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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:
ChoccaDoobie · 31/07/2014 21:30

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.

This ^

Not that I condone dishonesty. You didn't realise at the time, it was their mistake, you are going to be out of pocket by the time you've driven back and parked etc. I might possibly call them but in truth I probably wouldn't. Huge store like TK Maxx are not going to be missing that amount of money.

BristolRover · 31/07/2014 21:38

I find your justifications interesting - you could afford the £25 shoes when you selected them and put them in your basket but by the time you got them home, mistakenly free of charge, you were too poor and could possibly stretch to a fiver for a charity.

It's also intersting comparing this thread to the one about the people who walked out of a restaurant without paying - universal condemnation of that as stealing, but absolute support for this sort of free acquisition of someone else's goods

Floralnomad · 31/07/2014 21:47

Totally different situation ,the OP did not steal the shoes - the shop omitted to charge her for them .

WorraLiberty · 31/07/2014 21:49

I just read the restaurant thread and there is no similarity at all.

They purposely left the restaurant with no intention of paying.

The OP left the store, thinking she had been charged for the shoes.

I'm surprised that needs an explanation tbh.

BristolRover · 31/07/2014 21:50

the OP has a pair of shoes which she has removed from the shop without paying - although without intent.
With intent, she is going to keep them, also without paying.

Original poster
Haffdonga · 31/07/2014 21:51

Bristols I don't think I'm actually trying to make justifications - more thinking aloud. I know that it's not really justified. Yes, I could afford the £25 so I could of course afford to donate £25 to charity instead. However with our future financial shit looming ahead, it feels like when an accidental plus happens it would be OTT to give it away again.

OP posts:
SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 31/07/2014 21:54

I would ring them and offer payment.

Stores build the costs of shrinkage (theft, breakage, mistakes like this) into the cost of their items, so everyone ends up paying. Why should I pay for your child's school shoes?

I once went back into Sainsburys to pay for a cadbury's fudge that had ended up under my handbag in the trolley so I hadn't paid for it.

WorraLiberty · 31/07/2014 21:55

You could turn that around Bristol

The OP left the shop with a pair of shoes she thought she paid for, but due to the incompetence of the staff member, it turns out she didn't.

If the notices their mistake, they should send a member of staff to the OP's house and apologise profusely.

But do you really think they'd bother to put themselves out any more than the OP should be expected to?

WorraLiberty · 31/07/2014 21:56

If the *shop notices...

Original poster
Haffdonga · 31/07/2014 21:56

You see STD.G thats what I thought everyone would say

OP posts:
LightastheBreeze · 31/07/2014 21:59

Why should OP have to give money to charity because some idiot working in TK Maxx can't do their job properly.

They're lucky nothing's being said about it as they probably would get into trouble for their incompetence and maybe lose their job.

WorraLiberty · 31/07/2014 22:02

Only on Mumsnet is the victim of pure incompetence somehow to blame...

FeministStar · 31/07/2014 22:02

If a shop doesn't give you enough change and you don't realise until you have left the shop then my understanding is that it is tough. Therefore I see no reason why the same shouldn't apply in reverse.
That said, I'd notice if a pair of £25 shoes weren't included as it's a large amount not to notice. I'd have expected the shop assistant to notice too.

BristolRover · 31/07/2014 22:03

the store are not the ones behaving dishonesty though, are they Worra? (I assume you're not a business owner?) on that basis I suspect a phone call would go along the lines of "thank you for pointing out the mistake, feel free to keep the shoes", but it's pointless being deliberately goady and suggesting they need to send someone to the house to "apologise profusely".

BristolRover · 31/07/2014 22:06

only on MN could it be so inconsistent though - people are hanging out someone else to dry for wondering about taking a few sachets of sugar that are made available free of charge from their office saying it's gross misconduct

LightastheBreeze · 31/07/2014 22:06

Why should the OP waste her time and money ringing up a store for their mistake.

rookiemater · 31/07/2014 22:06

I'd keep 'em.

Happened us once at Ikea - after we had faced the hell of getting through the shop with my DF who strangely kept taking photos of us buying things, we got home and realised that they hadn't charged us for something. We kept it. I don't think it's stealing as you/I intended to pay and if you bring the stuff back then you're out of pocket in petrol money.

WorraLiberty · 31/07/2014 22:07

I didn't suggest that they need to did I Bristol? I take it you're not a proof reader? Wink

It's the shop's mistake to rectify.

It's not down to the OP to make chase them up with phone calls, visits or anything else.

The shop assistant was incompetent, not the OP.

BristolRover · 31/07/2014 22:13

"should" suggests obligation. I'm a lawyer ;-)

WorraLiberty · 31/07/2014 22:17

This is the internet, you can be whatever you want

Including wrong Grin

Seriously though, I just don't think it's a big deal because the mistake wasn't made by the OP.

I also advised the OP of the sachet thread to ask for a couple of sachets...or just take them since it's really no that important.

The restaurant thing was different imo. They sat and ate the food and then deliberately ran off without paying.

I think different scenarios call for different reactions.

ChoccaDoobie · 31/07/2014 22:21

Femiststar, that was my understanding too. Surely it works both ways?

Original poster
Haffdonga · 31/07/2014 22:22

should suggests obligation

That's why I asked what you would do, not what I should do. I know what strictly legally I should do, but interestingly roughly 90% of posters would do exactly the same as I think I'm going to do and count themselves lucky.

OP posts:
BristolRover · 31/07/2014 22:23

I don't think it's a big deal either, and have done the same when a child swiped a hair clip from Monsoon and hid it in the buggy. Didn't go back to the shop when I noticed it. Wasn't the right thing to do though.
What i'm commenting on is the inconsistency of response and how people are so fickle - there aren't ethical absolutes. There is a strong distinction being drawn between a one off decision to do / not do something (pay in a restaurant), and a continuing decision to continue to do / not do something (pay for shoes). The free sugar sachets are ludicrous though. Hard to steal free stuff ( possible, but hard)

NellyNoodle1 · 31/07/2014 22:24

So everyone who has something bad happens had it coming to them because of something bad they have done? Seriously? I must be a terrible person.

Would I hell go back. I often get home and check a receipt and have been overcharged (normally tesco). There's no way you can check at the time and are you going to drive back or sit on the phone for ages for 75p - no - does it piss me off? You bet.

I have recently found money hanging out of a cash machine and taken it into the bank and chased someone at Asda with their forgotten cash back - and found a phone in the park and had to do a strange orienteering mission with the owner on another phone to return it to them.

You didn't shove them down your pants and sneak out did you. I wouldn't think twice about it.

KissMyFatArse · 31/07/2014 22:26

She hasn't bloody stole anything.

I'd keep the shoes.

And not donate to charity either!

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