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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:
EndoplasmicReticulum · 31/07/2014 20:32

I once got free gin from ASDA, in the home delivery.

Did I send it back?

Ummm......

MorphineDreams · 31/07/2014 20:33

I often get extra bags of spuds in my ASDA delivery (?) but I don't say anything because the time it takes for me to phone them and get through to someone is ridiculous. And they often give me the wrong things.

JustAShopGirl · 31/07/2014 20:36

I work in a shop - and sometimes if the shop is busy and something doesn't scan properly we just pop it in the bag anyhow... maybe not for £25 - but for a pound or 2 in a big basketful. Happens maybe 2 or 3 times a day.

Boss tells us to do that since it would cost more in goodwill to delay a customer for a pound, or in time for someone to go off and look for the price - delaying other customers and costing their goodwill - we get a LOT of repeat custom.

Did not realise that people would have such angst to find an extra something in their bag... and have never actually had anyone return to say we forgot.

MrsDarylDixon · 31/07/2014 20:41

No I wouldn't.

If the karma thing bothers you, think of it ad getting a reward for good things you've already done instead of a bad deed that'll attract bad juju.

BetsyBell · 31/07/2014 20:42

So, the other day I got home and checked my receipt and realised that I'd been charged twice for the same item of clothing. My heart sank as I thought about the absolute nightmare it would be to try and reclaim the money, or even how to go about it. I checked the receipt and my shopping again and realised they'd not put DC's trainers through the till (but detagged). The shoes were a few quid more than the doubled clothing payment.

Did I go back to the store and explain their mistake and try and give them back the £4? Did I feck Grin

Big multinational, shite shop.

It was very much their mistake and I was very close to being down £15 with no real way to rectify it. There's no way in hell I'd take your DSs shoes back to the shop if I were you. If these big shops can't be arsed to train or pay their staff enough to care, then that's their problem.

Like others have said, if it was a small independent shop, with staff who care about their goods and customers then I would feel very differently.

Dontgotosleep · 31/07/2014 20:42

I'd have gone back and told them. As I believe in karma. if you were overcharged you'd march back in there. Come on now o.p a bit of balance here please.

MorphineDreams · 31/07/2014 20:43

I don't know why people believe in karma. Bad things happen, good things happen. They don't just because you've done either one.

MorphineDreams · 31/07/2014 20:44

And the OP hasn't done anything wrong. She hasn't stolen anything.

ashtrayheart · 31/07/2014 20:45

Karma Hmm so annoying.
No I would not do anything in this situation.

ShesEverSoFamous · 31/07/2014 20:46

I wouldn't take them back.
I think the young lad on the till is more likely to get into trouble if you did, theres usually a cashier ID on a receipt and the manager will know who forgot to put the shoes through. If the shoes are missing at a stock take it will just be one of those things according to the company, they could have been stolen or lost under a rack so one person can't be held accountable.

KatnissEvermean · 31/07/2014 20:49

I wouldn't take them back. You intended to pay for them, the shop made a mistake and it is going to cost you time and money to sort it out.

If I noticed at the till I would point it out.

GiveTwoSheets · 31/07/2014 20:51

No I wouldn't I would be thinking karma has given me a free pair of shoes. Grin

Same happened to me when I bought a suit from next, I was given the shirt for free! I wasn't going to pay £5 to take it back!

CPtart · 31/07/2014 20:54

No way would I take them back.
Recently ordered a £30 rucksack from Mountain Warehouse online. Got 3 delivered in the same package. They're coming in very handy!

hennybeans · 31/07/2014 20:57

I wasn't charged £12 for a skirt in Asda once. Didn't bother to go back to rectify it. Yesterday, a lady at a small cafe gave me back £10 too much change. I immediately corrected her and gave the money back. The lady at the cafe would have been £10 short at the end of the day and likely in trouble. Asda is so huge they wouldn't have noticed.

(Asda also seriously doesn't ring up at least one item at the correct sale/ offer price every time I go. Then I have to queue for ages at customer services to get a refund, after going back to the shelves to point out the offer. They must make a killing in people buying X item because it's on offer and then not putting that offer into the tills so it scans at full price.)

CaptChaos · 31/07/2014 20:58

EndoplasmicReticulum just for info, the gin wasn't free, it had been paid for by another customer. As is anything 'extra' you get in a home shopping delivery. Depending on how much the gin was worth, the driver could have got into serious trouble, losing his job type trouble.

Not trying to make you feel bad, but the 'freebies' you might get in your shopping delivery aren't the same as a shop assistant being lax with their till work.

As you were Grin

Icimoi · 31/07/2014 20:58

Why do you have to go back? Why not just send them a cheque?

Egog · 31/07/2014 21:00

Initially I'd listen to those saying it's more bother than it's worth. As a former retail manager I know I'd just tell you to keep them and thank you for your honesty.

If, like me, you'd obsess a bit over it and worry that it might bring you bad karma (however irrational that might actually be!) I might ring head office and explain the situation. This will almost certainly result in them telling you not to bother bringing them back - especially if you let them know the petrol/parking situation, and that you promise to spend lots of lovely money in the store in future.

That way you'll be 'off the hook' without having to worry about it further for the price of a phone call.

Original poster
Haffdonga · 31/07/2014 21:01

MN you do surprise me sometimes. Confused

Of all the reasons to pay or not to pay that I thought you'd come up with, the karma idea - that somehow there's a mystical score being kept of my good and bad deeds and that some bad shit will happen to me to balance out getting free shoes - well that is so not what would make me go back and pay.

I thought you might tell me not to set a bad example to ds, that the cashier might get in trouble, that it's not fair on honest people we all pay extra for goods to counter the cost of shoplifting and or that it's just plain illegal not to pay.

Karma Grin

OP posts:
EndoplasmicReticulum · 31/07/2014 21:02

Yes CaptChaos - but....previously to the gin I had got someone else's shopping delivered with mine - a bag of bread, cakes, muffins etc. Probably not to the value of gin but at least £5 worth.

I rang ASDA to tell them I had someone else's shopping, and would they like to come and collect it, but they said no, they couldn't do that and would just refund the other customer.

I offered to drop it into the shop and they didn't want me to do that either. They told me to keep it.

So I figured same rules applied with gin.

CaptChaos · 31/07/2014 21:17

They probably would with the gin too, but, because gin is much easier to sell on than bread etc, if a driver is going to steal something, it's more likely to be that.

I absolutely wasn't trying to have a go at you, merely telling you what can and does happen. sorry Grin

PhaedraIsMyName · 31/07/2014 21:20

I would phone the shop first. They may be able to process a payment over the phone. If it was on my way anyway I'd go back and pay.

windchime · 31/07/2014 21:24

Similar thing happened to me in M&S last week. I dumped a pile of stuff at the till, and the young lad got in such a tizz trying to take my 40DD bra off a hanger that he forgot to scan it. Thank you very much.

WorraLiberty · 31/07/2014 21:25

In your particular situation OP, I wouldn't go back as it's not your mistake to rectify and it's too much hassle.

If it was a small, local shop then yes I would.

Oh and there's no such thing as karma. If there was, decent and innocent people wouldn't die of cancer and live shit lives.

Redglitter · 31/07/2014 21:27

I wouldn't if you'd got home and found out you'd been over charged they wouldn't have entertained you in regards to a refund. As someone else said if you feel really bad about it make a donation to charity

SorryForTheTypos · 31/07/2014 21:27

Reading this thread has made me remember lots of instances when I've been less than honest that I'd completely forgotten about Blush

Best/worst one was an apparently very reputable, national company absolutely ballsing up. They sent me something unsuitable after I'd specifically asked them would it be suitable, then they wouldn't refund it until they'd picked it up at their convenience even though the bloody thing was in my way and I couldn't buy a replacement until they'd refunded me. Then they didn't actually refund me so I chased it up and they ended up refunding me twice. I did actually think about bringing it to their attention but reasoned they'd been so thoroughly shit it was their own fault. I was fully prepared to give the the money back if they asked for it though, but they were so rubbish in every way I wasn't expecting that to ever happen.