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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Should I have gone back to the shop?

102 replies

Bennifer · 09/01/2012 10:57

I went shopping this weekend and was buying a lot of stuff for my new house. I went to a big homeware shop (it?s a big national chain) and had a trolley full of pillows, bins, etc. At the till, it came to £140, which was less than I was expecting. I mentioned this to the shop assistant who said there was a sale on. When I got home and checked my receipt, I noticed that I hadn?t been charged for the biggest item at a cost of around £75.

I was umming and ahhing over the correct thing to do. In the end I went back, but I was so tempted to keep the item. Would you have gone back?

OP posts:
bringbacksideburns · 09/01/2012 11:00

No way!

Maybe if i was very comfortably off yes, bit i'm not so i wouldn't.

What did they say when you went back? It would have been nice to have got a little discount for your honesty.

MrsTwinks · 09/01/2012 11:02

you gave the assistant an opening to check she had rung everything through the till, I wouldnt go back.

StickAForkInMeImDone · 09/01/2012 11:02

I think the very fact that you ummed and ahhed over it made it the right thing for you to do. Some people wouldn't have thought twice either way.
I'm not sure what I would have done. Would probably have depended on how flush I was at the time not right I know Blush

imoanruby · 09/01/2012 11:03

No i'm ashamed to say i would have kept it.

£75.00 is alot of money although i would have felt bad for five minutes
i would not have been as honest as you.

What did they say when you went back??

Kladdkaka · 09/01/2012 11:05

You did the right thing. I would have done the same (and have done in the past).

Original poster
Bennifer · 09/01/2012 11:05

I think they were surprised that I brought it back to be honest. I could quite easily have kept it, in a way I'm kicking myself that I didn't

OP posts:
seeker · 09/01/2012 11:06

I have worked in places where a mistake like that would have come out of my wages.

Take it back every time.

dexter73 · 09/01/2012 11:06

I wouldn't have gone back. You mentioned at the time that you thought the bill was too cheap so it is their hard cheese.

SilentBoob · 09/01/2012 11:07

I would have kept it and been delighted with my steal.

dexter73 · 09/01/2012 11:10

seeker - if the item wasn't scanned through then how would they know that you had made a mistake and then charged you for it?

IwishIwasmoreorganised · 09/01/2012 11:10

Tricky one as you'd siad what you did at the till, so if wsa me I think I'd have just kept the item but probably felt pangs of guilt every time I used it!

Original poster
Bennifer · 09/01/2012 11:13

What made me go back was possibly the thought of the shopgirl having to pay for it from her wages, but I was thinking about the banking system and mp's expenses. If I'd kept it, I would have been doing, without doubt, the "Wrong Thing", but like them, thinking it's ok, I'll get away with it, and I'd be just as bad as them.

OP posts:
MrsCampbellBlack · 09/01/2012 11:14

You did the right thing.

Not sure how it could have been taken out of anyone's wages though as presumably if it didn't go through the till they won't know one is missing until they do a stocktake and then it could just be assumed it was shoplifted at any time . . .

PopcornMouse · 09/01/2012 11:14

The same thing happened to me a few weeks back, it was about £55 so a similarly large amount. It was a big national chain, so fairly sure nobody will be penalised personally, and I didn't go back Blush

BoysBoysBoysAndMe · 09/01/2012 11:15

Not your mistake.

You expressed your concern at the till, and no action was taken on her behalf.

If she / he has to pay for it themselves then it's a hard way to learn from your mistakes. But their mistake it is.

Don't go back.

Treat yourselves to a meal out or something instead.

TimothyClaypoleLover · 09/01/2012 11:15

I don't think I would have gone back. You gave them the opportunity to check by saying you thought the total sounded too cheap.

A few years back I was using the scanners to do my weekly shop in the supermarket and something went wrong with the scanner and the total came out at less than £10. For a whole trolley of shopping! I pointed out to the boy on the till that it had to be wrong as I had a week's worth of shopping but he insisted that was what had rung through the till so that was what he was charging. Perhaps he couldn't be bothered to do a rescan. Result for me!

Kayano · 09/01/2012 11:16

I would have kept it Grin

DeWe · 09/01/2012 11:17

My reasoning is if I would have gone back if they'd charged my double, then I should go back if they've undercharged me.

There was one shop that (precomputerisation) as a student I decided I didn't go back to because they made a mistake nearly every time (in either direction). If I noticed at the till then I'd mention it, but I wouldn't go back. I suspect we were about even at the end. Other than that I will almost always go back even if it's a small amount.

LindyHemming · 09/01/2012 11:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BoysInTheHood · 09/01/2012 11:22

You did the right thing, I would've done the same. In fact, in the supermarket on Saturday, the assistant gave me my £40 cashback twice and when I realised I took the money back.

I wouldn't judge anyone for not, I just have a really guilty conscience.

Mmmcoffee · 09/01/2012 11:22

I would have kept it - you did point it out at the till that your total was very low, so the cashier had the opportunity of re-checking. There's no way the cashier would have been held responsible as they couldn't possibly have known the item had gone through (or not!) her till. They probably wouldn't even miss the item until stocktaking. Regardless of the cost of the item, if the supermarket cashier scanned six bottles of milk but one 'missed' the scanner, would you go back? I wouldn't.

If you had got home and THEN realised you hadn't put something through for scanning, it would have been your mistake and therefore you should have gone back. Last week I took my mum shopping, after paying we browsed the books and then went to the Tobacco/Lottery counter to buy tickets and breezily walked out with her new book sitting on the top of the trolley unpaid-for. Realised at the car, and dashed back in to pay.

So - whether you should return and pay or not depends on the circumstances. All IMHO of course, which may be somewhat warped... Wink

Gribble · 09/01/2012 11:25

I wouldn't have kept it a few years ago before DCs when I was comfortable £wise

Nowadays? Id have kept it, and Im not ahshamed to say so either. Especially if I did as you did and made a comment at the till, that was their chance to check it IMO

Shakey1500 · 09/01/2012 11:27

I would have gone back.

SuchProspects · 09/01/2012 11:29

You did the right thing. You aren't a mug. And you are right that it is in a similar vein to the MPs expenses scandle - but with you coming out of it as a human being with decent values.

I probably wouldn't have gone back to the store unless I was heading that way anyway, but I would have called and asked how I could transfer the money.

StrandedBear · 09/01/2012 11:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.