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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Help me settle an exchanging clothes moral dilemma...

21 replies

primarynoodle · 15/04/2015 18:52

I'll set the scene... you buy a tshirt on a hanger that is a size 12. But when you get home you realise you didnt check the actual tshirt label, and it is in fact a 14 because you were too busy with a toddler to engage your brain .

Is it wrong to 'exchange' via the changing room by: taking correct size in to try on (with wrong size in your handbag), swap them, then take correct size home, handing the wrong size back, in order to avoid the 10000000 hour queues in the exchange department?

The wrong sized top would have been unworn and still all tags etc.

Having a debate with a friend and cant decide if it's wrong or fine.... so wise mners: is it unreasonable?

OP posts:

WorraLiberty · 15/04/2015 18:54

Yes and you'll get nicked if you're caught.

Try going as soon as the store opens, to avoid the queues.

Charlotte3333 · 15/04/2015 18:56

Oh it's sod's law you'll get caught and accused of theft.

Queue up like everyone else and do the exchange the proper way.

pengymum · 15/04/2015 18:57

What about security tags?
Just simpler to take it back & swap properly than stress about getting caught.

Original poster

primarynoodle · 15/04/2015 18:57

in the interests of not drip feeding anymore (didnt mean to) this conversation has come from me whinging about time wasting in pointless queues... id be too to actually do it!

I feel like its wrong but is it technically stealing if you are replacing like for like but different size?

OP posts:

SecretNutellaFix · 15/04/2015 19:00

Of course it's wrong!

They would view it as theft if you got caught because you won't have paid for the smaller one, even though you had already bought the other one. There's a reason everything has to go through the till.

ImperialBlether · 15/04/2015 19:05

Just eat more until it fits you!

LipglossHoney · 15/04/2015 19:06

I did this when I was about 13 in C&A when i didnt know you could just exchange something with a receipt. I've never been so nervous in my life! A criminal life is clearly not for me!

Original poster

primarynoodle · 15/04/2015 19:06

problem solved imperial

cracks open a beer

OP posts:

lostmymarblesbutfoundthewine · 15/04/2015 19:09

slightly dull but your return will need to go back into the system and other top scanned out otherwise stock levels won't be right.

crassula · 15/04/2015 19:13

I don't think it's immoral but I do think it's pointless and risky.

Glitterspy · 15/04/2015 19:15

Agree with marbles, it's boring but yes, it's going to mess up their stock count if you do as you're suggesting, and you'll end up being at risk of being caught/accused of theft.

Just don't do it. Return it via the normal channels.

Are you pregnant? (I once got fast forwarded to the front of the world's longest returns queue because I was pregs; anyone who has experienced the purgatory that is the basement returns department in Topshop Oxford Circus will know why they took pity on me). If so, use it for all it's worth!!

NotGoingOut17 · 15/04/2015 19:16

I might be missing something, but if it still has the tags on etc why can't you just go to the till and ask for an exchange? Agree seems too big a risk for very little gain to do what is in the OP

Original poster

primarynoodle · 15/04/2015 19:19

Unfortunately not pregnant just unable to keep brain in gear and a toddler in tow on a busy saturday afternoon in primark!

(all my shopping threads revolve around the hell that is primark)

Cress thats exactly what i was trying to say i just couldnt phrase it right!... i get that it is 'wrong' in terms of stock levels blah blah but i dont think it is immoral as such..

far more immoral is the person who puts clothes on the wrong sized hanger!

OP posts:

freezation · 15/04/2015 19:21

Where is it from? Surely the queues can't be that big and in most places you can exchange at any till; it's just refunds that have a special desk. And you'd be buggered if it developed a fault and you tried to return it with the wrong receipt.

Original poster

primarynoodle · 15/04/2015 19:21

notgoing the point was me moaning about how long the exchange queue is at the times i can get to it to rectify this silly mistake (took about 45 mins!) and my friend told me about what she used to do...

we were arguing about the morality/legality of it and i wondered what you all thought!

OP posts:

freezation · 15/04/2015 19:22

Ah the jumble sale that is Primark...

Floggingmolly · 15/04/2015 19:29

I don't believe you stood in a queue for 45 minutes. It may have felt like it, but no.

daffsandtulips · 15/04/2015 19:34

Up to you but I'd not risk it and do things the normal way.

NotGoingOut17 · 15/04/2015 19:50

primary well i can see why you'd be tempted at a 45 min wait, but i reckon what your friend was doing was doing was still stealing. very annoying though.

maliaki · 15/04/2015 21:42

If it was Primark, YWBU not to check in the first place. People are awful for dropping stuff everywhere there or putting back on the wrong hanger- including staff and customers. The amount of times I find an 8 on the hanger when it's meant to be higher, thankfully I can usually tell visually at a glance but I still always check in there.

Illegal, not immoral since you aren't actually behaving that way but you'd be screwed if the new T-shirt had a RFLT on it or if you were caught doing it.

PeppermintCrayon · 15/04/2015 21:48

You'll fuck up their stock records and could get done for theft. To avoid a queue?!?! YWBVU!

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