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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:
Original poster
Bennifer · 09/01/2012 11:31

I'm not judging anyone by this as I was sorely tempted to keep it, but it does make me wonder whether what it suggests that when it comes down to it, most of us (and I include myself here) are pretty amoral, and therefore we get the politicians, etc who reflect our morals. Most of us would be getting our moats cleaned if we thought it was "in the rules" and could get away with it.

OP posts:
WilsonFrickett · 09/01/2012 11:35

Yeah, but most of us aren't public servants who make laws and policy and are also paid for out of the public purse. I think it's right that MPs are judged by stricter criteria than the rest of us. Having said that, I applaud you for taking it back - I wouldn't have, given it was a national chain (so not my local newsagent, for example, who I see every couple of days) and you'd double checked at the till.

TimothyClaypoleLover · 09/01/2012 11:40

Its a bit harsh to tarnish everyone as amoral for not owning up to getting a freebie from a store particularly when you point out to the shop assistant you think the total is too low. It happens once in a blue moon, is not as though everyone is doing this every week.

Vickles · 09/01/2012 11:50

very commendable... but i would have left it, especially as you brought it up with the cashier....
not amoral though, as you did speak up at the time. if you'd kept quiet and held your breath.. keeping stum... then i could understand you feeling a tad guilty.
i wouldn't say you were a mug to take it back (that's far too strong) - but if i'd taken it back (even after talking to cashier) - but hubby would have thought i was bonkers!!!!
good for you... well done, pat on the back (and all that!!!!!)

SuchProspects · 09/01/2012 11:58

But it wasn't a freebie from the store, TimothyClaypoleLover. It was a mistake by the sop assistant (and still a mistake despite the fact oncern was raised). Mistakes happen quite a lot, and many people fail to mention them if they come off better. The fact that amoral behaviour is common doesn't make it moral.

attheendoftheday · 09/01/2012 11:59

I think you did the right thing and should be proud of yourself. I would have gone back too.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 09/01/2012 12:02

I would have kept it....and felt no guilt.

Oh well, I'm a cold morsel anyway, at least hell is warm :)

everlong · 09/01/2012 12:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MaryAnnSingleton · 09/01/2012 12:07

I would have taken it back -I'd be plagued by guilt if I hadn't- must be Catholic upbring Grin I once returned to a Waitrose because I'd bought 2 buns and only been charged for one- I'm sure they thought I was nuts but the supervisor said that I could have it free as I'd been so honest Smile

Jasper · 09/01/2012 12:08

yes, and well done to you for being honest

Shakey1500 · 09/01/2012 12:14

everlong many stores have CCTV above cashiers tills. Monitored and reviewed. It could have been construed that the cashier deliberatly didn't scan the item, possibly because the customer was a friend/relative. Easy to prove that it wasn't scanned, harder for the cashier to prove it wasn't just a mistake etc. Unlikely but not impossible. Not worth potentially having someone lose their job.

Eitherway OP did the right thing. Bottom line is that someone is in possession of something that, now knowingly, hasn't been paid for.

shewhowines · 09/01/2012 12:18

You might have got the assistant in trouble by taking it back, if nobody had realised the mistake had been made!

shemademedoit · 09/01/2012 12:31

You did the right thing. Am I the only one noisy enough to ask what the item was?! Blush

MilesJuppisasexgod · 09/01/2012 12:33

Well done you Bennifer of course you did the right thing!

However if, as I suspect from your description, the shop was Ikea a famous blue and yellow store then you were effing off your head unreasonable to have gone there in the first place imho. I mean, I love their stuff but going there is like getting a one way ticket to Hades Central.

MilesJuppisasexgod · 09/01/2012 12:35

Am I the only one noisy enough to ask what the item was?!

But you asked very quietly!!! Wink

BleurghUna · 09/01/2012 14:19

Are you sure there wasn't a blue cross sale or something, where they take an extra 20% off just for one day, but they don't bother putting reduced price stickers on everything.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 09/01/2012 14:37

You did the right thing taking it back. I walked out of the supermarket last night and found we hadn't paid for a bag of sweets, so I took it back in and paid for it.

Bleugh - in her OP Bennifer said that when she checked her receipt, she hadn't been charged for one item, costing £75, so it definitely wasn't that everything was 20% cheaper.

M0naLisa · 09/01/2012 14:46

i wouldnt have gone back Blush

yellowraincoat · 09/01/2012 14:50

I would have gone back if it was a small shop. But not a big chain. I need the £75 more than they do.

Original poster
Bennifer · 09/01/2012 14:52

I definitely checked and it wasn't a blue cross sale - it was just missing from the receipt. What happened is that because the item was expensive, it had a security tag attached to it. The shopgirl removed it but didn't scan the item.

For those of a nosey disposition Smile it wasn't IKEA, and it was a duvet

OP posts:
neutrinoghost · 09/01/2012 15:03

Those who would take it back are all nuts Wink

What you've effectively said is "hello there Mr multi million pound company, I'm not sure you have enough money so I'd like to give you some of mine even though I've already gotten away with being given free stuff and nobody knows"

If it were me, I'd giggle everytime I went to bed knowing it was free.

Original poster
Bennifer · 09/01/2012 15:12

neutrino, what you're effectively saying though that doing the morally right thing doesn't matter, even it's not in your interests to do so - you'd have been having your moat cleaned!

OP posts:
yellowraincoat · 09/01/2012 15:15

Do you really conflate Tesco and morals? Or Sainsburys and morals? Or Argos and morals? (Quite hard to nick stuff from Argos, when you think about it)

The only person missing out is the supermarket. They have a budget for this sort of thing.

At the risk of getting moralistas backs up, I don't think I know anyone who's never put something through the self scanner as something a bit cheaper. It's a real feeling of satisfaction.

Original poster
Bennifer · 09/01/2012 15:23

but you're not making a moral argument there, you saying it's ok to steal if you won't get caught, and it's a big company

OP posts:
dexter73 · 09/01/2012 15:26

I got 6 slices of ham in my pack of 5 slices of ham the other day. I didn't take back the extra slice.

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