Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Undercharged. WWYD?

226 replies

Haffdonga · 31/07/2014 18:15

OK, so what would you honestly honestly do? Not what is the right thing or what you would like to think you would do, but actually really do?

Today I bought 3 items in TK Maxx. They were all processed at the till, tags removed etc. The bill came to less than I'd expected and I assumed that something had been reduced , hooray.

When I get home I check the receipt and find that a pair of school shoes was not included on the bill. I think they were £25-ish. To go back and pay now would involve a return journey into town and parking costs. Plus Dh is facing redundancy for the second time in 3 years so we're feeling very poor.

You'd go back and pay, wouldn't you?

OP posts:
Namechangearoonie123 · 31/07/2014 18:18

No, I wouldn't

The amount of times I've been overcharged would allow me to equalise it in my mind

Panzee · 31/07/2014 18:19

I did once, but at an airport. I figured I didn't need bad karma getting on a plane!
I wouldn't judge if you didn't, but if you've thought about it, you should do it, at least I would.

monkeyfacegrace · 31/07/2014 18:19

Would I bollocks go back.

CoffeeTea103 · 31/07/2014 18:20

I think I would. I believe in it coming back to you, you might need to pay something when you really can't.

BreakOutTheKaraoke · 31/07/2014 18:21

Nope. As someone who works in a shop, I can tell you that the likelihood is that this will go unnoticed until stocktake, then it will be written off. No one person will be blamed for it, or charged for the item, as they don't know they've gone.

Original poster
Haffdonga · 31/07/2014 18:21

Monkeyface Grin

OP posts:
HerRoyalNotness · 31/07/2014 18:21

I would, but I'd probably ring them instead of going back in. Or tell them I'll go in when convenient.

If you were overcharged, you'd ask for the refund, it should be no different when you're undercharged.

Chasingsquirrels · 31/07/2014 18:21

If I notice in the shop at the till, paying the tab in a pub after a meal, etc then I would say.

If I don't notice at the time, and only did so when I get home and looked at the receipt for some reason then I wouldn't do anything.

thegreylady · 31/07/2014 18:22

I probably wouldn't but it would prey on my mind.

dexter73 · 31/07/2014 18:23

BreakOutTheKaraoke - if someone did return to pay for something that had been mistakenly missed off would you repay their extra costs (petrol+parking)for returning to you?

resipsa · 31/07/2014 18:23

No way go back - in contract law, the advertised price is only a preliminary and when they accept your payment, the deal is sealed. So, they accepted £0! Nothing for you to have a conscience about al all!!! I bet if the tag had said £10 and the till showed £20, they'd have quoted the same at you.

monkeyfacegrace · 31/07/2014 18:24

I've been in retail for a decade at management level.

It's really not rocket science to charge correctly. The amount of people with limited bloody brain cells who can't work tills really boils my piss.

Why on earth should you go out of your way to go back? I'd be en route to the shop for a nice free bottle of wine and the biggest box of chocs around.

And fwiw, there's no such thing as karma either.

pregnant and on the warpath today

ClashCityRocker · 31/07/2014 18:25

I would think about going back, but if it involved quite a bit of effort, I probably wouldn't.

If it was somewhere I used regularly, or the undercharge was for a much larger amount in probably would - and have done, in fact - we bought a new fridge freezer and they only charged us delivery.

Original poster
Haffdonga · 31/07/2014 18:25

I like your thinking resipsa but I guess as the receipt doesn't show the shoes, they technically haven't sold them to me for £0 as the transaction wasn't completed.

OP posts:
kinkyfuckery · 31/07/2014 18:25

I wouldn't.

zzzzz · 31/07/2014 18:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pobblewhohasnotoes · 31/07/2014 18:28

No I wouldn't go back. This happened to me once in H&M, I figured their multi million pound business was not going to miss the pair of trousers they forgot to charge me for.

riverboat1 · 31/07/2014 18:28

I wouldn't go back. Not to TK Maxx. If it had been a small independent shop I might act differently.

AnythingNotEverything · 31/07/2014 18:28

I wouldn't go back. You're overcharged often enough that it all evens out in the end. You weren't dishonest, just an accident in your favour.

ClariceBeanthatsme · 31/07/2014 18:28

Also the sales assistant who served you would get in awful trouble then you would have that on your conscience.
No best keep them its for the best Wink

paintedfences · 31/07/2014 18:29

Nope, definitely not. A small independent retailer sure. TK Maxx, no.

CoffeeTea103 · 31/07/2014 18:29

But op if you were overcharged in pretty sure you would even go back to the store to get your money back. It's not about the store being big enough not to miss a pair, it's about you being an honest person.

Mckayz · 31/07/2014 18:29

I wouldn't call them stolen if the staff didn't bother to scan them.

merce · 31/07/2014 18:29

I would go back and do the decent thing. Anything else is stealing - no matter how you try to dress it up in your mind. Sorry!

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 31/07/2014 18:30

In this situation I'd phone up willing to pay over the phone or be willing to pay next time I went in. This happened to me once in homebase but I was buying about a dozen things and spent over £100 so had missed that £20 was missed off (easier to miss than with three items I think). They didn't want to charge me. I would probably feel differently if they'd scanned it and the price was less than I was expecting, but I don't think just not paying for the item is acceptable.