AIBU to keep this mistake?

[rootietootie]

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.

Of course it was an honest mistake. But you have realised now so it wouldn't be honest to do nothing about it. You will feel sick and guilty every time you use it if you do nothing.

I like the suggestion of ringing them, explaining and asking for them to send you the pre paid envelope to return it and the item you actually paid for.

Thing is if you take it back now you could get the assistant into trouble

I think the assistant has purposly given you a better one , maybe he liked you or felt sorry that you couldnt get the one you had wanted. Maybe he knows the stock take forms are shit and it would go as a lost item and no one would be accountable. Thats what i think anyway lol

OP, please return the product to Halfords. While this is not a theft per se, it is still dishonest, now that you know better.

It doesn't matter if it's a small shop or a big retail chain. I have worked for a huge internation retail chain in the past and have put store staff on probation for lesser mistakes than this.

You don't know the consequences of this incident and I am certain you don't want your conscience weighed down by it.

yabu, it is dishonest to keep it, I understand the temptation, but it'd be a rotten thing to do.

Is anyone else reading this thread in fits of giggles over the righteous indignation? Just me? Oh well.

OP, do let us know what you decided to do.

A person commits theft if they dishonestly appropriate property belonging to another, with the intent to permanently deprive the other of it.

To complete the offence, all 5 parts of the definition need to be in place. Once op had handed over the money and been handed receipt, she had not only assumed the rights of the owner, she had legally become the owner. Later she realises that she has been given the wrong item, but decides to keep it. This is where the dishonesty bit comes in but whilst she has dishonestly appopriated property with the intent to permanently deprive, the property no longer belongs to someone else, as it by now belongs to her, so she has therefore not committed theft.

It would have been a different story had she glanced down at the box on the counter, prior to paying for it, and realised that it was the wrong dvd player, because then the appropration would have be dishonest, but as she quite honestly appropriated it, she has no legal case to answer.

I am just curious here - if it had been bought through amazon and the wrong more expensive one arrived, or over the internet through halfords and the more expensive one arrived how can the op be at fault?

However it didn't and she still isn't at fault, she would well be within her rights to say that it was purchased as a gift (true) and that they only found out at a later time (true) that it wasn't the one that was purchased in store. It would be worth phoning them and asking what the best thing to do is but say to them that you wanted the less expensive one and that you won't be paying the £199 for a dvd player but you also don't have the time to return it before christmas unless they are able to courier out to you the new one that you did pay for and take back the other one that you didn't.

See what they say! Its only a phone call and they won't have your details on hand so they won't be able to track you and they can't charge everyone who bought that dvd today can they? I bet they either get a courier or tell you to keep it.

So the op has to inconvenience herself (time and petrol money) to rectify someone else's mistake?

ShowofHands I have to disagree. It's a civil matter, not a criminal one.
The contract was concluded at the till when the trader offered the item for the price of £99 and the OP accepted, paid her money and left.
Yes, now further info has come to light, but you cannot apply that info retrospectively and accuse the OP of theft. The OP did not go into the shop with the intention to permanently deprive Halfords, she went it to make a purchase.
The OP has not committed an offence, at all.
Whether she should let the trader know what's happened is another question.

I would argue with dh who would rather keep it phone and explain whats happened as I would feel guilty.

also if you have any faults with it within warranty you've got no chance of getting it fixed as you dont have a receipt for the model you've got. portable dvd's are notorious for faults.

I am not a "pompos ass" but you have taken something that you know you haven't paid for and we are not talking pennies here. Depends on your conscience I suppose.

I spent some money in a shop, not lots less than £15 and when I put the stuff in the car I had got something for 99p that I hadn't paid for. I took it back to the shop and explained. I was allowed to keep it for being honest. I would have felt like a thief otherwise.

Purchases of this type are rarely scanned through the tills at Halfords. The 6 digit product code is entered onto the till from the display price, the customer pays for the item and then the sales assistant goes and gets the product from a locked cage out the back.

Only a few members of staff have keys to the cage. What will happen is that when another customer goes to purchase this item, and the till is showing one in stock, when the member of staff goes to get it there won't be one there. This is when questions will be asked as to where this item has gone, and this is when a few member's of staff (i.e. the key holders) will fall under suspicion. It will then be possible to trace all sales of this item, check the cctv (and they will) and discover which member of staff made this mistake.

Everybody makes mistakes, we are all human. The point is now, you know a mistake has been made and it should be rectified. There is every chance that the store will allow you to keep it or at least ask for you to meet them half way.

I would have to contact the shop, conscience wouldn't let me keep it - I think I'd feel a bit grubby whenever I looked at it otherwise tbh.

Does that make me a pompous ass? Don't know, that's just how I would feel, but looks like I'm in a minority.

So the op has to inconvenience herself (time and petrol money) to rectify someone else's mistake?

You wouldn't be saying that if OP had been hugely overcharged. We'd all be encouraging her of course to go get her money back, inconvenient or not. We'd be saying the shop had a moral duty to refund her, even if she should have realised at the time of purchase and it was just one employee's fault.

In the big scheme of things I don't much care what OP does; but if I were her I couldn't keep the item and sleep at night.

If you would go back if they'd given you the cheaper model by accident, then imo you should go back if you get the more expensive one.

Of course if you know that if you'd paid for the £199 and got the £99 you'd have thought: "Oh well it's my mistake, I should have checked before I left the store." Then it's reasonable to keep it.

If you keep it:
You get a better DVD player than you expected for half of the price.

If you return it:
You waste petrol and time by trying to give back something that's, in their eyes, rightfully yours. You'll more than likely cock up their stock counts further, get the assistant into trouble and you won't even be thanked for your honesty.

I'd keep it. With everyone going on about "karma" and all that, hasn't anyone thought that maybe some bad karma has affected the OP and this dvd-player-incident is the good karma coming back to balance things out?

I was once paid £500 too much by an old place of work. If I kept that (and I did - because I didn't notice, and they only noticed 6 months later... by which it was very much spent) then you should keep this.

Karma is bollocks. I'd keep it without a moments hesitation.

What goes around, comes around. Take it back.

It's funny isn't it. I bet everyone who's saying 'keep it' actually thinks of themself as honest and having integrity, despite their posts here proving otherwise.