upon us and cast a bit of luck upon me. Or do I take it back because I was wittering on to the customer assistant how I really wanted the nicer, upgraded twin model but could justify spending any more on dc1, and having had to listen to me, he probably had this (wrong) model in his mind when he went to get it.

OP posts:
Emmac50 · 18/12/2011 14:10

I used to work in a pub and when people gave out free drinks or caught stealing it was the team who had to pay by when people bought drinks we had to make up stock....but on electricals you always are able to make deals so maybe they are able to just knock off £100 because you were looking at more stuff in the shop. Don't worry and enjoy your buy! We got loads of stuff and a large discount when we bought our laptop Wink

LydiaWickham · 18/12/2011 14:11

SDTG - not just you. I think she'll end up being told to keep it if she tells them anyway. Sometimes you do have to do the right thing.

sunshinesue · 18/12/2011 14:11

perhaps the sales assistant is being laid off after Christmas and it wasn't a mistake at all...........

I'd keep it, I would have pointed it out if I'd noticed it whilst still in the shop but I wouldn't go out of my way to correct their mistake if I didn't notice until I got home. Though, morally the right thing to do IS to take it back, I could live with it (with a large company, I wouldn't keep it from a small independent)

scuzy · 18/12/2011 14:12

if your son or daughter came home from a shopping trip and told you this had happened to her what would you tell your child to do?

MamaMaiasaura · 18/12/2011 14:16

Give same advice if exact same situation

FlightRisk · 18/12/2011 14:21

Scuzy I'd say woo hoo son what a blag!!!

It isn't stolen the assistant handed it to her!! There is a very good chance it has gone into the sale and it just hadn't been physically marked down yet. That happens all the time.

ImperialBlether · 18/12/2011 14:25

Which details are on the receipt, OP?

spartafc · 18/12/2011 14:35

It isn't theft in any way.
You entered into a contract to purchase something, the wrong thing was provided but payment was made anyway. At the point that you paid, that contract was concluded. It's not a criminal matter, at all.
When you go into a shop the price you see is not necessarily the price you will be charged, the price on a label is an invitation to treat. So if the trader had charged you more than £99 they wouldn't have been doing anything wrong. In paying less for this item you haven't done anything wrong, civilly or criminally.
It is a matter for you whether you think morally you have done anything wrong.

mumto2andnomore · 18/12/2011 14:47

I would keep it :) If it was a little local shop I might take it back and explain but £100 is nothing to a big store like Hafords.

Rhinestone · 18/12/2011 14:50

I would take it back. But then I'm honest.

mewantcookiesmenocanwait · 18/12/2011 15:04

Most people would keep it and say nothing. But then people do all kinds of horrible things when they think they can get away with it - just look at MPs fiddling their expenses or the looting during the riots. It's exactly the same thing - "I'm not stealing from a person... nobody will ever notice... it's not that much really... I probably deserve it." Of course you didn't set out to steal, and I'm sure it wouldn't legally be defined as theft anyway, but you know that's what it is or you wouldn't be posting here and asking people to convince you it's OK.

MynameisnotEarl · 18/12/2011 15:05

I think LydiaWickham's advice is absolutely spot on.

I'm sure that if you follow it OP, you will be told to keep the item and you can enjoy Christmas with a clear conscience.

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 18/12/2011 15:35

Gosh yes, keep it. And then, when it goes wrong in the new year, you won't have proof of purchase and will be stuffed. Karma.

It's theft. Whether you are happy with that is up to you.

bluerodeo · 18/12/2011 15:57

i am utterly amazed at the amout of people who have said to keep it.

it is dishonest - and if you have to post to an online forum to figure out
which way your moral compass points, well that's just sad

carocaro · 18/12/2011 16:53

Keep it. It's not dishonest, OP did not do anything dishonest. I reckon OP could do without trecking back to shop with small children to sort it out.

And is it hell theft, did OP run in and rob it and hurdle over the barriers without paying? No. So don't be so stupid.

VikingWenceslas · 18/12/2011 16:56

Meh, the only thing I'd be worried about is the guarantee, if anything goes wrong with it you won't be able to take it back if it is a mistake.

LoopyLoopsWoopDeWoops · 18/12/2011 16:58

Halfords - keep it.

Small independent shop - take it back. :)

3littlefrogs · 18/12/2011 17:10

I was going to suggest exactly what LydiaWickham said. I think that would be the most reasonable thing to do.

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 18/12/2011 17:17

"OP did not do anything dishonest:

Really? Keeping an item which is more expensive than the one you paid for is not dishonest?

She doesn't need to go into the shop, just phone them and explain. Who knows what they will say.

ShellyBoobs · 18/12/2011 17:23

I would definitely at least contact the store and tell them what's happened.

I can't believe all the people saying OP should keep it and not say anything! Dishonesty isn't a nice trait, IMO.

Have some integrity and don't try to justify OP keeping the item with the reasoning that 'Halfords is a big business, they can afford it'.

ShowOfHands · 18/12/2011 17:28

It is dishonest. Doesn't matter if it's a massive store or you've given them enough over the years or whatever today's excuse is. Nothing any company does or doesn't do, nothing you do, however altruistic, changes the fact that it's theft. We make our own choices.

I'd have more respect for people who just said fuck it, I know it's theft but I don't care. The justification makes it worse. I'd just ring 'em personally.

mumeeee · 18/12/2011 17:29

Keep it. It was their mistake and you didn't do it on purpose.

ShowOfHands · 18/12/2011 17:30

spartafc, it IS theft. Dishonest appropriation of goods with the intention to permanently deprive. If the op made reasonable steps to rectify the mistake ie a phonecall, her criminal conscience would be clear.

ShowOfHands · 18/12/2011 17:32

mumeeee it matters not whether the op took it on purpose. It's the keeping it on purpose which is key.

Dozer · 18/12/2011 17:39

It would be dishonest to keep it.

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